Welcome to the Misadventures of Widowhood blog!

Welcome to my World---Woman, widow, senior citizen seeking to live out my days with a sense of whimsy as I search for inner peace and friendships. Jeez, that sounds like a profile on a dating app and I have zero interest in them, having lost my soul mate of 42 years. Life was good until it wasn't when my husband had a massive stroke and I spent the next 12 1/2 years as his caregiver. This blog has documented the pain and heartache of loss, my dark humor, my sweetest memories and, yes, even my pity parties and finally, moving past it all. And now I’m ready for a new start, in a new location---a continuum care campus in West Michigan, U.S.A. Some people say I have a quirky sense of humor that shows up from time to time in this blog. Others say I make some keen observations about life and growing older. Stick around, read a while. I'm sure we'll have things in common. Your comments are welcome and encouraged. Jean

Saturday, May 11, 2019

Book Club and Sampling Children’s Books


I didn’t like the main character in the book club’s selection for our May discussion---Left Neglected by Lisa Genova. She was a mother of three, a powerhouse career woman who spent more time on her cell phone than talking with her kids and her cell phone caused her to get into a car accident that gave her a condition known as Left Neglect. I mostly associate left or right side neglect with strokes and TIAs but it can happen with other types of brain injuries and it causes the patient to literally not see things that happens on one side or the other of their bodies. Probably the most dramatic example of how it affects people is they will only eat food on one side of their plate. My dad had a mild case of Left Neglect after a TIA and my husband had a major case of Right Neglect after a massive stroke. My dad’s brain healed itself with a few months of therapy. My husband wasn’t so lucky. 

It’s rare when I don’t finish a book club book because I do love the discussions, but I got to the half way point in this book and thought, Why am I reading this? I was bored and the main character spent so much time feeling sorry for herself that she didn’t need my sympathy, assuming I could have whipped any up. That doesn’t mean I didn’t get my daily reading in this past month. I polished off five---count them---five books. Before you get too impressed I should explain they were easy-to-read children’s books. Why children’s books? I had mentioned in this blog that didn’t know any of the popular classic children’s stories because I didn’t have any kids and that I should ask my niece (who taught reading for years) to put a reading list together for me. She did better than that. For my birthday she gave me the following award winning children’s books:

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson. The book was a 40th anniversary edition and, wow, I didn’t see the ending coming. I never realized the topic of grief could be so upfront in a book for young teens, and for the writing to hold up all those years, is a credit to Ms. Paterson’s immense talent. It’s a perfectly depicted and timeless story of friendship and loss.

The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White was also written in the 1970s and its target audience is ages 8 through 10. It’s a cute story about a swam who couldn’t talk. I loved how the author used that fact to bring humor into the story. “’Go?’ cried all the cygnets except Louis.” “’Why not?’ cried all the cygnets except for Louis.” Louis’s father was a long-winded talker and he reminded me of my husband. If most people can say something in 20 words, Louis’s father and my husband would stretch that out into a 200 word speech. Not sure if my niece saw that in the book but the parallel sure cracked me up.

The Watsons go to Birmingham – 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis. Its target audience is probably 5th through 7th graders and it’s told through the eyes of a ten year old boy with an older brother and younger sister. It starts out in Flint, Michigan and ends up with the historic 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham that was part of the catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement. Anyone who has raised boys would love this book. Hallmark liked it enough to make it into a movie.

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo, was my favorite book in the batch and I really didn’t want this book to end because I’m a sucker for a good dog book. The characters were quirky and funny and so well-drawn I felt like I could move into the neighborhood and fit right in. It will get a second reading.

I saved A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle to read last because it’s been a favorite of my niece’s since her childhood. It’s a fantasy sci-fi about a girl who travels through time and space to help her father fight an evil force and it’s been in continuous print since 1963. But it’s a book that is not without controversy. According to the American Library Association it’s one of the 100 most frequently challenged books by groups who want to ban it from schools. It’s in good company in that regard standing alongside Harry Potter and Captain Underpants and from my era of storytelling: To Kill a Mockingbird and The Wizard of Oz. One bone of contention is a very short scene suggesting that Shakespeare, Gandhi, Einstein, Buddha and Jesus are “standing together against the forces of evil” ticking off conservative Christians. Boo hoo! While book banners are focused on its religious overtones decades worth of young girls have been captivated by a having a smart and adventurous protagonist who looks like them, flaws and all. And I’m glad I finally took the time to read it.

Did your kids have a favorite book growing up? Did you? ©

29 comments:

  1. I have never read Because of Winn-Dixie but I have seen the movie and it's one of my favorites. I need to check out Bridge to Terabithia. It sounds like a winner!

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  2. My kids loved the books by Gary Paulsen. And they both loved Charlotte's Web.

    I was a huge fan of the Encyclopedia Brown series when I was a kid. And all the Ramona Quimby books by Beverly Cleary. And the Rupert Piper series, too. Gosh, I'm old.

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    1. My niece used to talk about Charlotte's Web a lot when she was young.

      If you think you're old, I used to read Nancy Drew and the Bobbesy Twins books from the pre-1960s era when they were rewritten.

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  3. I read to my kids from the time they were 6 months old. Starting out with "Pat The Bunny", then on to a lot of Golden Books, to Dr. Seuess. The girls loved all the Laura Ingalls books and the Anne of Green Gables and Judy Bloom books. They loved A Wrinkle In Time and all such fantasy books. Then Pam got into Kurt Vonnegant (sp) and Karen went into Gone with the Wind. When Jennifer came along, she went through the same books, but when she got older, she read more of what Karen liked than Pam.
    I never censored what they read They were also reading biographical books on historic founding fathers and biblical prophets.
    When my son got older, I think he was more interested in the Playboy magazines he kept under his mattress. LOL

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    1. Laura Ingalls...one of my nieces, if my memory isn't playing tricks on me loved those books too.

      That's funny about the Playboy magazines and mom knowing about them. Why do kids think you're not going to find stuff under the mattress when you change the sheets?

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  4. Thanks for this great list of classic children's books! I remember most of my own reading in grade school was books about horses but the only one I can remember is Black Beauty.

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    1. Lots of little girls fell in love with reading Black Beauty, didn't they.

      I think the comments of people like you are adding to the list of great classics for children. Thanks!

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    2. I loved the many children's books that we had around the house for our children. We have saved many of them so that our grandchildren had the opportunity to enjoy them. Now that they have grown up, we still will save them for them after they have married. Of course I probably won't be here but the dream that I saved things for them will go on.
      Now the Playboy Magazines, I only read them for the intelligent stories, right Jean. LOL See ya.


      Cruisin Paul

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    3. Paul, I love that you've saved those children's books and plan to give them back to your kids. A perfect time to do that would be when they have their first baby.

      Playboy had/has intelligent stories? Who knew.

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    4. The pictures were pretty good also. LOL See ya Jean

      Cruisin Paul

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  5. LIttle House on the Prairie books...read them to my son and he loved them too. Also read him the Boxcar Children series and Treasure Island and the Wizard of Oz books...likely so many more I don't recall. I was an avid reader as a kid, but can't recall particular favorites....just whatever I check out of the local library which had a branch inside my elementary shcool, 1/2 block from my house. I practially lived there all summer!

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    1. That's a great list of books. I"ll bet the boys loved the Treasure Island series. Even my brother read those and he's not much of a reader or at least he wasn't growing up. Not sure if he stayed that way.

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  6. I just love reading! We lived outside city limits so in the summer the Bookmobile came once a week. Walt Disney classics, Nancy Drew, Little House on the Prairie, Boxcar kids, etc. When my Mom would chase us out of the house in the summer ... I'd climb a tree and just read!

    I still haven't gotten back in the habit since Mr. Ralph died. I need to get back into that!

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    1. That's funny about your mom chasing you out of the house to enjoy the outdoors, but you still found a way to read. My niece, a few years before she retired, started her own summer book mobile with her own car and money. It had its own website to tell kids where she'd be.

      I don't know a single widow who didn't have trouble getting back into reading the first few years. The concentration just isn't there. Lie changes...

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  7. I also suggest Indian in the Cupboard series by Lynne Reid Banks. There were 3 books I believe and you should read all 3 as they get weirder as they go!
    I also recommend C.S.Lewis The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. I think there are 7 in the series and the aforementioned one, although the most famous, is not the best. They also get weirder as they go but not in such an interesting way.
    Anything by Roald Dahl is great. It’s an acquired taste, I’m told, but we had a great time reading them to our children. If you had to choose one, I suggest Matilda., but then again, Danny the Champion of the World is great!
    And my favorite children’s book is Abel’s Island by William Steig. It’s so sweet!
    A lifetime of reading ahead for you!!
    And don’t miss Judy Blume mentioned above.
    Regards,
    Leze

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  8. I recall dog and horse stories being favorites. One that comes to mind is Lad: A Dog. Recall having a few gift books I read of The BobbseyTwins and others. Recall my children liked Dr. Seuss Books, Charlottes’s Web, A Wrinkle In Time, Judy Blum books. My son gravitated to science fiction stories.

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    1. I read my first Dr. Seuss Book two years ago and I don't think I've ever read a Judy Blum books. I'm amazed at the longevity of children's stories and books.

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  9. I haven't read any of these but I really should read "A Wrinkle in Time." I don't know how I got out of a children's lit class in college without it!

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    1. It was written in 1963. Back when you were taking a childrn's lit class it wasn't a classic, I'm betting.

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  10. I keep meaning to read Bridge to Terabithia - thanks for the reminder! And I should also read Because of Winn-Dixie - a book full of quirky characters AND a dog AND set in the south? Shut up and take my money! (Only kidding, I'll get it from the library).
    Thanks Jean!

    Deb

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    1. Because of Winn-Dixie was made into a movie and now that's on my list to see.

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  11. For me it was reading the Little House series to Kaitlin when she was little. After she learned to read we got books out of the library and took turns reading to one another for a while. I still remember those lazy summer days

    The first book she learned to read herself was Go, Dog Go!. Not exactly a classic but she has given it to many a child to share the joy.

    Thanks for bringing back the memories.

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  12. I also have a hole in my education where classic children's books are concerned, and I haven't read any of these. Thanks for the inspiration to pick up some of them.

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    1. I was surprised that some of these kids books had 'book discussion' questions at the end just like for many adult books.

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  13. I've not read A Wrinkle in Time, but I was introduced to L'Engle through her journals, and always have intended to try some of her fiction. This might be the time.

    My fourth grade teacher read to us every day, right through the Little House series. She always read right after lunch, and it was one of the best parts of the day. When I last was in Kansas, I found the graves of Laura Wilder's aunt and uncle. I can't remember all the details, but I know that some of the family lived briefly in Kansas, as did she, before returning north.

    The book that influenced me most as a kid was Heidi. I read it somewhere around a hundred times, and for six months I insisted on drinking my milk out of a bowl, like Heidi did on the mountain. If I'd had a three-legged stool, I would have sat on it while I drank.

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    1. I had heard about 'A Wrinkle in Time' so much over the years that I was a little disappointed in the actual book. I'm not sorry I read it and it still holds up as a Sy-Fi but I guess I expected more.

      I never read the Little House series but I saw all the TV shows and think they were a great influence of a whole generation.

      Love your Heidi story.

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