Jack Plank Tells Tales

In a fitting follow-up to the Peter Pan prequels, I just finished Jack Plank Tells Tales by Natalie Babbitt, the author of Tuck Everlasting (which I have never read). Jack Plank is a pirate who's no good at plundering. He is downsized from his pirate ship because of this and must find a new job. I know what you're thinking--but this was published in 2007. While staying at a boarding house, his fellow boarders suggest a number of occupations--farmer, musician, baker, fisher--but he has an excuse, and a tale, about why he cannot be any of those things. From bridge-dwelling trolls, to mermaids, to a sailor who turns into an octopus, his tales are reminiscent of old pirate lore. It's a cute book, but not earth shattering.

It's timely that I'm reading so many pirate books in September, because September 19 is National Talk Like a Pirate Day. I first started observing this quirky holiday when I worked for a children's books publisher and we published my favorite pirate book of all time: How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long and David Shannon. It's a really cute picture book about a little boy who gets swept up in a crew of pirates when they come ashore during his beach vacation to bury their treasure. We did a big marketing pitch for Talk Like a Pirate Day, which I believe was only a year or two old at that point. We even had an office party with themed games, costumes, and a cake!

So until next September, "Avast, yeh scurvy dogs! Argh!"

Peter and the Secret of Rundoon

Continuing with my own personal children's books month, I just finished Peter and the Secret of Rundoon, the third book in Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson's trilogy of prequels to Peter Pan. Well, it was supposed to be a trilogy, but they actually just released a fourth in the series. This will be the end of the road for me, however. The first two books were pretty good, but this last one didn't have the same cohesiveness. Instead of just sticking to the stuff already familiar in Peter Pan lore--pirates, Indians, and flying fairies--this book threw in monkey-operated rocket ships, flying carpets, and the secret desert kingdom of Rundoon. And starstuff--the magical dust that allows Peter to fly--is responsible for the very existence of matter itself. So, Peter must literally save the world. Not even Harry Potter went that far. I mean, sure it was an epic battle of good versus evil, but he wasn't fighting to save the very existence of the physical universe.

There were a few very Disneyesque glimmers. My favorite was when a large deposit of starstuff makes a pirate ship fly--just like the Peter Pan ride at Disneyland. I can't remember if there's actually a flying ship in the original Peter Pan or the Disney movie, but it sure makes me want to go ride the ride.

One week left in September, and I'm hoping to get through a couple of more kids' books before growing up again in September. We can't all live in Neverland!

P.S. If you'd like a more adult version of Peter Pan, see here:
http://onlygreatbooks.blogspot.com/2009/09/child-thief-by-brom.html

Classic Children's Books Made Into Movies

Anticipating the upcoming releases of two picture books made into feature films--Roald Dahl/Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox and Maurice Sendak/Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are--Entertainment Weekly speculated on a few more picture books they'd like to see as movies:

http://shelf-life.ew.com/2009/09/21/classic-childrens-books-film-cloudy-meatballs/

I think my favorite pitch here is the Bradley Cooper rom-com version of Green Eggs and Ham . . .

Love in the Present Tense

My latest gym book, Love in the Present Tense by Catherine Ryan Hyde, is a Lifetime movie waiting to happen. I was suspicious when it said it was written by the author of Pay it Forward, but it was compelling enough. Pearl is raped, kills the attacker--a cop--and has a son 9 months later. She eventually disappears, and her son Leonard is raised by Mitch, an unsuspecting young web designer who happens to be Pearl's neighbor. This was a quick read--perfect for the elliptical. The characters were well developed, and the story was intriguing. But I won't be quick to pick up another book by this author.

Peter and the Shadow Thieves

I became a Dave Barry fan back in the mid-nineties when the sitcom about his fictional self, "Dave's World," was on t.v. I started reading his newspaper column and loved his dry sense of humor. When I heard he was writing kids' books--about Peter Pan, no less--I had to check them out. I read the first book in the prequel trilogy, Peter and the Starcatchers, a couple of years ago. Co-penned with Ridley Pearson, it told how Peter got his magical flying and anti-aging powers.

I normally don't like it when authors write about characters created by more famous authors. Case in point: all the terrible Pride and Prejudice spin-offs. But these books are really pretty good. The second in the series, Peter and the Shadow Thieves, continues in the mythology set up in the first. There is a secret society of Starcatchers, whose job it is to ensure that the potently magical starstuff stays out of the wrong hands and is retrieved in the mystical Return. Of course, being an adventure story, all goes awry and Peter must save the day in a dashing climax equal to any of the Harry Potter books. Well, almost.

The real Peter Pan author, J. M. Barrie, even makes a cameo in this book. As Peter and Molly, mother to the future Wendy Darling, are racing through London they stop to ask Mr. Barrie for directions. "Second path to the right," he advises, naturally. I look forward to continuing my own personal Children's Book Month and reading the third book in the planned trilogy (although a fourth book has just been published), Peter and the Secrets of Rundoon.

September is Roald Dahl Month!

September, so the promotional poster furnished by Penguin told me, is Roald Dahl month! And, I've decided to make September Kids' Books Month for my reading list. But, to celebrate the first, I decided to go off my list for one book and pick up something by Roald Dahl.

Danny the Champion of the World was recommended to me by a very good friend of mine. I didn't read much Dahl growing up--we read James and the Giant Peach in the second grade, and I read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory just a couple of years ago when the Johnny Depp movie was coming out. So, Danny was a bit of a surprise to me in that there was no magic. Danny and his father live in a gypsy caravan behind their filling station. His father, Danny learns, has a hobby of going poaching for pheasants on nearby Mr. Hazell's land. On the night before Mr. Hazell's big hunting party, Danny hatches a plan so he and his father can bag more pheasants than any poacher ever has.

It was a very cute story, but I must say, I prefer Mr. Dahl's more fantastical tales. And speaking of fantasy, it's time to head back to the list and finish up Ridley Pearson and Dave Barry's Peter Pan trilogy . . .

(Almost) End-of-the-Week Fun

Oxford University Press, publisher of the famed Oxford English Dictionary, has set up a website to Save the Words!

http://savethewords.org/

When new words enter the dictionary, antiquated terms are retired . . . until now. Adopt your own word and pledge to use it in everyday conversation. I adopted veteratorian, which means subtle. The site e-mails you an authentic Certificate of Adoption, and for a mere $25, you can have your word printed on a t-shirt!

Imagined London

In the movie Sabrina, the title character quotes Gertrude Stein and says, "America is my country but Paris is my home town." And that's how I feel about London. When I studied abroad in England during college I fell in love with the city, it being so well-mannered and full of tradition . . . not to mention literary pedigree. So, when I received Anna Quidlen's Imagined London for my birthday, I couldn't wait to read it. (Although it still took five months to get to the top of my queue.)

I don't read a lot of nonfiction, but I am learning to love travel writing. Quindlen explores London through the many lenses of the city's portrayals in literature. From the dark back alleys of Dickens to the posher surrounding of Waugh, she visits places made famous in novels. I thought this would be right up my alley--and I did enjoy it very much--but I thought I was rather well-read in British literature until I read this book! There were books and authors I had never heard of . . . the Forsyte saga, Nancy Mitford, Trollope . . . But it was still a fun and charming way to look at what the book jacket called "the world's greatest fictional city."

In high school, I wanted to be Anna Quindlen. Back then, I was sure I would grow up to be a serious journalist. Quindlen had just hit the Oprah Book Club with her novel Black and Blue, and then I learned that she worked for the New York Times, too. That's exactly what I wanted to do--work for a major newspaper (although I had my eyes set on the Washington Post) and write bestselling novels on the side! Well, I grew up to do none of those things. But, I enjoyed Quindlen's writing nonetheless.

14 books down, 45 to go!! September will be Kids' Books Month . . . the first of several, I'm sure.