Posts Tagged: school

pre-teen — 2 Comments
24
Aug 09

REVIEW: The Woman in the Wall by Patrice Kindl

the-woman-in-the-wall-patrice-kindlWhen I saw the book cover, I thought it’s a ghost story until I read that it’s about a *painfully* shy girl, Anna Newland, who turned herself into a total recluse at 7 years old by hiding herself away in passageways and secret rooms she built in her family’s Victorian mansion.

A middle child with two other sisters, Andrea and Kirsty, Anna’s mother knew she had a problem when she refused to attend preschool. Finally, when Anna was told that she HAD to attend school, the young girl panicked.

For nearly 7 years, she lived by herself in the secret rooms, only showing her presence briefly (like a ghost) to her younger sister, Kirsty.

She went berserk when she hit puberty at 12 and let her hair grow matted, her body grow stinky with body odour and her acne run wild. After a while, she thought:

    “Was I really a monster? Or was I just plain dirty? If I washed and combed my hair, cleaned the dirt out from under my nails and changed into clean clothes…”

she realized that she looked quite presentable :-)

Anna is happy in her own little world when she discovers a note written by ‘F’ declaring his love for ‘A’. She posts a reply and is surprised to find another note in return! They begin a regular correspondence…

One day, Anna overhears her mother dating a man who wants to marry her and move the family to a new house.

Furious and angry that she would be abandoned after all she had done for them (young Anna is a wonderful seamstress who makes beautiful clothes and also a handy repairman!), she flung herself about and drummed her heels against the wall in a rage.

‘F’ hears her and he and Kirsty visit Anna in her secret world. Together, they hatch a plan to bring Anna back into the real world. Will Anna be able to come out of her shell? With her friends’ help, she just may be able to…

Reading “The Woman in the Wall” gave me an idea of how an extremely shy person feels about herself and about everyone around her. I’m an outgoing person but I do have friends who need a bit of prodding, urging or threats to join in activities and events.

Just like Anna in the book, these “shy” friends of mine got more help from annoying friends like me (who is always bugging them to join in) than parents who:

a) declare to the rest of the world (in their presence) that their kid is “shy” or
b) ‘force’ them to join in activities and events when they clearly don’t want to.

Seriously, this makes the problem worse! If you have a shy child or if you’re shy yourself, do read about Anna’s experiences in “The Woman in the Wall”.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Chapter book / teens — 6 Comments
15
Jul 09

REVIEW: Boy by Roald Dahl

boy-tales-of-childhood-by-roald-dahlI am now an official Roald Dahl fan! ‘Boy: Tales of Childhood’ is a sort of autobiography as the book covers the periodRoald Dahl was born in the South of Wales (his parents are Norwegian) and how his life changed when his father died, leaving his mother to care for 3 sisters, ‘an ancient half-sister’, a half-brother and him.

His summer holidays in Norway are really interesting and the incident involving the ‘ancient half-sister’s pompous boyfriend’ will make you laugh!

Dahl notes how impressed he was (I’m sure many mothers would be too today) at how his mother makes the travel and hotel arrangements in Norway for the huge family all the way from Wales. We REALLY shouldn’t complain about holiday planning now with the phone, internet and email…

Poor Dahl suffers greatly when he’s enrolled at an English boarding school (which his mother insists on, in honour of his late father’s wish).

The boarding school you read about in ‘Boy: Tales of Childhood’ is ENTIRELY DIFFERENT from the wonderful, romantic scenes from Enid Blyton’s boarding school stories.

At school, Dahl and his friends get ‘paddled’ on the butt, neglected (a boy actually died from a cold) and even having his weekly letters home cunningly monitored (and of course, censored by the boys themselves) by the business-minded headmaster, who later became the Archbishop of Canterbury!

This is one of the reasons Dahl is disillusioned by the idea of religion…how can someone who has been so cruel to kids become a head of a religious institution that preaches kindness and compassion???

Since his mother has no real idea of what goes on in school, she can only send weekly homemade goodies. Reading Dahl’s experiences will remind parents NOT to be too trusting of school authorities especially as those in administration tend to paint a brilliant, bright picture of what goes on in school…I know I’ll never send my children to boarding school (not that I can afford it anyway!)

Besides school stories, I was *truly horrified* when I read about his tonsillectomy without anaesthesia. People at that time really suffered without modern medicine. Definitely for readers aged 12 and above…

In case I’ve painted a bleak picture of ‘Boy: Tales of Childhood’, I’m sorry. The book has funny and fascinating segments (the trick played on the miserly Mrs. Pratchett, the sweet shop owner; his letters home; his travels to Africa when he worked with Shell…).

After all, if I’m now Dahl’s No. 1 fan, the book must be a good read, right? Absolutely – especialy for summer reading!!!

Rating: ★★★★☆

Chapter book / pre-teen — 5 Comments
16
Jun 09

REVIEW: The Secret Life of Amanda K. Woods by Ann Cameron

the-secret-life-of-amanda-k-woods-by-ann-cameronWhen I found this book on the library shelf, I admit that I thought it was a “flaky”, “airhead” kind of book that almost every pre-teen or teenaged girl is reading now…

I was attracted by the blurb:

“Amanda Woods is discovering that the person other people think she is and the person she really is are not the same. She doesn’t want to be like her demanding mother or her perfect older sister, and even though she feels close to her father, she doesn’t want to be like him either. But she has to start somwhere.

So she changes her name from bland Amanda Woods to Amanda K. Woods – someone who is proud and strong and sure of herself.”

…and glad that I read the book! I think The Secret Life of Amanda K. Woods is a must-read for every young girl out there who’s trying to find herself as she grows and change amidst her family, friends and community around her.

The book starts with 11 year old Amanda saying goodbye to her childhood friend, Lyle, who’s moving to another city. Her mother is glad he’s moving away because she never really approved of Lyle, whose family lived in a house trailer…

You can imagine what Amanda’s mother is like from these lines:

“Amanda’s mother was an elegant woman who had strong opinions about what was proper. She had made a rule that Amanda couldn’t buy comics or have any in her house. Comics weren’t literature, she said.”

Boy, she sure reminds of me of the controlling, prim-and-proper mother who:

  • dresses up her children in beautiful and expensive but impractical clothes,
  • forbids her children from playing with water, mud or getting dirty;
  • chooses EVERY one of her children’s playmates and later, friends;
  • manipulates the husband or father into submitting to her every decision with the excuse “It’s best for the children”…

At 11, Amanda’s too young to question her mother but slowly, she realizes that her mother dictates pretty much everything in her daily life and her future.

Amanda doesn’t get along with her older sister, who she sees as Ms. Perfect but later, both sisters reveal surprising truths about each other.

Amanda also gets to know her father better and is surprised to hear her father defying her mother and insists that he will be the one to raise Amanda since her mother had already done her part (or damage) on Amanda’s older sister.

The book also shows Amanda having trouble making friends at school – she thinks the “cool girls” are not worth being friends with and when she succeeds in being study partners with a nice girl, her mother’s “holier-than-thou” attitude threatens the friendship…

“The Secret Life of Amanda K. Woods” also has funny episodes especially Amanda’s adventure with her French pen friend…the letters between them make interesting reading but what’s funnier is Amanda’s attempt at creating a new identity for herself.

I’d strongly recommend mothers with pre-teen girls to get this book for your pre-teen or teenage daughters. Growing up as a teenager, I also had problems with friendship, peer pressure, trying to fit in and of course, the mother-and-daughter relationship.

If you have a 9-12 year old daughter, I think reading a book about the challenges ahead may help her (and you) be better prepared for them :-)

Rating: ★★★★☆

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