Abadeha: The Philippine Cinderella

I found a lot of similarities between Abadeha: the Philippine Cinderella, adapted by Myrna J. de la Paz and illustrated by Youshan Tang, and other Cinderella stories I have read. It tells the story of a girl whose mother dies and her father remarries a mean widow with two daughters. Abadeha is forced to work for her step-mother and is miserable. A spirit appears to her and helps her with her tasks. Eventually, Abadeha meets the son of the island chieftain who finds her via a ring instead of a shoe. They marry and live happily ever after. In the Author’s note, she talks about where this story came from and why she decided to write this book. This is helpful information for the reader.

This book had such beautiful language! For example, it starts out “Once upon a time in the islands called the Philippines, where sea stars bloom in a shimmering emerald sea, there lived a fisherman named Abak, his wife Abadesa, and their beautiful daughter Abadeha.” Although I have never been to the Philippines, I can picture the ocean and the islands because of how de la Paz describes them. There also seems to be a good infusion of Philippine culture into the story. For example, the Spirit of the Forest gives Abadeha a sarimanok, which I assume is a type of native Philippine bird. The description of the scenery and setting also infuses more of the Philippines into the story.

One detail that I thought was different from other Cinderella stories is that the step-mother realizes that her daughters were “plain and mean-spirited…compared to Abadeha’s beauty and kindness.” While I think this is alluded to in the Disney version of Cinderella, I’m not sure I’ve seen it mentioned in any of the other versions I have read. This story also seemed to be more mystical than the other Cinderella stories. The Spirit of the Forest is assisted by other spirits, which does not happen in other versions.

This book shared a lot of details with other versions, such as Shirley Climo’s Korean Cinderella. For example, the girl in both stories is given a series of impossible tasks to complete, and they both get help from an unearthly being. In this story, Abadeha has to wash two handkerchiefs until the white one turns black and the black one turns white. This is impossible, but she cries to her mother, and the Spirit of the Forest comes to help her. Domitila, the Mexican Cinderella, also receives help and guidance from a spirit. Both of these spirits are kind of like the fairy godmother who comes to help in other versions of Cinderella. At one point, the Spirit of the Forest claps three times to summon other spirits, which is like when Granny taps her cane three times and has the house cleaned for Ashput.

There are also differences between this story and other Cinderella stories. For example, there is no ball. Instead, Abadeha has a tree with jewelry and gowns on it. The chieftain’s son sees it and picks a ring off of it, which is a substitute for Cinderella’s shoe. The ring gets stuck on his finger and makes it hurt. He can’t get it off and has a dream that a girl must help him take it off. Abadeha is the only person who can remove it.

While this has not been my favorite version of Cinderella so far, it is a good read!

Ashpet: An Appalachian Tale

Ashpet: An Appalachian Tale, retold by Joanne Compton and illustrated by Kenn Compton, is an Appalachian version of the classic Cinderella tale. Ashpet is a serving girl living with the Widow Hooper and her two daughters, named Ethel and Myrtle. She is forced to all of the cleaning, cooking, and sewing while the widow and her two daughters do nothing. There is to be a church meeting with the whole town, and Widow Hooper, Ethel, and Myrtle go, but Ashpet has to stay home and do the chores. Granny comes to the house once the three Hooper women have gone to the meeting and helps Ashpet get her chores done. She even provides a beautiful outfit for Ashpet to wear. Ashpet goes to the meeting and meets the doctor’s son. Since she has to be home by midnight, Ashpet throws one of her shoes into the bushes so the doctor’s son will try to find her. This part is hilarious because it’s almost like she knows the version of Cinderella and that she must lose her shoe so he will have to bring it back to her. She runs home, and he comes the next day to find the beautiful girl who lost her shoe the night before. Widow Hooper’s two daughters try to fit their feet into the shoe, but it doesn’t work. Ashpet tries it on last, it fits, and they get married and live happily ever after.

The author has provided an Author’s Note at the beginning of the story, which is extremely useful. It gives the origins of the Cinderella story as well as which changes the author has made from the traditional story. At the end of her note, she encourages readers to compare it to other versions of the Cinderella story, which is a wonderful idea for young readers. It made me think of compare this story to the other Appalachian Cinderella story I read—Smoky Rose. Both authors make use of the Appalachian dialect, which allows readers to really visualize the characters. I also found a lot of similarities in the illustrations. The illustrations in both books weren’t particularly beautiful, but the expressions on the character’s faces were hilarious. For example, in this book, the three Hooper women are often depicted with their noses up in the air, showing how snobby they are and that the reader is not supposed to like them. The pictures in this book really reminded me of a cartoon.

One thing I found interesting about this version was that it is the only version I have read so far where the other daughters are asked to do any work. Widow Hooper asks first Myrtle and then Ethel to go to Granny’s house to get some fire. Neither girl will brush Granny’s hair, so they are both sent home empty-handed, and Ashpet finally has to go. This reminds me of another (maybe African in origin?) fairy tale I read when I was little. I can’t remember the title of it, but it was a Cinderella-like story where a woman sends her two girls to an elderly woman’s house to borrow eggs and neither girl can do it, so finally the Cinderella character has to go. I think that this happens in the German version, Aschenputtel, as well; if it’s not in that story, then it’s in another German fairy tale I’ve read.

Many aspects of this version are different from other versions in order to make it seem more true to America and Appalachia. For example, instead of a fairy godmother, Ashpet has Granny, who comes to the house and cleans it up with three taps of her cane. Granny also provides Ashpet with a dress and shoes to wear to the church meeting, just like the fairy godmother. Instead of a ball, there is a church meeting. This is much more appropriate to the setting than a ball would be. Additionally, the author mentioned that she had a doctor’s son instead of a prince because that is more believable. There generally aren’t princes in America, so having a doctor’s son makes the story both more believable and relatable to the reader. Finally, the bird that takes Ashpet’s shoe is like the bird in Shirley Klimo’s Egyptian Cinderella.

Tuck Everlasting

Tuck Everlasting, written by Natalie Babbit, is a book that I always wished I had read when I was younger, but never did. When I was growing up, I never read fantasy or science fiction books--that genre belonged to my sister, and I was the one who always read historical fiction. I remember seeing previews for the movie and thinking that it really didn’t look like something I would enjoy, just because I knew it was a fantasy story.

When I started this book, I knew nothing about it. I read one of my classmate’s blog entries saying that she really didn’t enjoy this book, so I thought I would give it a chance. Winnie, a ten-year old girl living a sheltered life, comes upon Jesse Tuck drinking from a spring in woods owned by her parents one day. Jesse persuades her from drinking from the spring, and the Tuck family (Mae, Miles, and Jesse) kidnaps Winnie to tell her their story. They take her to their house where she meets Mae’s husband, Angus Tuck, who just goes by Tuck. The family tells her about how they drank from the spring in the woods 87 years ago and have not aged since that day. They tell her it is a terrible thing and that she must never tell anyone about the water. Mae ends up killing a bad man who bought the woods from Winnie’s parents when he comes to take Winnie back. Winnie has come to realize that she loves the Tucks and switches places with Mae in jail so she will not be hung, and thus found out that she will never die.

Throughout the story, Babbit’s beautiful description of the woods and all of the scenery automatically pulled me into the story. Her opening description of the August heat really set the stage so that I could visualize exactly what was happening and how the characters must be feeling. It reminded me a lot of August in Virginia. Every description Babbit made was beautiful; I wanted to write down the whole book in my Wonderful Words section. I especially enjoyed the verbs and adjectives she chose to use in the descriptions, for example when she describes the Tuck’s house—“an ancient green-plush sofa lolled alone in the center”, “an elderly rocker stood about aimlessly”, “a vast and tipsy brass bed took up most of the space” (51).

I thought Tuck’s description of how the spring might be left over “from some other plan for the way the world should be….Some plan that didn’t work out too good. And so everything was changed.” (41) From the beginning of the story it was clear that Babbit does not believe eternal life is a good thing. She addresses this idea when Mae tells Winnie that they “don’t deserve no blessings—if it is a blessing” (55), referring to their eternal life. If I had been asked whether or not I would have liked to never age and be 21 eternally, I might have answered yes before reading this book. However, reading this book really got me thinking about how it might be if I was like the Tucks and could never grow any older and would never really have any friends or a home that I could stay with for a long time. She provides a very interesting perspective on this idea.

It was really interesting to follow Winnie’s evolution throughout the book. She starts off saying she is going to run away from her safe, protected home, but when she is kidnapped, she becomes upset when Mae tells her she will bring her home tomorrow. Although Winnie had wanted to run away the day before, when it actually happened that she was taken from her home, she was initially terrified. When Winnie goes to the Tuck’s home, she is at first startled by how different it is from her own home and she is homesick. She eventually comes to love the family as the day goes on, particularly when each family member comes down to check on her when she is trying to fall asleep. Finally, at the end of the story, Winnie is brave enough to do something important, which is what she wanted to do all along. She trades places with Mae in jail so Mae can get out of town before she will be hanged for killing the man. This takes courage for a ten-year old girl to do.

In the Prologue, Babbit introduces three characters, Mae Tuck, Winnie Foster, and the stranger, saying “No connection, you would agree. But things can come together in strange ways.” (4) This interconnectedness of the characters and the author talking directly to the reader here reminded me a lot of DiCamillo’s Tale of Despereaux. Since I read that book recently, I was intrigued by this book and hoped that it might be similar.

The biggest theme throughout this book is the idea of life as a cycle. This is how Tuck describes it to Winnie. People are born, they grow up, have children of their own, and then die to make room for other people. Living and dying are both part of life, and death is not a bad thing.

I have a question about the man who bought the woods from Winnie’s parents so he could sell the water from the spring. There were multiple references to him being a puppet or a marionette. I am sure that this must be a symbol for something, but I can’t think of what he is a symbol for. Maybe he’s a puppet of greed?

The Van Gogh Cafe

The Van Gogh Café, written by Cynthia Rylant, is a fantasy story about a café. A young girl, Clara, and her father, Marc, run the Van Gogh café in Flowers, Kansas (what a pretty name for a town!). The book chronicles a series of magic events that take place—muffins multiply, sea gulls nest on the roof, and lightning strikes the café and food begins to cook itself.

I thought it was interesting that the magic in this book came from everyday things (lightning or muffins) instead of typically magic-related things. This encourages readers to look around and see common, everyday objects differently. For example, that cup could just be a cup, or it could somehow be a miracle waiting to happen.

I loved how Rylant connected all of the stories to the previous story. The book was divided up into chapters, but they all flowed into and out of one another. For example, “But the star will not be the last wanderer making his way home by way of the Van Gogh Café. There will be others. In fact, one is about to land on its roof. Magic is never wasted on a wayward gull….” In this way, the story about the lost seagull and the story about the man waiting for his love are brought together. Each of the stories has something in common with the others, whether both characters are wanderers or both have secrets.

Although I thought this was a good read, I was kind of unsure as to what the point of it was. In this book, Rylant seems to emphasize the idea that people ought to appreciate the beauty in the small, common things in life and be satisfied by that. People often miss the small, seemingly insignificant things that happen, and they need to take time to stop and look around themselves for beauty in strange places. What does everyone else think the point of this book is?

Henry and Beezus

Henry and Beezus, written by Beverly Cleary and illustrated by Louis Darling, is such a fun book! I don’t often read books about boys or that are tailored to a male audience, so I really enjoyed the different perspective this book offered. I was surprised to find out that it was really no different than a book with a female main character. This book stars Henry Huggins, who gets into all sorts of hilarious situations, like having to eat dog food and finding 49 boxes of bubble gum in a vacant lot.

Although it was published in 1952, this book seems to be fairly universal. I owned it when I was little, and I know that I have read it before, so it must still be appealing to children of today. Beverly Cleary is one of those authors whose books are timeless. I would enjoy reading one of her books now as much as I would have enjoyed reading it when it first came out. Most kids can relate to not liking kids of the other gender for a while. Henry often thinks about how things might be better if Beezus and her sister Ramona didn’t have to come along with him, but he usually ends up being glad that at least Beezus is there.

Some of the characters in the story really stress me out. For example, when Henry was trying to bid on a bike at the auction and Ramona said she was going to throw up in order to get her way, I really empathized with Henry. I understood how he felt about just wanting to get a bike and not wanting to have to deal with a little girl who wanted to go home. I also empathized with Henry when Scooter kept coming around and all Henry wanted to do was teach his dog Ribsy to stop fetching and chewing up the papers. He was just trying to not get in trouble. I think that the way kids are able to relate to the characters is one of the qualities that make this book so timeless.

In this book, Cleary seems to really emphasize not giving up. Henry could have easily given up on his dream to have his own bike after selling bubblegum didn’t work or after he bought a girl’s bike that didn’t really work, but he didn’t. Instead he didn’t get discouraged and ended up getting a roundabout reward for his hard work. Although he didn’t think of the $50 worth of coupons to a beauty parlor as a reward at first, it was through selling the coupons that he was able to buy his new bike.

The Big Lie

The Big Lie, written by Isabella Leitner and illustrated by Judy Pedersen, is an autobiography of the author’s life and experiences as a Jew living in Hungary during World War II. When I finished this story, I couldn’t help but reflect on how courageous the author and all of the Jews were in trying to survive and endure this horrible period of time.

What a fast read! It starts out describing the family who don’t think that anything will happen to them and that the war will not affect them. Then one day, everything changes. The Nazis have invaded Hungary, and the Jews are forced to obey certain rules, like wearing yellow stars and turning in their radios. Not long after, the author’s family is taken to Auschwitz with the other families in the town. The author and her three sisters manage to stay together, but their mother and other sister are killed. The author and her three sisters are then moved to a succession of concentration camps, and eventually the author and two sisters are able to escape. The other sister was caught and died at another concentration camp. The author, her two sisters, and her brother are reunited with their father in America at the end of the book. The Afterword provides useful historical information that describes the events in Europe and Germany leading up to and through the rise of the Nazis, the Holocaust, and World War Two.

While it is not a picture book, the few pictures included in the book are powerful. They are all done in black and white. The one picture I found the most terrifying was of one of the concentration camps where they were located. It is dark and ominous, thus lending to the mood of the story. I was glad that pictures were included in the book because they provide a context for the story. There is also a picture of a German soldier and a coat with the star on it. These pictures all allowed me to visualize a dark period of time that I never could have otherwise imagined. There is also a map included in the book that traces the Jews’ journey from their home in Kisvarda, Hungary to Auschwitz. I really don’t have a frame of reference for where Hungary and Poland are located, so the map is a good tool for me to use. It would certainly be helpful in a classroom as well.

Leitner included some German phrases like “Los!” and “Schnell!” This makes the story and dialogue seem more realistic. Although I speak German, I can imagine the inclusion of these phrases has the same effect on a reader who does not speak it as it did on the actual characters in the story. One line I found particularly powerful is “They looked like strange two-legged animals that I had never seen before” (43). This line appears when Isabella is looking at her sisters for the first time after they have been forced to cut off all of their hair. It really expresses the dehumanization that occurred in the concentration camps and elsewhere.

As I was reading this book, two other books came to mind—The Diary of Anne Frank and Number the Stars. Both books describe the experiences of young Jewish girls living in Europe, just as this book does, although they do so in different ways.

Caddie Woodlawn

Caddie Woodlawn, a Newberry Award-winner written by Carol Ryrie Brink, is a fast-paced story about a young girl living with her family in pioneer-day Wisconsin. It describes a year in the life of Caddie and her family. The book starts out describing the adventures she and her brother has. As the book goes on, it is clear that Caddie’s older sister and mother want her to be more of a “lady” instead of a tomboy. The reader sees Caddie’s evolution into a young woman by the end of the book.

In the Author’s Note she mentions that Caddie is based on her grandmother, Caddie Woodhouse. This adds another level to the book because it provides some historical background and relates the book to the real-world; it provides a sort-of context for the story. Teachers could bring this book into the classroom by researching some of the sources Brink mentions, such as the park and Caddie Woodlawn house.

On page 107, “Caddie wished more than ever that she had been a boy” when learning about Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. That is such an interesting sentiment because she goes on to say that if she had been a boy, she could be president. I wonder if this is what girls of that time actually ever thought, or if it was simply added because it seemed appropriate to the time period.

The part of the book that I enjoyed the most was when Caddie took the Hankinson boys to the store because she feels sorry for them. Their mother is a Native American married to a white man, and she goes with the other Native Americans, leaving the three sons and their father behind. After Caddie watches their mother come to school and say goodbye to them one last time, she wants to make them happy so she takes them to the store to help her spend her silver dollar. She buys them new handkerchiefs and candy and combs. It was so nice of her to do this; it seems like something an eleven-year old wouldn’t think of. This was just one of many steps in her progression to becoming a young woman.

This book really reminded me of the Little House on the Prairie books. Caddie is a lot like Laura; they are both tomboys, living in pioneer times, and they are both kind. Laura would always help another child if something was wrong, just as I imagine Caddie would do. The book also reminds me a little bit of Ox-Cart Man because both talk about tapping the sugar maple trees. I used to really look up to Laura Ingles when I was younger, and I’m sure I would have enjoyed this book then.