Photo Friday

Just looking around, and decided that in honor of my picture book, A Is For Alpine, and the start of summer vacation, I'd do a little photo essay on what little kids do when backpacking.  These were taken on a 6-day trip in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming, in 2005 when our boys were 6 & 7 years old.

What do kids do in the woods?

Wherever they are, they'll find swords and have a sword fight.   Right in the trail.  Don't imagine you're going anywhere in a hurry!  Taking kids to the woods will change your perspective and priorities.

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Kids will stop and snack.  Also right in the trail, and more often than you would have thought possible.  Note that Mom's pack is larger than the kid.  That's also something kids will do--increase your pack size!  Taking your kids hiking will make you a stronger and fitter person.

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Kids will explore.  You did bring dry clothes for them, right?  Because kids and water?  It's pretty much a magnetic pull.

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They'll find treasures.  You didn't know that old bones were treasure?  You must not have boys.  Or you've not taken them outdoors.  Every stick is a weapon, and as Calvin said (that's Calvin as in Calvin and Hobbes), there's treasure everywhere.

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Like mother, like sons.  Sometimes all they want is a pad of paper and a pen or two for some quiet play--to do in the woods just what they'd do at home.

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And sometimes they sit and eat in the best seat in camp.  Mom thought that was her seat!

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Sometimes they'll just sit, because being outside can be tiring.

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Eventually they'll crawl into their tent, and into warm sleeping bags, and listen to a story.

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And when the pack comes off at (or near!) the end of a long hike, they might just fly away!

And of course, when it's all over, they'll eat ice cream.  And burgers.  And fries.  More of all of it than you would have thought possible!  If you're lucky, they will NOT proceed to become carsick.

So what are you waiting for?  Take your babies camping!

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 On an unrelated topic, the Wendig Challenge this week was to write a complete story in 100 words.  Here's mine, exactly 100 words, exclusive of the title.

The Mountain

The mountain was their god, the one thing on or about the Island that was always there.  And then, one day, it wasn’t.  After that, there wasn’t much to do but survive, for the few people left.  Most of the island’s people were gone, buried under the rubble and the lava.

Those who were left worked and struggled and ate everything that wasn’t stone, and they survived.  But they did not pray to the mountain-god that had turned on them.  Gradually, they rebuilt their world with neither mountain nor god.

When the rescuers finally came, the survivors refused to go.

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©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2014

Middle Grade Review: Dear Papa, by Anne Ylvisaker

Title: Dear Papa
Author: Anna Ylvisaker
Publisher: Candlewick Press, 2007, 192 pages
Source: Library

Summary:
When the book opens Isabelle is 9, and learning to write letters at school.  She chooses to write to her dead Papa, because she sometimes feels like she's the only one who thinks about him.  To make it worse, her mother sends her and her older sisters to live with relatives, which feels to the 9-year-old like a total rejection.

Eventually, Isabelle writes to her Aunt Isabelle, her sisters and brother, and her friends, as well as her Papa.  But the whole story is told in her letters--letters written over a span of years, though the bulk of the story takes place between ages 9 and 12.

Set during WWII, the story reflects its time, but it is ultimately the story of a girl growing up, not of a country at war.

Review:
The epistolary format makes this book a quick read, but that doesn't mean it's shallow.  I think that the author captures nicely Isabelle's sense of isolation, her fears, and above all her in-the-middle place in the family.  Her older sisters are old enough to be realistic about their father's death and the fact that there mother is moving on--must move on.  Her younger brother and sister are young enough to quickly forget their father, except in a vague sort of way.  To Isabelle, all these are betrayals.

The author does a great job of letting the reader see and understand more than Isabelle does, even though all the words are hers.  Though I think a child reading this would be much more likely to take characters (like the new man in her mother's life) at Isabelle's reading of them, at least as an adult I could see that there was more depth there than she credits.

Recommendation:
A decent, though not exceptional read, and good for those who enjoy historical fiction and coming-of-age novels.

Full Disclosure: I checked  Dear Papa  out of my library, and received nothing from the writer or publisher in exchange for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Book Review: Minding the Manor

 

Title: Minding the Manor: the Memoir of a 1930s English Kitchen Maid (published in the UK as Aprons and Silver Spoons).

Author: Mollie Moran

Publisher: in UK, Penguin Books, 2013.  In US, Lyons Press, 2014.  348 pages.

Source: The library (where else, right?)

 Summary:

The subtitle really says it all.  This is the memoir of a woman who worked in the kitchens of the British Aristocracy in the time between the wars, the last years of the real servant system.  She started as a scullery maid at age 14, and by just past 20 got work as a cook.  Though she includes a bit of her childhood to provide context, and a quick summary of her life after she got married and left service, the book is about being part of the "downstairs" society.

Review:

Mollie Moran has retained a writing voice that reflects her upbringing.  The book reads very much like she's talking to you about her life then, including some odd grammatical quirks and a tendency to directly address the reader.  It's a style that makes the book feel less professional, but at the same time more real.  Dialogue is used freely, though obviously it must be reconstructed, a permissible stretching for a memoir, I believe.  The book was a quick, easy read and definitely interesting to those who like the history of that period (like me), despite an unpolished feeling.

Recommendation: 

The cover says that if you are a fan of Downton Abbey you'll like this, and it's probably true.  I'd recommend it for those interested in the period, for whatever reason, and perhaps especially for us Yankees who may not have a very good grip on the class system (I spent a winter taking a dive into that system in a way, working as an au pair for a rather wealthy family in Monaco.  I didn't take very kindly to being treated as a servant.  Maybe you have to be brought up to it!).

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Full Disclosure: I checked Minding the Manor out of my library, and received nothing from the writer or publisher in exchange for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

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Today is Memorial Day here in the US, so I want to just take a moment to say "thank you" to all those who have served and died for our country.  So many of my parents' generation were lost to WWII, and so many have been lost since in all that "non-wars" we've fought.  We honor their sacrifice, and would like to see an end to any need for more.