I have been very remiss in tallying my books.
Mostly because I am lazy.
However, I have read quite a few books this year and they vary from chick-lit (I hate that term, but whatever!) to what my husband calls highbrow. He also told me once when I was reading Reading Lolita in Tehran that if he had know I was a "high brow literature type" he might not have married me.
He kids. I think.
But I am pretty varied because I have the attention span of a squirrel.
And I am a really fast reader, so I am often without a book, so I will read my kids books or reread something. I have to read to go to sleep. So, you see I have to have something!
Luckily, my kids are above average readers and love big long sagas. One loves "girl dramas" where the heroine saves the day. The other likes mysteries. Not so much my cup of tea, but I have read all of the Rick Riordan books and a couple Lemony Snicketts.
This summer, I reread one of my favorite books that I had given my girls to read when they were in 4th grade. I think I read it then as well, so it seemed appropriate.
The book is Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Rory Brinks and it was written in the 1930s about a pioneer girl and her family during the end of the Civil War. When I first read it, I really did not have a concept of how far reaching the war had been or really what it was about.
Now, living where I do and having the perspective of adulthood, it means a lot more to me and the impact is a lot clearer. The war is not a huge part of the book, but the affects are viewed from the point of a child, almost as an after thought, which is what the War on Terror and 911 is to my kids.
The nontraditional way she was brought up always appealed to me. She almost died as an infant during the trip from Boston to Wisconsin, so her father decides to let her run wild with the boys. And run, she does, befriending Indians, plowing fields, competing with the boys in everything, always conscious that they have it easier, be it their clothing or the expectations placed upon them by society.
Society always has an opinion of what girls should be and today is no different. Caddie has a special bond with her father and seems to really blossom from it. The relationship eventually allows her to join the women in her family in more traditional ways, with great confidence.
As a mother and someone who likes to go against the grain, I like the idea of raising a girl opposite of the way society says is right. However, I also see others who don't impress societal norms of any kind on their daughters and it backfires, making them outsiders, unable to relate. Saving my girls from embarrassment has to be balanced with creating a free thinking mind in them.
Of course, I did not get any of that as a girl. I loved the story of a tomboy running wild with a dog. Since it was the 1970's, I was in love with anything pioneer. Laura Ingalls Wilder was my companion for years. Holly Hobby played a pretty big roll as well. Caddie was my hero, and stayed with me when Laura and Holly left with the rest of my childhood.
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