Matilda

Our family listened to Matilda by Roald Dahl on audiobook on our recent road trip. We thought it'd be fun since my daughter was recently in the musical at school. The book description of Matilda says, "Matilda is a sweet, exceptional young girl, but her parents think she's just a nuisance. She expects school to be different but there she has to face Miss Trunchbull, a menacing, kid-hating headmistress. When Matilda is attacked by the Trunchbull she suddenly discovers she has a remarkable power with which to fight back. It'll take a superhuman genius to give Miss Trunchbull what she deserves and Matilda may be just the one to do it!"

This was a fun book to listen to. I loved the narrator and all her voices, and while listening, I looked up who it was--and it was actress Kate Winslet! I'm sure I've read Matilda in the past (as a child or something), but I didn't really remember it. It was fun to compare it to the 90s movie and to the musical. (Like there's a scene with a parrot that's in neither. Or there are a lot of lines from the book that are the exact same in the musical.) I enjoyed the read but probably won't say "loved" it since it wasn't fresh and novel.

Rating: * * (2/3 = Liked it)

From the Desk of Zoe Washington

I read From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks aloud to Emmeline for our Girls' Book Club in May. It is the story of Zoe, who has never met her birth father because he's in prison for a terrible crime. However, when she receives a letter from him on her 12th birthday and starts corresponding with him, she finds out he claims to be innocent. Zoe works to uncover the truth--while trying to keep her family from knowing what's going on.

This was a great read. Emmeline and I both enjoyed it, and all the girls in the book club gave it a thumbs up (meaning they loved it or really liked it). The author had a good balance of hard stuff (father in prison, accused of murder, etc.) with fun stuff (Zoe creating a cupcake recipe of her own and trying to be on a kids' cooking show). The story was engaging (almost too stressful for me at times!) with likable characters. The book does have Zoe lying a lot to her parents and grandma, which is tricky because I don't think that's a great example to kids--and yet all her lying paid off in the end. Tricky. :) I liked that this book is Own Voices (black author writing about a black character) and that it addresses the issue of parental incarceration because I always think it's good to expand kids' experiences and understanding.

Rating: * * (2/3 = Liked it)

Lety Out Loud

I saw Lety Out Loud by Angela Cervantes on the list of Pura Belpre award winners and presented it to Emmeline's book club as one of the possible books to read--and they voted to read it for this month! It's the story of Lety--an English Language Learner--who attends a summer day camp at an animal shelter. She decides to try to be one of the shelter scribes who writes profiles about the animals to help them get adopted. Unfortunately, grumpy Hunter wants to be shelter scribe too--so their friends make it into a contest to see whose profiles get the animals adopted quicker.

This was such a fun read. I'm not really an animal person, so I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy the book that much, but of course I was tearing up at the end as I was reading aloud to Emmeline and had to have her read to me for one page. I loved that the book shared the perspective of families who come to the United States and are learning English. I loved all the characters, and Emmeline always wanted me to keep reading extra chapters so we could see what happened. I also was happy with how things came together at the end. I'm glad we read this one.

Rating: * * * (3/3 = Loved it)

Ginger Pye

Emmeline got assigned Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes for a Newbery book report at school, so I decided to read it too so I could better help with the assignment if needed. This book was the Newbery winner in 1952. It is about Jerry and his sister Rachel who get a pet dog they name Ginger. The book follows their adventures with their dog--until their dog disappears on Thanksgiving Day. Jerry and Rachel are determined to find their pup that they love so much.

This was a great read. I've read some children's books that were written a long time ago (like Half Magic), and I felt like they weren't quite as good as this one. This one was just written so well from a child's perspective and had some funny, clever parts that just made me chuckle (like how the parents met, and Benny saying his name was "Uncle Benny"). It was also fun to read knowing Emmeline was ahead of me in her own reading of it and was really enjoying it.

Rating: * * * (3/3 = Loved it)

Emmaline and the Bunny

I randomly saw Emmaline and the Bunny by Katherine Hannigan on a shelf at the library and was so surprised to see a book with my daughter Emmeline's name.  It looked like a cute book (an easier chapter book with some illustrations in there), so I told Emmeline about it, and we checked it out.  It is about a little girl named Emmaline who lives in Neatasapin where everything is tidy--but she doesn't like being tidy.  She wants a pet bunny, but bunnies are not allowed because they are too dirty.  But Emmaline is lonely, and she wants to find a way to get a bunny somehow.

I read this book aloud to Emmeline over a few days.  It's the first time I've attempted a chapter book with her, and she was actually quite interested in it.  (I only did attempt a chapter book because it was an Emmaline book, but now maybe I'll try again sometime.)  Each day when we read more, I just reminded her what had happened before, and I asked her some questions throughout to see how she was following it and to help her understand.  It was fun to read it with her, and she really liked the plot--a girl named Emmaline, bunny rabbits....that's about all it takes to interest a 3-year-old.  I didn't actually love the book that much though, which surprised me since the author's book Ida B is fabulous.  I think the book was just kind of random.  I also think I would've liked it slightly more if I didn't read it aloud because it had a kind of odd writing style that I think would have come across better in my mind rather than spoken aloud.  But I think it was actually a pretty good first chapter book to read to Emmeline.

Rating: * (1/3 = It was okay)