http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/2012/05/goliath-bonus-in-portuguese/

http://scottwesterfeld.com/?p=4387

A Portuguese fan named Guilherme Pires has kindly translated the post-Goliath Bonus Chapter I wrote last year. Huge thanks to him for this service. I hope that all you Portuguese-speakers out there enjoy it.

(NOTE BRAZILIANS, this is a huge spoiler, because Leviathan isn’t out yet, but will be in two months!)

Anyway, here we go . . .

– Esta situação é absurda – disse Alek.

– Pela qual apenas se pode culpar a si –?Esboçando um ligeiro sorriso, o Conde Volger recostou-se no sofá de veludo púrpura do quarto de hotel. – Avisei-o para não fazer aquela aposta.

– Era uma questão de princípio!

– Ah, jovem príncipe, ou Sr. Hohenberg, se faz tanta questão, será que nunca irá aprender que quando se trata de um julgamento por combate, não há princípios? Apenas força bruta.

Alek deixou o espelho e virou-se para lançar um olhar frio ao conde. – Um julgamento por combate? Muito engraçado – Suspirou ele. – Eu realmente não pensei que ela me pudesse derrotar.

– Miss Sharp passou vários meses a escalar às enfrechaduras. Calculo que faça maravilhas pelos músculos.

Alek assentiu, esfregando o ainda dorido bicep direito. Tinha mesmo sido uma batalha. Um verdadeiro julgamento por combate!?Num instante, ele e Deryn estavam a ter uma discussão perfeitamente razoável sobre os méritos dos dois sexos, força, resistência, tolerância à dor, e subitamente ele tinha dito algo imperdoável e Deryn estava a desafia-lo para um braço-de-ferro.

Ser derrotado por ela não teria sido assim tão mau, afinal ela era Deryn Sharp, mas Alek tinha ido demasiado longe e feito aquela aposta idiota.

Se ao menos esta festa de Final de Ano não fosse um baile de máscaras. Nunca irei entender a adoração que os britânicos têm por disfarces. Todos os funcionários da Sociedade Zoológica de Londres andaram a palrar durante vários dias sobre os disfarces que iriam usar. A maioria iria como monstrinhos, ou grandes cientistas famosos, ou caricaturas de figuras modernas como políticos ou clérigos dos Macacos Ludistas. Outros iriam ficar-se pelos disfarces mais clássicos: anjos, demónios, Grécia antiga, ou fadas do bosque.

Como novatos na Sociedade, tanto ele como Deryn tinham estado algo ansiosos quanto à escolha dos seus disfarces. (E para Alek, toda aquela coisa dos disfarces parecia-lhe francamente vulgar, mesmo agora que ele já tinha renunciado a toda a sua herança e pretensões de realeza.)

Portanto, um braço-de-ferro tinha parecido uma ideia brilhante para resolver aquele assunto, pelo menos para um deles. E tal como o Conde Volger lhe continuava a lembrar, a aposta tinha sido uma ideia inteiramente sua.

Até teria sido divertido, se ao menos ele não tivesse perdido. Então seria Deryn e não ele a usar um vestido. Ele tinha de admitir que a sua própria curiosidade o tinha precipitado para aquela aposta imprudente. Como ficaria Deryn com vestuário adequado ao seu próprio género?

Não que ele se importe de a ver de calças e blusão todos os dias. Parte do apelo da sua relação, assentava no facto de ele saber algo sobre ela que apenas mais meia dúzia de pessoas sabiam. Mas mesmo assim, ele estava tão curioso como qualquer rapaz na sua situação estaria.

– Este faux-cul está no sítio correcto?– Perguntou ele.?– Há apenas um único sitio para usar um faux-cul, Alek.

E é exactamente esse – Gracejou o conde Volger. – Não lhe parece . . . desnecessariamente grande?

– Certamente uma interrogação com a qual as mulheres se vem defrontando há décadas.

– Não seja impertinente, Conde. Eu estava a falar do faux-cul – Disse Alek enquanto endireitava os laços que se espalhavam praticamente por todo o vestido. – E eu não estaria tão pronto a gozar com os outros se estivesse disfarçado de lagarto mensageiro.

O Conde Volger olhou para o focinho reptilineo de papel machê que se encontrava ao seu lado no sofá. Então, com um encolher de ombros, agarrou na máscara e colocou-a na cabeça. Era pintada de castanho mosqueado com realces de verde, imitando na perfeição as cores de um lagarto mensageiro ao serviço do Serviço Aeronáutico. A cara do conde espreitava por entre as mandíbulas da monstruosa máscara.

– Devemos estar sempre prontos para um pouco de brincadeira, vossa Já-Não-Tão Sereníssima Alteza – Volger ergueu o copo e, manobrando-o por entre as mandíbulas, bebeu um gole.– De outro modo a politica tornar-se-ia intolerável.

Alek olhou mais de perto para o conde. As suas bochechas estavam um pouco rosadas, e a garrafa de champanhe ao lado do sofá estava praticamente vazia.

– Está embriagado, conde?

Volger riu-se, e saboreou mais um gole. – É Véspera de Ano Novo, Sr. Hohenberg, e de forma a granjear os favores da organização mais misteriosa do mundo, estou disfarçado da criatura mais inquietante da história da fabricação de monstrinhos. Uma vez que me estou prestes a lançar numa festa cheia de cientistas e agentes secretos, eu não diria que estou embriagado, meramente fortificado.

– Realmente – Alek voltou-se de novo para o espelho, perguntando-se quão mais fortificado o Conde Volger estava a planear ficar esta noite.

Desde que Alek se tinha juntado à Sociedade Zoológica, que o conde não sabia bem o que fazer com o seu tempo. A guerra estava a acalmar, com o Kaiser a perceber que os inimigos eram demasiado numerosos, agora que os EUA tinham entrado na guerra. Havia rumores de uma conferência de paz no início de 1915, conversações que deveriam acabar de vez com a luta entre Darwinistas e Clanker, ou pelo menos reduzi-la de carnificina à escala mundial para uma saudável competição entre tecnologias.

Sem guerra para influenciar e sem príncipe para elevar ao trono do império Austro-húngaro, os dois principais objectivos da vida de Volger tinham subitamente desaparecido. Os Austríacos iriam lembra-lo como aquele que levou para longe o seu jovem herdeiro, portanto voltar para casa seria difícil, e o Reino Unido estava demasiado cheio de monstrinhos ateus para o seu gosto.

E no entanto. . .

– Granjear favores? – Perguntou Alek, agarrando no guarda-sol que a Deryn tinha escolhido para ele. Pelo menos combina com a cor do vestido. – Porquê importar-se com aquilo que a Sociedade Zoológica pensa de si, considerando aquilo que pensa deles?

– Poderei necessitar deles futuramente –?O conde soava agora bastante sóbrio. – Sabe, eu tenho uma grande admiração e respeito pela natureza, e chegará o dia em que criaturas fabricadas fora de controlo poderão representar um perigo para a vida selvagem natural e os seus habitats. A Sociedade pode vir a ser muito útil neste tema.

Alek arqueou uma sobrancelha. Ele nunca tinha pensado em Volger como um preservacionista, já que tinha morto pelo menos duas centenas de veados com o arquiduque, o pai de Alek. Claro que quando o jovem Volger coleccionava troféus de caça, existiam vastas áreas selvagens no coração da Europa. Actualmente essas áreas estavam muito mais reduzidas.

– Já ouvi falar disso – disse Alek. – Pragas de rãs- papagaio à solta na Austrália, a palrarem com sotaques engraçados. Parece algo inquietante.

– Não tanto como esses saltos – disse Volger, quebrando toda a seriedade da conversa. – Mas uma aposta é uma aposta Sr. Hohenberg.

A festa de Final de Ano da Sociedade Zoológica de Londres era no andar abaixo ao quarto de Alek, no

salão de baile principal do Hotel Savoy. Alek ficou surpreendido e um pouco alarmado por ver a quantidade de gente que vinha à festa. Ele tinha assumido que a assistência para a sua humilhação seria limitada a membros efectivos da Sociedade, uma dúzia de cientistas e talvez duas dúzias de tratadores e treinadores de animais. Mas o grande salão de baile estava praticamente cheio, com mecenas, apoiantes políticos, e agentes especiais da Sociedade, como ele e Deryn, bem como as suas esposas, convidados e outros penduras.

– Oh meu deus! – disse Alek.

– Realmente – resmungou Volger através das mandíbulas da sua cabeça de lagarto. – Talvez tivesse sido mais sensato usar uma máscara.

– Isso seria batota – Alek respirou fundo, colocou o guarda-sol ao ombro como se fosse uma espingarda e avançou por entre a multidão.

Ele sentia-se absurdamente evidente, e bamboleante naqueles saltos altos, mas ninguém na sala pareceu reparar nele. Surpreendentemente, o seu disfarce era dos mais ligeiros. A quantidade e o nível de elaboração dos disfarces de criaturas fabricadas era tal que um rapaz num vestido não chamava minimamente a atenção. O velhinho director da Sociedade, Dr. Spenser, tinha um autentico ascensor Huxley a pairar por cima dele, concebido de uma espécie de tela pintada colocada por cima de uma nuvem de balões. O director acenou a Alek e Volger, e começou a avançar para eles, mas apercebeu-se que o seu Huxley flutuante ficou preso num candelabro. Vários assistentes apressaram-se a ajudar a desprender o disfarce. Alek puxou o conde para uma retirada apressada, só para o caso dos balões estarem cheios de hidrogénio em vez de hélio.

Ele procurou por Deryn na multidão. Seria melhor revelar o seu disfarce o mais rapidamente possível. Ele perguntou-se que disfarce teria ela escolhido, esperava que não incluísse uma máscara. A ideia de ela o ver vestido daquela forma já era irritante o suficiente, sem que ela o espiasse escondida aos risinhos por detrás de uma máscara.

– Alek? – Surgiu uma voz da multidão. – Céus, esse ao seu lado é o conde?

Alek virou-se e fez uma pequena vénia. – De facto, Dra. Barlow.

A cientista estava vestida como um anjo vingador, com grandes asas emplumadas e uma espada de madeira prateada. Tinha um aspecto aterrador. Ao seu lado, Tazza tinha um pequeno halo prateado na cabeça.

A Dra. Barlow olhou Alek de alto a baixo – Talvez uma reverência fosse mais apropriada.

– Infelizmente, o meu instrutor de dança nunca me ensinou como se faz.

– Certamente que o Sr. Sharp o poderá ajudar.?O lóris empoleirado no seu ombro, que estava vestido

como um querubim, riu–se e disse, – Sr. Sharp.

Alek lançou a ambos um duro olhar. A Dra. Barlow era a outra pessoa na Sociedade Zoológica que sabia o segredo de Deryn. Não parecia muito sensato estar a expor este assunto de qualquer forma, por mais subtil que fosse, numa sala cheia de colegas seus.

Muito dificilmente – disse Volger. – O Sr. Sharp é demasiado viril para esse tipo de coisas.

A Dra. Barlow arregalou os olhos. – O lagarto fala!

– O lagarto apenas repete aquilo que ouve – disse Volger tocando na sua orelha. Ele estendeu-lhe a mão. – A doutora dança?

– Claro, é tão raro ter a oportunidade de dançar com um réptil – Ela acenou a Alek. – Boa noite, Sr. Hohenberg.

O par afastou-se a rodopiar para a pista de dança, com Tazza a segui-los depois de Alek lhe ter dado uma pancadinha na cabeça.

Onde estaria Deryn? Ela sempre tinha chegado cedo a todas as festas a bordo do Leviatã. Sem dúvida que devia estar escondida por detrás de uma mascara algures, observando Alek nos seus saltos altos a girar o guarda-sol.

Enquanto Alek observava a multidão, uma estranha aparição surgiu diante dele. Tinha uma cabeça de pássaro, grandes garras de gato e estava todo coberto por um manto amarelado de pêlo felpudo.

– És tu Dylan? – Perguntou ele.

– Eu não sou nenhum paquete – respondeu o bico de pássaro com uma voz familiar, e então uma das garras alcançou a mascara para a retirar. – Eu sou um magnífico grifo!

Alek recuou hesitante. Por detrás daquele bico de pássaro estava Adela Rogers, a jovem repórter americana que se tinha juntado ao Leviatã na sua passagem pela Califórnia.

Mas o que faria ela ali em Londres, e o que estava a fazer um jornalista numa festa privada da Sociedade?

Especialmente numa festa onde Alek se encontrava vestido de mulher.

Pelo menos ela não era daqueles jornalistas que traziam sempre uma máquina fotográfica, como o insuportável Eddie Malone.

– Calculo que agora já me reconheça, príncipe Aleksandar.

– Realmente, Miss Rogers. No entanto já não sou nenhum príncipe.

– Ah, sim, agora é Sr. Hohenberg, certo?

– Ao seu serviço – Disse Alek tentando desajeitadamente fazer uma reverência.

A repórter sorriu. – Estou a ver que esta noite não é bem um senhor.

Alek encolheu os ombros – Suponho que um baile de máscaras tenha a sua quota-parte de momentos embaraçantes. Mas uma vez que agora já não pertenço à realeza talvez um pouco de humildade seja adequado.

– Oh, eu não diria que esse vestido é humilhante, Sr. Hohenberg. Muito pelo contrário, até é bastante lisonjeador.

– Obrigado – Alek fez uma pequena vénia desta vez. Saía-lhe de forma mais natural, mesmo com o faux-cul a atrapalhá-lo.

Por momentos, ele interrogou-se sobre a quantidade de ajustes, tanto pequenos como grandes, que Deryn deve ter feito para conseguir levar por diante o seu embuste. O modo como ela andava e falava, bem como todas as nuances de comportamento social, tudo isso tinha de ser repensado a cada segundo de cada dia. Era incrível que ela tivesse conseguido ser bem sucedida em algo tão difícil, apenas com a ajuda do irmão Jaspert e com o seu próprio instinto para a guiar.

Deryn era verdadeiramente espantosa, e valia definitivamente a pena abdicar de um império por ela.

– Mas, se me permite uma pergunta – Disse Miss Rogers enquanto tirava o bloco de notas. – Afinal, de quem é que é suposto estar mascarado?

– Ah – Disse Alek engolindo em seco. Depois sua derrota agoniante no braço-de-ferro e no meio de toda a confusão de tentar encontrar um vestido para usar, tinha-se esquecido desse pequeno pormenor.?Não podia simplesmente dizer a esta jornalista que tinha perdido uma aposta, e a ideia de ela escrever no jornal que ele tinha ido a uma festa vestido de mulher era algo inquietante.

Ele procurou desesperadamente por uma resposta, e subitamente encontrou.

– Estou vestido de Ada, condessa de Lovelace – disse ele. – Uma das maiores cientistas Clanker do ultimo século.

Miss Rogers olhou perplexa por um momento. – Não sei se me recordo dessa condessa. Uma cientista Clanker? Mas o nome soa bastante britânico.

– Sim, e o seu trabalho está no cerne de todos os motores mecânicos analíticos. O sistema de equilíbrio do meu Trovão, por exemplo – Enquanto falava, as mãos de Alek agarraram comandos imaginários. Já tinha passado demasiado tempo desde a última vez que pilotara um marchador. E tinha esperança que a primeira missão dele e Deryn fosse num pais Clanker, onde talvez pudesse ter oportunidade de pilotar de novo.

– Estou a ver – Disse Miss Rogers escrevinhando com o seu lápis. – Um pouco semelhante a si, ela conseguiu atravessar as linhas de combate. Um súbdito da rainha, mas simultaneamente uma Clanker. Uma mulher, mas um cientista.

Alek assentiu, aliviado por ter encontrado uma escolha tão adequada – Tal como eu tive nascimento nobre e fui criado um Clanker, mas estou agora aqui como um simples Darwinista.

Ela sorriu. – E um rapaz num vestido de mulher. Acho que o começo a entender, Sr. Hohenberg.

– O que quer dizer com isso?

– Bem, deve saber que deixou muita gente perplexa com a sua nova profissão – Ela olhou em redor, para todos os disfarces de monstrinhos, animais, e bestas grotescas.

– Parece uma estranha vocação para um ex-herdeiro real. Aliás é mesmo por isso que vim para Londres. Para dar seguimento a essa linha de investigação.

– Não quer antes dizer que veio para me espiar? – Comentou Alek arqueando uma sobrancelha.

– Pode dizer-se que sim – Disse Miss Rogers com um sorriso. – Parece-me que há algo que não encaixa bem na história do Príncipe Aleksandar de Hohenberg, que trocou a sua coroa por um lugar como tratador de animais no zoológico. Certamente que deve haver algo que não sabemos sobre a Sociedade. Ou talvez sobre si próprio?

Alek encolheu os ombros e fez girar o seu guarda-sol. – Vou ficar de olho em si, Sr. Hohenberg.

– Tenho a certeza que será um prazer ser o alvo da sua atenção – Disse Alek com uma pequena vénia. – Mas por agora vai ter de me desculpar.

Ele afastou-se por entre a multidão sem esperar por uma resposta, porque perto de uma gigantesca escultura de gelo de Charles Darwin a domar um tigresco lupino, tinha avistado uma cabeça loira por entre os disfarces. Era definitivamente Deryn e ela não estava a usar nenhuma máscara.

Claro que Deryn usava uma máscara todos os dias, o disfarce de rapaz era uma constante na sua vida. Para ela ir a um baile de máscaras não devia precisar de mais nada a não ser as suas calças e blusão habituais.

Obviamente que insistir numa atitude dessas só iria contribuir para revelar o seu segredo.

Alek foi avançando aos encontrões pela multidão, ultrapassando um Spring-Heeled Jack e um Ned Kelly, o famoso bandido com o seu elmo de ferro. O cabelo loiro de Deryn apareceu novamente à sua frente, mas estava a afastar-se. Teria ela reparado que ele se aproximava e decidido encenar uma perseguição?

Finalmente, a multidão afastou-se e ele ficou cara a cara com Deryn Sharp. Quando reparou no seu disfarce, Alek ficou paralisado com um ar de espanto estampado na cara.

– Mas eu . . . – Balbuciou ele. – Você ganhou a aposta, eu é que perdi.

– Pois claro que ganhei. – Disse ela flectindo o braço para mostrar o músculo. – Mas nunca dissemos que o vencedor não podia vestir o que quisesse. E nós achámos que se iria sentir menos embaraçado se não fosse o único rapaz metido num vestido.

Alek olhou-a de alto a baixo. Deryn tinha uma espécie de vestido de noite que estava muito na moda entre as jovens citadinas, com um franjado nas costas e um cinto largo na cintura. Longos colares de contas envolviam o seu pescoço, enfiados no seu cinto ou pendurados pela altura das suas coxas.

Empoleirado na sua cabeça tinha um chapéu justo com uma longa pena de pavão a projectar-se para trás.

Olhando para o seu próprio vestido, demasiado formal e fora de moda com os laços e o faux-cul, Alek sentiu-se deselegante, enquanto Deryn estava cheia de estilo. O cabelo curto e figura esguia, o cerne do seu disfarce de aspirante, de repente já não pareciam tão masculinos como isso.

Ele questionou-se se algum dia as mulheres iriam usar cabelo assim tão curto. Certamente isso nunca aconteceria, mas ele tinha de admitir que o efeito era estranhamente atraente.

Então ele apercebeu-se do que Deryn tinha dito. – Nós ?

– Sim, nós os dois – Ela estalou os dedos, e Bovril bamboleou-se até eles vindo detrás da mesa com a escultura de gelo.

Alek arregalou os olhos ainda mais. O lorís perspicuo também estava disfarçado, num vestido de estilo nitidamente francês sem costas. Na verdade a criatura assemelhava-se a uma pequena boneca Pierrot.

Bovril levantou os olhos para Alek, e disse entre risos, – Rapaz num vestido.

Deryn abanou a cabeça – Francamente Alek, esperava que aparecesse com algum um pouco mais moderno.

– Foi você que escolheu o guarda-sol – disse Alek a rodopia-lo. – Tive de arranjar um vestido que combinasse!

– Pois, mas não está tão atraente como eu esperava. Mesmo assim é agradável vê-lo sem os seus velhos trapos Clanker. Agora que já não é o raio de um príncipe, devia mesmo actualizar o seu guarda-roupa.

Alek arqueou uma sobrancelha. – Podia-me ter dito que ficava contente com um simples casaco novo.

– Sim, qualquer coisa que não se pareça com um velho uniforme de cavalaria!

Alek suspirou. Desde que renunciou ao trono, ele praticamente não tinha dinheiro, apenas o pequeno salário pago pela Sociedade. Duvidava que o tio-avô, o Imperador, lhe mandasse algum tipo de abono nos tempos mais próximos. Portanto, tudo o que ele tinha para vestir eram os seus uniformes militares e o fato de cerimónia que o Sr. Hearst lhe tinha providenciado. Também tinha, é claro, algumas peças que tinha comprado em Istanbul, mas não eram muito apropriadas para usar em Londres. Este vestido tinha sido arranjado pela esposa de um dos cientistas da Sociedade, que não andava propriamente na moda nem era tão nova como isso.

– Pelo contrário, você está verdadeiramente deslumbrante – elogiou ele com uma vénia.

– Sim, ser enfiada num vestido não é tão mau como eu me lembrava – Deryn ofereceu o seu braço. – Vamos?

Alek, fez sinal a Bovril, que saltou imediatamente para os seus braços.

– Claro que sim, mas para onde?

– Há um pequeno vestiário ali ao lado, onde alguns dos cientistas deixaram as suas roupas normais. Está fechado, mas eu tenho a única chave – Deryn olhou-o de alto a baixo novamente. – E uma garrafa de champanhe, se a senhora aceitar beber um copo com um antigo aeronauta.

– Asseguro-lhe que não estou minimamente preocupado com as suas intenções, Sr. Sharp – Disse Alek.

– É bom saber isso, Sr. Hohenberg. Pois as minhas intenções são claras como água – E ela levou-o para longe daquela multidão de monstrinhos, bestas e aberrações, em direcção a algum sítio seguro e privado. Um sítio onde não importa quem está a vestir o quê.

Bovril, empoleirado no seu ombro, deu mais uma risota. – Sr. Hohenberg – disse a criatura.

Mais grandes.

It’s now just over a two weeks since my last day at my old job. So what have I been up to? In terms of percentages, 60% working and 40% spent on Cody. Most of that 40% is hoovering up … Continue reading →

Originally published at Time well spent. Please leave any comments there.

http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/2012/05/28/top-100-childrens-novels-41-the-wonderful-wizard-of-oz-by-l-frank-baum/

http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/?p=13217

#41 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (1900)
48 points

Oz is too overwhelming for a single post.  Indeed, there are whole websites, blogs, and societies out there solely dedicated to its existence.  With that in mind, here is a quick overview of the title and its impact on America at this point.  I can’t include absolutely everything, so consider this a taster’s sampling.

L. Frank Baum did not come to write the books of Oz until he was well into his middle age.  In American Writers for Children, 1900-1960, Michael Patrick Hearn writes that, “On 15 May 1900, Baum’s forty-fourth birthday, his most enduring work, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz , was printed. The new book, a full-length fairy tale, again illustrated by Denslow, matched the great success of Father Goose, His Book . The immediate novelty of the book was its pictures; even today the first edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is an impressive piece of bookmaking. Again responsible for the cost of the plates, Baum and Denslow insured the inclusion of twenty-four color plates and countless textual decorations in an alternating color scheme, making it one of the most elaborately embellished children’s books in American publishing history.”

According to Selma Lanes in Through the Looking Glass, “Despite The Wizard’s immediate success, Baum gave no thought to sequels. He was ready to move on to other tales.” So much for that plan. His fans insisted and four years later out came The Marvelous Land of Oz. This does explain why the first book is such a perfect little book, though. With no intentions of continuing the story, it is self-contained. Later there would come sequel after sequel.  And when a book had a lot of sequels, it was technically a series.  Fun Fact: Guess what libraries of the early 20th century loathed?  That’s right.  Series.

To be blunt, libraries weren’t always pleased with the books. Most notably, my very own children’s room. As Lanes tells it, “By 1930, the Children’s Room of the New York Public Library had removed the entire Oz series from its shelves, and other library and school systems followed suit.”  It is true.  Look in our reference section today and you will find few Oz first editions.  Fortunately we carry the books on our shelves now.  And do they go out?  Oh yes they do.  Boys in particular love Oz, thereby trumping the old line that boys won’t read stories about girls.  The heck they won’t!

Men are some of the biggest fans too.  In Everything I Need to Know I Learned From a Children’s Book, cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. William C. DeVries offers a short but deeply felt note on the book. “In the book, the Wizard of Oz talks to the Tin Woodman about whether or not he really wants a heart. The Wizard believes that having a heart is not a good thing: ‘It makes most people unhappy.’ But the Tin Woodman says, ‘For my part, I will bear all the unhappiness without a murmur, if you will give me a heart.’ In my work, I have thought about those lines many, many times.”

I had a lot of fun looking over the various critical essays on this otherwise simple little story. Articles with names like “From Vanity Fair to Emerald City: Baum’s Debt to Bunyan” or ” ‘Aunt Em: Hate You! Hate Kansas! Taking the Dog. Dorothy’: Conscious and Unconscious Desire in The Wizard of Oz” or even ” ‘There lived in the Land of Oz two queerly made men’: Queer Utopianism and Antisocial Eroticism in L. Frank Baum’s Oz Series.” Heavens!

In Novels for Students, Jennifer Bussey has a particularly enjoyable critical essay of the book in which she pretty much summarizes all the discussions of the title. “Over the years, L. Frank Baum’s children’s classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has been interpreted from virtually every angle. Feminists, populists, Marxists, historians, economists, political scientists, and Freudians and other psychologists have all interpreted the characters and events of the novel in terms of their particular points of view. The book has been looked at as a commentary on American life and as a statement about New World ways replacing Old World ways. Presidential scholars have considered the possibility that the Wizard of Oz represents Benjamin Harrison, Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, or a combination of the three. Still other scholars interpret the novel as a fable about substitutions: Dorothy lives with substitute parents; she returns to a substitute farmhouse; a common man has substituted the identity of the Wizard for his own; and the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Cowardly Lion are all made happy with substitute charms.”

For me, I’ve always loved the Wizard of Oz gold standard conspiracy theories. You’ve heard of these, yes? I actually first read about this theory in my high school history textbook. Out of a vague sense of devil’s advocatism, I once asked Oz scholar Michael Patrick Hearn his opinion on the topic and he regaled me with the ridiculousness of it all. So I suppose it isn’t true, but it’s still fun to consider.

I have mentioned that there are two books on this Top 100 list that have been turned into amusement parks. This book almost became a third. In his lifetime, Baum would purchase Pedloe Island off the California coast in the hopes of turning it into a “real-life land of Oz.” He was pre-Disney, this guy.

The New York Times said of it the book at the time that it was “ingenuously woven out of commonplace material” and that “It will be strange indeed if there be a normal child who will not enjoy the story.”

• Read the book here.
• See the video that argues that Dorothy was our first feminist role model.
• In 2011 there were eleven competing Wizard of Oz projects.  Today?  I don’t remember seeing any of them come out.

There was also this series of selections from the 1910 version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

I’ll spare you the various crazed television animated television shows. There was the Japanese anime version (though the French intro is undoubtedly the best), the American 80s one, and an odd little 60s series called Tales of the Wizard of Oz. Tales actually comes off looking the best of the lot.

High-budget commercials have apparently taken great advantage of the movie version over the years. There was this oddly Tinman-free Minolta commercial in the 80s and, more recently, this Fed Ex bit o’ weirdness.

No, when it all comes down to it, maybe the best thing I found was this simply charming Shirley Bassey rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/2012/05/28/top-100-childrens-novels-42-gone-away-lake-by-elizabeth-enright/

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#42 Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright (1957)
47 points

What child has not wanted to discover a lost place and create a special hidden retreat known only to herself and maybe a few friends? That’s what we read about here: cousins finding an abandoned summer colony of houses, with two older characters that have retreated from the world currently living there. Summertime is practically a character here- the feel of hot sun, the sights and smells of the natural world, all lyrically described and overall giving an idyllic feel of what childhood summer used to be, or perhaps never was but what we hoped it could have been. Great book! - Christine Kelly

American Writers for Children, 1900-1960 describes the plot in this way: “In Gone-Away Lake, ten-and-a-half-year-old Portia Blake and her younger brother Foster, who tends to be absorbed in adventure fantasies, spend summer vacation in the country with their Aunt and Uncle Jarman and their cousin Julian, an amateur naturalist. While exploring a swamp which was once a lake resort, Portia and Julian discover a cluster of decayed Victorian summer cottages, where Minnehaha Cheever and Pindar Payton, elderly recluses, maintain their turn-of-the-century way of life in both costume and manner. The children and the old people become fast friends, the former fixing up one of the old cottages for a clubhouse.”

According to “A Secure World of Childhood: The Artistry of Elizabeth Enright” (found in Hollins Critic from April 1998), Ms. Enright was a woman of multiple talents.  “Trained as an artist, Enright discovered her vocation as a writer through the impulse to create her own illustrated book. In the process, she found that the writing satisfied her even more than the illustrating, though she continued to illustrate her children’s books with graceful, evocative drawings. She also attained considerable success as a writer of short stories during the heyday of American short story writing around the middle of the twentieth century, publishing her stories both in prestigious and in popular magazines and winning frequent inclusion in the O. Henry Award Prize Stories anthologies and in Best American Short Stories.”

She began her career as a children’s author, a bit unfortunately, with her first book, Kintu: A Congo Adventure. Needless to say, there are reasons why it is not in print today.  Kind of crazy to think that this was immediately followed up with the Newbery Award winner Thimble Summer.  Other books would follow, including this one.  And as American Writers for Children, 1900-1960 put it so well, “As in the Melendy stories, part of the substance of the Gone-Away books lies in the affectionate but lackadaisical friendships among the children and in their appreciation of special adults. Indeed, part of Enright’s humor in the stories about Gone-Away Lake lies in her portrayal of children’s protective instincts towards these interesting creatures, the grown-ups.”

It earned itself a Newbery Honor in 1958, losing out to Rifles for Watie.  That’s one of those choices you can feel free to argue vehemently against.  The book would also go on to have a sequel called Return to Gone-Away reviewed beautifully here.

• Read some of the book here.

Said critic Eleanor Cameron in The Green and Burning Tree: “If this dream world has been created out of the memory of actuality, in which the intensity of the author’s love for it compelled eyes and ears to absorb every cherished sight and sound, you have such a book as Elizabeth Enright’s Gone-Away Lake, in which she has called up a shimmer of summer days, rich with humor and beauty, in a place that surely any child who dreams of wandering free through woods and country and swamp would deem as near perfection as is attainable on earth.”

The New York Times said that the book had a, “… brilliance and … humor that make it seem as if it were happening right this minute.”

And a recent Publishers Weekly review of the audiobook said, “Though some of the language is dated and today’s children rarely have the same freedom to wander alone, this tale of friendship and the joys of a life lived well never sounds stale.”

http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/2012/05/28/top-100-childrens-novels-43-jacob-have-i-loved-by-katherine-paterson/

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#43 Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson (1980)
47 points

I adored this one as a teenager; it spoke profoundly to me. I read it as an adult, and it still spoke profoundly to me. I’ve found that’s rare, since my adult self has different sensibilities than my teenage self, and because it’s rare, I cherish it all the more. – Melissa Fox

Such strong characters are here–those you love, those you hate, those you pity, and those you just want to smack a good one straight across the back o’ the head (i.e., Call). Wheeze is so incredibly real, so honest, and, amazingly enough, so is Caroline. Even when you hate her you don’t hate her. I cannot recommend this one highly enough. Read it. - Kristi Hazelrigg

Sing it, sister! - Susan Van Metre

And so we meet a book that makes the MOST impressive leap onto our list.  I could understand Okay for Now or Wonder not making the poll last time.  They hadn’t been published yet!  But Jacob Have I Loved isn’t exactly a spring chicken.  Yet here we are talking about it and somehow it has managed to leap 43 spots up and onto this list.  Fascinating!

The plot from Wikipedia reads, “The novel follows the story of the Bradshaws, a family who depends on the father, Truitt Bradshaw, and his crabbing/fishing business on his boat, the Portia Sue. Truitt’s two daughters, Sara Louise and Caroline, are twins, and Caroline has always been the favorite. She is prettier and more talented, and better at receiving more attention not only from their parents but also from others in the community.  The book traces Louise’s attempts to free herself from Caroline’s shadow, even as she grows into adulthood.”

It won the 1981 Newbery Medal beating out The Fledgling by Jane Langton and A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L’Engle.  I’d say that this was the right choice, particularly since neither of those other two books made our list.

Of course I confess that my favorite recap came from Jezebel a couple years ago.  She just synthesizes what is enjoyable for folks about the novel.  Here’s a taste:

“What’s astonishing about this book is how unflinching Paterson is about the pain Louise suffers by her second-best status without somehow devolving into V.C. Andrews territory (NOT that there’s anything wrong with that, OBVS) or making Louise’s frustration seem like anything but the unattractive, festering blister that it is. Yes, Louise’s fundamental rage ‘n pain is something that could probably be handled through a triple dose of CBT, Paxil and a round of family therapy nowadays. But the few minutes before Caroline exited the womb after her are, as Louise sees it, ‘the only time in my life I was ever the center of anyone’s attention.’ Louise is both the main proponent and victim of this belief, but it will take her until adulthood to realize that.”

I’ll grant the artist of that first book jacket this much.  You simply cannot look at that cover and not despise the glowing blond girl there.  She’s despicable.  I can’t even tell you why, she just is.

And there was a film, though you will be relieved to hear that I could not find a clip of it anywhere.  Phew!

http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/2012/05/28/top-100-childrens-novels-44-okay-for-now-by-gary-d-schmidt/

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#44 Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt (2011)
45 points

Can’t get this book out of my head. There’s not one big lobbing story arc here. It’s a rollercoaster. Very high highs immediately followed by the lowest of lows. Coming in rapid fire. At one point I involuntarily yelled “noooooooooooo” right out loud. You know characters have captured your mind and heart when that happens. – Aaron Zenz

“Let me just say this right up front: Gary Schmidt was robbed. He deserved the 2012 Newbery. He earned it. This book was far and away the best book of the year. To not award it the gold was bad enough, but to completely snub it and not even give it an honor? Unforgivable. And I’ll sing it ’til my dyin’ day.

Schmidt has created an unforgettable character in Doug Swieteck. Bold, unsure, angry, loving, cocky, and humble, this young man is as dynamic as they come. As the book’s narrator, his voice is absolutely perfect. He is one of my favorite characters I’ve read in a long, long time. Even when he was snarky, I loved this kid. I found myself wondering what he grew up to do with his life. That doesn’t happen too often, so this boy really stayed with me. Great voice, and I’m not lyin’.

Schmidt can sure paint a villain. So what if his dad is a jerk who hangs out with stupid Ernie Eco too much? So what? (I’m still not sure whether I forgive Schmidt for Doug’s dad. What a… yeah. Wow.) I also admire the way characters changed as Doug grew. Or was it Doug who was changing and viewing them differently? There is not a flat character in the book (save one, but we never really meet him, just hear about him). Each member of Doug’s family has a surprise or two up his or her sleeve, as does Doug’s father’s boss, “”Mr. Big-Bucks-Ballard”", who emerges as an admirable and noble character.

Okay for Now is moving, funny, infuriating, and completely wonderful.” – Kristi Hazelrigg

Yeah, I could have cut Kristi’s words down, but why do so?  She puts the whole book in such a great light.

I bet you were wondering whether or not this would make the list or not. After all, if this year’s Newbery frontrunner Wonder by R.J. Palacio made our list, would memories allow last year’s frontrunner to make an appearance?  You betcha.  Our memories aren’t that short and the book was just that good.

The plot from my review reads, ” ‘You’re not always going to get everything you want, you know. That’s not what life is like.’ It’s not like the librarian Mrs. Merriam needs to tell Doug that. If any kid is aware that life is not a bed of roses, it’s Doug. Stuck in a family with a dad that prefers talking with his fists to his mouth, a sweet but put upon mom, a brother in Vietnam, and another one at home making his little brother’s life a misery, it’s not like Doug’s ever had all that much that’s good in his life. When he and his family move to Marysville, New York (herein usually referred to as ’stupid Marysville’) things start to change a little. Doug notices the amazing paintings of birds in an Audubon book on display in the public library. The boy is captivated by the birds, but soon it becomes clear that to raise money, the town has been selling off different pages in the book to collectors. Between wanting to preserve the book, learning to draw, solving some problems at school, the return of his brother from Vietnam, and maybe even falling in love, Doug’s life in ’stupid’ Marysville takes a turn. Whether it’s a turn for the better or a turn for the worse is up to him.”

A companion to his previous novel The Wednesday Wars, no one reading Schmidt’s latest felt the book required knowing its predecessor.  A stand alone novel to its core (a rarity these days) the title became the center of a very hot Newbery debate.  On the one hand folks knew that the writing was pretty much the best of the year.  Schmidt, continually overlooked when it comes to the proper Newbery Award itself, seemed to have finally hit it out of the park.  Unfortunately, people were severely divided on the ending and that, in the end, may have been what kept it from receiving even so much as a Newbery Honor.

• You can read the first chapter here.
• I adore the idea of reenacting book covers.  Here’s one for this title.

Fellow author Richard Peck reviewed it for The New York Times.  Spoiler Alert: he loved it.

PW liked it but said, “There are lovely moments, but the late addition of an implausible subplot in which Lil, who has never shown an interest in acting, is drafted for a role in a Broadway play, seems desultory considering the story’s weightier elements.”

Booklist disagreed, saying “Schmidt stretches credibility with another wish-fulfilling ending, but readers will likely forgive any plot contrivances as they enjoy Doug’s distinctive, rhythmic narration, inventively peppered with “stats” about his life, which reveals hard, sometimes shocking truths about the time period and, most of all, Doug’s family.”

Horn Book was also torn, “Schmidt incorporates a myriad of historical events from the 1968 setting (the moon landing, a broken brother returning from Vietnam, the My Lai massacre) that make some of the improbable plot turns (the father’s sudden redemption, for example) all the more unconvincing. Still, Doug’s story emerges through a distinctive voice that reflects how one beat-up kid can become a young man who knows that the future holds “so much for him to find.”

Kirkus didn’t even touch on it, saying “This is Schmidt’s best novel yet—darker than The Wednesday Wars and written with more restraint, but with the same expert attention to voice, character and big ideas.”

And SLJ loved it and said, “Readers will miss Doug and his world when they’re done, and will feel richer for having experienced his engaging, tough, and endearing story.”

There are actually several videos out there of Gary talking about this book.  This one, from his publisher, was the first:

And his interview with Kirkus:

In conjunction with my library he answered questions via a webcast:

He spoke at The National Book Festival:

And here you can see him read from the book:

http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/2012/05/28/top-100-childrens-novels-45-island-of-the-blue-dolphins-by-scott-odell/

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#45 Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell (1960)
45 points

This book took me to another time and place, unlike any other book. Haunting. Before Katniss, there was Karana. – DeAnn Okamura

Oo.  Leave it to DeAnn to come up with the best line of them all.  “Before Katniss, there was Karana”.  I am so quoting you on that, m’dear.  Beautifully put.

The publisher’s description of the plot reads, “In the Pacific there is an island that looks like a big fish sunning itself in the sea. Around it, blue dolphins swim, otters play, and sea elephants and sea birds abound. Once, Indians also lived on the island. And when they left and sailed to the east, one young girl was left behind.  This is the story of Karana, the Indian girl who lived alone for years on the Island of the Blue Dolphins. Year after year, she watched one season pass into another and waited for a ship to take her away. But while she waited, she kept herself alive by building shelter, making weapons, finding food, and fighting her enemies, the wild dogs. It is not only an unusual adventure of survival, but also a tale of natural beauty and personal discovery.”

She was the Lost Woman of San Nicolas Island.  A woman who had lived there all by herself from 1835 to 1853.  Jan Timbrook, Curator of Ethnography at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, gives a little background on her true story.  “In the early 1800’s, Russian and Aleut sea otter hunters clashed violently with Indian people living on remote San Nicolas Island. The mission padres requested that these Indians be moved to the mainland for their own safety, and in 1835 a schooner was sent to pick them up. As the ship was being loaded, a woman discovered her child had been left in the village and went back to find it. Meanwhile a strong wind arose. The ship was forced to sail and the woman was abandoned on the island, her child apparently killed by wild dogs. The schooner was unable to go back for her, and she spent eighteen years alone on the barren, windswept island. She never saw her fellow islanders again.”  There is more info here.  After she died the DAR (the DAR?) gave her a plaque in her honor.  Here it is:

When O’Dell heard of her he was, according to Anita Silvey’s 100 Best Books for Children, a book review editor for the Los Angeles Times.  So he wrote a book about a similar woman but the audience, to him anyway, was unknown.  According to David L. Russell’s book Scott O’Dell, he once said of the book, “I didn’t know what young people were reading and I didn’t consider [Island of the Blue Dolphins] a children’s book, necessarily. [It] was a protest against the hunters who came into our mountains and killed everything that crept or walked or flew.  I sent the story to my agents. They sent it back to me by return mail, saying that if I was serious about the story I should change the girl to a boy, because girls were only interested in romance and such. This seemed silly to me. So I picked up the story, went to New York City, and gave it to my editor, who accepted it the next day. When it won the Newbery Medal, I was launched into writing for children and young adults.”

After that O’Dell would never write for adults again.  Which, if we are to believe, C. Anita Tarr’s “Apologizing for Scott O’Dell –Too Little, Too Late” from Children’s Literature 2002, this is not necessarily a bad thing.  Tarr writes, “It has always disturbed me that this author of mediocre historical novels for adults was awarded accolades when he began writing for children.”

There was a sequel to this book, actually.  In 1976 O’Dell wrote Zia which Malcolm Usrey in American Writers for Children Since 1960: Fiction said was, “an entertaining story, but it lacks the verve and force of Island of the Blue Dolphins and The King’s Fifth.”

The book has met some criticism since we’re talking about a book where an old white man wrote a story about a young American Indian woman.  Elizabeth Hall, O’Dell’s wife, says of the book, “Children in Kotzebue, a town in the far north of Alaska were so taken with Scott’s portrayal of Native Americans that they invited him to accompany their class on a trip to Siberia, to see the land of their ancestors. I do agree that it’s difficult to write authentically about characters from another culture, and I agree that a lot of it has been done badly. It takes an immense amount of research and a huge dose of empathy. Human emotions have not changed since our ancestors were hunter-gatherers in Africa. All that has changed is the situations that evoke those emotions.”

Hazel Rochman’s “Another Look At: Scott O’Dell’s Island of the Blue Dolphins” found in the April 15, 2007 issue of Booklist makes another interesting point.  “Readers familiar with children’s literature will know that … Scott O’Dell’s Island of the Blue Dolphins, Newbery winner in 1961, also wins the endurance race, but it’s doubtful whether the experts of the day would have predicted it to outlast Walter Edmonds’ The Matchlock Gun, Newbery winner in 1942. Edmonds’ novel had the feel of a classic western, High Noon for kids. What we didn’t know then was that our interpretation of what appeared at midcentury to be an archetypal story, settler versus Indian, would change dramatically in the late 1960s and beyond, leaving readers with zero tolerance for passages describing Native Americans as savages who looked like dogs.”  Not to give anything away but The Matchlock Gun does not make it onto this Top 100 Children’s Novels List.  It never even got a single vote.

In the Jezebel article Island of the Blue Dolphins: I’m a Cormorant and I Don’t Care, Lizzie Skurnick considers some aspects of the book with her customary verve.  Tons of great lines to be found there.  One of the best: “. . . this ties into my next vaguely-holiday-related point, which is that girls don’t really want to play with dolls; they want to perform tasks. (They do still care about clothes, however — after she plunges into the sea to swim back to Ramo, she says: “The only thing that made me angry was that my beautiful skirt of yucca fibers, which I had worked on so hard, was ruined.”) Because after she is left to fend for herself, Karana displays a dizzying competence that might even trump Ma’s comprehensive mastery over the pig.  She gathers abalones and dries them like a champ. She kills a bunch of wild dogs and tames another one. She builds a huge fence out of whale bones and catches a billion sai sai fish to burn for light. She builds canoes, she outwits Aleut visitors, she almost manages to kill a bull elephant (ummm…hippo?) and a devilfish (octopus!). And best of all, as much as the Tea-tree-candle-copy prose gets on my nerves, it is blessedly free of the cutesy, Up-With-People prose of the American Girl series and other spunk-filled (not THAT kind of spunk, you pervs) books girls have to contend with nowadays.”

And he was a first time 60-year-old children’s author who won a Newbery!  The year it won it beat America Moves Forward: A History for Peter by Gerald W. Johnson, Old Ramon by Jack Schaefer, and The Cricket In Times Square by George Selden.  Fifty points to anyone who has read all four of these.

You can read some of the title here

• You can read more about Scott O’Dell himself here.

• A book was written about the woman who inspired this novel, called Lone Woman of Ghalas-Hat.

• In 1982 the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction was established.  Each year it goes to the most notable work of historical fiction for kids.  The choices, for that matter, are often stellar.

• 100 Scope Notes re-covered the book here.

• In 2003 The Mendocino Quilt Artists each selected a book that was important to them when they were young.  Leila Kazimi selected Island of the Blue Dolphins, shown here:

The cover from Israel:

There was a movie in 1964.  It was apparently just awful.  Gee, can’t imagine why.  After all, with a tagline like “A Girl’s Incredible Adventure on a Lost Island!” and a pretty clearly white heroine who wears a short buckskin skirt the whole time, what’s there to possibly object to?

Obviously I much prefer the 90-Second Newbery version done with oddly bloody claymation.

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#46 The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi (1990)
44 points

This is by far the best of Avi’s books. Non-stop adventure and a girl protagonist. Who could ask for anything more? – Martha Sherod

When I read this book for a children’s literature course I was completely blown away. I had never read anything like this written for children before. It doesn’t patronize or placate or sugar coat. It is an awesome adventure story for kids, the fact that it stars a feisty female as the main character is just a plus. It also has one of the greatest first lines of a novel ever! - Amy Miele

Well, naturally after Amy said that I had to find the first line. Here it is: “Not every thirteen-year-old girl is accused of murder, brought to trial, and found guilty.”  Yeah.  I’m gonna give her this one.

I run a bookgroup for kids between the ages of 9 and (now) 14 out of my library.  One day one of my best readers came up to me, clutching a copy of The True Adventures of Charlotte Doyle in her hot little hand.  “We HAVE to read this!” she insisted.  “It is so good!”  I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I hadn’t actually read it myself at the time.  But I took her at her word and brought it up with the rest of the group.  Charlotte Doyle is part award winner, part crowd pleaser, and altogether enjoyable.  I tell you, man.  Those Charlotte fans.  They’re insatiable.

Publishers Weekly describes the book in this way: “Told in the form of a recollection, these ‘confessions’ cover 13-year-old Charlotte’s eventful 1832 transatlantic crossing. She begins her trip a prim schoolgirl returning home to her American family from England. From the start, there is something wrong with the Seahawk : the families that were to serve as Charlotte’s chaperones do not arrive, and the unsavory crew warns her not to make the trip. When the crew rebels, Charlotte first sides with the civilized Captain Jaggerty, but before long she realizes that he is a sadist and–the only female aboard–she joins the crew as a seaman. Charlotte is charged with murder and sentenced to be hanged before the trip is over, but ends up in command of the Seahawk by the time it reaches its destination. Charlotte’s repressive Puritanical family refuses to believe her tale, and the girl returns to the sea.”

Now according to Anita Silvey’s 100 Best Books for Children, “Avi first entered the realm of children’s books as a character.  His fourth-grade class was portrayed in Bette Bao Lord’s book In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson, and Avi made his debut as Irvie, the silent member of the group.”  An auspicious beginning to say the least.

In terms of this particular book, Silvey says, “Avi had been working on another book, The Man Who Was Poe, when he began thinking about The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.  At first he thought he would write a mystery, entitled ‘The Seahawk,’ set on the high seas.  But as he wrote, he cared more and more about Charlotte – and ultimately decided that it should become her book.”  On his website Avi also explains that, “As for the title, when I thought of it, I assumed it would not work because there must be a million books with a similar title. But when I checked, to my amazement, there was not one. Happy to grab it.”

For a moment there, it was thought that Danny DeVito would direct the cinematic version of this book.  Indeed, they’d already cast Pierce Brosnan and Saoirse Ronan.  In June of 2009, however, the Sunday Mirror reported that, “the movie’s writer and director Danny DeVito is being sued by New York businessman Michael Caridi who claims he helped raise the funds for the project.  The lawsuit could delay production of the picture, which is being made by Brosnan’s company Irish DreamTime and DeVito’s Jersey Films.”  Due to the fact that we haven’t heard any updates on the movie since this article came out, “delayed” is probably the least of it.

The book won the sole Newbery Honor of 1991.  What beat it?  Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli.  Good year, that.

• Read some of the book here.

• There is also an available literary guide here and also here.

Kirkus gave the opinion (in a starred review, no less) that the book was, “tautly plotted, vividly narrated, carefully researched: a thrilling tale deepened by its sober look at attitudes that may have been more exaggerated in the past but that still persist.”

Publishers Weekly said of it, “Charlotte’s story is a gem of nautical adventure, and Avi’s control of tone calls to mind William Golding’s 1980s trilogy of historical novels of the sea. Never wavering from its 19th century setting, the novel offers suspense and entertainment modern-day readers will enjoy.”

Said School Library Journal, “Awash with shipboard activity, intense feelings, and a keen sense of time and place, the story is a throwback to good old-fashioned adventure yarns on the high seas.”

Five Owls thought it was, “expertly crafted and consistently involving, it is sure to excite, enthrall, and challenge readers.”

http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/2012/05/28/top-100-childrens-novels-47-little-women-by-louisa-may-alcott/

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#47 Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1868)
43 points

So ahead of her time, it makes you think her father was doing something right. – Susan Van Metre

I still think Jo should have married Laurie. – The Sauls Family

And at last the oldest children’s book to appear on this list makes its appearance (sorry, The Tales of Peter Parley About America fans).

The plot from Anita Silvey’s Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children’s Book reads, “The four March girls – determined Jo, beautiful Meg, saintly Beth, and artistic Amy – experience first the problems of the Civil War years and then the period after the war.  All struggled with character defects (Meg vanity; Jo tempter ; Beth shyness; and Amy selfishness); all deal with the problems created by their family’s poverty.  Without question one of the saddest moments universally acknowledged in children’s fiction comes when Beth dies.  And that, of course, underscores the great strength of Alcott’s work; she brings these characters to life.  But Jo carries the story.  She refuses to accept what society tells her to be.  She is generous and loving, cutting off her own hair to provide money for the family, but she is never a victim.  She finds her own path and becomes what she wants to be, a writer.”

And its origin story?  The Reference Guide to American Literature describes the creation of the book(s) in this way: “Alcott’s purpose in writing Little Women was not to create a nostalgic portrait of an idyllic childhood, though the book is often read as such. She wrote it to make money.” Horn Book’s article “Introduction to the Centennial Edition of Little Women” by Cornelia Meigs goes into a bit more detail on the matter. “In September, 1867, [Alcott] mentions in her diary that Mr. Thomas Niles of Roberts Brothers had asked her for a book for girls. It seems to have been somewhat of a shot in the dark even for him; for her it was even more unpromising than that. She agreed to try, but linked the task so little that she did not go on with it. Other and easier-seeming undertakings were allowed to come in the way and in May, 1867, she sent her father to Mr. Niles to ask him if he would not be interested in a fairy book. Thomas Niles answered firmly that he wanted a book for girls.” And so, dear reader, she did.

The second part of Little Women was originally published in 1869 as Good Wives. Usually that book is paired with the first into one great big Little Women, though. Part one was drawn quite a bit from Alcott’s own life (even to the point where Amy was simply the rearranged letters of Louisa’s actual sister). Elizabeth, Lousia’s sister, died at twenty-three. Louisa was very disappointed when the family broke up. The Alcott girls donated their Christmas breakfast to a needy family once. Louisa won a hundred dollars in a writing contest. The girls often performed their own plays.  It’s all there! I was particularly pleased to find a letter in the May 1903 edition of St. Nicholas from Annie Alcott Pratt, otherwise known to the world as “Meg”. She clarifies a couple points. ” ‘Meg’ was never the pretty vain little maiden, who coquetted and made herself so charming. But ‘Jo’ always admired poor, plain ‘Meg,’ and when she came to put her into the story, she beautified her to suit the occasion, saying, ‘Dear me, girls, we must have one beauty in the book!’ So ‘Meg,’ with her big mouth and homely nose, shines forth quite a darling, and no doubt all the ‘ little women’ who read of her admire her just as loving old ‘Jo’ does, and think her quite splendid. But, for all that, she is nothing but homely, busy, and, I hope, useful ‘Annie’ who writes this letter to you.” It goes on from there. Fascinating reading.

In her critical essay on Little Women in Novels for Students, author Jennifer Bussey explains a lot of the book’s appeal at the time. “Because most characters in children’s books at the time were too perfect, readers were less interested in what eventually became of them. In Little Women, however, readers saw themselves in the pages of the story and longed to know how things turned out for the March girls. Thus, being character driven is part one’s strength.” It’s true. The sermonizing in this book has nothing on the average everyday 19th-century novel of the time. Alcott allowed her characters to be a little more than merely “good” or “bad”.  A novel notion, no?

It’s the honesty of the writing that folks (adult folks anyway) tend to love. In Intent Upon Reading: A Critical Appraisal of Modern Fiction for Children author Margery Fisher writes, “How many family stories there are in which the plot centers round poverty: how few in which you can really smell that poverty. Little Women has a permanent place on the bookshelves of the young because of its sterling honesty.”

There is great lamenting and gnashing of teeth when people discuss the fact that Jo and next door neighbor boy Laurie don’t hook up. I rather like Bussey’s explanation of why that is, though. “While it is tempting to imagine that Alcott wrote for Jo a fate she had hoped for herself, the author’s correspondence proves otherwise. She knew that readers desperately wanted to see Jo marry, but Alcott was unwilling to make the obvious choice of Laurie as a husband. Alcott understands Jo so completely that she cannot allow her to marry Laurie, even though it disappoints most readers. Jo loves Laurie as a brother, not as a husband, and she knows that he does not fully appreciate how important her writing is to her. As his wife, she would be expected to socialize in high society and behave like a lady. Knowing herself well enough to know that the marriage would not be fulfilling, Jo refuses his proposal.” She later goes on to speculate that Professor Bhaer was inspired by Ralph Waldo Emerson, but that’s neither here nor there.

Download the book here.

• Here are some lesson plans.

• You can join the Louisa May Alcott Society if you’ve an inkling to do so.

A review in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine at the time said of it, “It is natural, and free from that false sentiment which pervades too much of juvenile literature. Autobiographies, if genuine, are generally interesting, and it is shrewdly suspected that Joe’s experience as an author photographs some of Miss Alcott’s own literary mistakes and misadventures.”

The Nation was a little more snide, saying “Miss Alcott’s new juvenile [novel, Little Women,] is an agreeable little story, which is not only very well adapted to the readers for whom it is especially intended, but may also be read with pleasure by older people. The girls depicted all belong to healthy types, and are drawn with a certain cleverness, although there is in the book a lack of what painters call atmosphere—things and people being painted too much in ‘local colors,’ and remaining, under all circumstances, somewhat too persistently themselves.”

Re: The covers – Sing, my pretties!  Sing!

I like to call this next one “guess which one is Jo”.

Seriously, Signet.  I understand why you’d want to use a piece of art in the public domain . . . but FIVE sisters?  What, was this like the Beatles and one got kicked out?  Was she the Gummo of the March girls?

And let us not forget the multiple filmed versions of this book for countless generations. In 1933 Katherine Hepburn was Jo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mwcYefo9fc&feature=embed

Elizabeth Taylor played Amy in the 1949 version.

Then came 1978. The big star was Meredith Baxter Birney as Meg, Susan Dey as Jo, and . . . William Shatner as Professor Bhaer? Hoo boy.

The inevitable 1987 Japanese animated series:

And finally, I confess that as a kid who grew up watching Beetlejuice, the Winona Ryder was always my favorite.

http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/2012/05/28/top-100-childrens-novels-48-the-bad-beginning-by-lemony-snicket/

http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/?p=13203

#48 The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket (1999)
43 points

Also brought me a huge list of new readers – boys and girls and teachers loved to read them out loud to the class. – Cheryl Phillips

I’m a Snicket girl, loving the play with wit and words in this Series of Unfortunate Events. – Pam Coughlan

Unlike other series no one had any desire to nominate a Snicket title other than this, the first. That helped its rating considerably.  Previously #71 it now leaps up to the 40s.  Not too shabby.  My encounters with the book precede my library degree.  When I lived in Portland, Oregon after college I started reading children’s books out of the blue (yet never dreamed I’d be a children’s librarian, odd as that may sound).  I read the first few Snicket books in Powell’s on a lark and loved them, so after the publication of #4 I went and saw Mr. Snicket speak.  He was wonderful, and the crowd was reasonable if not excessive.  Later, when he would command entire buildings like the Union Square Barnes & Noble, I missed the early days of Snicketmania.  Ah, nostalgic me.

Library Journal described the plot in this manner: “This series chronicles the unfortunate lives of the Baudelaire children: Violet, 14; Klaus, 12; and the infant, Sunny. In Bad Beginning, their parents and possessions perish in a fire, and the orphans must use their talents to survive as their lives move from one disastrous event to another. Surrounded by dim-witted though well-meaning adults, the Baudelaires find themselves in the care of their evil relative, Count Olaf, a disreputable actor whose main concern is getting his hands on the children’s fortune. When Olaf holds Sunny hostage to force Violet to marry him, it takes all of the siblings’ resourcefulness to outwit him. Violet’s inventive genius, Klaus’s forte for research, and Sunny’s gift for biting the bad guys at opportune moments save the day.”

In Funny Business: Conversations with Writers of Comedy (edited by Leonard Marcus) an interview was conducted with Daniel Handler, the face behind the Snicket.  The son of a man who escaped the Holocaust, Handler’s career as a children’s author began when his editor suggested (after reading an adult manuscript) that he write for kids.  The editor was Susan Rich, a woman we will now refer to as “Resident Genius” because I doubt that many editors would have seen the possibilities in Handler’s wordplay.  The ideas?  Not a problem.  “That’s what always happens to me: I have a clear idea for a story right away, and then as I’m writing it I find that it has more twists and corners than I knew.”  He told his editor it would be a thirteen book series.  She told him he’d be lucky if he could publish four.

The charm of the series is well defined by Sandra Howard in the August 25, 2001 edition of Spectator. “As a child I had an invented other child that I used to enjoy pretending to be; she had a permanently wretched time, always cruelly treated, slaving away. I’m sure Lemony Snicket’s constant exhortations to expect only the direst events to occur will have a happily morbid appeal and I found myself impatient to know how the orphans were going to get out of one scrape to be ready for the next. The tales are straightforward, no foe-defying magic, just companionable sharing of a disastrous state of affairs.”

It’s probably not too surprising that the first book Handler bought with his own money was Edward Gorey’s The Blue Aspic.  He was in first or second grade at the time.  His other influences were explained to Terry Gross on Fresh Air in 2001.  “Oh, I really loved the books by Edward Gorey. I really loved the books of Roald Dahl, and I just adored the books by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, who is not as well-known, but is just a terrific writer. She wrote ‘The Egypt Game’ and ‘The Headless Cupid’ and a bunch of really interesting books where children are forced to negotiate difficult but non-supernatural circumstances more or less all by themselves, and those were the sort of stories that appealed to me.”  He has since blurbed her more recent publications.

One of the charms of the series is the use of copious literary references.  In that same interview with Terry Gross, Handler said, “Well, they’re cared for by Mr. Poe. At one point, they fall into the household of Jerome and Esme Squalor, who are named after J.D. Salinger’s story of ‘For Esme With Love and Squalor.’ They attend Prufrock Preparatory School after the poem by T.S. Eliot. Yeah, they’re pretty much surrounded by the world of books.”

You would expect that, with the state of the nation as it is, that the book would be banned.  Doesn’t seem to happen all that often.  In a May 29, 2000 issue of Publishers Weekly a rare instance was noted. “Obviously, the author’s knack for combining the dark with the droll has hit a nerve just about everywhere–except Decatur, Ga. There, a school canceled Handler’s scheduled visit because teachers objected to Count Olaf’s utterance of the word ‘damn’ in The Reptile Room. ‘Out of all the uses of this word in children’s literature, this has to be the mildest,’ commented a bewildered Handler. ‘And its use was precipitated by a long discussion of how one should never say this word, since only a villain would do so vile a thing! This is exactly the lily-liveredness of children’s books that I can’t stand. So now I can say, whatever happens in my literary career, they can’t take away from me the fact that my books have been banned in Georgia’.”

• The books are notorious amongst librarians for something far more insidious than the word “damn”.  I think a lot of us can attest that after two reads the hardcover edition’s spine fades to almost nothing.  Doggone spines.  This series is the cheaply bound Manga of children’s hardcover fiction.  Beautiful binding.  Crummy longevity.

• With time to think back on his books a little (and with a new series with different characters in the works) this interview Handler conducted with The Telegraph is fairly telling.

• There will be a NEW Snicket book out this fall.  I can’t tell you much more than that and the fact that it will be published by Little, Brown.  Keep an eye peeled.

Booklist said of the book, “The droll humor, reminiscent of Edwin Gorey’s, will be lost on some children; others may not enjoy the old-fashioned storytelling style that frequently addresses the reader directly and includes many definitions of terms. But plenty of children will laugh at the over-the-top satire; hiss at the creepy, nefarious villains; and root for the intelligent, courageous, unfortunate Baudelaire orphans.”

School Library Journal was slightly more optimistic when it wrote, “While the misfortunes hover on the edge of being ridiculous, Snicket’s energetic blend of humor, dramatic irony, and literary flair makes it all perfectly believable. The writing, peppered with fairly sophisticated vocabulary and phrases, may seem daunting, but the inclusion of Snicket’s perceptive definitions of difficult words makes these books challenging to older readers and excellent for reading aloud.”

Said Publishers Weekly, “The author uses formal, Latinate language and intrusive commentary to hilarious effect, even for readers unfamiliar with the literary conventions he parodies. The peril in which he places the Baudelaires may be frightening (Count Olaf actually follows through on his threats of violence on several occasions), but the author paints the satire with such broad strokes that most readers will view it from a safe distance. Luckily for fans, the woes of the Baudelaires are far from over.”

More covers exist for this first book than I had remembered.

And I had almost forgotten all about this fabulous series of the covers created to look like they were made in the 1960s.

Now I bloody blooming bleeping enjoyed the friggin’ movie of this, and I don’t care who knows it.  Does Jim Carrey chew the scenery?  Of course, Jim Carrey chews the scenery!  Do I care?  I do not care.  This was, in spite of this trailer I’m about to show you, a rather enjoyable little film.

We now know that Mr. Handler himself was hired to write eight drafts of the screenplay and then was fired. “But I have a policy that I can’t say anything nasty about a movie that bought me a house.” I say he should at least enjoy the credit sequence.

And while this video was made in conjunction with the last book in the series, it still applies to book #1.  And it’s remarkably, shockingly well done.  The song’s lyrics, however, are by Mr. Stephen Merritt and not Mr. Handler.  Or Mr. Snicket for that matter.

And I missed this trailer for the paperback editions, lo these many years ago: