Tuck Everlasting and May B.

Before school ended a 4th grader approached me and asked if I had read Tuck Everlasting. I admitted I had not and she said you need to. Today at the beach I did just that. Wow. She was right - Tuck Everlasting is a great book. Written almost 40 years ago by Natalie Babbit, it's one of those books that is ripe for conversation. I'm not going to summarize it I will simply ask - would you want to live forever?

The author of May B., Caroline Starr Rose was a huge fan of the Little House series. That influence is clear in May B. Written in prose, the book tells an incredible story of a young girl (we might call her a tween) who is sent to live with a Kansas homesteader and his new wife. May's job is simple - keep the house running while Louise, the wife gets used to living on the prairie. Her father drops May off in August and promises to pick her up at Christmas. She has no choice - her family needs the money. This is a story of May's resiliency. It is heartbreaking and powerful. I hope I have a little May B. in me.

Wingwalker by Rosemary Wells

I loved Wingwalker - all of 63 pages, it tells a simple story of love, perseverance and trust. And yes - walking on the wings of a plane is how one man decides to provide for his family when they are forced to move from Oklahoma to Minnesota to find work.

To be honest, I struggled through The Bad Luck Chair by Sue Wilkowski- it's one of those books where I am acutely aware that what I like and what a nine year old might like is completely different. I would be curious if anyone has read it and what they thought of it. The Bad Luck Chair tells the story of Addy and her friends who are determined to reverse the curse of sitting in what is known as the bad luck chair. Addy's teacher thinks it's ridiculous but the five kids who sat in the chair prior to Addy all have a story to tell about they lost their "mojo." And Addy and her friends are a determined bunch.