Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog

Haven’t done one of these in a while! Sorry about that; I, er, kept forgetting. Anyway! Since I did a list about retro reads for the summer, I thought it might be a good idea to do one for the winter as well (especially since I already did a Christmas-with-a-twist list last year. Dang!).

So: these books don’t necessarily take place in the winter, but they all do something similar: they provide comfort and entertainment when you’re snowed in and can’t go anywhere, not even outside because your nose will freeze and fall off. Or, if you don’t have snow in your winters, they at least make you less bored during family gatherings when every but you seems enormously tall and they’re all talking about their ulcers or something.

1. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder (1932-1974ish). These books always made me hungry for some reason. Remember the part where Laura’s mom makes donuts? YUM.
2. The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper (1974). I think I’ve put this book on a fair number of lists by now, but whatever, it’s great. AND it takes place in the winter! Bonus!
3. Night Flight by Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1932). This is sort of like Roald Dahl’s Going Solo but set during WWI and with less overtly funny stuff going on.
4. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (1961). I can totally put this on multiple lists, what are you talking about.
5. Elephi, The Cat With the High IQ by Jean Stafford (1962). Does anyone else know about this book? Well, it’s totally cute. It’s about a really smart cat who goes around being smart and making friends with snowed-in cars and stuff.
6. Blubber by Judy Blume (1976). This is probably my favorite Judy Blume book, tbh. I love how it’s got an anti-bullying message without being overly sappy.
7. Watership Down by Richard Adams (1976). Maybe this book is more horrifying than comforting, but whatever, I like it. Bunnies!
8. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle (1976). One day I’ll be able to read this and understand it completely.

Do you have any favorite books you like to read in the winter?

Thanks to Once Upon a Bookshelf for the list-y inspiration!

Like diaries, I love reading books that are essentially just letters. I love the mail and I love getting letters (although I don’t particularly like writing them), and so reading books composed entirely of letters is a lot of fun! Unless it’s boring, which can sometimes happen.

But mostly it’s not boring! Here’s some of my favorite letter-y novels:

1. Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn (2001).
2. Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart (1914).
3. Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer (1988).
4. Evelina, Or, the History of a Young Lady’s Entrance into the World by Fanny Burney (1778).
5. The Year Of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty (2003).
6. Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster (1912).
7. Freedom and Necessity by Emma Bull and Steven Brust (1997).
8. Persian Letters by Montesquieu (1721).

What’s your favorite epistolary novel?

Thanks to Once Upon a Bookshelf for the list-y inspiration!

I was inspired by @KateMilford‘s summer reads table at McNally Jackson to come up with my own list of books I’d include on a summer reads table somewhere. I have a not-so-secret love of retro kids books, especially ones that remind me of my own childhood summers where I’d read about three a day, and then reread all of them multiple times a year whenever I ran out of new books (which was often).

This list is full of some of my favorite older (as in pre-1990) kids books, ones that I think would make a lazy summer afternoon about ten times better than it already is. And the best part is that you don’t even have to be a kid to enjoy them!

• The Long Secret by Louise Fitzhugh (1965). Technically you should read Harriet the Spy before reading this one, as it’s a sequel. But when you DO read The Long Secret, it should be while sitting on the beach watching the waves rolling in.
• From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg (1968). Find a museum, any museum, and read this book while sitting amongst beautiful works of art.
• The Sylvia Game by Vivian Alcock (1982). A more spooky and gothic book, perfect for reading during a thunderstorn.
• The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (1971). Probably best read while sitting in an old house, listening to it creaking and groaning. Or maybe while sitting next to a pond, under a willow tree, listening to the birds screeching.
• The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (1961). Best read while being dragged to some boring thing by your parents, or while sitting in the car waiting for your parents to get back from doing some boring thing.
• The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (1979). To brighten up a dull afternoon at summer camp (I’ve never been, but I’m sure there must be one or two boring days at camp).
• Behind the Attic Wall by Sylvia Cassedy (1983). For when you’re visiting your grandmother or great aunt and she puts you in the room where she keeps her creepy doll collection.
• Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself by Judy Blume (1977). Find a porch and a good supply of popsicles, and then read this book (don’t worry if the popsicles melt on the book; it adds to the experience).
• Anastasia Krupnik by Lois Lowry (1979). Read this when you’re grounded in your room for getting the porch all sticky with popsicle juice (ants don’t just get rid of themselves!).
• The House With a Clock in its Walls by John Bellairs (1973). For the last days of summer, when the days are getting cooler and Halloween is lurking on the far-away horizon. Best read with a flashlight, under the covers.

Also, I’m kind of thinking of making this list a readalong challenge thingy for over the summer. What do you think? Would you join in if I did it?

Thanks to Once Upon a Bookshelf for the list-y inspiration!

Haven’t done one of these in a while! So: World War II YA fiction. It’s one of those topics that’s been done so much it’s hard to do much more, and in fact I’ve become way more interested in other wars that don’t get much attention compared to WWII (WWI, for instance). However, some of my favorite YA fiction just so happens to take place during WWII, and it’s some really good fiction.

So: a list of seven WWII YA books that rocked my socks off.

1. I Go By Sea, I Go By Land by P.L. Travers (1941).
2. Stepping on the Cracks by Mary Downing Hahn (1991).
3. Spying on Miss Muller by Eve Bunting (1995).
4. Theatre Shoes (aka Curtain Up) by Noel Streatfeild (1944).
5. Lydia, Queen of Palestine by Uri Orlev (1993).
6. Lily’s Crossing by Patricia Reilly Giff (1997).
7. Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (1947). Not YA FICTION, I know, but it was written by a young adult and plenty of young adults read it, so I’m putting it on the list.

Also, I wasn’t sure whether or not to put A Tale of Time City by Diana Wynne Jones (1987) on the list, since it DOES have a WWII London evacuee as a protagonist, but it mostly takes place in teh future and it’s more sci-fi than, like, anything else.

(I found this article while Googling around, and I think it makes an interesting read: World War II As Seen Through Children’s Literature. Also,here’s a list of YA historical fiction booklists.)

Thanks to Once Upon a Bookshelf for the list-y inspiration!