Book Review: The Help

It is very rare that I read fiction (well, besides children's fiction, of course).  I don't know when, but at some point fiction stopped impressing me.  I would not even pick up a book from any fiction genre.  "They just don't write 'em like they used to," I would explain.  I missed the classics I read as a child and young teenager.  Nothing compared for a long time, and so I just gave up even trying.

I have heard so much about the movie based off of the book The Help, by Kathryn Stockett.  I am not a moviegoer, and definitely am not one to watch a movie before reading the book, so after hearing great reviews of the movie from several people whose judgment I trust, I decided it was time to see what the hoopla was all about.  I purchased a copy and set it next to my nursing chair.

Oh boy.  I didn't know what I was getting into!  I could not put that book down.  Nearly 600 pages, and I had it finished in less than two days (and don't forget, I had to keep five children alive during that time frame)!

Kathryn Stockett's writing was unlike anything I have read in a long time.  Her ability to pull you into the story, to get you invested in the characters . . . flawless.  The way she told the story back and forth in the voices of three different women - and all without creating any voice confusion - was mind boggling to me as a writer.  And the plot just kept you hanging on at every step of the way.

More than anything, though, for me the clincher was that it wasn't just fiction for the sake of being fiction.  This book had a story to tell, and that story had purpose.  This book was thought provoking and powerful and purposeful.  I only loved the book that much more when I read the authors explanation for why she wrote it located in the back of the book.  This book was intelligent and stimulating - two of the most important requirements for me if I am going to enjoy anything I read.

I haven't decided yet if I am going to watch the movie now.  I have learned in my many years as a reader that I develop such a relationship with the characters as they are born and live in my imagination that I am rarely ever pleased with their portrayal on screen.  I know it has been highly praised, however, so I might consider it with this movie.

I can't recommend The Help enough, to those who love fiction as well as to those who don't.  You never know, it just might do for you what it did for me ... and that is awaken anew a hunger for great fiction!

The Lively Reading of Living Books

When Phil and I met, he had very little experience with children.  Sure, he wanted to have fourteen babies when we got married, but I think it would be safe to wager that he probably hadn't even been around a baby fourteen TIMES at that point.  He was the youngest child in his family, cousins included, and had very little chance for interaction with young children.

I always knew he would be the best Daddy ever.  He had the kindest heart and oldest soul of anyone I had ever met.  And wisdom - lots and lots of wisdom.  Tremendous capacity to love, too.  He had everything I wanted for a Daddy to my babies, and more!

There were a few LITTLE things, however, that worried me.  He didn't know how to hold babies (the first time I handed him my baby brother he held him a foot away from his body and said, "What do I DO with him?").  He really wasn't that great at having conversations with little kids.  And his read aloud voice was HORRIBLE!

We now have five children, and almost all of the original concerns that I had as a 16-year-old girl about Phil's parenting ability had been alleviated.  He holds a baby like an old pro now - even able to multi task while carrying a newborn!  Haven't seen the old "I'm-scared-I-might-break-it" look in years. ;)

He can also now talk to any kid of any age about any thing.  He is funny and witty and loving and attentive and everything a two-year-old could possibly need in a listening ear!

But the reading ... O, alas ... the reading!

I had given up for the longest time on asking Phil to read to the kids.  I think because he had never read aloud to a kid before, he would just read as if he was reading in his head and mumble through the story.  No change in tone, voice so low it was barely audible, no exclamations or voice changes for different characters; it was painful for me to listen to.  Books are my THING ... to hear them read like that just plain hurt.

The other night I needed to get ready to head out the door to grab a few things for our upcoming camping trip before we put the trailer down.  I wanted Phil to distract the kids so I wouldn't get bombarded with requests to come with me, but it wasn't quite bed time.  I asked him to grab a few library books and take them all back to their room so that I could get ready without distraction.  What I heard coming from the back of the house made me choke up...

It was my man, reading those library books to the kids with more heart and energy and excitement than I had EVER read to them!  He was reading David Shannon's Good Boy, Fergus!, and you would have thought there was actually a dog named Fergus in the back room!  All four of the older kids were laughing and squealing and completely enthralled by the simple yet entertaining book ... but, more importantly, by the lively way their Daddy was reading it to them.

It was more than I could stand!  I wanted to go back there and grab that man and kiss him square on the lips!!!  To a book addict like myself, hearing him read to the kids like that was better than chocolate or candy or roses! :)  I love him more than anything - always have and always will - but, as Mary Poppins would say, I do believe he now is "practically perfect in every way."  ;)

Five in a Row Goes to the Library

Today we made our first very brave, very eventful trip to the library since Josiah was born.  Mommy was very proud of her little clan, even if there were some disapproving stares from bystanders.  The kids behaved very well - each according to their age and ability - all mature and respectful, so those who disapprove just because there are MORE of them are the ones with the problem! :)

The only big glitch we had was that Daniel had a little accident (just #1, thank goodness!) in his underwear.  A sweet mother with a 3-year-old saw me juggling books and babies and a wet little boy, and came over to the rescue!  She offered to hold Josiah and watch the other three while I took Daniel to the restroom.  Valerie, you kind stranger, wherever you are - you rock!! :)

Otherwise, all went well and we came home with 15 books (didn't have room for much more than that; might have to bring a wagon with us next time ... or start looking on Craiglist for one of those book carts that teachers use).

We borrowed:
 (For Mom) Motivated Minds: Raising Children to Love Learning - by Deborah Stipek, Ph.D., and Kathy Seal
(For Mom) The Read-Aloud Handbook - by Jim Trelease
Harold's Purple Crayon Treasury - by Crockett Johson (Abby's request)
The Napping House - by Audrey Wood
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile - by Bernard Waber
Millions of Cats - by Wanda Gag
The Seven Silly Eaters - by Mary Ann Hoberman
John Henry - by Julius Lester
Pony Island - by Candice F. Ransom (Corbin's request)
Flowers from Mariko - by Rick Noguchi & Deneen Jenks (Abby's request ... Mommy needs to read through it first, though)
Don't Worry Wags - by Christophe Loupy & Eve Tharlet (Daniel's request)
The Acrobat & The Angel - by Mark Shannon & David Shannon (Corbin's request ... Mommy needs to read through it first)
The Rattlebang Picnic - by Margaret Mahy
Too Many Toys - by David Shannon
Good Boy, Fergus - by David Shannon

I'll be back soon with some reviews once we have gotten a chance to dig in!  Happy reading!

Ssshhhhh!!!

Can you keep a secret??  I'm going to give you a sneak peak under the comforter in the back of my closet and let you see what some of our Christmas presents will be!  Good thing my kids don't know how to work  the internet quite yet... :)

For several years we have been buying three gifts per child.  I have found having a number of gifts per child rather than dollar amount allows me to manipulate my overall budget more flexibly.  Besides ... kids get the fairness of each having three gifts far better than they grasp the concept of the dollar sign!  This year, however, I realized that would be FIFTEEN new toys coming into our home just from our own gift-giving.  That doesn't even count all of the extended family!!  We finally have the house and toys simplified where it is manageable; there was no way I was going back to that kind of mayhem!

Thus, the new Christmas gift guidelines:

Everybody shall receive
One simple thing they need,
Some lovely things to read,
and one thing just to please.

(Kinda catchy, huh?? I just wrote that here, on the spot ... which means I need a life!)


In other words, no book limit ... but only one thing "to please" (which, for kids in my children's age range, would usually be a toy) and one thing they need (this year I got a great deal on Crocs from Zulily ... so we all got Crocs as our "one thing" we need!).

A summary of our gift list would look like this:
toys
Crocs
toys
Crocs
blah, blahbity, blah...
....BOOKS!!!

The awesome thing is, my kids are more excited about some of the books they asked for than they are the toys!  Mwaaahhhahaaha ... I have created MONSTERS! ;)

Some of the new books that will be coming to live in our home are:
The ENTIRE Billy and Blaze series!  (half are for Corbin's birthday, which is in December)
Mr. Popper's Penguins
Little House on the Prairie
The Borrowers
The Little Engine that Could
The Mission of Motherhood
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Family Man, Family Leader
The Phantom Tollbooth (I might wrap this one for myself instead of one of the kids ... I love that book so much!)
Harold and the Purple Crayon


I still have a few more to get ... but I am having a hard time deciding between all of the wonderful living books out there!  If you have any suggestions, make them quick ... because I am serious about being 100% done with Christmas shopping before Dec. 1st this year!!

An Inspired Little Boy

I have been working with Corbin on learning to read, and while it hasn't been unpleasant by any means, what he is learning hasn't been sticking as well as I would like it to.  He is compliant and cheerful and cooperative during his lessons, but it just seems like he isn't really paying close enough attention to retain what we are doing.

Just recently we have had several breakthroughs that have made me really hopeful that everything is about to change!

Breakthrough #1:  Corbin started writing!  It began with him copying his sister's artwork, then doing artwork of his own, then he began tracing his name when I wrote it for him at the top of his worksheets, and finally it culminated in him writing his name without me even prompting him to!  He is one of those kids that I can encourage but not push.  If I push, he will push back.  I am so very thankful that the Lord revealed this to me about Corbin at a very young age!  I never "told" him to write his name.  I would casually ask him, "Corbin, do you want to try to write your name at the top of the page, or would you like me to?"  He would usually say, "You can."  I know that if I had made a big deal out of him learning to write his name he would have become angry and defiant.  Because I let him decide when he was ready (with just a little encouragement and gentle prompting from me), he is excited and proud at his new accomplishment!  Mommy is pretty darn proud, too!!  At our homeschool co-op this week he wrote his name from memory on his craft project and was beaming as he tried to show everyone.  It was a big moment for us!

Breakthrough #2:  I realized that the phonics program that I used for Abby (100 Easy Lessons) just was not going to work with Corbin, no matter how wonderful a curriculum it might be.  I noticed that Corbin is very interested in memory work and repetition (I think he knows some of Abby's memory work better than she does!), so I speculated that perhaps The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading might be a better fit.  Abby has been doing it as continuing phonics lessons, just much further on in the book, so I gave it a whirl with Corbin ... and he loved it!  Not only did he enjoy it so much more, but he actually remembered what we had learned.  BIG sigh of relief from Mommy!!

Breakthrough #3:  I believe one of the reasons Corbin was not very motivated to learn to read was because he hadn't yet seen all of the wonder and excitement and mystery and adventure to be had in being able to read on your own.  Mommy can read to him ... Abby can read to him ... Daddy can read to him; why did he need to learn to read for himself?  That all changed when I read to him a book from the Billy and Blaze series.  I have never in my entire life seen a child so excited to be hearing a book read aloud!  He was jumping up and down on his stool, letting out squeals of excitement, and clapping his hands ... I was in awe at how emotionally involved he became with the characters.  He asked to have the book after I finished and went to sit at his desk.  He asked me if I could read it to him again and I told him he would have to wait until everybody was finished with school.  He frowned, looked at the page he was on, and pointed his finger at the first word on the page.  "Mommy, what is this sound?"  I told him what it was, but told him he would have to learn to read to be able to read the whole book.  "Okay, Mom," he said determinedly, "I need to learn to read."  I think my heart skipped several beats!!  He got it!  Right before my very eyes, he realized just what a privilege it was to be able to read on your own ... to go on those adventures by yourself.  I felt like I had just witnessed something very sacred and profound. :)

Corbin is a passionate, passionate boy.  My biggest struggle with his education is going to be finding ways to keep that passionate mind focused on the goals I have for him.  I am thankful beyond words that the first and often biggest hurdle - that of getting a child to care about learning to read - seems to be behind us!

Five in a Row

No, no ... I didn't switch our curriculum (although FIAR is awesome and I love to peruse their book lists!). No, "Five in a Row" would be my nickname for our crew these days:

Aren't they too stinkin' cute?!  From L-R:  Corbin (4.5 years), Samuel (20 mos.), Josiah (7 weeks), Abby (6 years), and Daniel (3 years).

Oh, how I love those babies!!

Our sweet Josiah Wayne is our newest blessing, born in September and breaking the family record for weight - a whopping 10 lbs 12 oz.!!  Cutest 10 lbs. 12 oz. of chub you ever did see! :)

Here he is moments after birth:

GAHH!! I just want to run in to the room and kiss him right now looking at that!!  But I won't.  I will have a little self-control until I finish this post.  THEN I will run in there and kiss his chubby cheeks all over... ;)

And here is a recent one:

Yes, he has awesome hair :) It is a natural mohawk ... no styling required.  It is actually the lightest hair any of our kids have had, and is very close to a strawberry blonde!

Okay, just one more pic because I like him so much!

*sigh*