Life After Magic Treehouse, Take One

I gave my oldest son the Magic Treehouse books, the complete set, for Christmas. Along with all the A to Z Mysteries by Rob Roy. There you go, 75 books. That should hold ya.

He came to me around Valentine's Day and told me he had read them all.

Drat. Now what do I do?

So I begin my Life After Magic Treehouse quest. Started him on Magic Schoolbus and Boxcar Children and the Puppy Place series. And started asking around for what do after that. So here's a list from my friend Kristen, who has five children older than my Jacob. She's a good source. Here are her suggestions as to what her oldest son liked. She wrote:

He was reading Harry Potter by the first grade. He liked mysteries, so he read a lot of Boxcar Children, Hardy Boys, Cam Jansen, Secrets of Droon, Bailey School Kids (I think that's right), maybe some Geronimo Stilton. Maybe not quite 6th grade, but there are a lot of them to keep him busy. He liked the Choose your own adventure books too and Encyclopedia Brown. He also liked the Redwall books -- very long books and he liked them so much he dressed up as one of the characters for Halloween in 1st or 2nd grade ( which of course no one knew who he was.) Maybe more for girls, but the Ramona books and Junie B. Jones are fun.

Life after Magic Treehouse, Take Two

Here's the response I received when I asked my cousin, who was reading Michener's novel Space by the time he was 12. He said,

" Is he old enough for A Wrinkle In Time? Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites? Watership Down? The old Hardy Boys are total fluff but harmless and fun for a kid. I'm not sure about the newer versions of Hardy Boys, but the ones available in about 1980 were great. I'll have to think on this some more. I think you are smart to keep him off the computer for a while. I personally think it's better to let a young mind and brain develop its connection to people, and the written word, before being rewired by computers."

and

"The Great Brain! (very fun series set in pioneer Utah no less.) Encyclopedia Brown. My Side of the Mountain / Far Side of the Mountain / Frightful's Mountain. (those last four are from his wife)."

Life after Magic Treehouse: Take Three

And here's the list from my friend Kristen H, who has two boys older than Jacob. She admits some are more pulp fiction than others. I put stars next to those that she says are particularly pulpy.

*1. Junie B. Jones

2. The Ramona Books by Beverly Cleary

*3. Bad Kitty series

4. Boxcar Children

5. Flat Stanley

6. Geronimo Stilton. We just borrowed a bunch of these from the library and they are a hit in our house!

7. The Littles. (Ah, nostalgia. I loved the Littles.)

*8. Beast Quest series

9. Arthur's chapter books by Mark Brown

10. Dick King Smith's animal books: Babe the Pig, etc.

11. Jigsaw Jones

12. Choose Your Own Adventure . . . until the reader figures out that you always either a) get the treasure, b) die, or c) disappear forever

13. Encyclopedia Brown

14. the old Hardy Boys

15. Cam Jansam's books

So we'll start there. That should take him to say, 4th of July. I hope.

Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind by Ann Ross

Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind was on my bookclub list, so I read it. Nice contrast to Abbie Deal in Lantern in Her Hand.

Abbie Deal did what was right. What was necessary. What was expected.

And so does Miss Julia, the character in Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind. But then her husband dies and Miss Julia adapts to her new life where she doesn't feel that she needs to play a role for anybody. So she's in her later years, learning to be opinionated and independent, because she finally feels like she can be.

Funny. Ross is good at dialogue, developing characters, and situational irony. The tale Ross weaves around this character is charming.

My favorite thing about reading Miss Julia is that I KNOW women like Miss Julia who feel they have to play a role, but really are feisty and sassy underneath. They say, "Whatever works for you," when they really want say "No, that doesn't work at all." They say, "I'll have to ask someone else before I give you my opinion," when they really have an opinion of their own. Truthfully, I don't know what to do with these polite, ever-pleasers. I want to say, "Let it out! Level with me! Just tell me what you want!" Maybe it's because I married OLE-DUR and had an opinion plenty long before I got married. So it's incredibly satisfying to read about Miss Julia, finally coming to her own. It's about time, Sister. Sing it.

This is the first book in the series and I'll probably pick up the others eventually if I can find them in the library. Not sure that I need to One Click it buy it on Amazon, but still, fun to keep on my "go back and read the rest of the series" list.

Lantern in her Hand by Bess Alldrich

I found the suggestion for Lantern in her Hand, by Bess Alldrich, on the blog Memories on Clover Lane, which I occasionally peruse (the blog, not the book). The book got such a great review that I read it.

Lantern in her Hand is about the life of Abbie Deal. Born in the mid-1800's, the story is about her life. She is young, she marries, she raises her kids, she sees Oklahoma start from wilderness and be tamed, she grows old. She dies. She sacrifices---she never learns to paint or sing, but her children do. She never has lots of money, but her children do. She is never famous, but her children become so. And it's worth it, the sacrifice, of course it is.

The book would be rated G. It's squeaky clean. It's Little House on the Prairie all over again. I should buy a copy and put it next to Limberlost. It's sentimental, it's meaningful. It does have some nice moments. I could teach it in any class and no one's parents would email me about the content. It would probably be a nice, clean, appropriate book for a book club.

But personally, I found it troubling. Haunting really, and the themes have taunted me as I've been doing the dishes or dropping kids off at school, or trying to find where Lego Mater is so that my youngest could stop pining for him. (MAY-TER! I want MAY-TER!) Through all these mom tasks, I've been thinking about Abbie Deal.

One of the main themes in the book is sacrifice---Abbie never wears her heirloom pearls, always saving them for the lovely, wealthy bride she wants in her posterity. She makes sure her kids have music lessons and art class, but never takes them for herself.

Couldn't Abbie have both? At least eventually? Couldn't she nurture herself and her kids, especially when she wasn't taking care of babies anymore? It was annoying---in her 40's Abbie finally had the chance to take piano lessons, but no, no, no, she said she was too old. Later, she had the chance to go to Europe, but oh no, she couldn't bring herself to go. And, of course, she never wore the pearls. I wanted to call to her: ABBIE DEAL! TAKE PIANO! ABBIE DEAL! GO TO EUROPE! ABBIE DEAL! WEAR THE PEARLS!

But she didn't.

I think what the author intended for me to get out of the book is that, "Oh, yes, it's all worth it. As a mother, I make sacrifices and it's noble to never set myself a place at the table even if I'm setting a banquet for everyone else."

But I got something else out of it. I think there's value in taking care of the mom of this family---me. Seeing if there's anything I can do that will make HER happy.

I am not Abbie Deal. So I wore my pearls to church on Sunday to remind myself of this. As I was putting on my pearls, my oldest son came into the room. "Are those REAL pearls, Mom?" And I could tell him yes. And what I saw on his face was the realization: his mom is worth real pearls.

So I wear the pearls. I think Abbie would have been a lot happier had she worn hers every now and then.

8th grade essay grading

Occasionally my old school district, where I used to work pre-mom, will hire me to grade essays. This week I have been wrestling with a batch of 8th grade expository essays. It has been delightful! It's good to flex the mental muscles that I once trained to do this sort of work and good to interact with my former colleagues at my school. And I am reminded why I liked teaching junior high---these kids are funny and clever! I have entertained Eric with passages that are just too good to be kept to myself. Wish I could share them here . . .

So I told my sister that I've been grading 8th grade expository essays this week and she said, "You realize you are describing my own personal version of hell---having to grade 8th grade essays."

I laughed. And told her that sadly, I'm actually good at it.

We all have quirky talents to contribute. Of this I am sure.