The Great Gilly Hopkins

Anusha (9) is a Bangalore student. She is attempting to read all the books on the ALA Top100 Children's Book List. She is very thankful to the kind people at Story Revolution who bring award winning books to Bangalore - even very old ones! (Her mom is thankful too!)

The Great Gilly Hopkins

by Katherine Paterson

A review by Anusha V

The Great Gilly Hopkins is about a foster child named Galadriel Hopkins who wants to find her mother. But, in the process of searching for her, she unconsiously comes to love her current foster family. I liked this book because I think the way Gilly deals with life is kind of funny. I believe people who like a story with unexpected twists and turns will enjoy this book! I think Katherine Paterson is a really talented writer, because this story is both sad and funny! She is also the author of Bridge To Terabithia and Jacob, Have I Loved - two more books my mom ordered recently. I can't wait to read them!

New Books!

We've had new books for some time now but haven't told you yet because we've been having some trouble keeping our catalogue up to date. Probably because this is the summer vacation, we've been getting more orders than our little technologically backward system can handle! A major change in our website is sorely needed, but until then, I'm afraid you'll have to deal occasionally with books you order having been sold just before you got to them :)

Here are some of the wonderful books we have right now...

Daily Dump's '5 Disgustingly Cool Books for Kids' are now part of our collection. Look at our earlier blogpost (cross-posted) about them here. These are five very thin booklets that encourage children (8 up) to enquire into some of the assumptions and choices that are part of daily life. The pages are scattered with questions with options that a child can tick off, as well as images and little snippets of information, not in strict linear sequence. The booklets are meant to be gone through with a sensitive and open adult -- parent or teacher -- because what they do best is to open up topics for discussion and questioning by adult and child together. What we liked best is that these are not questions that have a "right" answer that the adult must provide. Instead, the very act of pondering over these questions makes you look a little closer at your conditioning, assumptions, choices, and at everything that goes on around you. The set costs Rs. 100.

'Holes' is one of those books that shows up on every 'Best Books' list (like this one). It is wonderful in all ways. Perfectly structured and written, with humour, adventure without sensationalism, a lovely intelligent plot, and a strong, compassionate story to back it up. Like The Independent on Sunday said, "There is not one false sentence." You don't have to be a child to love it. Everyone seems to love it, there is a movie based on the book, and to top it off, it won the Newbery medal! We would recommend it for roughly ten and older -- it has a few slightly frightening scenes and an intricate story. Click here to know more.

'Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle' is the main character in a series of delightful, old-fashioned short stories for the younger ones . Amazon describes her perfectly:

"Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle has been wildly popular with children and adults for over 50 years. Children adore her because she understands them--and because her upside-down house is always filled with the smell of freshly baked cookies, and her backyard with buried treasure. Grownups love her because her magical common sense solutions to children's problems succeed when their own cajoling and yelling don't. For the child who refuses to bathe, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle recommends letting her be. Wait until the dirt on her body has accumulated to half an inch, then scatter radish seeds on her arms and head. When the plants start sprouting, the nonbather is guaranteed to change her mind about that bath."

'Green Eggs and Ham', by the wildly popular Dr. Suess, is one of his best books, in our opinion. Little ones (and everyone else!) love the clever delightful rhymes, they are encouraged to try new things that they may think they do not like, and as a bonus, they may even learn to read!

Have a look at our catalogue(excel file) on the Story Revolution website.

From our earlier posts, we do right now have copies of Corduroy, Pictures of Hollis Woods, and Beverly Cleary's books.

We are also excited to have many of the books from the SLJ top 100 books list (click for descriptions: #1 Charlotte's Web, #2 A Wrinkle in Time, #5 From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, #6 Holes, #7 The Giver, #8 The Secret Garden, #9 Anne of Green Gables, #11 The Westing Game, 13 Bridge to Terabithia, #15 Because of Winn-Dixie, #17 Maniac Magee, 19 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, #23 Little House in the Big Woods, #26 Hatchet, #28 Winnie-the Pooh, #29 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland /Alice Through the Looking Glass, #30 The Dark is Rising , #33 James and the Giant Peach, #37 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, #41 The Witch of Blackbird Pond, #42 Little House on the Prairie, #43 Ramona the Pest, #47 Bud, Not Buddy #50 Island of the Blue Dolphins, #53 Wind in the Willows, #55 The Great Gilly Hopkins, #56 Number the Stars , #57 Ramona Quimby, Age 8, #58 The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, 60 The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, #63 Gone-Away Lake#64 A Long Way from Chicago, #68 Walk Two Moons, #73 My Side of the Mountain, #74 The Borrowers, #78 Johnny Tremain, 82 The Book of Three, #85 On the Banks of Plum Creek, #89 Ramona and her Father, #92 Ella Enchanted, #93 Caddie Woodlawn, and #99 The Indian in the Cupboard)

Review: Toilet Tales

Via Saffron Tree

"I bumped into a Canadian classic titled Toilet Tales, written and illustrated by Andrea Wayne Von Konigslow. With a lively parade of animals, one on each page, paired with simple text focusing on the reason why the animal in focus wouldn’t be able to use the toilet, this book was an instant hit with the toddler in the household.

A goat would eat the toilet paper; A giraffe is too tall to fit in through the bathroom door; An elephant, too heavy he would smash the toilet into pieces….

Can you imagine the fun and amusing illustrations supporting the ideas? After a dozen or so list of animals, and the reasons why they couldn't use the toilet, the book concludes by saying, that is why toilets are meant for "big kids like you" accompanied by a drawing of a child on a potty. I thought that was indeed very clever to offer a toddler the concept in a fun way as opposed to hit-over-the-head. The book did bring many giggles and chuckles during the weeks of training. "

Read the entire review on Saffron Tree. The kids at Shibumi love this book too. We do have it in stock occasionally, but not right now.

Review: Pictures of Hollis Woods

A review by Grishma Jain who loves this book. Thanks, Grishma!

Hollis Woods, a 12-year old, has a unique way of looking at the world around her. Shuffled from one foster home to another she continues to run away from them because nobody sees things quite the way she does.

Her love for drawing leads her to live her ‘ideal life’ through her pictures, which express her deepest wishes. A ‘W’ picture she drew for a school assignment depicts her deepest ‘wish’ or ‘want’ -- a family.

Then she is placed with Josie Cahill, a loving, retired art teacher. Hollis begins to love living with Josie and all her eccentricities, and wants to stay, but she senses Josie’s memory failing her. In an attempt to take care of Josie and hold onto what they’ve built together, she must escape the Social Services.

Even as she fights for a future with Josie, her pictures tell a different story... they reveal glimpses of her stay with the Regan family, her previous foster home. A family very like the one in her ‘W’ picture, one that truly seemed to care about her, but one she ran away from!

Will Hollis’ loving and caring nature lead her into the perfect picture?

I loved the book because as Hollis's story unfolds it seems to capture more than just the innocence of a young child. It shows how perceptive kids are to their environment, the people around them and the tiny details that make a difference in their lives. And how their naivety allows them to reciprocate and relate to being loved unselfishly.

Something that can be so apparent when I interact with Putta, Paapu and others but also easy to miss...

We have two copies of this book in our collection right now. Grishma also found there is a TV movie based on this book, which we are looking forward to seeing!

Review: Corduroy

By Seema Damani, mother of 3-year-old Mihika. Thanks, Seema!

Corduroy is a beautifully illustrated, simple and warm book by Don Freeman. It has been one of the best stories that I have read to my daughter. The artwork is wonderful and the story is very touching. My daughter has a buttoned "Corduroy" bear in her bed too and she compares her bear with the "book Corduroy".

Corduroy is a stuffed teddy bear in a department store. No one wants him because he has a button missing from his overalls. One day, Lisa and her mother come into the shop. Lisa adores Corduroy on first sight and asks her mother to buy him. But the mother finds flaws with Corduroy, saying 'he has a button missing...' . Corduroy's face turns sad and discouraged.

That night he ventures out into the store to find his button but has no success. The next day, the little girl Lisa returns to buy him. She takes him home, sews on a button, and provides him with his own little bed right beside hers. Corduroy realizes that now he has a home and a friend -- the two things he has always wanted most.

The story demonstrates to children that imperfect objects are also worthy of love.

We usually have a couple of copies of this book in our collection.