babbling, mostly about books

Just the other day, Max sat scratching his little legs and said to me, "I hate winter! It's itchy and I can't ride my bike."

While I'm right there with him on the whole issue of dry winter skin, I really couldn't disagree more about winter in general. I've always loved winter. Heck, I love each and every season. But dang, this winter has been a real let-down. We've just had so little of the beautiful white flakes this year. They're saying that the storm that's arriving now should leave us with 12-16" by tomorrow morning, but at this point I'm not holding my breath. Crossing my fingers, yes, but not holding my breath.

But snow is not supposed to be the subject of this post. Books are. Book reviews, specifically. I'd really like to get caught up. Ah, but first I must admit failure in Kailana's Four-Legged Friends Reading Challenge. But failure's relative, right? I did read two pretty darn enjoyable books because of this challenge (Charlotte's Web and The Tale of Despereaux). Oooh, if I stick in Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM (which wasn't on my list, but I did read) for Ginger Pye (which was on my list, but I didn't read), I could really count this as a "win"...but I guess that's kinda cheating at this point, huh? Anyway, thank you Kailana for a wonderful challenge!

Hmmm...what can I ramble on about now to get out of these blasted book reviews? Yes, I'm pathetic. Truly pathetic.


Oh O.K.--I Was a Rat, by Philip Pullman. Loved this book! Loved, loved, loved it! It was so utterly charming! I knew that Annie and I had to read this one for our fairy tale exploration after reading Nymeth's wonderful review. Yes, it is a fairy tale retold. But no, I won't tell you which one. You really don't want the surprise ruined, do you?

The story begins with the arrival of a little boy to the door of Bob and Joan, an older childless couple. Bob, a cobbler, and Joan, a washerwoman, had always wanted a child, but it just never happened for them. The little boy knocked on their door and announced, "I was a rat." No explanation, just "I was a rat."

Roger, as the couple starts calling him, is a sweet, lovable fellow, but one who tends to gnaw the most unusual things. And he has a knack for landing himself in trouble, though really through no fault of his own. When Roger first shows up on their doorstep, Bob and Joan try to do the right thing and find out where this little guy belongs. They try the police and the hospital, but really get nowhere with a host of very unhelpful people. The dear couple without openly discussing it, just take Roger in as their own. But then trouble strikes and Roger is lost. He encounters a host of quite unscrupulous characters, before Bob and Joan once again find him. And even then Roger isn't safe...it takes a princess to come to the rescue (this is a fairy tale, after all).

As I said, it is an utterly charming book. Perfectly delightful.

Though not my original choice, this book is filling in the animal category for Annie's What's In a Name Challenge. It also fulfills another slot in Ariel's Unread Authors Challenge...can you believe this is the first Philip Pullman book I've read (shame on me!). And last but not least, this will fill in the "I title" slot in Joy's A-Z Challenge.













Well, damn. Once again, I really wanted to get caught up on my reviews, and once again, I just can't seem to do it. Guess I'm only good for one at a time. There's always tomorrow, right?

a four-legged read

Finished up my first book for the Four-Legged Friends Reading Challenge last night. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. If ever the words "timeless classic" applied, huh?

Charlotte's Web is the touching story of friendship between an unlikely pair, Wilbur, a spring pig, and Charlotte, a big gray spider. When Wilbur finds that he will soon become the Zuckermans' meat supply for the coming winter, Charlotte steps up to the plate with an ingenious plan to save his life. Charlotte sums it up so well near the end of the book...

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

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

But the book has more to offer as well. While Charlotte and Wilbur are endearing characters, Templeton, the gluttonous rat, most assuredly is not. Yet he was the favorite character of the boys and myself. The gut-busting laughter White brought through Templeton to the boys is a gift I shall long treasure. I swear they nearly had themselves rolling off the bed at times. And it probably goes without saying that their emotional old mom had tears rolling down her cheeks at least once during the story as well.

And you know, what more can you ask from a book?

Four-Legged Friends Reading Challenge

Kailana is hosting the "Four-Legged Friends Reading Challenge". Yes, you're right, the last thing I need is another reading challenge. And I really wasn't going to join myself, though I knew Annie would be thrilled beyond words about this one. But then I went and read Kailana's post, and it was just so touching. She's hosting this in honor of Sandy, her beautiful four-legged canine friend, who recently died. And she said that with our introductory post, we might want to talk a little about a special animal friend of our own.

We've certainly been blessed to have more than one special furry member of our family. Really, really special. Taco, the fluffy feline furball, who seemed to think he was actually a dog, died a little over a year ago. And he is still talked about nearly every day in our home. It's hard to explain how loved this beautiful boy was. He was a stray who showed up in the barn of a house we rented in Cleveland, TN. He was just as beat up as could be, and yet still took to us immediately. We got the poor fellow to the vet, and then brought him in to recuperate. He did nothing but veg and sleep for three weeks. We thought he was about the most lazy cat we'd ever seen. But he wasn't lazy at all...he was obviously just healing. For after that 3 weeks, he came back to life.



Taco was such a people cat. He had to be where the action was at all times. Many cats are not particularly fond of kiddos of the human variety, but Taco was an exception to this rule. When he showed up in our lives, Annie was about 2.5 years old. He was wonderful with her. But of course, she was a gentle girl. Then along came Gray...and then Max. Two typical "not-so-gentle" little boys. But Taco didn't mind. He loved us all. He even slept with the boys.

He was, in fact, Max's best friend. Honestly. That boy loved that cat more than you could imagine. We lost Taco in a such a tragic way...we were away on vacation when he unexpectedly died, so no one got to even say good-bye.

This is a portion of what I wrote here after we arrived home...

And on arriving home, we were absolutely crushed. Taco, our big, loveable lug of a baby boy kitty, died while we were gone. It's still so hard to talk about it. He was absolutely, positively Max's best friend. And it takes a special kitty to be best friends to a 3-year-old. Taco even slept with Max most nights. Poor Maxie, being only 3, was not exactly getting a great deal out of our vacation. For the last 10 days of it, he would ask at least 20 times a day if this was the day he got to go home and see Taco. He was so excited the day we told him we would be arriving home to his buddy. Little did we know that none of us would see the sweet ball of fur again.

It was just such a sad time here. Not only did Rich and I have to deal with losing Taco ourselves, but we had to deal with the heartbreak of the munchkins, especially Max. In his own 3-year-old way, he tried to deal with the loss. He even tried to "build" a new Taco using his tools. He broke our hearts.



So my list is in honor of a very special furry orange friend who gave this family more than words could ever say.















*Whittington by Alan Armstrong (cat)

*Charlotte's Web by E.B. White, which I will be reading to the boys (spider and pig)

*Ragweed by Avi (mouse)

*Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes (dog)

*The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo (mouse)