Stuart Little by E.B. White

Title: Stuart Little

Author: E.B. White

Read by:  Julie Harris

Publisher: Listening Library

Length: Approximately 1 hour and 57 minutes

Source: The Kewaunee Public Library.  Thank-you!

Stuart Little is a small mouse that is born to a human family (don’t think about it too much) in New York City.  He lives in his family with his parents, normal size human brother George, and their cat Snowbell.  Stuart’s parents use dollhouse items and craft other items for Stuart to have a somewhat normal life.  Stuart has a lot of adventures that could only happen to a small mouse with human characteristics.

One day he befriends Margalo, a beautiful bird.  She lives with them and rescues Stuart when he is accidentally thrown away with the trash.  As an environmental engineer, I really liked this part.  The kids were horrified that back in the “old days” New York would put their trash on a barge and dump it into the ocean.  Stuart is sure it is the end for him until his friend Margalo appears.

Stuart has other adventures such as winning a sailboat race in central part, and finding a car that he uses to drive around.  The story ends when Stuart is searching for Margalo.  He also finds a girl his size who is a human and not a mouse.  Why was Stuart born a mouse?  I still wonder.

The entire family enjoyed this story, although we were all surprised by the very abrupt ending.  I had to Google it after it ended to make sure we hadn’t missed a CD or something as it didn’t seem at all like the story had ended.

Julie Harris was a perfect audiobook narrator who brought life to the story and gave voice to the different characters.  We all enjoyed listening to her.

We listened to this audiobook as a part of our local library’s Family Reading Challenge this summer.  We ended up being lucky winners for the challenge and won four tickets to the Packer Family Night last weekend.  Unfortunately, we are a family of five and the tickets were for four so Ben and the boys had a “guys night” out with their friend Zach while Penelope and I watched a movie.

Overall, Stuart Little is a great adventure tale and a wonderful audiobook to listen to as a family.  Be forewarned that it has an abrupt ending.  I would rate this third out of E.B. White’s books with Charlotte’s Web number one and The Trumpet of the Swan at number two.

The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White

A young boy, Sam Beaver, travels to the wilds of Canada to camp with his father.  While there, he discovers a trumpeter swan nest.  He returns later that summer to see the young baby swans, and discovers one of them is mute.  Their friendship begins and young Louis learns how to adapt to his world first by attending school and learning how to write, and later becoming a trumpet player in order to communicate with other swans while making beautiful music.  

My almost ten-year-old son Daniel and I read this book together for the Kewaunee Youth Book Club.  I read this when I was around Daniel’s age and I only remembered some of the story. It was a joy to reread it and Daniel loved the story.  He really loved when Louis went to camp and continued to have adventures.  He also loved Louis’s father, the Old Cobb, who liked to wax on in in very elaborate descriptions about items.  He thought he was pretty funny. My 12-year old son has just started reading it for book club, but is not enthused about it since his brother liked it.

Daniel and I loved how the tale was partially set in the wild and discussed the trumpeter swan.  Daniel is very curious about trumpeter swans now and really wants to see one.  We had to look them up when we finished the book and see where they are located in the U.S. and look at pictures.  We may be able to see one here in Wisconsin, but searching online lead me to the WK Kellogg Bird Sanctuary.  It is not far from where I grew up in Southwest Michigan and I went there as a kid.  They have provided a sanctuary for trumpeter swans in Michigan.  We have a new place to visit next time we are visiting my parents in Michigan.  Daniel is ready to go now especially when we read you get to feed the birds with buckets of corn.

I loved how the overall theme of the book was on a swan who was born with a disability, but through his own hard work and help from family and friends he was able to find ways to live a fulfilling life with his disability.  Even though Louis had a disability, he was a wonderful bird who had a great life and provided a lot of joy to a lot of people.

The drawings by Edward Frascino were delightful and added to the story.

Favorite Quotes:

“Remember that the world is full of youngsters who have some sort of handicap that they must overcome.  You apparently have a speech defect.  I am sure you will overcome it, in time.  There may even be some slight advantage, at your age, in not being able to say anything.  It compels you to be a good listener.  The world is full of talkers, but it is rare to find anyone who listens.”

“It scared him to be different.  He couldn’t understand why he had come into the world without a voice.”

“Darkness settled on woods and fields and marsh.  A loon called its wild night cry.  As Louis relaxed and prepared for sleep.  All his thoughts were of how lucky he had been to solve his problems with music, and how pleasant it was to look forward to another night of sleep and another day tomorrow, and the fresh morning, and the light that returns with the day.”

Overall, The Trumpet of the Swan is a wonderful tale that is enjoyable to both child and adult.  I loved the overall theme of overcoming adversity.

Book Source:  The Kewaunee Public Library – Thank-you!

Reading with the Kids . . .a few books we read in 2012

We read every night to the kids.  Having a mother that loves to collect books and family members and friends that also like to give them, the kids have a lot of books.  We also go to our local library, and my eldest son (in first grade) brings home books from school to practice reading.  We read a lot of books.  Each kid is allowed two books a night.  Kile now reads one of the books and we read the other for him.  Penelope is two and often picks small books so we are guilty of reading her extra books.  We usually read kid picture books, but we also have been reading chapter books for the past two years.  The chapter books that we read this year include the following.

 

On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder

By far, the boys enjoy the Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder more than any other chapter books.  I know I am very enthusiastic about them, but they love the on their own merit.  They especially love Pa and all of the things that he builds.

On the Banks of Plum Creek was especially exciting to the boys as it is set in Minnesota.  Their grandparents live in Minnesota and that is where my husband is from originally.  They thought it was very cool that Laura and Mary lived in a sod house in the ground and found it hilarious when a cow stuck its foot through the roof.  They loved when Pa built the new house.

They identified with all of the feelings encompassed in the book.  Kile looked nervous when Laura disobeyed Pa and went swimming by herself.  Similarly he was torn up when Laura had to give her beloved doll Charlotte away.    When Pa got trapped away from home by a blizzard at Christmas, both boys were very worried.  And they were both disturbed by the invasion of the grasshoppers.

I believe that is why the Little House books are timeless.  They are great historical fiction, showing the hardships faced by families settling the frontier in the nineteenth century, but they also show universal feelings shared by all children as they grow up.  What it means to be good and why parents give you rules seemed to hit home with this book.

Overall, we loved On the Banks of Plum Creek.  We are reading Farmer Boy right now, and the boys love it even more as it focuses on Almanzo. 

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

Kile is very impressed that I still have the scholastic book order slip in this book from when my Mom purchased it for me when I was in elementary school.  The story of Wilbur the pig and his friend Charlotte the spider is timeless.  I love the start of the book, “Where’s Papa going with that ax?” asked Fern.  And so Fern goes to save Wilbur’s life and to love him.  The boys loved how Fern had a pet pig and were sad when he moved on to the Zuckerman’s farm.   They perked up at the introduction of the animals and Charlotte.  I enjoyed reading this book again and got a little teary at the bittersweet ending.  The boys handled it better than me.  Daniel was willing to let Wilbur meet his end in addition to another character if it meant bacon for breakfast.

 

Pirate School:  The Curse of Snake Island by Brian James

The boys LOVE pirates and Kile had a pirate birthday party earlier this year.  Aunt Jenn gave him this book and both boys enjoyed it.  It was a quick read with plenty of pictures.  Pete and his friends live aboard the ship called the Sea Rat.  They are learning to be pirates, but first mate Rotten Tooth is always trying to foil their plans.  They decide to prove their worth as pirates by discovering treasure on Snake Island.  Will they be able to get past the scary snake guarding the treasure?