Somebody's running REALLY late...(Literacy, 5 )

For those of you who have been paying attention, you may have noticed that I have failed to write up my Literacy Challenge book reports for May and June, and that the end of July is rushing up.  I read the minimum required books (Just barely...squeaking by!), I just did not have the time to write about them.  Because I am running so late, this blog probably will never get any photos, sorry.

So here it goes.

May: Literacy Challenge- Update 5

I am ashamed to admit that one of the two books I am claiming for this month is Amelia Bedelia (by Peggy Parish) ... not that I am ashamed to read from that series, because they were some of my favorites when I was learning to read, and my most recent reading of them probably had me giggling more than when I read them at the age appropriate level. I am simply ashamed to admit, that I didn't end up reading more in May when it comes to the page tally. In my defense, however, it was a 3 book set.  The set included the first book, Amelia Bedelia, the second book, Come Back, Amelia Bedelia, and also Play Ball, Amelia Bedelia!   I actually had not realized until I ready it in May that I hadn't read Play Ball, Amelia Bedelia.  Amelia Bedelia is a maid. She is a very earnest worker, unfortunately, she is a very literal person.  Being a very literal person, she has a tendency to be considered a problem.  She is told to dust the furniture, so she spreads dusting powder all over the furniture, all the while saying, "This is very strange, at my home, we un-dust the furniture." but she does what she is told, and does it well.  There is a whole list of things she does, exactly as she is told, which in the end means that her employers are very frustrated with her, and nearly fire her every time, unfortunately for them, Amelia Bedelia has mad baking skills, and just as they are about to fire her, her employed happen to sink their teeth into the pie she made, and they decide to keep her, and adjust to telling Amelia Bedelia to "un-dust the furniture."  I enjoyed it thoroughly as a kid  for all the mix-ups I understood then. The play on words in these books is delightful. As an adult, I truly appreciated how sometimes, we very eagerly try to do a good job, try so hard to impress, and in the end get it all wrong.    I know the feeling all too well. I have been told I can make a mean pie crust... maybe I should attempt putting my own baking skills to "safety-net" uses. The best way to handle such utter failure is with a hint of humor, when all is said and done, and I appreciate Amelia Bedelia for both her workmanship and the sheer, rueful comedy of failure.

The second book of May was I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced  by Nujood Ali, Delphine Menoui, translated by Linda Coverdale.  This book has been looking at me for months, or, I should say, Nujood has been looking at me for months, as the cover of the book is a head shot of the little girl who relates the story.  Nujood Ali, as the title hints, was forced into marriage some time near the age of 10.  I found this book to be haunting, simply because of the tone in which the story was told.  It has a childish, simple, innocent feel to it, because the story is told like a 10 year old girl.  She was not a child raised to be a small adult, trained in the ways of womanhood before being turned over to a husband (not that such a situation is more justified). She was a child skipping happily through childhood in the most flippant way that any ten year old does when she was suddenly handed a head covering, and sent to live with her husband's family, far away from any of her own family.  She had never been warned about the details of adulthood.  The tone reflects this.  It is haunting read about the things she lived through when Nujood relates them in the simplistic, immature, bluntly honest way any of our own protected 10 year old girls might use when talking about the events of school yesterday.  The only difference is underlying, matter of fact numbness that threads through words she strings together. Nujood makes some very courageous choices, and did something that no child bride had managed to do up to that point. It was well worth the read.  The story, though disturbing, is discreet, never overusing details simply to shock a reader.  It is short, and well formed, and somewhat heartbreaking.  Would I suggest it to a friend? Yes, but probably with the warning that while the reading is not at all strenuous, the material is no light read.  The truly heartbreaking thing about this story is that it is not unique, it is just one of the very few to actually be printed.

And that sums up the books that I read in May.

Thanks for reading. Check back soon, if you are interested in the June update!