A Great Christmas Book for Children

"That day, Jonathan went to the Christmas service with the widow McDowell and Thomas. And that day in the churchyard the village children saw Jonathan throw back his head, showing his eyes as clear blue as an August sky, and laugh. No one ever called him Mr. Gloomy again."

-The last page in The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski



Jonathan Toomey was a sad, sad man. He was known all over his village as a man who never smiled. He was always gloomy and complained about loud noises or just about anything that annoyed him. He was a miserable man, but the people of the village didn't seem to know WHY he was this way. As the story unfolds, we find out that Jonathan was sad because his wife and baby had died unexpectedly from an illness, and he couldn't seem to find any happiness after that. He moved to a new village where no one knew him, and he spent his days alone doing his work as a woodcarver.

In 1998 my grandfather gave my mother some money to buy two of his great-grandchildren some books for Christmas. Our son was 7 years old at the time. in 1998.  The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey is a beautiful story of love, joy, hope, and redemption, and the illustrations are beautiful. The book comes with a CD, but I don't think we have ever listened to it -  I always preferred to read to our kids myself. This book contains a lot of words, so I wouldn't recommend it for very young children unless you are willing to wait until the child is at least 5 or 6 years old. This would make a wonderful Christmas gift for your child, grandchild, or friend.

As the story unfolds, the widow McDowell and her son, Thomas, knock on Jonathan's door on a cold December day. They were new in the village and had been unable to find their nativity scene when they unpacked their belongings. They came to Jonathan because they had heard that he was a good woodcarver. They asked Jonathan if he would carve a new set for them because they couldn't imagine a Christmas without their manger scene. The three characters gradually become friends as Thomas, the boy, spends time at Jonathan's house. He watches Jonathan work and offers advice from time to time. For example, Thomas didn't like the way Jonathan made the cow, so he asked him to make the cow look less proud. Jonathan carefully carved all of the figures of the nativity scene and completed his project in time for Christmas.

Books always make great Christmas gifts, no matter the age. Of course, you want to make sure that the gift recipient appreciates narratives. I think books are especially great gifts for children because they have so many toys already. You don't need batteries for most books, and they aren't easily broken. And you don't have to worry whether or not the book will fit. You will know that your children or grandchildren are beginning to appreciate books when you see them spending their OWN money on them. Our grown children began doing this several years ago, and it made me smile. I remember many years ago when I took them to the library regularly. One summer they started having their "reading corner" as they called it, and they would spend the entire afternoon reading together. The reading "corner" consisted of a large blanket spread out on the floor where they would sit and read for an entire afternoon. I think that was also the summer when I started allowing them to read Goosebumps books. I think we checked out at least 30 books at a time that summer!

I hope today's post has been of interest to you as you prepare for the holidays. The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey is a beautiful book that tells the true meaning of Christmas through the carved figures of the nativity scene. Jonathan realized that life is just too short to sit around feeling sorry for himself. He found hope in a manger as in the life of a little boy, Thomas.

Have a wonderful week,

Melissa Hill
Book Blogger: www.onegoodbookblog.blogspot.com
Used book seller: mch seller

Another look at Hemingway

I finished reading the novel by Paula McLain, The Paris Wife, and I've realized that many of you have read it. It's always good to know that your friends and readers enjoy some of the same types of books that you do. I'm now thinking about continuing the theme of Paris throughout my reading selections, but we will see. I need a book suggestion TODAY, so if you have an idea of what I should read, please let me know. Keep in mind the types of books that I like, historical fiction and memoirs. As I've noted before my taste has changed throughout my lifetime, but for the past few years these are the types of books that I've enjoyed. And I don't even mind a good history book every now and then, books by people like David McCullough. I'm still on a waiting list at the library to get McCullough's book about the Brooklyn Bridge, by the way, so if you happen to have it and you'd like to loan it to me, I'm in.

I learned a lot by reading The Paris Wife. Although I've read several books by Hemingway, I didn't know anything about his travels, his personal life, and his wives. I've read The Old Man and the Sea and The Sun Also Rises, and I'd like to read A Farewell to Arms and For Whom the Bell Tolls. Hemingway was a complicated man and had personal demons that haunted him throughout much of the time that he was married to his first wife, Hadley. Some of this stemmed from his time of active duty in the armed forces, and some of it may have stemmed from a genetic predisposition to being psychologically troubled troubled. The Paris Wife depicts his early years as a young married man in Europe. He was known as a lady's man and this ultimately ended his first marriage to Hadley, the mother of his first son. He had an affair with one of Hadley's friends, and although they tried to pretend the affair wasn't going on, it ultimately caused the breakup of the marriage. Hemingway went on to marry the woman. Hadley returned to the U.S. with her son and eventually remarried. Hemingway was married a total of four times. He and Hadley traveled all over Europe during the six years or so of their marriage, even though they never really had any money. Gertrude Stein and the other authors that he befriended while in Europe always had more money than the Hemingways did, but they tried to fit in. These relationships helped Hemingway's career, as his friends offered writing advice and encouragement along the way.

Hemingway was always very driven in his career, but drinking too much and his eye on the women sometimes created problems. Somehow he managed to become very successful, of course, and according to the novel, he gave Hadley all of the proceeds of his novel, The Sun Also Rises. Hemingway went on to marry a total of four times, and he ended his own life at the age of 61. Years earlier, his own father, sister, and brother had also committed suicide, perhaps revealing a genetic link to depression, anxiety, or other psychological problems. It's a tragic ending to a very talented man who skillfully crafted all of his works. We will never know what additional novels or poems he could have written.

I want to end today's post with a humorous experience that I had yesterday at my school. As you know, I teach English as a Second Language at a public elementary school here in Durham, NC. This is my tenth year there, and I love my students. All of my students this year come from Spanish-speaking families, so they often need extra patience when it comes to learning new vocabulary. When they are at home, the language that they hear is Spanish, but they seem to easily change over to English when they are at school. It's really quite remarkable to see how well they speak English when many of their parents don't speak it. Yesterday afternoon one of my students said something funny. I was asking the group what a "picnic" was. This particular group seemed to know the answer, but my earlier groups didn't know until I acted it out and described a picnic. This particular second grader, we'll call him ""Pablo," said "Oh yeah, I know what a picnic is. It's when you go somewhere like Duke Gardens and you lay something down on the ground and you get out your carnitas and you eat!" His cultural experience with picnics is obviously that they involve carnitas, not sandwiches, fried chicken, or hamburgers. It was very funny to me because his statement showed a blending of his cultures. Pablo is such a cute, smart boy who loves to learn new things, and so he was thrilled to be able to share the answer to my question. So, if you've never had carnitas, you should try them. They involved shredded pork and taste good. I enjoy carnitas in a tortilla at my favorite Latino restaurant in Durham, Chubby's Tacos, on Ninth Street near Duke. It's just a tiny restaurant with a few tables, but the food is cheap and very, very good. So, now you have my favorite anecdote of the week. I really should write these types of things down, because my students provide me with so many laughs.

Have a wonderful Veteran's Day,

Melissa Hill
Book Blogger: www.onegoodbookblog.blogspot.com
Used bookseller: mch seller

Hemingway and The Paris Wife

"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."         -Ernest Hemingway (Brainy Quotes)

 

I've been reading a good book this week, but I haven't gotten very far. Still, it's hard to put down. I'm reading a historical novel, The Paris Wife by Paula McClain, 2011.  I was reading something else, but once again, I took a detour and I'm not sorry about it. I've been attracted to books set in Paris ever since I had the opportunity to visit Paris for the first time just three years ago. So when my friend loaned me her copy of McClain's book, I couldn't resist. The reader must realize that this book is a novel, not a documentary or a biography, and yet it provides us with some thoughts as to what Hemingway's life might have been like. McClain used historical documents to frame her story, yet some of the details are "filled in" by her as they relate to the things about Hemingway that no one could really know. At the end of the book there are some questions provided for group discussions so that literature students or reading groups may find a jumping off place for their discussions.

The narrator in the story is a young woman, Hadley, who is in her late 20s and on the verge of being a "spinster" according to the "rules"of society at that time in 1920. She meets a young man named Ernest Hemingway in Chicago, and she is intrigued by this young man who is several years younger than her. After a short courtship, mostly a long-distance relationship, they get married. Hadley has been warned by her friend, Kate, that she shouldn't get involved with this man, but she ignores that advice. Kate had said that Ernest was something of a lady's man, and that "He likes women, all women, apparently..." so Hadley should stay away from him. But there were things that drew her to the young writer, and she fell in love. They got married and struggled financially as many young couples do, but when Hadley's relative dies, she receives $8,000 so they finally realize Hemingway's dream and they set off for Paris. Hemingway had been told that Paris was the place for writers to get their start, so they heeded the advice and set sail for a new life. When they arrived they found that they couldn't afford to live in the area of Paris where most of the writers and artists lived, so they had to settle for a run-down apartment in a poor neighborhood. After a while, the couple is drawn to people such as Gertrude Stein, Sinclair Lewis, Ezra Pound, and others. Hemingway learns from these authors, and the feedback that he receives from his work is invaluable. This is about as far as I've gotten in my reading, so I'll make more comments about it after I have finished the book.

I've read quite a few books set partially or completely in Paris or France during the past few years. I've read War Brides; All the Light We Cannot See; Paris: The Novel; A Year in Provence (memoir); The Greater Journey, Americans in Paris; The Wright Brothers, and others. Of these books listed here I think I enjoyed The Greater Journey, Americans in Paris by David McCullough and All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr the most. The former is yet another example of the amazing research McCullough does in order to write the facts about the person, place, or thing that he is writing about. His book is a word of history, for sure, so I learned a lot about the many American doctors, writers, and artists who traveled to Paris to learn and to "make it big." While All the Light We Cannot See is a novel, it reveals the war-time culture that destroyed much of Europe. It tells the story of a blind girl who is wrapped up in the suffering that so many people had to endure during a very dark time in Europe.

Now that I've been able to visit Paris myself, these types of stories come alive for me. I'm drawn to books and movies set in France. Have you seen the movie, "Midnight In Paris" (2011) starring Owen Wilson? It's a fun romantic comedy in which Owen Wilson's character meets many of the great writers and authors from the past, men and women who once lived in Paris. He meets Picasso, Stein, Hemingway, and others sometime after midnight each night. If you're interested in history, literature, or Paris, you'll enjoy this movie. You can probably borrow it from your public library as we did.

Have you seen the new movie, "Suffragette"? Chances are you haven't made it to see this one yet, since it just came out. Meryl Streep has a small role in this movie, but it carries itself very well with leading ladies Carey Mulligan and Helen Bonham Carter. I saw this movie yesterday at the Carolina Theatre, and I enjoyed it a lot. The movie is based on the true story of the fight for voting rights for women in London. The story begins in 1920 during a time when many women were mistreated in the workforce and were not allowed to vote or to have any say in the government. The suffragette movement was led by Emmeline Pankhurst, played by Meryl Streep in the movie, and it led to the eventual acquisition of voting rights for women in England and elsewhere. Practice up on your British accents before you go - you may find some of the dialogue difficult to understand but this won't detract from your understanding of what's going on. 

I'm off to go work at the school magnet fair now...have a great weekend. A penny for your thoughts about Hemingway, Paris, or anything else that you're interested in!

-Melissa Hill
Book Blogger
www.onegoodbookblog.blogspot.com
Amazon used book seller: mch seller