"Straight on Till Morning"

{source}

"Second to the right, and straight on till morning." 

That, Peter had told Wendy, was the way to the Neverland; but even birds, carrying maps and consulting them at windy corners, could not have sighted it with these instructions. 

Peter, you see, just said anything that came into his head. 

At first his companions trusted him implicitly, and so great were the delights of flying that they wasted time circling round church spires or any other tall objects on the way that took their fancy... 

Sometimes he poised himself in the air, listening intently, with his hand to his ear, and again he would stare down with eyes so bright that they seemed to bore two holes to earth. Having done these things, he went on again. His courage was almost appalling. 

"Would you like an adventure now," he said casually to John, "or would you like to have your tea first?" 

Wendy said "tea first" quickly, and Michael pressed her hand in gratitude, but the braver John hesitated. 

"What kind of adventure?" he asked cautiously.

{from Peter Pan and Wendy, Chapter 4, "The Flight"}

Don't miss this amazing website, Neverpedia.  You can read online: Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (originally published in 1902 as chapters 13-18 of J.M. Barrie's novel The Little White Bird) and Peter Pan and Wendy (Barrie's 1911 novelization of his famous play, Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up -1904).

Looking for the best version of Peter Pan?  Look no further: The Annotated Peter Pan...

Anita Silvy recommends: "I am absolutely delighted that The Annotated Peter Pan has been published. So much valuable material has been brought together in this volume that it is worth having—or giving as a gift—for any fan of Peter Pan.

Tatar masterfully re-creates Barrie’s life. With an even hand, she explores Barrie’s marriage and his relationships with the five sons of Arthur and Sylvia Llewlyn Davies, who provided both the inspiration for Peter Pan and an audience for early renditions. Certainly Barrie’s psyche, which produced a saga about the boy who never grew up, provides a great deal of material for any writer. Rather than aiming for the sensational, or even the speculative, Tatar uses impeccable scholarship to ground the book in what can be learned from primary documents found at the Beinecke Library at Yale.

She rounds out her analysis with fascinating photos and materials such as a reproduction of Arthur Rackham’s artwork for Peter Pan in Kensington Garden. Barrie’s early rendition of the story, The Boys Castaway of Black Lake Island, created for the Llewlyn Davies boys, has been included in its entirety. Pictures from the Walt Disney animated movie and even shots of Johnny Depp, portraying Barrie in the film Finding Neverland, round out the book. Rarely has such an extensive body of archival materials been pulled together to celebrate a cultural icon."

What are you reading? Avoiding reading? Watching?

What are you reading? What do you really want to read? What have you avoided reading that you should read? What are you watching on TV? At the movies? What's your opinion of new shows like Revolution?
As for me, I'm very absorbed in Justin Cronin's The Passage. I've never read a book this long (900+ pages!), and I keep being amazed that it's totally holding my attention! Has anyone read it? What did you think? (No spoilers, please). It occurs to me that it's had a huge influence on other plotmasters, including Eric Kripke, the creator of the new TV show, Revolution, where the batteries and power all blinker out in a post-tech world. But if The Passage just came out, that cross-pollination would be impossible, right? I guess it proves that ideas truly ARE "in the air".

Which brings me to Revolution. I found that in the first episode, I was chuckling at the "wrong" places, like the scene where the militias and the villagers exchange fire. No, I'm not a lover of violence. It had much more to do with the fact that this battle seemed so predictable, and staged, and the villagers seemed so perfectly put together in their survivalist gear: patched American Eagle jeans and artfully sweat-dotted tee-shirts. Each woman had a crossbow a la Hunger Games huntress, Katniss Everdeen. Call me cynical, but these types of shows (and novels) need to go further than simply window-dressing a post-apoc, post-tech setting. The one shining gem in the first episode, for me, was the geek guy (worked for Google?) who was really out of shape but super-witty and charming in his dark asides. I am eager to see how this geekster does on a long, grueling hike with only a sinewy squirrel for dinner!

As far as other reading material, I am thoroughly enjoying a client's middle-grade fantasy manuscript, the second one that I've worked on for her. I LOVE it when I can see how much better someone's writing is getting, partially from my counsel. I feel like a proud mama bear.
As far as reading that I should be getting to? Well, I need to re-read Vonnegut's BLUEBEARD, a wicked send-up of the art world of the sixties. I'm teaching this book in a few weeks, and I need to write up class discussion questions and essay prompts. So, it's the surrounding work, not the book itself, that has me a little anxious.
Now, tell me all about what you're reading, avoiding reading, watching!

STILL CELEBRATING THIS WRINKLE AFTER 50 YEARS!

It was a dark and stormy night. In her attic bedroom Margaret Murry, wrapped in an old patchwork quilt, sat on the foot of the bed and watched the trees tossing in the frenzied lashing of the wind...
-opening sentence from A Wrinkle in Time

Taeeun Yoo [source]

Today marks the 50th Anniversary of the publication of Madeleine L'Engle's classic novel (fantasy sci-fi), A Wrinkle in Time.  I wrote about it in my monthly column for the website "Travelin' Local", HERE.

There have been many different covers by a variety of talented artists for this book. The one above is from the current edition, illustrated by Taeeun Yoo. Below is one of my personal favorite covers, the hardback, done by Diane and Leo Dillon.  I also found the original hardcover with artwork by Ellen Raskin (scroll down).  To see more cover art for A Wrinkle in Time, go HERE.

Leo and Diane Dillon's hard cover [source]

Original hard cover artwork, Ellen Raskin [source]

THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH TURNS 50!

From a tribute in THE NEW YORKER: "...the fifty-year birthday of a good children’s book marks a real passage, since it means that the book hasn’t been passed just from parent to child but from parent to child and on to child again." (read the full article HERE).

THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH, by Norman Jester (ages 10-12) is a fantasy story of a mysterious tollbooth appearing in the home of a young and bored time-waster, a boy named Milo. Boys especially will enjoy the humor, wordplay, and brain teasers as the tollbooth allows Milo to stumble upon many adventures of the mind! (An example of the quirky humor, fun use of words and logic? Milo arrives at the "Island of Conclusions" by jumping, of course!)

The Phantom Tollbooth Turns 50 - Documentary Trailer from Phantom Tollbooth Documentary on Vimeo.

LLOYD ALEXANDER: HIS PRYDAIN CHRONICLES AND A MAGAZINE NAMED "CRICKET"

"Fantasy's hardly an escape from reality.  It's a way of understanding it."  

-Lloyd Alexander

Lloyd Chudley Alexander (January 30, 1924 – May 17, 2007) was an American author whose best known contribution to the field of children's literature is the fantasy series, The Prydain Chronicles. (He authored over 40 books. To see a complete listing with reviews, click HERE).


Determined to become a writer and looking for adventure after high school, Alexander decided to enlist in the Army during World War II. While training in Wales, he discovered a history and romanticism that would be the inspiration for many of his books...

“It seemed I recognized faces from all the hero tales of my childhood,” he wrote in a memoir, “My Love Affair With Music” (Crowell, 1960). “Not until years afterwards did I realize I had been given, without my knowing, a glimpse of another enchanted kingdom.”  (source: Alexander's obituary in the NY Times)

The Prydain Chronicles is a five-volume (not-to-be-missed!) series of children's fantasy novels which tell of the adventures of a young man named Taran, who is awarded the humble "honor" of Assistant Pig-Keeper (of an oracular pig, named "Hen Wen"), but dreams of being a grand hero.  He finds himself caught in a struggle between good and evil with the help of his unlikely companions: stubborn Princess Eilonwy; a bard named Fflewddur Fflam; a wild, yet gentle creature called Gurgi; and a dwarf named Doli. The book focuses on Taran's progression from youth to maturity, with the series being loosely based on Welsh mythology. (For an excellent overview and review of each book, CLICK HERE). Ages 10 and up.

The Book of Three (1964)

The Black Cauldron (1965) - Winner of the 1966 Newbery Honor

The Castle of Llyr (1966)

Taran Wanderer (1967)

The High King (1968) - Winner of the 1969 Newbery Medal

Some thoughts from Lloyd Alexander on the importance of writing and reading fantasy:
(Source: The National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance, May 2007)

"When asked how to develop intelligence in young people, Einstein answered: "Read fairy tales. Then read more fairy tales." I can only add: Yes, and the sooner the better. Fairy tales and fantasies nourish the imagination. And imagination supports our whole intellectual and psychological economy. Not only in literature, music, and painting spring from the seedbed of imagination; but, as well, all the sciences, mathematics, philosophies, cosmologies. Without imagination, how could we have invented the wheel or the computer? Or toothpaste? Or nuclear weapons? Or speculate "What if—?" Or have any compassionate sense what it's like to live in another person's skin?


For me, writing fantasy for young people has surely been the most creative and liberating experience of my life. As a literary form, fantasy has let me express my own deepest feelings and attitudes about the world we're all obliged to live in.


A paradox? Creating worlds that never existed as a way to gain some kind of insight into a world that is very real indeed? The paradox is easily resolved. Whatever its surface ornamentation, fantasy that strives to reach the level of durable art deals with the bedrock of human emotions, conflicts, dilemmas, relationships. That is to say: the realities of life.


As adults, we know that life is a tough piece of business. Sometimes the most heroic thing we can do is get out of bed in the morning. I think it's just as tough for young people. On an emotional level, a child's anguish and a child's joy are as intense as our own. Young people recognize their own inner lives while they journey through a world completely imaginary.


I don't mean to imply that works of realism haven't the same profound effect on young readers. Of course they do. More often than not, however, realism tends to deal with material of immediate, current interest; with, to use a word much overused, what is relevant. All well and good. But there's a difference between what is relevant and what is merely topical. The topical goes away after a while, to be replaced by the next fashionable subject; the newest literary disease of the month, as it were. The best fantasy it seems to me, is permanently relevant. Because it deals metaphorically with basic human situations, it always has something to say to us. Also, I think that fantasy offers a certain vividness and high spiritedness unique to itself. We shouldn't underestimate the value of sheer fun, delight, and excitement. In any art, boredom is not a virtue.


Dealing with the impossible, fantasy can show us what may be really possible. If there is grief, there is the possibility of consolation; if hurt, the possibility of healing; and above all, the curative power of hope. If fantasy speaks to us as we are, it also speaks to us as we might be."


Lloyd Alexander was also one of the creators of children's literary magazine Cricket, which is an illustrated literary magazine for children published in the United States. Cricket magazine publishes original stories, poems, folk tales, articles and illustrations by notable authors and artists. On the last page of each issue is the "Old Cricket Says" column, in which Old Cricket points out a bit of wisdom or a witticism, or introduces themes to be explored in the upcoming issues of the magazine. This recurring column has been ghostwritten by a number of authors and editors who worked for Cricket, but a preponderance of them were written by Lloyd Alexander until his death.

CRICKET now offers 14 magazines for different age groups, including Babybug (up to 3 years old), Ladybug (2-6), Spider (6-9) and Cicada (for teenagers).


CRICKET WEBSITE LINK

GOOD BOOKS FOR TEEN BOYS

As I did with the GOOD BOOKS FOR TEEN GIRLS List, I'll be including books from all genres for TEEN BOYS - classics, biographies, historical fiction, and fantasy, not just "Young Adult" contemporary fiction, which is a genre in itself that you'll find in bookstores and libraries, aimed at ages 13-18. You can read about a recent study that took a look at the level of sexuality presented in YA books HERE. (Some of those books would do well to have a label saying "Reader Discretion Advised"!)

THE LIST...

As my sons got into high school, they both participated in track and field, were acolytes at church, and found a love of music (piano, singing, guitar, and drums).  Their busy schedules really limited the amount of reading time they had and we knew it was important to help them find engaging and worthwhile books.  Here are some good recommendations (many were found in my go-to-resource, BOOKS THAT BUILD CHARACTER by William Kilpatrick):


TOM'S MIDNIGHT GARDEN by Philipa Pearce. (for ages 12-14)  Review from BOOKS THAT BUILD CHARACTER: "This novel is widely considered to be one of the masterpieces of children's literature...critic Humphrey Carpenter has noted that TOM'S MIDNIGHT GARDEN is, in essence, a reversal of PETER PAN.  In Pearces's novel, a boy has to come to terms with the fact that time cannot be stopped, that change and growth and loss are part of human existence...Tom's brother has measles, and so Tom is forced (unhappily) to spend the summer with his aunt and uncle...one night he hears an old grandfather clock strike thirteen.  When he goes down to investigate, he decides to step outside, and he discovers himself in a beautiful garden rather than a paved driveway...he meets a pretty young girl named Hatty. After many puzzling visits, he begins to realize that each one occurs at a different point in time in Hatty's life...she perceives him as a ghost who appears only after long absences...The author resolves these mysteries in a satisfying and moving conclusion.  Tom's experiences cause him to leave his angry, self-preoccupied life behind, and learn something about love, time, and the importance of memory." The descriptive writing and plot in this book made a huge impression on my older son. To this day, he sites it as a favorite.


HATCHET by Gary Paulsen. (ages 12-14) A survival story about a thirteen-year-old boy, Brian Robeson, who is flying in a small plane to visit his father.  The pilot of the plane has a heart attack, but Brian manages to guide the plane to a lake and emerges unhurt. Alone in the forests of Canada, he learns to survive.  There is never a question the situation is desperate, the author's tone is never sentimental, as Brian learns patience, self-reliance, the value of hard work, and a respect for nature. Even reluctant readers will get into this story - a favorite of my younger son!


LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding. (Ages 14 and up) Before there were THE HUNGER GAMES, there was Lord of the Flies.  William Kilpatrick says, "This is an ugly book (though beautifully written).  But if the ugliness in LORD OF THE FLIES is related to something deep within human nature, how can we afford to look away? It suggests that what we call civilization is a very thin layer of order covering passions and emotions that could easily rip it apart...a cautionary tale meant to shock us into an awareness of the fragility of moral and political life."  The story involves a plane crash on a tropical island, a group of British schoolboys, and a power struggle.  Without the protection of the adult generation, the older children find themselves drawn into all the sins of their parents' world - blind ambition, vanity, greed, and hate. I read this one aloud to my kids. It was a hard book to get through (emotionally), but spurned some really good discussion. (Lord of the flies website here)


THE ARTHURIAN TRILOGY by Rosemary Sutcliff. A masterful retelling.
The Light Beyond the Forest: The Quest for the Holy Grail

The Sword and the Circle: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table

The Road to Camlann: The Death of King Arthur


THE DARK IS RISING SEQUENCE by Susan Cooper. Susan Cooper, in her five-title Dark Is Rising sequence (steeped in Celtic and Welsh legends), creates a world where the conflict between good and evil reaches epic proportions. She ranks with C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien in her ability to deliver a moral vision in the context of breathtaking adventure. My husband really enjoyed reading this too!
The Dark is Rising (Newbery Honor); Over Sea, Under Stone; Greenwitch; The Grey King (Newbery Medal); Silver on the Tree.

THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN by Mark Twain. Another great recommendation from BOOKS THAT BUILD CHARACTER by William Kilpatrick: "In the famous 'Notice' at the beginning of this book, Mark Twain warns that anyone 'attempting to find a moral' in the novel 'will be banished'. As usual, Twain was being humorously ironic, since this American classic is shot through with profound moral dilemmas...full of adventure and comedy, this novel is far more complex and thematically rich than its predecessor, THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER (which should be read first as preparation...When Huck and the runaway slave Jim head out on the Mississippi on their raft, they encounter a series of events that shows the corruption and hypocrisy of what is often call 'respectable' society...Huck, a child, and Jim, a slave - the weakest member of this society - are forced to use their wits to survive." A favorite of my older son.

FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley. (high school and up) From BOOKS THAT BUILD CHARACTER by William Kilpatrick: "Before the Advent of the modern horror movie, with its gore-for-gore's-sake mentality, the great writers of ghost stories and Gothic novels explored a deeper and more profound realm of the human spirit...older children encounter the reality of evil, and the dangers of curiosity untempered by common sense and moral restraints...At the heart of this myth is the pride of the scientist who would take God's place and become a Creator in his own right. What Mary Shelley dramatizes so vividly is that man cannot create something new; he can only re-create from the materials around him.  But this process of re-creation involves him in dangers and mysteries that are beyond his power to control..."


DAVID COPPERFIELD, by Charles Dickens. This is truly the best coming-of-age book any boy could ask for.  It's language is old fashioned and daunting at first, but a mature reader should do fine.  I'm happy to say my youngest - who is still a challenged reader - was finally motivated, at the age of 19, to get through this 1,000-plus-page classic. And he loved it! The quote I'm sharing about this book is something I read years ago, by an Orthodox monk, that lead me to realize the influence that good literature could have on my children's souls:

"A boy can read something like David Copperfield, which describes a boy growing up: not some kind of monk or ascetic hero, but just an ordinary boy growing up in a different time .... It's true that this is a worldly book about people living in the world - but that world is quite different. Already you get a different perspective on things: that the world has not always been the way it is now; that the standard which is now in the air is one kind of world and there are other kinds; and that this is a different, normal world in which, although the element of sex is present, it has a definite role. You get strength from seeing what was normal in that time, from the way Dickens describes this young boy growing up and falling in love. He is embarrassed to be around the girl and never thinks about dirty things because nothing like that ever comes up; whereas if you read any contemporary novel that's all you get. This book shows a much higher view of love, which is of course for the sake of marriage, which is for the sake of children. The whole of one's life is bound up with this, and the thought never comes up in this book that one can have some kind of momentary satisfaction and then pass on to the next girl. David Copperfield is full of dreams of this woman, how he is going to live with her and be a big man of the world. It is assumed that he has sexual relations after he is married, but this is involved with what one is going to do with one's whole life." -Fr. Seraphim Rose (You can read more from "Forming Young Souls", HERE)

THE HOBBIT and THE LORD OF THE RINGS series, by J.R.R. Tolkien. Do I really need to say how much enjoyment your boys (and ANYONE) will get from these?
 

THE SPACE TRILOGY by C.S. Lewis (again, from William Kilpatrick: "Before C.S.Lewis wrote the CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, he became concerned with an ideological frame of mind he called "scientism". According to Lewis, scientism was the belief that technology would liberate mankind from the moral traditions of the past; the end result would be the elevation of certain scientists to the status of godhood, with the power of life and death over the whole human race....The three novels that constitute THE SPACE TRILOGY dramatize the conflict between scientism and the moral tradition of the West."
Out of the Silent Planet - A Cambridge University scholar named Ransom accidentally stumbles onto a scheme in which two men, one a scientist and the other a huckster with intellectual pretensions, prepare to travel to Mars and plunder its rich and strange culture.
 
Perelandra Ransom is brought to Venus, where he finds a new Adam and Eve, who are being tempted by the evil scientists from the first novel.

That Hideous Strength The cosmic struggle between good and evil takes place on Earth, as a scientific institute comes close to asserting its power over the world.


CARRY ON, MR. BOWDITCH by Jean Lee Latham. (Newbery Medal) Fascinating biography of Nathaniel Bowditch, an eighteenth-century nautical wonder and mathematical wizard. (This can also be read aloud to younger middle readers, who are studying Earl American history.  As a family, we were excited to visit Salem, and try and picture how it would have looked during this brilliant young man's lifetime.)


ROBINSON CRUSOE by Daniel Defoe illustrated by N.C. Wyeth. (The "granddaddy" of all adventure stories). In his own words, Robinson Crusoe tells of the terrible storm that drowned all his shipmates and left him marooned on a deserted island. Forced to overcome despair, doubt, and self-pity, he struggles to create a life for himself in the wilderness. From practically nothing, Crusoe painstakingly learns how to make pottery, grow crops, domesticate livestock, and build a house. His many adventures are recounted in vivid detail, including a fierce battle with cannibals and his rescue of Friday, the man who becomes his trusted companion. Full of enchanting detail and daring heroics, Robinson Crusoe is a celebration of courage, patience, ingenuity, and hard work.


ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF IVAN DENISOVICH by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. (high school and up) This story concerns a single day in the life of a Soviet prisoner, Ivan, in the Soviet gulag, a prison camp in remote and frigid Siberia, where prisoners are stripped of everything - freedom, possessions, health.  But there is one thing that cannot be taken away: a man's soul.  "It should be read both as a reminder of the continuing plight of political prisoners and as a humane celebration of the oral and spiritual dimensions of human nature." - William Kilpatrick.


FATHER ARSENY, translated by Vera Bouteneff. A narrative comprised of encounters with Father Arseny, a former art historian and priest imprisoned in the Gulag. An intimate testimony of what it means to “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). Father Arseny became Prisoner No. 18736 in the brutal 'special sector' of the Soviet prison camp system. In the darkness of systematic degradation of body and soul, he shone with the light of Christ's peace and compassion. I wept, reading this aloud to our teens.  We all loved this book.