Three More Books

         Often when I check out books from the library, it will be with the intention of proof reading materials that Jenna might enjoy.  Occasionally I’ll check out books that I know she has absolutely no interest in but might interest me.  I generally read young fiction because I don’t have time for wordy adult novels.

I still have not read Watt Key’s Alabama Moon, but I did just finish Fourmile.  Loved the book.  Easy reading (finished it in less than two weeks – even with Jenna’s constant interruptions) and good for imagination.

         I’m guessing Foster (who tells the story) is an eleven year old boy who lives with his mom on the farm (Fourmile) that was his dad’s dream.  Only his dad had died the year before.

Foster has a dog named Joe who came to him right after his father died. 

He hates his mom’s social interest, Dax. 

When Foster starts painting the fence that surrounds the property, he develops a huge interest in a stranger named Gary Conway.

         The book is very well written.  I really like Watt Key’s style.  He brings a flavor of Alabama to the reader and an ability to feel what Foster feels and see the things he sees.  I really appreciated having the same sense as Foster.  And how he sums up the story in the last chapter.  I especially like his last two lines about memories. So profound.  I already turned the book in and so do not have the exact quote.

        

         Jenna and I finished reading a book called “The One and Only Ivan” by Katherine Applegate.  Fantastic book.  Also Easy Reading.  For the most part we read at night before she went to sleep.

         I may have mentioned it before, but I tend to get into books a lot better when they are told in first person – even if that first person happens to be a gorilla.  Allows me understand better how the main character views things and what is being felt than when narrated in third person.

Ivan is a silverback gorilla who lives at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade.  The story is told from his point of view. 

Ivan was captured in captivity and purchased for display to attract and draw crowds and drivers passing on the highway.  He has friends, but does not know if other gorillas even exist.

His best friends are Stella, an elephant, and Bob, a stray dog.  He also has a human friend named Julia.  She gives him crayons and other art supplies and he draws and his owner sells his pictures to tourists who will pay outrageous prices.

When Stella gets to old and out of shape to perform her tricks, the circus owner brings in another elephant named Ruby.  Stella tells Ivan about the zoo and says that is where Ruby needs to be.  She believes the humans treat animals better at the zoo than at the Big Top.  She makes Ivan promise that he will find a way to get Ruby away from Big Top.

Okay, I guess it’s a little far fetched.  There really was an Ivan and a Big Top mall and when the mall went bankrupt the real Ivan ended up at the zoo.  So the book is based on an actual character.  But it’s not like Katherine Applegate was able to sit down and have an actual interview with Ivan. 

I like and appreciate the imagination of the author – who of course doesn’t really know Ivan’s story, but has made one up.  Jenna and I both LOVED this book.

         When we finished we moved onto Wonder by RJ Palacio.  It is about a 5^th child who has a face deformity and about to enter public school for the first time.  Jenna keeps on asking what kind of deformity.  I told her it doesn’t matter.  The point of the story is how to treat others – not what we look like.

         I must confess that I had actually stopped reading it with Jenna and would read whenever I'd pick her up from school.  I was able to finish the book while waiting outside of mom's room.  It is a really fun book narrated by a variety of people who each tells his or her point of view.  

        The story focuses on a boy who has a unique appearance - a face that makes most people do a double take or are horrified or threatened by what they see.  August is fully aware of the reaction and behavior of those around him and school is a challenge but proves to be possibly the best thing that he's ever done.
        The story takes us from August's point of view to his sister, Olivia, to his friend Jack (and it is Jack's narration that had me laughing the hardest) and other friends of both August and Olivia.

         Very well written.  Highly entertaining.  And very thought provoking.  Enlightened and threaded with precepts and moral values.  Loved the book.

My Take on “Alabama Moon”

         There is always a risk factor involved with selecting videos I have not previously seen or may have never even heard of before.  For the most part I have read the description, visualize the setting of the story and may check it out.  But most often I have made poor selections as there have been many that I cannot be drawn in due to bad acting or poor dialogue or lame writers or what have you.  I actually haven’t been successful in my gambles.  But on Saturday we checked out a video I rather enjoy and will have to look into reading the award winning novel by Watt Key (as books are generally much much better than the movie)

         “Alabama Moon” was great.  I enjoyed watching Moon grow and allow himself to make choices and find strengths in those he associated with.  The story starts off with Moon burying his father, and as he is digging we see the flashbacks in his mind about how and where Moon and his father lived.  When his father realizes that he will soon die, he encourages Moon to remain living out his days in the same manner.

         But the “law” interferes with Moon’s plans – or tries to.  Clinton Howard plays a sleezeball constable who’s out for vengeance.  The more Moon tries to honor the wishes of his father, the more ruthless the constable becomes - so much to the point of satisfying his own egotistical pride rather than upholding the law.

         I LOVE John Goodman’s character.  From the first moment he asks Moon if he’s okay and offers him a sweet roll – which Moon devours.  He does this with genuine concern and is quite careful NOT to help Clinton Howard’s character. 

         Moon learns what it is like to have friends and to be a part of a world his father had kept him from.  There is good and evil – not just evil as his father had led him to believe.  Torn between wanting to honor his father’s wishes and not wanting to continue alone, Moon is faced with a fate that only he can decide.

         That leads us to the climax of the movie.  I could go on, but choose not to so as not to spoil the ending for anyone who wishes to see (or read) it. The end of the movie was more than satisfactory.  I loved the movie as a whole and highly recommend it.