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Search tags: Classics-for-Children
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review 2015-02-25 01:30
Down the Rabbit Hole
Alice in Wonderland - Audio Paperback Alice in Wonderland - Audio Paperback

This is a hard book to rate. Honestly, most of it is quite silly. I have seen movie versions and adaptations and I knew that it was pretty bizarre. But in the reading, it's a bit...well, absurd. If that is one what is expecting, it's a pretty good book. I think that one has to have a high tolerance for silly puns. Some of which are a bit obscure for a modern audience, but I think that kids that read it during that era would have appreciated it.

What I liked the most about it, is, well, Alice. She's adorable. She has the clear and genuine logic and outlook of a child, and I like that about her. She's a bit precocious, but not in an obnoxious way. If she not had been, well, I'm sure she would have found Wonderland quite scary and maybe had a nervous breakdown. She approaches this bizarre place of Wonderland from her vantage point and takes everything pretty well (and with a fair amount of acceptance), considering...

I laughed pretty loud at the absurdity and I loved the narrator, Marianne Margulies's impersonations of the characters. The croquet game was fantastically written and the court scene was pretty funny as well. I kept yelling "Off With His Head," along with the Red Queen. I thought the end was a bit abrupt, but I guess it makes sense in context. There are some sad, poignant aspects that hit the right note as well (the way that the story hits on the mourning one feels for the innocence and joy of childhood as an adult).

It's nice to have read this book and to see that many versions of the book in tv/movies do a good job of capturing the essence of the novel. Generally, movies don't do so well, but I think Alice has been treated fairly faithfully throughout the years.

I will probably read some critical essays on the work and see what I pick up about some of the hidden meanings and themes and cultural relevance, since I'm not really sure about that. On surface value, it was fun and silly, and pretty enjoyable. I recommend getting this on audio. The puns and songs were a lot more funny this way.

Overall rating: 3.5/5.0 stars.

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review 2014-12-31 18:31
Jo's Boys
Jo's Boys   [JOS BOYS] [Paperback] - Louisa May'(Author) ; Children's Classics(Author) Alcott

The book, ladies and gentlemen: (I very much tried to make everything chronological. Anything that isn't, such as Josie whining about acting or whenever the Professor decides to grace the world with his presence, is completely due to my lack of remembrance and also my utter lack of desire to go back through the entire book, rather than skimming for the important bits, as I am already doing.)


Professor: *chortles*

 

Plumfield: If everybody could just stop acting in plays here, that'd be great.

 

Nan: ERMAGERSH I WANT TO BE A SINGLE DOCTOR LEAVE ME ALONE TOM

 

Tom: But I love you.

 

Me: Damn, they'd be a cute couple.

 

Mrs. Jo: I shall sit down for a few quiet minutes of writing.

 

Random citizens: LET'S MOB THE AUTHOR, DEMAND AUTOGRAPHS, AND STEAL SMALL TRINKETS.

 

Mrs. Jo: I've had just about enough of this. *pretends to be a maid*

 

Observant fanatic: WHY YOU MUST BE THAT AUTHOR.

 

Mrs. Jo: *objects on principle that she's pretending to be a maid*

 

Observant fanatic: No, you're not. Your picture is right there, on the side table.

 

Mrs. Jo: *sullen glare*

 

Josie: *whines about acting*

 

Mrs. Jo: STOP TRYING TO MAKE "ACTING" HAPPEN, JOSIE. IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.

 

Dan: *arrives*

 

All the ladies: *swoon*

 

Me: Oh, wow, these next two chapters are boring.

 

Ted: I'll just try and kill this here dog. For fun. Because I suck.

 

Rob: *gets bit defending dog and might get rabies from Don, who probably doesn't have rabies but how are they to know that?*

 

Don: *definitely has rabies*

 

Nan: Why are the women always fixing your messes? Oh, that's right, because we're better than you are. Ugh.

 

Professor: I say, what a jolly good joke.

 

Mrs. Jo: Hahahahahahahaha, why aren't we punishing Ted, dearest?

 

Professor: Because I'm a worthless character. I'm not even sure why I'm in this book or why you're married to me. *chortles*

 

Mrs. Jo: Oh. Right.

 

Josie: *almost drowns but totally succeeds in getting an actress to watch her act at a later date*

 

Josie: Totes worth it. *coughs up water*

 

Josie: *tries to act*

 

Miss Cameron: You're cute but I don't hold out much hope for your acting abilities.

 

Miss Cameron: *glorifies Shakespeare*

 

Me: *le sigh*

 

Tom: Um. I fear I have accidentally gotten myself engaged.

 

Mrs. Jo: WHA-

 

Tom: BUT SHE'S PRETTY, SO IT'S OKAY. I'M OKAY. IT'S FINE.

 

Mrs. Jo: I'm sorry, wha-

 

Tom: No, really. I'm embarrassed, sure, and lamenting that Nan isn't jealous, but I can live with this.

 

Mrs. Jo: But how on earth did you manage to get "accidentally" engaged?

 

Tom: ....

 

Tom: It involved bicycles.

 

Me: Well, there goes that ship.

 

Demi: *gets a job or something but no one really cares*

 

Emil: I'm so THANKFUL that I got shipwrecked with this gorgeous girl who I got to save and spend all this time with because we literally got shipwrecked, and yeah sure, there are other people on this tiny boat but the important bit is that we're totally getting engaged by the end of this book all thanks to this shipwreck. #BESTSHIPWRECKEVER

 

Dan: *kills someone*

 

Professor: *chortles* (Of course, he couldn't have known that Dan killed someone. There was something amusing in the paper.)

 

Dan: *rots in prison*

 

Nat: *does something musically inclined over the New Year or something but no one really cares*

 

Plumfield: SERIOUSLY WHAT'S WITH ALL THE PLAYS?

 

Chapter 16: All I am is flirting.

 

Mrs. Jo: There'll be none of-

 

Chapter 16: FLIRT

 

Mrs. Jo: -that.

 

Chapter 16: YOU CAN'T STOP THE FLIRT.

 

Mrs. Jo: *glares*

 

Chapter 16: *whimpers*

 

Chapter 17: I am a large sewing circle and some education and I am all about the girls yay! *feebly waves flag*

 

Chapter 18: Um, I'm not really sure what "Class Day" is all about, but Emil comes back here, announcing his engagement so that's cool.

 

Emil: #BESTSHIPWRECKEVER

 

Dan: I am home. And also damaged. But maybe a better person? Hard to tell.

 

Dan: Also, I think I am in love with Bess.

 

Me: They would also be a cute couple. Maybe if they got together, this book wouldn't have been the biggest waste of my time.

 

Mrs. Jo: Oh, dear heavens, no. Her mum isn't fond of you.

 

Dan: *spends years loving Bess, his guiding star, until he dies*

 

Louisa's ghost: Haha, did you see what I did there? Any hope you ever had of anyone getting together with whom they should get together DIED along with Dan hahaha.

 

Me: Go away, you're dead.

 

Louisa's ghost: AND SO'S YOUR HOPE. *fades away laughing manically*


THE END.

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review 2014-11-11 02:34
The Secret Garden (Children's Classics) (Children's Classics) - Frances Hodgson Burnett,Vanessa Maroney

What a remarkably charming story. I loved how Mary grew in this story, but still managed to stay contrary. I absolutely loved her relationship with Dicken and Colin (please excuse any misspellings of the names. I listened to an audio version). I loved how alike Mary and Colin were and because of the positive changes Mary was going through, she was able to influence Colin in a similar manner. The magic and faith surrounding the story was quite beautiful.

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review 2014-09-14 00:00
The Railway Children (Puffin Classics)
The Railway Children (Puffin Classics) - Shaun Whiteside A beautifully written book, though definitely from another time. Three siblings and their mother leave their London home for the countryside because some men come to take their father away. What follows are a series of mini-adventures, mostly concerning the Railway and surrounding areas where the children express themselves through kindness and good deeds.

The reason I enjoyed this book so much was, not just for the wonderful old-fashioned language you find in books such as these (calling someone a brick always amuses me), but because it holds a very important message and that is you are not worth how much money you have. The children move from, not an unseemly amount of wealth, but definitely enough to afford a privileged lifestyle to barely being able to afford warming their house, resorting in the children "borrowing" coal in lieu of a game.
The whole point of life is to better yourself and it's quite difficult to do that when you're born in to money. But the children better themselves despite this, and in so many different ways it's hard to look back on this time and envy them for being able to live in it.
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review 2014-07-08 20:01
Boys and Girls Forever: Children's Classics from Cinderella to Harry Potter - Nope
Boys and Girls Forever: Children's Classics from Cinderella to Harry Potter - Alison Lurie

The sad thing is, this has been on my Amazon wish list forever.

 

The good thing: I never actually bought it.

 

While I have my own issues with literary study and criticism, sometimes I really like looking at something that means a great deal to me from an academic level. I enjoy seeing beyond my view and learning things that only a great deal of study could grant me otherwise. However, all to often, I find literary criticism to be...limited and limiting as well as unwelcoming to different views. I learned far too early in school that poetry almost never means to me what it is "suppose" to. Just that phrase angers me, as literature will mean something different to everyone; there are basic truths and others opinions can certainly aid in your understanding but I don't take critics' thoughts as gospel.

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