Why are all books I love kids books?
There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom
by Louis Sachar
Bradley Chalkers is a left behind fifth grader that will struggle to see the light of middle school and no one (including any of his teachers) likes very much. It's hard to blame them as when the new kid tries to befriend him at the end of chapter one he threatens to spit on him unless he gives him a dollar. Bradley's best friends are his collection of animal figurines. He tells pretty realistic albeit outrageous kid lies that no adult in their right mind would believe but his mother seems to want to. Bradley hates going to the new school counselor, hates it! or does he...
One of the reasons I loved this book so much when I was a kid was because the girls beat boys up. Aside from that violence this is the sweetest book I know, and just as importantly- funny!
"All those books. And they're all different aren't they?...They're all different, but they all use practically the same words. They just put them in a different order...Just twenty six letters, all they do is move those letters around and then they say so many different things!"
Jennifer Murdley's Toad
by Bruce Colville
Jennifer is am ordinary, homely, ten year old girl. She gets teased at school for looking like a horse and wearing her brother's underwear and cries when she sees Barbie doll commercials on TV. Then she stumbles into Mr. Elive's magic shop and acquires a toad named Bufo. Bufo talks- rudely, is enchanted with a magical jewel in his forehead, is being chased by a witch, can't be returned and manages to turn the prettiest girl in Jennifer's class into a toad all in one day.
I wanted to be Jennifer's friend when I read this, I wanted to live in her world, I wanted to stumble into Mr. Elive's magic shop one day and get my own talking toad never mind the amount of trouble he caused in this book. For me this book was about friendship. For that unbreakable bond that comes from going through an ordeal like this I would do anything!
" "If this works out, I expect that I'll have many assignments for you in the future."
She smiled into the darkness. It was going to be an interesting life. Maybe even a beautiful one."
Summer of my German Soldier
by Bette Greene
Patty is a 12 year old Jewish girl growing up the south during world war 2. Her parents are pretty rotten awful to her for some unknown reason. She helps out at her dad's store and when some POW's come in she strikes up a conversation with one. Later she sees the same POW running for but missing a train and offers to take him in their mother-in- law apartment.
A lot of people don't understand this book. This is not a YA, it's a kids' book which means that the two main leads- a guy and a girl don't have to fall in love. That is good since the girl is 12 and the guy is 22. You couldn't write this book today without everyone lambasting you for purporting inappropriate relationships but that is one of the things I like most about it. It's a very innocent, sweet friendship between a 22 year old and a 12 year old, oh yeah and the guy is a German soldier and the girl is Jewish. Probably another reason this book gets criticized a lot is because it raises uncomfortable questions- like can a girl's father be as evil as Hitler?
"The difference between the two men may have more to do with their degrees of power than their degrees of cruelty. One man is able to affect millions and the other only a few. Would your father's cruelty cause him to crush weak neighboring states? Or would the Fuhrer's cruelty cause him to beat his own daughter?"
There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom
by Louis Sachar
Bradley Chalkers is a left behind fifth grader that will struggle to see the light of middle school and no one (including any of his teachers) likes very much. It's hard to blame them as when the new kid tries to befriend him at the end of chapter one he threatens to spit on him unless he gives him a dollar. Bradley's best friends are his collection of animal figurines. He tells pretty realistic albeit outrageous kid lies that no adult in their right mind would believe but his mother seems to want to. Bradley hates going to the new school counselor, hates it! or does he...
One of the reasons I loved this book so much when I was a kid was because the girls beat boys up. Aside from that violence this is the sweetest book I know, and just as importantly- funny!
"All those books. And they're all different aren't they?...They're all different, but they all use practically the same words. They just put them in a different order...Just twenty six letters, all they do is move those letters around and then they say so many different things!"
Jennifer Murdley's Toad
by Bruce Colville
Jennifer is am ordinary, homely, ten year old girl. She gets teased at school for looking like a horse and wearing her brother's underwear and cries when she sees Barbie doll commercials on TV. Then she stumbles into Mr. Elive's magic shop and acquires a toad named Bufo. Bufo talks- rudely, is enchanted with a magical jewel in his forehead, is being chased by a witch, can't be returned and manages to turn the prettiest girl in Jennifer's class into a toad all in one day.
I wanted to be Jennifer's friend when I read this, I wanted to live in her world, I wanted to stumble into Mr. Elive's magic shop one day and get my own talking toad never mind the amount of trouble he caused in this book. For me this book was about friendship. For that unbreakable bond that comes from going through an ordeal like this I would do anything!
" "If this works out, I expect that I'll have many assignments for you in the future."
She smiled into the darkness. It was going to be an interesting life. Maybe even a beautiful one."
Summer of my German Soldier
by Bette Greene
Patty is a 12 year old Jewish girl growing up the south during world war 2. Her parents are pretty rotten awful to her for some unknown reason. She helps out at her dad's store and when some POW's come in she strikes up a conversation with one. Later she sees the same POW running for but missing a train and offers to take him in their mother-in- law apartment.
A lot of people don't understand this book. This is not a YA, it's a kids' book which means that the two main leads- a guy and a girl don't have to fall in love. That is good since the girl is 12 and the guy is 22. You couldn't write this book today without everyone lambasting you for purporting inappropriate relationships but that is one of the things I like most about it. It's a very innocent, sweet friendship between a 22 year old and a 12 year old, oh yeah and the guy is a German soldier and the girl is Jewish. Probably another reason this book gets criticized a lot is because it raises uncomfortable questions- like can a girl's father be as evil as Hitler?
"The difference between the two men may have more to do with their degrees of power than their degrees of cruelty. One man is able to affect millions and the other only a few. Would your father's cruelty cause him to crush weak neighboring states? Or would the Fuhrer's cruelty cause him to beat his own daughter?"
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