Wednesdays with David: How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon?

How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon?

By Jane Yolen

Illustrated by Mark Teague

The Blue Sky Press 2003

From the library 

The story: "What if a dinosaur catches the flu? Does he whimper and whine in between each Atchoo?" And so we are off on this rhyming adventure with several sick and very grumpy dinosaurs. We find out if they throw their juice and tissues back at their parents or drag their giant dinosaur feet on the way to the doctor's office. Luckily, for small readers who may be feeling a little under the weather themselves, we discover that sick dinosaurs (and hopefully their human counterparts) listen to the doctor and their parents so that they will get better in no time.

Mama opines: Dinosaurs + 4 year old boy = Perfect. This book is a fun read and I like the subtle hint that if a dinosaur can behave, so can a little boy or girl. The illustrations are wonderful - Mr. Teague draws beautiful dinosaurs and really captures the frustration or relief of the human parents and doctors. As an added bonus, the names of the dinosaurs are found on each page so that budding paleontologists can add to their collection of facts.

Thoughts from David: I like it because I love the part where the dinosaur throws his tissues on the floor. It's a funny book and I love lots of pages.

Favorite part: When the dinosaur goes to sleep. 

Review: Flappers and Philosophers

Flappers and Philosophers

By F. Scott Fitzgerald

256 pages

Man, I thought I was the best F. Scott fan. I have this big beautiful collection of F. Scott stories and I thought that it included all of the stories. But then I went and cross-referenced the stories in Flappers and Philosophers with my book. It only had half of them! Thank goodness for Project Gutenberg. 

This collection includes eight stories and is Fitzgerald's first published story collection. Many of the stories had previously appeared in the New York Post. The most popular from this collection are The Offshore Pirate, The Ice Palace, and Bernice Bobs Her Hair. Interestingly enough, many of these stories are told from the point of view of women in stark contrast with the male protagonists of Fitzgerald's novels. He is widely credited with bringing the flapper character to prominence.

I enjoyed all of these stories. Fitzgerald writes a wide range of characters and themes. His stories range from  a young man whose turn to crime has interesting repercussions to a young woman whose yacht is boarded by pirates. They are the perfect length - nothing has been neglected, but I never felt like I had been reading a story for too long. 

My favorite of the bunch was Head and Shoulders. Horace Tarbox is a student at Yale, aloof and focused on his studies. When his friend sends a girl to his rooms as a prank, he finds that he can't stop thinking about her. Marcia continues to work as a showgirl while Horace hopes to move up in the export company where he is employed. "Horace, who had no habits whatsoever - he had never had time to form any - proved the most adaptable of husbands, and as Marcia entirely lacked opinions on the subjects that engrossed him there were very few joltings and bumpings. Their minds moved in different spheres. Marcia acted as practical factotum, and Horace lived either in his old world of abstract ideas or in a sort of triumphantly earthy worship and adoration of his wife." The evolution of their relationship and the roles that they play within it are fascinating to witness. 

Flappers and Philosophers is an excellent short story collection from a writer who was in the early years of his career. It's a treat for fans of Fitzgerald's novels and a good starting point for those who have not yet read his brilliant prose. 

In March, I'll be reading The Beautiful and The Damned. Join me? 

It's Monday, so I tell you about those books

Hey there, guys and gals! How are you? How were your weekends? Mine was very busy, but good. On Friday and Saturday, the husband and I were in Maryland visiting my best friend and her husband. Sunday included church, lunch with husband's parents, a hymn sing (wherein I sang the very awesome The Prayer), and a potluck. Yes, a potluck. It was awesome but exhausting. I got some good reading done this week, including finishing up a book while watching The Oscars. (Trust me, multitasking is key for parents!) 

So...about those books...

Read This Week:

David Copperfield

By Charles Dickens

Case Histories

By Kate Atkinson


The Baker's Daughter
By Sarah McCoy

Posts From This Week:

It's Monday

Wednesdays with David: Truckery Rhymes 

Reviews of David Copperfield and Case Histories

Finishing Up:

Flappers and Philosophers
By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Coming Up:


Life of Pi
By Yann Martell 

No One Is Here Except All of Us
By Ramona Ausubel 

Have a great week and make sure to let me know what you are reading right now in the comments! 

Review: Case Histories

Case Histories

By Kate Atkinson

Little, Brown, and Company September 2008

310 pages

From my personal library...hooray

Jackson Brodie is a private detective attempting to juggle several cases. At the beginning of the novel, the reader is presented with three stories. In the first, a young girl goes missing after she and her sister camp out in the backyard in a tent. In the next, a young woman is murdered while interning in her father’s office. In the third, a young woman goes to prison for murdering her husband with an axe in view of their baby girl. As Jackson becomes makes progress in the cases, he discovers that they are more connected than he could have ever imagined.

This novel is a mystery, but more importantly it is a story about the people who are left behind after tragedy. While Jackson does investigate the crimes, he also provides compassion and understanding for the survivors.  He empathizes with his clients because he too has experienced loss when his older sister was brutally raped and murdered. His kindness and his attempt to be a good father are his strong points, but our hero is very much flawed. He can’t stop fantasizing about the women he encounters and he is terrified that his ex-wife and the new man in her life will take his daughter away from him. He thinks that "she wouldn't be the same Marlee in twelve months' time: she would have different skin and different hair, she would have outgrown the shoes and the clothes she was wearing, she would have new buzzwords (New Zealand words), and she might not like Harry Potter anymore. But she would still be Marlee. She just wouldn't be the same." 

The thing I found most fascinating about this novel is the way that so many of the characters sit on the edge of likeability. I found myself often thinking that I didn’t really like many of the characters. In spite of this, I had a very serious need to find out what happened to them and how they were connected. These are very deeply injured people whose lives have been destroyed. The wreckage is not pretty, but Ms. Atkinson portrays it with compassion and sometimes humor.

This is a really interesting novel. I went back and forth trying to decide if I liked it or not. At times, I was not particularly enthusiastic about continuing. I think that’s because there is little imminent danger. These cases are cold and their resolution will likely not change anything in the present. I’m glad I stuck with it, though. The mysteries are wrapped up by the end, some more predictably than others. The characters will make you uncomfortable, make you wince, and make you think about putting this book down, but ultimately this is a good book. I will warn that it takes some time to get used to the peculiarities of the novel, the style, and the characters.

This is the first Jackson Brodie novel, and the first book I have read by this author. I somehow already own the third book, so I will be searching out the second. Atkinson is a good writer, with interesting style and quirks. While Case Histories takes some time to get comfortable with, it’s worth the read. 

Friends, as you read this I am on my way to the wonderful state of Maryland. Why is it so wonderful, you ask? Why, it's because my bestest friend Becca lives there. I will be visiting her today and Saturday (husbands included). Then on Sunday, there will be church and a hymn sing with a potluck. Try not to be too jealous... 

Have an amazing weekend, friends. I'll be back on Monday. See you then! 

Wednesdays with David: Truckery Rhymes

Truckery Rhymes

Written by Jon Scieszka

Illustrated by David Shannon, Loren Long, and David Gordon

Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers August 2009

From the library

The story: This is a collection of nursery rhymes that are rewritten to reflect the lives and adventures of the trucks in Trucktown. Favorite classic songs and rhymes like Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, Three Blind Mice, and Jack and Jill are now about the crazy antics of your favorite trucks and construction vehicles. 

Mama opines: This was fun to read and I've been looking to get a little more diversity in our reading. I'm hopeful that after he has already listened to the truck rhymes, we can ease into the classic rhymes (perhaps A Children's Garden of Verses). This is one of the very large collection of Trucktown books. My favorite part is the fantastic illustrations. The illustrators have a great eye for really giving the trucks emotion and character.

Thoughts from David: I liked it because it has some bumping, bashing, beaming, and slamming and because it has some good stuff.

Favorite part: I like this one! (points to the wheels on the bus song, which now goes through the sounds that a multitude of trucks and construction vehicles make)

You can also read Welcome to Trucktown!, Smash! Crash!, and Garage Tales. 

Happy Reading!

Review: David Copperfield

David Copperfield

By Charles Dickens

Oxford University Press 1948

From that beautiful library place

877 pages

I'm finished, I'm finished! Yes, I might be doing a small dance. It has taken me almost a month to read this ginormous tome, but I'm glad I did. Reading David Copperfield has convinced me of the genius of its author. 

This novel is, as the title suggests, about the life of one David Copperfield. We begin at his birth and follow him through his childhood as his widowed mother remarries a terrible man who controls the family with an iron fist. We follow David as he goes to school, makes new friends, chooses a profession and falls in love.

This sounds like a simplistic plot, but it is greatly enriched by the crazy cast of characters that inhabit the pages. The protagonist is sweet, naïve, and downtrodden, but never cloying. He is a great protagonist and it’s a pleasure to follow him as he grows from a child to adulthood. Mr. Dickens has surrounded David with some of the most delightful characters and despicable villains that you’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. David’s stepfather is truly menacing and Uriah Heep is a sniveling creep. My absolute favorite character is David’s eccentric aunt Betsy Trotwood. Her constant comparison of David to the sister he should have been is hilarious and delightful. This book is supposed to be rather autobiographical and I think it shows. You can tell that Dickens really loves (or hates) these characters.

The only part that drove me (and many other readers) crazy is David's love for a young woman named Dora. Dora is ridiculously childlike and although their relationship progresses, it is always an uneven relationship. Far from being a mistake, I think this is Dicken's examination of the difference between the naivete of first love and the endurance of true love. 

It’s important to keep in mind the original format of a book when reading it. David Copperfield was serialized, meaning that people could buy installments of the novel monthly. I can imagine families gathering around to hear what happened to David next. While this book seems incredibly long at first glance, it works. This is an epic story, but it is one to be read at your own pace. I would not suggest that you get it out from the library, and then put off starting it for a week or two…not that I know anything about that.

In an almost 900 page novel, I had to laugh a little at Dicken’s depiction of Mr. Micawber. He is a man who is often short of money but never short on words. Dickens writes that “we talk about the tyranny of words, but we like to tyrannise over them too; we are fond of having a large superfluous establishment of words to wait upon us on great occasions; we think it looks important and sounds well. As we are not particular about the meaning of our liveries on state occasions, if they be but fine and numerous enough, so the meaning or necessity of our words is a secondary consideration, if there be but a great parade of them.”

If you have the time to read it slowly without pressure, I would highly recommend you pick up David Copperfield. Dickens writes amazing characters and if you haven't experienced one of his novels yet, there is no better time than his 200th birthday! 

It's Monday - What are you reading?

Friends, I feel like I am reading and reading and just not finishing anything. I would like to place the blame for this predicament firmly on the shoulders of one Charles Dickens. I mean, come on, I know it's your 200th birthday and I know young David C is delightful, but your almost 900 page novel is taking me FOREVER to finish. 

Alright, enough whining from yours truly. Now we shall talk about books! Hooray! 

Read Last Week:

A Room With a View

By E.M. Forster

Reading Now: 

Case Histories

By Kate Atkinson


David Copperfield
By Charles Dickens

Posts from This Week:

It's Monday

Wednesdays with David: The Velveteen Rabbit

A bookish confession: My TBR shelf

Reviews of If I loved you, I would tell you this and A Room With a View

Next Up:

Life of Pi

by Yann Martel

The Baker's Daughter

By Sarah McCoy

So what are you reading right now? Comment away, friends!

P.S. It's not too late to join me in reading F. Scott Fitzgerald this year! This month, I'm reading Flappers and Philosophers, a short story collection. I will be posting about it next Tuesday!