Happy Winnie the Pooh Day 2015

So last year as part of the literary calendar I recognised Winnie the Pooh Day by reading the very first book in A.A. Milne’s series. I absolutely loved it and you can read all about that here.

This year in order to do the same thing I read the second book in the series House at Pooh Corner. This book introduces the much loved character of Tigger. That is much loved by everyone else. I sadly wasn’t too much of a fan.

One of the things that I absolutely loved about this second instalment is that it took me through the year in a series of adorable mishaps. The first story begins on a snowy day which was perfect as I was reading it on a snowy day. We worked our way through the year until eventually finishing up with my favourite season: Autumn.

As I hinted at earlier the introduction of Tigger in the second chapter of the collection was not something that I thought added much to the story. His appearance was sudden and unexplained and I find it difficult to understand what it was that he was adding. He appeared very young and was mostly definitely a confidante for Roo so perhaps he was there to appeal to the younger readers.

My favourite of all the stories has to be one near the end of the book that deals with the mystery of Christopher Robin and Backson. In the Disney adaptation of the books this is turned in to quite the misadventure which I really liked, but I also liked the quiet simplicity of the story in the book.

I didn’t get chance to throw a Pooh Bear tea party this year, but honey cakes and bear biscuits are definitely something that I am looking forward to with my next reading of Pooh and friends next year.

Happy Winnie the Pooh Day!

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

One of the classics of children's literature, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is world-famous and has inspired a culture all of it's own. It's a fixture in the childhood of many Western children, myself included. 

I've read a fair few books this year that I enjoyed the film versions of as a child, but if I learnt one thing it is that the book is always different. At least I thought so until I read this book. Disney's animated version seems to sum it all up if I am perfectly honest. There are a few minor changes and additions to the story, but ultimately if you watch the film you really have read the book. 

Focusing just on the book itself, the pace felt very slow despite Alice's constantly changing predicament which I think is mostly due to the fact that I didn't understand what was going on. Although I can recall most of the plot I still didn't really 'get' it. I've heard before that Alice's Adventures has prose full of adult humour, that could potentially bore children. If this is true then I must have the mentality of a child because I was often bored. 

Carroll's nonsense poems also proved a sticking point for me as I could not understand what they were for. I like that the book encourages the imagination and demonstrates that sense and logic should not always be thought higher of than creativity. In this respect Carroll's novel is very much responding to it's time when Romanticism was for the most part over and science was beginning it's ascent to the pedestal. That being said, I like logic and the story lacked logic, at least in my opinion.

Another issue that I had was with Alice herself. I found her character to be bad-tempered and pretentious. She seemed to me to be argumentative and a little prissy. Dorothy at the end of her adventure in Oz had made many friends, but Alice really hadn't made any. It was very apparent that as a character she did not belong in that world and maybe that's also true for me. 

As a classic I can appreciate its merit and understand why it has stood the test of time. However, much like Peter Pan this just wasn't for me. Perhaps this is a children's book I really should have read as a child. However, I am glad that I read it and completed my goal of reading five children's books that had fantastical worlds and can now give away my copy for someone else to read.

Rating: ★★

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Peter Pan is the infamous story of the boy that never grew up and so naturally you would think that this book contained a jolly, childlike wonder to it wouldn’t you? If you did just as I did when I started this book then you would be wrong. In my opinion Peter Pan focuses on all the negatives of being a child.

The children are often subjected to ‘make-believe meals’ which even as I child I’m not sure that I would find the upside to. There is also the obligatory smattering of sexism with Wendy being the mother and a girl and therefore taking on all of the domestic chores, such as the mending and the sewing. Whereas the Lost Boys as boys are able to build a house for the Neverland family.

The narrative voice I found incredibly irritating and I was always left with the impression that I was only getting half the story. There is so much time taken to comment that ‘that’s a different story’ and ‘there was that time, but we don’t have time to talk about it now...’ instead of actually a good solid amount of adventure. Sadly, the story seemed to be lacking in adventure. There is of course the overarching adventure of the children flying from their home in London to Neverland, but once there it all seems quite domestic. I felt as though Barrie’s efforts might have been better spent focusing on the time in Neverland instead of the long introduction of the Darling family which I fail to see much purpose for.

Captain Hook is an incredibly interesting character and one that I would be interested to read more about. In fact a lot of the characters were fascinating such Smee, Tiger Lily, and all of the Lost Boys who had an abundance of personality. It was them that seemed much more fleshed out than the Darling family and even Peter himself. It's a shame that the secondary characters weren't made more use of as they really captured my attention in a way that the protaganists failed to do.

The characters that I was less interested in, like Peter Pan and Tinker Bell are often thought to be popular because they have been made quite popular by Disney. I grew up on Disney and I am always shocked by the differences between the Disneyfication of classic children’s stories and the originals. I always expect slight plot changes and tweaks in character and such, but it always the feel of the story that is the most significant difference for me. It was that that is most shocking for me when it comes to Peter Pan. I felt that I didn’t want to be a child if it meant being like Peter Pan. Being in Neverland almost felt more like an imprisonment than an adventure at the end. Wendy, John and Michael all forget about their previous lives and struggle to remember who their parents are. A blessing for some I'm sure, but not what I would have wanted as a child.

Barrie also includes the Darling parents in the narrative throughout the story and so as readers we can see the effect that Peter’s actions are having on them. As an adult I felt deeply for the parents whose children went missing and living in modern times the idea that Peter Pan had kidnapped these children didn’t sit well with me. Obviously this is very much me reading this book in a contemporary context and therefore it is unlikely that this is what Barrie intended and yet I still cannot view Peter Pan as a hero.  

I am discovering on my journey through children’s literature that books for children are often dark in some way and don’t tend to shy away from the harsher side of life. In Peter Pan the darkness comes not only from the pain and suffering that is portrayed in the Darling family, but also in the murder of Hook and his entire crew. Unlike in the Disney film Peter is actually responsible for the demise of his arch-nemesis.

I felt that the book failed to live up to it’s reputation and this may be one of those books that really needs to be read as a child for the meaning and magic to still be there. Sadly, I did not feel as though as an adult there was much that I could get from this book or in fact that it had much to teach me either as a child or as a grown-up.

Rating: ★★

Matilda by Roald Dahl

When I was growing up Matilda was one of my favourite films and I don't think that as a child I had any awareness that it was in fact a book. As I grew older this is something that I became very much aware of and am surprised that it has taken until now to read it!

As with so many of the children's books that I have read this year the film version has been very much in my mind and so the shock of the differences between the two are always the thing that I am confronted with first. I was pleasantly surprised to realise that this book is very much British and I was completely enchanted with the quaint English village setting of the novel.

Matilda was charming and endearing throughout the whole of the novel and appeared in the prose so much younger than the actor who portrayed her in the film, as of course she was. The thing that struck me most was that even though she was 4 years old she was still relatable! Driven by a passion for learning and incensed by injustice Matilda reminded me of myself or at the least the best version of myself. The talent is clear in Dahl's ability to make a twenty year age difference seem like barely nothing or perhaps it's that I'm still a child at heart.

As is expected in a Dahl novel the adult characters were mean and horrid and yet recognisable in adults that we remember from our own childhood. There is some dark content in the book after all Matilda is consistently emotionally abused by her family. Not to mention the physical abuse that we read was inflicted on Miss Honey as a child and indeed the children at the school where Miss Trunchbull is Headmistress. If those aren't dark enough themes Dahl even suggests that Trunchbull is a murderer! This one of the most important points of praise for Dahl in my opinion as he doesn't shy away from issues that really effect children or hide them from the children themselves. These are after all children's books are most definitely subject matter that should be presented to children in a though-provoking way.

Roald Dahl books are still popular among children today and this story just helped me to realise why. The long-lasting popularity had been earned in my opinion and despite there being a darker side to Roald Dahl, he is a master of entertaining children with his writing. 

Rating: ★★★★

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum | Adventures in Oz #1

This is another of those children's books that I never read when I was a child. I suppose I thought that I had because I had watched the film a lot, but it seems that 'somewhere over the rainbow' isn't actually in the book. Though this is a pity as it is a brilliant song, I have to say that next to nothing disappointed me about this book.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz tells the story of Dorothy and her dog Toto who are caught up in a tornado one day in their home of Kansas and transported to the magical world of Oz. During their landing into Oz the house that they were travelling in accidentally lands on the Wicked Witch of the East and kills her, much to the relief of the inhabitants.

The first thing that I noticed about this novel were the differences in plot from the 1939 film. The witch of the North is in fact quite an old lady, not the glamourpuss of the '39 film and the ruby slippers are silver! After realising both those things I quickly got rid of the picture of Judy Garland in my head and began to picture Dorothy as she was in the book: a child.

This book was actually quite dark for what I had expected of a children's story including several instances of murder and cruelty. There was a giant spider, rabid wolves, killer bees and enslaved flying monkeys! I liked that Baum didn't shiy away from things such as this in his book and fully embraces them. The feeling of genuine danger makes for a quick pace and great atmosphere. As a reader you feel as though that you don't know what is going to happen next which exactly what is needed from a good adventure.

I think the overall moral of the story, that the power is within you to achieve what ever it is that you want, whether it be feeling as though you have brains, a heart etc, is within you at all times was both engaging and uplifting. It was a very empowering message and one that I thought was demonstrated enormously well.

The theme of 'home' is also something that was explored well in this novel. Of course Dorothy wants to get back Kansas, but she isn't the only one looking to get home. It seems that everyone is searching for a place to belong or are looking to reclaim the place that they once called home. The way in which all of Dorothy's party all ended up finding a place of their own was very organic and at times quite subtle so that it isn't until the end that you realise it has all worked out for the best.

This book is where my knowledge of the Land of Oz ends, but knowing that there are 12 canonical texts makes me so happy. Unfortunately I don't have the second story in my possession nor does my local library have it so I'm bumping that one up to the top of my wish list.

Rating: ★★★★

Next in series: The Marvellous Land of Oz

Bedknobs and Broomsticks by Mary Norton

When I was younger I remember watching the Disney film Bedknobs and Broomsticks with Angela Lansbury so many times that I could quote it word for word. I had no idea that it was in fact based on a book. I stumbled across that book whilst doing a stock check at the school library and vowed then and there to read it as soon as possible.

Mary Norton's book was originally published as two stories, The Magic Bed Knob (1943) and Bonfires and Broomsticks (1945). They began to be printed together in 1957. This is fairly obvious in the reprint that I read from, but it really wasn't a problem other than the second story took place a few years after the first one which surprised me a little. 

The book is very different from the film version and is not about three evacuees from London. This is the story of Carey, Charles and Paul who one day during their visit to their Aunt Beatrice meet a witch. One of the things that struck me straight away was how prominent the character of Carey was. In the film it is her brother Charles who is the one taking charge, but in the book it was very much the big sister Carey who took on that role. I was very pleased at this change because it was nice to see a brave and adventurous female character in a children's book. 

It surprised me to find that far from the Eastenders that film version portrayed the children to be, the family in the original novel are really quite posh. It makes perfect sense to me as who else goes to stay with their wealthy aunt other than the offspring of the well-to-do? I still prefer Disney's interpretation though.

That is really where the positive and the plain observations end. There were so many problems with this book that once I'd put it down I only picked it up again out of morbid curiosity. Miss Price was not the lovable witch that I imagined her to be. She comments at the beginning of the first story that she struggles to be wicked and thus showing that she wants to be! That I could cope with, but on top of this she just wasn't funny. In fact the whole book seemed to be devoid of humour.

In addition to this, one of the adventures that the children go on is a trip to the island of Ueepe. This is not the cartoon character inhabited island of the film, it is just a lovely South Pacific island. This I understood as it seemed perfectly reasonable to me that children want to visit the beach. The problems arise when the children and Miss Price are about to leave the island and are captured by cannibals. I found this part of the plot to be unimaginative and racist. Of all the troubles that could be encountered on an island, (and there are many as I discovered from On The Island) violent and barbaric indigenous people were not what I thought was appropriate or entertaining.

To be perfectly honest I was disappointed with the whole of the plot. The second of the stories was actually a better formed story than the first, but I still found the ending to be poor. Miss Price was, however, more likeable in the second of the two stories until she gives up her life to disappear into the 17th century with a man she barely knows. I lost all respect for her at that point, but this didn't matter much as it ended the novel. I suppose we should assume that Carey, Charles and Paul went on to live rather ordinary lives afterwards.

To sum up, I was very disappointed with this book for two main reasons. It had next to nothing in common with the film of my childhood. The second and most important of the reasons is that it was just a very boring book with a few characters that were quite unremarkable. I found it to be a chore to finish and not at all a joy to read.

Rating: ★

The Magician's Nephew by C.S Lewis | The Chronicles of Narnia #1

This is the story of Diggory Kirke whose Mother is sick and so has been sent to live with his strange Aunt Letty and Uncle Andrew in London. Whilst in London he meets Polly, his next door neighbour and one day on one of their adventures they end up in Uncle Andrew's mysterious room on the top floor of the house. Once there, Uncle Andrew tricks the children into touching magical yellow rings that take them to another world. This world is in actual fact The Wood between the Worlds and from here the children travel to a world that is nearing the end of it's life span and to a world beginning it's life named Narnia. 

There was a quite a bit of misogyny at the beginning of the book which was quite distracting. Diggory made repeated comments about Polly's being a girl. The suggestion was often that she was too emotional and not very brave because she was a girl. The character of Uncle Andrew also made similar comments and I found this distracting and frustrating. I know that this book is set in the early 20th century, but it was published in 1955 and is history really an excuse for sexism? I think not, but perhaps this is best left for another post. Suffice to say it was a sticking point for me. 

Having said that, overall the first half of this book was so much better than the second half. At the beginning the plot was very much a fun, exciting fantasy adventure. I loved the concept of The Wood Between Worlds which is filled with so much possibility. The trip into the dying world was good, but not as creative as I had imagined. When compared to Neverland, The Land of Oz and even to an extent Narnia, this world isn't really anything special. In fact the only difference I can see to Medieval England is that the people are somewhat bigger and there is magic. I think the magic in this world may have been Lewis' dig at sorcery of that age, but that could just be me reading too much into it. 

Another thing that I took issue with in this book was the character of Uncle Andrew. He was creepy and unfeeling. The part of the book where he is trying to entice the children to touch the magic rings is uncomfortable to read and I just don't feel that his character makes sense. I understand that a boy may have become obsessed with magic, but then why is he so reluctant to travel to the other world himself? The character himself protests that it is his age, but that is really a poor excuse. Furthermore, at the end of the book we learn that Andrew is taken back into the bosom of the family even after his cruel and reckless actions of sending two children to an unknown world. Where is his comeuppance? Why would such a theologically Christian book in it's plot allow such sins to go unchallenged? 

The second half of the book was just poor. The book is marketed as the first book in the Narnia series and yet the book seems to assume that you already have knowledge of the events that have already occurred in Narnia. Moreover the birth of the land itself was not as useful as you might think. I'm not sure that it makes any difference how the world began and I fail to see how it adds to the lore of the world in any way. Even with the second half of the book being the Genesis of the land of Narnia, it still failed to answer questions such as why humans are referred to as Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve. Now living in the West it is quite easy to read the blatant Christian theme happening there and of course there are hundreds of parallels with this story and those in the book of Genesis in the Christian Bible, but really what does that have to do with a nice children's story? Why is Alsan-Jesus a lion? Who made him the boss?

Frankly I find this book to be wholly unnecessary to the Chronicles of Narnia and a complete indulgence on Lewis' part. If you are looking for an allegorical version of the story of Christian/Jewish creation then this is the book for you. If you are looking for a high fantasy children's novel, save yourself a couple of hours and skip this one.

Rating: ★★

Next in series: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

Happy Winnie the Pooh Day 2014!

Today is the birthday of Winnie the Pooh author A.A Milne. This means that every year this day is celebrated as Winnie the Pooh Day and this year I decided to jump on the band wagon! A.A. Milne, who was born in 1882, based his stories about Pooh on his son's stuffed animals and even incorporated Christopher Robin into the stories by making him a key character. I was very surprised to learn that Milne studied Maths at Cambridge. I suppose this just goes to show that mathematicians do have imagination! 

Winnie the Pooh was first published on 14th October 1926 so is definitely a children's classic. Last week I read and completed Milne's first Pooh book Winnie the Pooh and next I will be starting House at Pooh Corner. This is a series that I never picked up when I was younger and one that I regret not having read until now because they really do deserve to be as popular as they are.

One of the things that I noticed when reading the book is that it makes no attempt to hide the fact that it is a father making up stories about his son's toys. I liked that it was that honest. I liked that the narrator could be heard when you were reading. I also liked that every so often Christopher Robin would interject and ask questions of the story which made it so much more interactive. This form also helped to make the stories feel intimate and personal. Even though I was often reading them on a busy train, I felt as though I was sitting in front of a warm fire with tea and biscuits. 

I was very shocked to realise that Tigger is not in the first book! When I was growing up it was always Pooh and Tigger and I never really looked too much at characters like Owl and Rabbit. I also don't think that I appreciated how reasonable Eeyore's gloominess is. In all of the stories from the first book I see Eeyore as having genuine reasons for being sad and the poor thing seems to be a victim of some genuine misfortune. In chapter four Eeyore loses his tail which is a part of him! At the beginning of chapter six he is sad because no one has remembered his birthday and in chapter eight his offer of help is completely ignored. I found myself feeling very sorry for Eeyore a lot of the time and I know that he probably doesn't get any happier, but I really whish he would! Maybe in the final book everyone's favourite donkey can have a happy ending. 

I borrowed my copy of this book from the library and I have to to say that it is incredibly beautiful. All of the pictures that are in this post are photographs that I took of the illustrations which were drawn by Ernest H. Shepard. They are simple and evocative and childlike in the best sense of that word. The book had a heart-warming quality that meant even though the stories were simple they brought a smile to your face and the illustrations were a perfect compliment to that. I look forward to the next installment of Pooh and will buying my nieces and nephews a copy of these as soon as they are able to read!

Rating: ★★★★

Goal Update

This term in my class our theme is 'Other Worlds' and because of this the children’s tables have all been named with different fantasy lands. We have Hogwarts, Narnia, The Land of Oz, Neverland and Alice’s Wonderland. Explaining to the children that these worlds didn't just pop up in Disney films, but actually originated in books has really got me thinking. 

In light of this I would like to add a new goal to my list this year and that is to read at least one book in which these worlds exist.  What this basically means is that this year I want to read the following books:

-          Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

-          The Magician’s Nephew

-          The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

-          Peter Pan

-          Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Having started working in a Primary School in September, I have realised that there are so many great children’s books that I just didn’t read. Even books by my favourite childhood author Enid Blyton. I’m glad that it isn’t now too late to catch up on all of those fabulous stories and over the next few years I hope to make my way through the best of children’s literature. That’s really the only problem with books though isn’t it? There are always so many more to read!