Reviews: The Trolls; and An Occasional Cow

Two books today, both by Polly Horvath.

First up, the one I read second: An Occasional Cow. This was a delightful and quick read, about the young New Yorker Imogene who goes to spend a summer with her relatives on a farm in Iowa. Here is Josephine, describing Iowa to Imogene over the phone: "Well, out of this living-room window I see the Taj Mahal, but out of my bedroom window there's nothing to be seen for miles around but fields of corn and an occasional cow." This will illustrates the fun tone of the dialog and the imagination of the characters. Nothing magical happens, or even implausible, yet several of the main characters come across as incurable romantics. Imogene, regarding her send-off breakfast of pancakes, thinks of a prisoner's last meal; later, she introduces herself as "the president of a large corporation left ot me by my great-grandfather twice removed." This is imagination and in-story storytelling in spades! The narrator gets into the act from time to time: speaking of a frolick in the local lake, she says only "all was whales and dolphins for a time." Dialog is crisp and funny; characters and situations are fun and believable. All in all an excellent book. I will point out one instance of the word "crap" which stands out as the only profanity, the more odd because the dialog in genernal employs very few exclamations at all.

Let us now turn to The Trolls, which I read before Cow. Herein, Aunt Sally comes to stay with three syblings while their parents are on vacation (I don't believe there is any connection with the characters in the earlier book); she exhibits interesting parenting techniques; and tells amazing tales of her family life in Canada. The drama in the story is the slow revealing of what Aunt Sally's life and family are like --- the proximate children enter into things hardly at all. I enjoyed the parenting bits, such as encouraging the children to eat their green beans by, well, playing with her food; and a bit where she uses the boy's given name, Frank, in defiance of the sisters' pet name Pee Wee (oddly, this dynamic is abandoned after a few chapters).

Much of the same tone as Cow infuses the first part of the book, which is a good thing --- a nice, irreverent, playful approach to life and relationships. The latter half of the book, however, treads into some heavier subjects, delving into the relationship between Aunt Sally and her brother. I think this may be interesting on its own but is not what I'm looking for in a children's book. There is also a recurring theme of death, both in apocryphal (and frankly folkloric) stories by Sally; and in the strictly personal stories she tells. I found it a bit of a downer, if all too realistic.

letter home "catch up"

I've fallen behind on posting letters to the kids at home, so here's a catch-up:

6yo Boy Birthday

Later that same day was Son's 6th birthday, this time at the local pizza-and-play place. He had a great time being the center of attention! And it's great giving him presents, look how appreciative he can be. After all the excitement and cake, the evening was a challenge, but everyone survived.


   

Bowling

This was a birthday party for one of Daughter's friends. It was a madhouse, and so we were a little dismayed when Daughter later said "I want my next birthday party there!" but fortunately it's a long time from now and maybe something else will come up. Both kids had a good time.


  

Hide-n-Seek

This is what hide-and-seek looks like when you're walking down the street and there's not a lot of cover. Of course, one of our home variations of hide-and-seek is Sneaky Hide-and-Seek where the person finding will intentionally overlook the person hiding, allowing Hider to sneak to a new hiding location a few times. I like to think that these less literal interpretations of the game suggest that Imagination is alive and well in both kids.