Week 6_PRABE #5

My kids were heavily involved in camps this past week, so instead of reading to them, I read for myself over my lunch hour. It feels so decadent to take time to read only because something interests me. Because I was hesitant to start a book for fear of not completing my assignments because I wanted to read said book instead, I spent a lot of time at www.longreads.com. I have read about Life After Zionist Summer Camp by Allison Benedikt, about a girl's experiences growing up, living abroad and her changing views and religious and political convictions. I read Marriage Lessons from My Turkish Grandmother by Sevil Delin. In this, the author discusses the old folktales that her grandmother shared with her while simultaneously weaving in her family's love history and tradition of bucking the system and marrying for love, much as the heroines in the stories bucked the system and outsmarted their male oppressors. This one struck me as timely because I have also been reading this blog, http://bettermyths.blogspot.com/, where he retells old fables and myths in a conversational and profanity-riddled manner. Many of the myths on the blog followed the same patterns as the Turkish stories told by Delin's grandmother. I also enjoyed the non-fictional piece of The Mystery of the Canadian Whiskey Fungus by Adam Rogers. This article told the modern story of a mysterious mold while also giving an extended history on the study of mold and the processes involved. I found it fascinating.

6/13/11 - 30 minutes
6/14/11 - 30 minutes
6/15/11 - 30 minutes
6/16/11 - 30 minutes
6/17/11 - 30 minutes

Week 5_PRABE #4

This week my girls and I continued reading Island of the Blue Dolphins. We have gotten to the point where Karana sacrifices her place on the boat with the white men to go back for her brother who was accidentally left on the shore. We had friends over this weekend and one of them saw the book and asked which of the girls was reading it. The girls answered that we all were. The friends are originally from California and stated that they had visited the burial site of Karana in California once. One of the couple spoke with the girls, explaining that this was one of his favorite books ever. I love seeing literature span all ages and demographics and provide something of substance for people to discuss.

6/7/11 - 15 minutes
6/8/11 - 30 minutes
6/11/11 - 30 minutes
6/12/11 - 25 minutes

Week 4_PRABE #3

I went out of town for the holiday weekend, so I was able to have lots of reading time during my flight home. Other than Sky Mall, I read Pont Dume by Katie Arnoldi. It covers a little coastal California town and five of its residents. There is Ellis, a native to the town and an avid surfer. She is upset about the uppity and wealthy people that have invaded her sleepy town and changed the sport of surfing from a physical spiritual event in to a traffic jam on the waves. She resents their mcMansions and vineyards, SUVs and everything else that they brought with them. Frank is one of the newer residents with a huge house, a vineyard on the property and drives out to hit the waves in his BMW each morning. Ellis and Frank end up with a relationship of sorts, but they are mostly just using each other during periods of stress in their lives. Janice is Frank's afflicted wife who hates the vineyard and eventually realizes she hates her husband. We watch as Janice delves in to a considerable midlife crisis. Pablo is friends with Ellis and another native. He makes his living by teaching surfing, selling pot and living out of his camper. Pablo and Ellis also have a relationship, but it is initially borne out of their comfort with each other. We meet Felix in Mexico on his family farm. His cousin gets him across the border to grow marijuana in the hills of California just outside this town. We watch his paranoia and isolation dissolve in to madness. All of these characters intertwine in the book and their story culminates with the Santa Anna winds and a large fire.

5/30/11 - 135min
5/31/11 - 20 min

Week 3_PRABE #2

This week the girls and I started a new book. We were debating between The Hunger Games and Island of the Blue Dolphins. The library was out of the former, so we didn't have to flip a coin to decide after all. After reading the synopsis (I've never read the book before), I was concerned that some of the story might feel too intense for the youngest (5 years old). The story begins with a description of the island and its inhabitants. There are descriptions of the people's way of life; the type of food they hunt and gather, how and where their village is situated, etc. The conflict begins when a ship appears on the horizon and strangers come to hunt the otter that live in the surrounding waters. Through suspicion and spying, each group keeps strict tabs on the other. The last we read, the main character, Karana, watched the men of her village fighting with the outsiders and in the end, her father, the chief, laid dead on the beach.

My daughters were well engaged in the chapters. I was wondering if the subject matter would feel too simple, slow and old-fashioned for them. They have recently read much more modern accounts full of action. The fight and the death, while sad, were handled with a minimum of gore or gratuitous descriptions of the violence, so my youngest was not terribly shaken up by it. The girls loved the descriptions of the island and the animals. I think they will enjoy this book. It is a simple and quick read so far.

5/22/11 - 25 min
5/24/11 - 40 min
5/25/11 - 35 min

Week 2_PRABE #1

This week we read a version of Shakespeare's  A Midsummer Night's Dream. My daughter asked that we read it because of a previous series of books mentioned Titania and Oberon and she was intrigued and wanted to hear more about them. We found this version of the story in our local thrift store and it was perfect for relating Shakespeare to a young person. It kept many of the more famous lines from the original play while relating the entire story in a more modern tongue and with extended explanations as to what was going on. While I wondered if it would be too confusing for her, with all of the going back and forth and different people falling in love with others, etc., but she was quite acute at keeping it all straight. Her favorite part was the play that Nick Bottom and the others put on at the end, Pyramus and Thisbe. I don't know that she "got" a lot of the humor, but she enjoyed Puck and the mix ups that he caused. We followed up the book by renting the movie this weekend. The movie included all Shakespearean dialog, but having read and discussed the book prior, she was able to keep up with the storyline.