Reasons and Raisins

Our rating: ***½

“Don’t eat the raisins,” says Little Fox’s mother. She wants to make pudding for dinner. But Little Fox disobeys and takes the raisins on his bike. And so begins a series of events with several people who have reasons for what they do.

Here’s a great story to read aloud. Not only does it teach that people have reasons for what they do, it also shows that some people have a reason entirely different than the reason they tell. Young children will love the fun story line in Reasons and Raisins.

Pollyanna Grows Up

Our rating: ***½

Nearly all healed from her automobile accident, Pollyanna is about thirteen now. Della Wetherby asks her to stay with Miss Wetherby’s sister, Mrs. Carew, while Aunt Polly and Dr. Chilton are in Germany. After some painful family experiences, including the loss of a nephew named Jamie, Mrs. Carew has shut herself into a gloomy, dark world. Pollyanna goes to Boston and cheers up Mrs. Carew before going with her aunt and uncle on another trip to Europe. During the six years abroad, however, Dr. Chilton dies and it seems as if there will be hard times ahead for the young woman who is still playing her Glad Game.

Whew. There’s a lot of plot to this book. Pollyanna Grows Up is a little more adult than the previous book, Pollyanna, as it focuses more on love and marriage. It’s a little funny because just about everybody thinks that the person they love loves somebody else. Anyway, there’s a subplot going on with the lost Jamie that I barely mentioned in the review. There’s a lot to this book and it might make for a long review if I tried to stuff it all into one. But although somewhat different from the first book, Pollyanna is still herself. I enjoyed this book. The plot, though perhaps a little predictable, ends well.

Watership Down

Our rating: ****½

Warned by a prophetic rabbit named Fiver, Hazel leads a group of rabbits out of his doomed warren to start a new life. However, even though they make it away safely, it will take all of their cunning and skill to keep the new warren on Watership Down thriving. In order not to die off, a group of rabbits are sent to bring back does (female rabbits) from the nearby warren of Efrafa. But the Efrafens are tough, military rabbits, and only a cunning trick will bring the does back safely.

Wonderful! The story of Hazel, Fiver, and their friends is one you won’t forget easily. Every page is interesting and vividly real. My only problem was that the rabbits would sometimes speak in a special rabbit language, which required flipping to the glossary to find the meanings of words. But this minor detail is easily taken care of by the end of the book, because Watership Down is so long, you’ll probably have most of the rabbit language memorized by the final chapters. Great to read out loud, and a must-read by my standards!

The Sneetches and Other Stories

Our rating: ****

Four silly stories by Dr. Seuss about some rather interesting subjects.

The Sneetches, the title story, is about birds. Half have stars on their bellies, the other half don’t. The ones with the stars lord it over the ones without. One day, a man offers to add stars to those with none.

The Zax is a tale of two creatures who won’t budge from their tracks to let the other through.

Too Many Daves is a crazy poem about a woman who named all of her sons Dave.

Finally, What was I Scared of? tells the story of “a pair of walking green pants with nobody inside them.”

This is probably my favorite Seuss book. I’ve always loved The Sneetches, and Too Many Daves is a poem that I can partially recite. Anyway, some great stories.

Henry Reed’s Journey

Our rating: *****

Henry Reed is coming back to Grover’s Corner, but in a whole new way. Instead of flying directly to Grover’s Corner, he’s going to San Francisco, where his friend Midge’s family is. They all plan to drive back, across the continent back to New Jersey. But with Henry and Midge having a way of starting innocent accidents, and souvenirs for their travel museum piling up, Mr. Glass might not survive to drive them home!

Personally, this is my favorite Henry Reed book. Everywhere the car stops, Henry and Midge cause an accident or get pulled into something. From Midge starting a gold rush, to Henry saving a hotel swimming pool, Henry Reed’s Journey is a definite winner. Too bad it’s out of print.