Nana’s Books:  Tea With Milk


Nana’s Books:  Tea With Milk, by Allen Say, written in 1999.

Reminder:  Nana’s Books are rated G.  Anyone could read them, or listen to them being read aloud.

Particulars (Out of 5):   Positive role models: *****  Alcohol or drugs: None.   Inappropriate language:  None.  Sexual references:  None.

Age:  4+

   This is not just a sweet story, but a beautifully and gently illustrated book.   It is Allen Say’s own story, a true fairy tale of how his parents found each other – two strangers in a foreign land – and forged a new life together.

            It begins with a little girl named Masako.  Her parents, who came to California from Japan, call her Ma-chan, and speak to her in Japanese.  Everyone else calls her May, and speaks to her in English.  At home, eats rice, miso soup and drinks green tea for breakfast.  At friends’ houses, she eats pancakes and muffins, and drinks tea with milk and sugar.

            When May graduates from high school, she wants to go to college and live in San Francisco – but her parents are homesick and return to Japan, where May is an outsider.  There’s no tea with milk, no fried chicken, no spaghetti, and no chairs: she has to wear a kimono and sit on the floor.   May has to go to high school all over again to learn her own language – but the students laugh at her and call her “Gaijin” (foreigner).  Her parents hire a matchmaker, and try to set her up with a “charming young man” of good family.  May’s response:  “He’s charming like a catfish!”

            May goes to the big city – Osaka – and gets a job at a department store, where her fluency in English quickly becomes very useful.  She meets a young businessman, Joseph, who also feels like an outsider.  Joseph was raised by English foster parents and went to an English school – where he grew up drinking tea with milk and sugar, and crumpets.  They become friends, and then fall in love and get married.  Allen Say is their first child, and guess how he drinks his tea?

Here’s the Amazon link.  It is still in print, and at the time I’m writing this is available for $7.99 (paperback).  There are also plenty of used copies available.

©Janet Farrar Worthington

Note:  I am an Amazon affiliate, so if you do click a link and buy a book, I will theoretically make a small amount of money, but I’m just starting this thing, so I don’t even know how that works.   Still, full disclosure, etc.

 

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Nana’s Books: Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer

Nana’s Books:  Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer, by John Grisham.  Written in 2010

Reminder:  Nana’s Books are rated G.  Anyone could read them, or listen to them being read aloud.

Particulars (Out of 5):   Positive role models: *****  Alcohol or drugs: None.   Inappropriate language:  None.  Sexual references:  None.

Age:  10+

            I read this book when it first came out, and I liked it.  I just reread it, and I really liked it.  Why is that?  In large part, I think because our world has changed so much that I was really grateful for what was not in here.  Theodore Boone is a good kid, with mostly other good kids, in a good public school.  Back in 2010, the hypersexualized and politicized school environment that today’s students must deal with just didn’t exist.

That’s not to say everything is unrealistically hunky dory in the school or the town: one kid has two self-involved, squabbling, divorcing parents and has to choose which one she wants to live with.  (Neither one, actually.)  Another kid’s family has serious financial trouble and the bank is about to foreclose.  Yet another has a brother in trouble with the law.  Another has a cousin who witnessed a murder.  More on this in a minute.

            These kids come to Theo for help because he is a kid lawyer.  He doesn’t have a law degree and doesn’t charge them for his services, but he knows the law better than some adult lawyers.  He also helps because he is a genuinely good kid.  That’s another thing I appreciated:  the basic decency of the protagonist.   Theo cares about other people’s feelings.  He goes and visits his uncle (a disbarred lawyer) every week because he knows his uncle likes having him come by.  An only child, Theo cares about his parents, who are both lawyers, and knows they love him.  He empathizes with, and tries to help, the homeless people he serves every week at the soup kitchen.

            Now, you might think, “this kid sounds boring!”  He’s not!  I haven’t even gotten to the murder yet!  Theo’s Government class has seats in the courtroom for the opening arguments of a big murder trial.  Within days, Theo learns that there is not only a secret witness to the murder; there’s evidence that could convict the accused killer – who looks like he’s going to get away with killing his wife! (We don’t see the murder; we just hear about it.)

            And now we come to what John Grisham does not do.  At every possible point in this book, he resists the trite plot turn that you would find in, say, a Hallmark movie or many other, lesser, books.  The biggest example comes when Theo, who has tried to handle a huge situation by himself, asks for help.  He turns to his family when he’s got trouble.  And they drop everything to help him.

            There are at least seven books in this series.  I haven’t read the others.  But this one is a winner.  Here’s the Amazon link.  It is still in print, and at the time I’m writing this is available for $7.87 (paperback).

©Janet Farrar Worthington

Note:  I am an Amazon affiliate, so if you do click a link and buy a book, I will theoretically make a small amount of money, but I’m just starting this thing, so I don’t even know how that works.   Still, full disclosure, etc.

 

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Nana’s Books: They Didn’t Use Their Heads

Nana’s Books:  They Didn’t Use Their Heads, by Jo Ann Stover, written in 1960.

Age: 3+

Reminder:  Nana’s Books are rated G.  Anyone could read them, or listen to them being read aloud.

Particulars:   Good examples: *****  Bad examples:  *****  Inappropriate language:  None.  Sexual references:  None.

This is a great book to read aloud and talk about.  What we see here, beautifully drawn, are bad examples: spectacular fails.  “Clarence liked to clown, but he didn’t use his head…so he made his father frown.”  What happened here?  Clarence was goofing around with his yo-yo and it hit his dad in the head!

Then, for every bad example, there’s a good example, showing a better way to go.  “Tessie got a toy, but she didn’t use her head… so it didn’t bring much joy.”  Tessie hoarded her toy.  She was miserable, sitting there like the Grinch, and her friends were sad, too.  Then in the corner is a different scene, of the girls playing together.  “A gift for one can be a joy for all.”

            Then there’s Cora, who thinks she’s so pretty… and she’s also lonely!  Because she’s stuck up!  There are kids who don’t share, who break the rules, who are careless, who show off, who sit around and are waited on, who don’t respect other people’s toys, who play too rough, who aren’t satisfied with what they have, kids who cut in line, and more.  And you know what?  These kids aren’t happy!  There’s another talking point!

            Here’s the Amazon link.  It is still in print, and at the time I’m writing this is available for $6.99.  It’s also available used, but might end up being more expensive with shipping.

©Janet Farrar Worthington

Note:  I am an Amazon affiliate, so if you do click a link and buy a book, I will theoretically make a small amount of money, but I’m just starting this thing, so I don’t even know how that works.   Still, full disclosure, etc.

 

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Nana’s Books: The Threatening Fog

Nana’s Books:  The Threatening Fog, by Leon Ware, written in 1952.

Age: 10+

Reminder:  Nana’s Books are rated G.  Anyone could read them, or listen to them being read aloud.

 Particulars (Out of 5):   Positive role models *****   Inappropriate language:  None.  Sexual references:  None.

 

Eben Tyrell Hall lives on an Air Force base in Texas with his mom and his dad, who is a B-47 squadron commander.  When his dad is injured in a crash, Eben’s mom flies to Germany to be with him, and Eben is sent to live with his mom’s brother, Uncle Silas Tyrell.

His visit does not start out well.  Uncle Silas lives in Rockhaven, Massachusetts, a seafaring town rich in Tyrell family history.  Eben has heard about it all his life – and about his famous ancestor, the first Eben Tyrell, legendary captain of a clipper ship who was so successful that he was known as the Merchant Prince.  There’s even a museum dedicated to him.

Silas, a lobster fisherman, is a good man, but it takes a while to get to know him.  He’s a man of few words, a loner haunted by his past, and he doesn’t exactly fling open the doors and bid Eben a hearty welcome.  Things get a whole lot worse when Eben – who should have saltwater running through his veins – gets terribly seasick.  (Note:  This was in the days before Dramamine.)  Every time he tries to go lobster fishing with Silas, it ends in disaster.  He is a disappointment to Silas.

But Eben never gives in to self-pity.  That first night, alone in his bedroom, “In the dark his eyes felt hot.  He clenched his jaws angrily.  He was here and he’d make the best of it.  He’d do his share of the work, and more, and Uncle Silas wouldn’t have anything to complain about.  He was a Tyrell, sure, but he was a Hall too, and the Halls were tough. Look at his dad.”

As we soon learn, there’s some stuff going on in this sleepy town.  There are odd tensions in Rockhaven, unresolved issues from before Eben’s time.  It turns out that Silas needs Eben, and although Eben will never be a great sea captain, he is a lot more like the Merchant Prince than he thought:  He’s smart, courageous and resourceful.  He starts his own business, makes new friends, rescues some tourists, solves a mystery, deals audaciously with a bully, and changes Silas’s life for the better.  It’s a great book, a mystery, and adventure, and more than that, Eben is just so decent, you’re rooting for him the whole time.

I got my copy used on eBay.  There’s a holder on the front page and a stamped message that “This Book No Longer Belongs to Tensas Parish Library,” in St. Joseph, Louisiana.  The last checkout was May 29, 1980.  Here’s the Amazon link.  It was not at my local library.  There is a new paperback version of this book, but a few months ago I bought a much cheaper version for my son-in-law from The Good and the Beautiful.  My point?  These things fluctuate all the time.  Once you get into looking for good used books, you see this time and again.  Don’t despair!

©Janet Farrar Worthington

Note:  I am an Amazon affiliate, so if you do click a link and buy a book, I will theoretically make a small amount of money, but I’m just starting this thing, so I don’t even know how that works.   Still, full disclosure, etc.

 

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Nana’s Books: The Mooring Tree

Nana’s Books:  The Mooring Tree, by Gertrude Robinson, written in 1957.

Age: 10+

Reminder:  Nana’s Books are rated G.  Anyone could read them, or listen to them being read aloud.

Particulars (Out of 5):  Historical value:  *****  Positive role models *****   Inappropriate language:  None.  Sexual references:  None.  Alcohol:  There is ale, but it’s 1609 and ale was often cleaner than water.  There is a one-sentence mention of making wine, a financial endeavor in the new colony.

 

When we first meet Jason Ware, he is 13, and it’s the year 1609.  He’s in an English port town, alone (except for two piglets in a bag!) and somehow, he needs to get on board one of the boats leaving soon for the very young colony of Jamestown, Virginia.  His father, Silas, is a yeoman, who has a deed for 40 acres – which will be his very own farm, after seven years.  But Silas is in jail, because he is a Catholic – a no-no in the time of Protestant King James (who published the first version of the Bible in English, so anyone could read it – anyone who could read, that is).  So it’s up to Jason to go over and secure the land, and work off the debt, and start the family farm in the New World.  He sees a chance to get on the boat, and he takes it.

Jason never once feels sorry for himself, although there are many reasons why he could.  Instead, he finds opportunities to make himself useful (and occasionally has to fight to protect his baby pigs from being eaten).  Many people on the boat don’t survive the trip.  There is a terrible storm, a shipwreck, not enough food – and then, when they finally make it to Jamestown, they find the village all but deserted!  It’s been an ants-and-grasshopper situation there, if you recall the fable:  many of the first batch of Jamestown colonists were grasshoppers.  They wanted to look for gold, rather than plant, grow, hunt, and stockpile food, build secure homes and ensure their survival.  John Smith was an ant:  he learned how to plant corn from the Indians, and did much to help the colony survive, until he was killed by an enemy attack.  After his death, the colony has struggled along but it’s dwindling.  The few remaining settlers are ready to give up, and many of them leave.  Jason stays, and thrives with the help of a friend, a Christian Indian named Chanco, who is known as “God’s Indian.”   New leadership soon comes to Jamestown, and with hard work, know-how, common sense, and new friends, Jason becomes becomes a prominent landholder.  The colony experiences growing pains, and its success leads to unprecedented changes – locally elected representatives, who get to make their own laws! 

This is the story of the early days of America, of the kind of people it took to start from hardly anything.  Hardworking people, resourceful people, many of them basically decent people who just wanted a chance at a better life.  We could use more people like Jason today!

I got my copy of this book from The Good and the Beautiful website.  Here’s the Amazon link, but it’s only for used books and may be sold out.  I checked eBay, and there was one ridiculously overpriced copy available.  But don’t despair:  the book that is not there today may turn up tomorrow!  I have experienced this numerous times.  It just takes persistence.  Also ask about interlibrary loan.  This book was not available at my local library in Charlottesville, but it was available through interlibrary loan from the University of Virginia’s library, so you may be able ti find it in your area.

©Janet Farrar Worthington

Note:  I am an Amazon affiliate, so if you do click a link and buy a book, I will theoretically make a small amount of money, but I’m just starting this thing, so I don’t even know how that works.   Still, full disclosure, etc.

 

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