Review: Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

Title: Charlotte's Web
Author: E.B. White
Published: January 1st 1900
Source: Purchased
Genre: Childrens
Buy: Amazon ~*~ Barnes & Noble
Add to your Goodreads shelf
Caution: May contain spoilers

Charlotte's Web  is the story of a little girl named Fern who loved a little pig named Wilbur—and of Wilbur's dear friend Charlotte A. Cavatica, a beautiful large grey spider who lived with Wilbur in the barn.

With the help of Templeton, the rat who never did anything for anybody unless there was something in it for him, and by a wonderfully clever plan of her own, Charlotte saved the life of Wilbur, who by this time had grown up to quite a pig.

How all this comes about is Mr. White's story. It is a story of the magic of childhood on the farm. The thousands of children who loved Stuart Little, the heroic little city mouse, will be entranced with Charlotte the spider, Wilbur the pig, and Fern, the little girl who understood their language.

The forty-seven black-and-white drawings by Garth Williams have all the wonderful detail and warmhearted appeal that children love in his work. Incomparably matched to E.B. White's marvelous story, they speak to each new generation, softly and irresistibly.

My Thoughts:

I chose to reread Charlotte's Web for Banned Books Week this year mostly because I haven't read it in probably more than 15 years. I did read it numerous times growing up, so I remembered a lot of it. What I took away this time around was probably more than I ever took away back then though. Most of you already know the story, so I won't go into that. What I will talk about is how the book made me feel.

One of those things was Fern. She was loving and caring and full of life. She knew what was going on with the animals and she talked about it all the time. There was something extra special about her. I think what got to me was how much she just enjoyed the simple pleasures in life. Sitting on the stool by Wilbur's pen, taking in the sights and sounds. How many of us get to do that anymore? How many of us wish we could do that right now?

Of course, there was also Charlotte. Wonderful and amazing Charlotte. Her outlook on life and her wisdom are amazing. The way she and Wilbur interacted touched my heart. Wilbur learned a lot about life from Charlotte, and in the end he became the terrific pig she always knew he could be. The absolute best thing about their friendship can be summed up in this conversation between the two of them:

"Why did you do all this for me?" he asked. "I don't deserve it. I've never done anything for you."

"You have been my friend," replied Charlotte. "That in itself is a tremendous thing."

That quote... typing it out is bringing the tears to my eyes. It's such a beautiful quote.

Reading Charlotte's Web by E.B. White again brought back so many memories and caused me to have a brighter outlook on life. Friends are important, helping each other is important, enjoying the simple things in life is important. If you haven't read this one since you were a kid, I strongly recommend that you read it again sometime. It will warm your heart just as it did before. I am certainly glad I took the time to.

My Rating:

Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop! Enter to win bookish things...

Welcome to the Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop! Brought to you by the wonderful I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and Bookhounds. The dates for this hop run from September 22nd through 28th.

Click here to check out the rest of the participating blogs!!!

 

Here is what you can win from me today:

ONE BANNED BOOK OF CHOICE! *

Need some ideas? Here are some I recommend! BUT, if you have another one in mind (that has been banned) and it's under $12 and available from The Book Depository, you can get that one.

1. Crank by Ellen Hopkins

2. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

3. Hold Still by Nina LaCour

4. Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

5. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

6. Forever by Judy Blume

* Cover you receive may vary based on what is available from The Book Depository.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sound good? Good! Here's the official rules/guidelines for the giveaway:

1. You must be a follower.
2. You must be over 15 years old.
3. This is open to international followers.
4. This contest runs from September 22nd through 28th.
5. You can gain extra entries by "liking" my Facebook page and/or following me on Twitter @Jess_Sankiewicz.
6. Winner will be selected at 12:01 a.m. on September 29th via Rafflecopter random selection.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you for following and entering!!!

Question of the Moment: What do you think about book banning? (8)

I have discussed before last year about book banning-thinking from the perspective of people on the other side and the irony of banning a book. My thoughts on the matter is, to put it plainly, that it irritates me. I just find it so strange that one person (or a group of people) can go around dictating what should and shouldn’t be read. It’s ridiculous to see children and adolescents deprived of a book containing a strong message. Every time Banned Books Week comes around, all I can think of is Laurie Halse Anderson’s poem, and I nearly start crying. The gist of it is this: The words penned in certain books can have an enormous impact on the ones who read it. You can see her read it in this video on YouTube.

I understand where these parents and adults are coming from. Some of these books can be explicit and talk about very heavy subject matter. They may not think their child or teen should read it. And that is fine. It’s when you force your choice to be a rule, thereby removing the book from the hands of the rest of the children and adolescents. Do what you wish with your own children. Don’t keep that book away from other children.

How about you? Do you think books should be banned? Have you read any banned books? What do you think about Banned Books Week? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

~Jessica

Review: Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

Title: Twenty Boy Summer
Author: Sarah Ockler
Summary: Read Goodreads Synopsis
Source: Purchased e-book
Buy: Amazon ~*~ Barnes & Noble
Caution: May contain spoilers


My Thoughts:

Anna, Frankie, and Matt were an inseparable trio of friends. Frankie and Matt were brother and sister, and Anna was best friends with Frankie while having a crush on Matt. One wonderful day, Matt kisses Anna and everything seems to be going wonderfully. Before they could tell anyone (even Frankie), the three of them get into an accident, and Matt doesn’t make it. Anna and Frankie and her parents, Red and Jayne, struggle to keep it together while they deal with his death. Frankie is acting out, doing things she shouldn’t be doing. A little over a year after, Frankie’s family has Anna join them on the yearly family vacation. The first one they’ve gone on since the accident.

Frankie’s determined to make it the ABSE (Absolute Best Summer Ever). Included in this best summer is a challenge to meet twenty guys. Anna isn’t too keen on this idea because Matt is still close to her heart. Yet she can’t tell anyone what had happened between the two of them because she promised Matt she would let him tell Frankie. So Anna goes along with whatever Frankie has planned reluctantly.

What Anna didn’t count on was Sam. Someone she maybe might possibly like. And he seems to like her back. Liking him means pushing aside Matt, letting go the beautiful memories she has of Matt. How could she do that when Matt meant so much to her?

This story will take your breath away. The depth of the emotions carries on throughout in more ways than one. There’s the initial beginning of grief, to the aftermath, then the traditions that make the present painful when you recall the past that will never be future again. Everyone faces them, and deals with them in their own way. Anna’s secret about Matt finds it’s way out, with agonizing results. I was reading that part while at work and had to step back to keep from crying. It is intense. The whole story is intense.

Sarah Ockler has amazed me with this book. I had a feeling it would be powerful, but I had no idea how powerful. There are so many emotions you face after reading it yourself. Now that I’ve read it, I can see why some felt it needed to be banned. It is for more mature teens, but it is a must read for everyone when they can handle it.

My Rating:

Exceptional...Stay up until at least 1 AM!

~Jessica

The Psychology of the Irony of Book Banning

When a book gets banned, the people who are behind the ban are satisfied. Their children, their friend’s children, their children’s friends--none of them will be exposed to this book at their school library. Usually a book banning generates a good deal of publicity. Newspaper articles, school newspaper articles, online articles, online blog posts, online blog rants, sometimes a local radio or television show video or interview. Pretty much everyone who stays in the know about the news is aware of what happens.

Including the children.

If you tell a child they can’t have a cookie before dinner, that child wants a cookie even more. Sometimes the child may even find a way to sneak a cookie while your back is turned. This even goes for anytime a child shouldn’t have a cookie. For crying out loud, I remember sneaking into the kitchen at midnight to get a cookie out of our cookie jar at least once.

My point being…

Even "big kids" do this, as the picture clearly shows.

You tell a kid a book is bad for them and that kid is going to RUN to the nearest bookstore or library that has it and snatch it up and read it behind your back.

I thought this was quite amusing, since it is very true. I wanted to understand why we get reactions like this. So I Googled it. Apparently it’s called psychological reactance. According to Wikipedia: “Reactance is an emotional reaction in direct contradiction to rules or regulations that threaten or eliminate specific behavioral freedoms.” In other words, people don’t like when other people tell them what they should do or that they can’t have something. Try to control people, and they are bound to rebel eventually.

It's just like on How I Met Your Mother when Barney wanted Robin back:

Ted: You only want her because you can't have her. It's like if I said "You can sit anywhere in this room except... that chair." Are you so petty that...

Barney: My chair! My chair!

If somebody doesn’t want someone to read a book, they should just tell all the kids it’s a REALLY BORING book. Then they might have a little bit more success in getting them to not read it. Although, in what universe will kids ever listen to that either?

I just thought it was interesting that banning books will sometimes have more of a reverse effect. It almost makes the idea of book banning laughable.

The Parental Dilemma: Put Yourself In Their Place

Kids may come into contact with "strange" people in books.

Often, books get banned because a parent picks up the book their kid is reading and the content shocks them. I can understand the shock. I think about certain books I’ve read and know that children of certain ages should not be reading them yet. Even though I understand doesn’t mean I condone book banning.

It’s funny, I always had the personal opinion about how I’d handle book reading with my own children. I know a lot about various books, whether from personal reading or synopsis and review reading. All this information is stored in the back of my mind and I have things sorted by category (genre/age group). Take Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White for example. I do know the book pretty well but what if I didn’t? I’d know it’s about animals and it’s for children. On the other end of the spectrum--Ellen Hopkins’ Crank. If I didn’t know this book, I’d categorize it as a coming of age novel featuring prominent drug usage and it’s for teens.

Then, at our garage sale, some friends stopped by and the one daughter (she’s about 14) bought three books. Her mom proceeded to say to me, “She loves to read, but I always worry about whether the books are appropriate for her age. It’s not like I can read all of them.” What she said kind of hit me later:

Most parents don’t know books like I do.

It has to be hard for parents nowadays to know what kind of books are age appropriate. Sure, they could read the synopsis on the back, but do they always tell you what the book is about? Sometimes they don’t. Sometimes it’s vague. Sometimes it barely gives any relevant information at all. The cover doesn’t always portray what the content includes. You don’t know whether the book will contain swearing, drug use, or sex. You may get the impression that it’s a possibility, but it’s not always concrete. It’s not like movie ratings that specify what you’ll see if you watch it.

Which brings me to my next point: Ratings. It’s too bad there isn’t a system for rating books as to age appropriateness or content warning. I mean, even CD’s at least say Parental Advisory if it’s explicit. It would probably be pretty hard to put books into categories like that. I could list several books that would be rated R based on swear words alone. Add in all the books with the drug content and sex and you’ve got a huge stack of rated R books, and a slightly smaller stack of PG-13... and a tiny stack of PG, and a handful of G. Everything would be mass chaos.

I assured her mom I could recommend some age appropriate books for her daughter. That seemed to put her at ease. I have to say I’m glad I know as much as I do about books. If I didn’t, I would be at a loss, like a lot of parents seem to be these days.

Ever since my childhood friend had her baby, I’ve thought about how it would be to have children. What if my twelve year old son was reading Crank? I might worry about him experimenting with drugs. What if my thirteen year old daughter was reading Thirteen Reasons Why? I might worry about her relating to Hannah so much that she may justify suicide as an easy way to escape pain.

Simply put, being a parent would be scary. I can understand when parents are concerned about books. I wish they would take a step back and think about what banning a book means. Think about a basic plot in a typical dystopian for a moment: A society has strict regulations on simple life choices they deem shouldn’t be choices because of bad consequences that may happen. Book banning is like a dystopian society dictating how we should live. While it may prevent some bad consequences, they forget about what kind of influence movies, TV, music, and peers have on their children too.

This is why I love Banned Books Week. It’s a way to express personal thoughts and to understand all points of view. We may not all agree about a book being proper for an age group, but we do agree that banning is extreme. There needs to be a balance and a respect for others rather than a focus on our own agenda. It is good to put ourselves in the other person’s shoes though. A little understanding can go a long way to help the cause.

Banned Books Week Hop GIVEAWAY!!!

This giveaway has ended.

Banned Books Week Hop!!

Hey everyone! Welcome to one of the many stops on the Banned Books Week Hop! This is hosted by the wonderful people at I Read Banned Books and I Am A Reader, Not A Writer. The point of this hop is to give away an awesome Banned Book (or gift card) and to spread the word about banned books! I am giving away one Banned Book from a list of 12 choices. ^_^ Get the details AND check out all the other blogs participating in this hop by clicking the highlighted links above for the blog hosts.

And on to the giveaway! It's simple, you fill out the form here--name, email address, and choose the book you'd like to win. Piece of cake. (One entry per person.)

Here are the "official rules":

1. You must be a follower.

2. You must be 15 years old or older.

3. This is open to international followers. (Only if The Book Depository will ship to you; please check this link to see if you are eligible.)

 4. This contest runs from September 24th to October 1st.

5. Winner will be selected via random.org no later than October 3rd 2011 and will be notified by a blog post and via email.

I have selected TWELVE different banned books for you to choose from. *

Here they are:

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (Goodreads)

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (Goodreads) **

Go Ask Alice by Beatrice Sparks (as "Anonymous") (Goodreads)

Forever... by Judy Blume (Goodreads) **

Gossip Girl by Cecily Von Ziegesar (Goodreads) **

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler (Goodreads)

ttyl by Lauren Myracle (Goodreads) **

What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones (Goodreads) **

Cut by Patricia McCormick (Goodreads)

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler (Goodreads)

Crank by Ellen Hopkins (Goodreads) **

Just Listen by Sarah Dessen (Goodreads) **

* Disclaimer: Cover of book you receive may vary based on what The Book Depository has available.

** Books I have read!

Sound good? GREAT! Fill out the form here!!!

Happy Banned Books Week!

~Jessica

Update Thursday #25

Update Thursday #25

Welcome to Update Thursday, my own personal meme of sorts where I post an update of the goings on at my blog, with reading, with writing, and beyond. Feel free to borrow the idea from me for your own bookish musings.

~*~

Reading, Writing...

Books I finished this week:
~Garfield Minus Garfield by Jim Davis
~Persuasion by Jane Austen (Summer Romance Challenge)

Books I'm reading now (and some still):

~Virals by Kathy Reich
~Portal by Imogen Rose
~Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (Summer Romance Challenge)
~Stealing Heaven by Elizabeth Scott (Off The Shelf Challenge)

Summer Romance Challenge Progress Link (7 of 8 finished) ~ends 09/30/11
Off The Shelf Reading Challenge Progress Link (1 of 5 finished) ~ends 12/31/11

AHHH!! Almost done with Summer Romance Challenge. Can't wait to move on to the rest of the books I have lined up. Including my Banned Books Week personal read.

Speaking of Banned Books Week, we're only TWO DAYS AWAY! Get yourselves ready, I've got stuff lined up to get you to think and get involved. ^_^

Writing: Totally came up with another story idea. I still need to copy it out of my phone into my writing notebook. Other than that, not much happening this week. The focus has been reading, and blog writing and plotting. (Speaking of which, I had this great idea last night for a blog post dealing with balancing, I was up until 2 AM writing it...)

And Otherwise...

After I read some blog posts the other day, I was compelled to look up the audiobook Ed Westwick read for on You Tube, just for grins. I didn't think I'd find anything on it... I was so wrong...



I nearly fell off my chair upon hearing the first seconds of his voice. He probably had barely read a paragraph and I was opening a new tab to buy the audiobook. I couldn't wait to finish the other books first before buying the 4th. I don't care if I hate the series. I'd still listen to the audiobook. Even if I don't know what's going on. That's how crazy I am.

Speaking of Gossip Girl... the new season is starting NEXT MONDAY!!! Of course, they HAD to change the time to 8:00 PM instead of keeping it at 9:00 PM. This means I won't be able to watch it until next TUESDAY online. (Stupid new work schedule...) I need to buy a TiVo. In any case... I'll be posting a Gossip Girl mini party post Sunday. There will be links and videos and spoilers galore.


All for now lovelies!

~Jessica

Banned Books Week Is Less Than One Month Away…

Ah, banned books. And challenged books. You can read my opinion about it in my answer to a Booking Through Thursday earlier this year. There’s this awesome thing we can do to combat these bans and challenges: Banned Books Week! It’s going to be September 24th through October 1st  this year. You can read more about it through this link.

What can you do during Banned Books Week? One of the suggestions is to, simply enough, read a banned book! You can choose a book from any one of the lists found on the site (navigate with links on sidebar, they have them separated by year/author). There are plenty of banned books that I’ve been wanting to read. I’ve chosen to read Sarah Ockler’s Twenty Boy Summer. It was recently banned from some school library shelves. You can read about this decision here (and Sarah's response here).

During that week, there’s going to be a Banned Books Hop hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and I Read Banned Books. If you join in the Hop, you need to host a giveaway where you give away a banned book. I’m going to be participating and giving away a banned book of the winner’s choice. I’ll be coming up with a list of 10 books or so as examples of what you can choose.


I hope you all join in at the end of the month for Banned Books Week. I’m planning on making the most of it this year so that it’s extremely fun. ^_^

~Jessica

Review: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

When Melinda Sordino's friends discover she called the police to quiet a party, they ostracize her, turning her into an outcast -- even among kids she barely knows. But even worse than the harsh conformity of high-school cliques is a secret that you have to hide. ~from Goodreads


I checked this book out when I first started reading YA, but never got the chance to finish it. Back then I was into the easier to read stories, simple and formulaic, boy meets girl, girl meets boy, something something something, they fall in love, the end. I ended up seeing the movie on TV and was blown away. I had to read the book. So I did. And I was not disappointed.


This is the story of Melinda Sordino starting high school as an outcast. Why is she an outcast? She called the police at a party, her friends freaked out, and now nobody talks to her. She had a reason why she called. Something happened to her. Something she doesn’t tell anyone about. Something she keeps bottled up inside of her. She stops talking. To everyone. Why should she speak? Her old friends have their own cliques now, and the new girl doesn’t stick around too long before getting a clique of her own. Melinda finds solace in art, where she is given the project of creating art from the word “tree”. As the school year progresses, she progresses slowly, learning to deal with school and her classmates and trying to deal with what happened to her.


I don’t want to say more, give away details or how it ends. Let me tell you this--the end and everything leading up to it goes to show that there’s always a way out. It may take months or years, but it’s there. You’ll never forget but you can continue. Melinda received help from people who care about her. There have been a lot of attempts at banning this book. There’s no reason to. NONE. Read this book. It will change your life.

Laurie Halse Anderson has a video of a poem she compiled from letters she received from people who read this book. It is remarkable. It made me cry. It shows how much one book can do for a person in pain. Click here to view the video. And the movie is wonderfully done. You should watch it after reading the book. Or watch the movie, then read this book.

But you should definitely read this book.