Ms. Paterson

is just so excellent.  Come Sing Jimmy Jo was a book she mentioned in one of the interviews she did and so I was super excited to see that it was available on audible.
I really don't think there is anyone who can create characters like Katherine Paterson.  She gives them life and SOUL.  I could feel James's heart breaking or flying high, I could feel his confusion and his certainty, his anger and his love and his worry.  How does she DO that!?!
Having been a country music fan in the 80s when this book was written, I knew just what the book meant when it talked about the changing landscape of country music.
I loved the references to the Carter Family.
I loved the whole thing.
One of the best books I have ever read.

Katherine How Great Thou Art

I like the way that that Quakers talk in Lyddie.  I really liked Lyddie.  But that is not surprising, knowing the author is Katherine Paterson.  There are some very funny lines in Lyddie.  And the power of reading is subtly shown here.  This takes place in Lowell, MA and there still in an area in Lowell known as The Acre.  Bette Davis was born there, in Lowell. There is a lot to learn here.  And just an excellent story to enjoy. 

Cuba and China and Pittsburgh

It seems to me that I have been reading a lot about Cuba this year.  But I probably haven't.  But when I saw that My Brigadista Year was set in Cuba, I was excited.  I knew I was going to read it, because for one, it was Katherine Paterson!  And I was SO excited about the skype visit at our middle school when she was in Pittsburgh last week so I wanted to read it and Stories of My Life before that day.  Well, it turns out I got SO SICK on Friday and was sick until Wednesday morning.  I was heartbroken to have missed the visit.  I talked to the middle school librarian and she got to ask TWO questions of Ms. Paterson.  One was what one year in her life would she live over again if she could.  And Paterson was like, "Ohh!  That is a good question!," and she went on to eliminate years that she wouldn't want to live over again, but she didn't really have one year that she would want to for sure.  What a great, great question.  And listening to Stories of My Life (for two days I have been trying to link this and it keeps crashing!  I have NO idea why!) I can see why that would be hard for Paterson!  The other question was is her new book available in Cuba? (It isn't yet but they are working on it.)  That surprised me because I think it is a really balanced view.  But I am not sure how balanced Cuba is these days.  But there was a lot in this book that I didn't know about before I read it.  One thing that surprised me is that Castro wanted to eliminate illiteracy in Cuba and by his organizing of Cubans, he did!  It seems to me that in a true dictatorship, a dictator wouldn't want people to have that kind of power.  I find it sadder to think that in our country we still have so many roadblocks to literacy for so many.  And also in our country, reading was not allowed to be learned by those who were enslaved.  Just very telling, indeed.
Anyway, I am so thankful that at least I got to read these great book and I hope that some day I will get to see Ms. Paterson again!  But if I don't see her here, before one of us crosses the Jordan, I will surely see her there.  What a great place Heaven will be!

Katherine the Great

Paterson that is.  And she is.  And The Great Gilly Hopkins is one that I wish I would have read earlier, but am glad I didn't because now I got to enjoy it!  I am really excited because Katherine Paterson is coming to town and while I won't be able to see her here, the middle school in the community in which I work is having a Skype visit with her the next day!  I am so super-excited.  This book was one of those tremendously moving ones, that makes one laugh and cry.  And then ending...well, it wasn't what I thought it would be, or even what I hoped for, but wow, it was perfect. 

Esau Have I Hated

The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia, the movie, not the song or the remake of the song, has a scene in it, with a line in it, that I have often quoted and always loved.

Travis: And I asked the Lord, "Lord, why have you forsaken me?". But there was silence. So , I asked again, "Lord, WHY have you forsaken me?", and there was silence. So I asked again, "LORD, WHY have you forsaken me?"... and this great booming voice said "Geez, I don't know Travis, I guess something about you just chaps at my ass."

I am thinking that Louise feels that way.  Jacob Have I Loved is a book I read a long time ago by the most amazing, Katherine Paterson.

Having a sister must be very hard.  It is really hard for Louise who always feels out shined by her twin.  There were so many times in this book that I spoke aloud, "What?!" or "No way!"

I was just thinking, I wonder what the book would have been like if told from the POV of Caroline. I bet someone has asked Paterson that.  I have to investigate!

I investigated, but I didn't find anything.  But I didn't look too hard.  I just think that would be a neat thing to find out.

The book takes place on the fictional island of Rass in the Chesapeake Bay.  Louise and Caroline are 14 when the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, that's about when the story begins, and the story finishes when both are grown women.  Though the main details are mostly about their growing up years.

This is a good, good, beautiful story.  But can anything else be expected from Paterson, who is just magic with words.

Star Dust

Katherine Paterson is magic.
She really is.
The Same Stuff as Stars is another exceptional, heart-touching book from Paterson.
TSSAS is the story of two children, Angel and Bernie.  Angel is eleven, but has had to be much older.  Her father is in prison and her mother is not very reliable.  Bernie is six and she has had to parent him for a long time.  This story is told from the POV of Angel finds herself with her great-grandma and meets "the star man" a man who teaches her about the stars.  This is just a lovely, lovely story.   Very moving.

Another one I should have read a million years ago....

Everyone has always told me that Bridge to Terabithia was an awesome book.  People couldn't believe that I hadn't read it yet. Kinda like Hatchet.  Just like Hatchet, once I read BTT, I was blown away, kicking myself for not having read it sooner, and many times over.  I wonder if that would happen if I read Harry Potter....na, I don't think I will take the chance.
I already wrote some about BTT and so I will link back to it here.   There is so much for to say about BTT.  But I can't do it justice.  If you are like I was and haven't read it yet, you really need to do yourself a favor and read it now.
One other thing that I never realized about BTT, is that it is most certainly a book that dudes would like.

Katherine Patterson and Lobster!

What a day!  What a day!  Lobster and I met Katherine Patterson!  When I told her how honored I was to meet her, she replied that she was honored to meet me as well.  I was instantly reminded of the story of Dorothy Day when she was talking with an indigent man and a person from the press came to interview her.  She asked whom the interview was there to meet?  Her or the indigent man.  She didn't assume that she was greater than or more important than the man to whom she was ministering.  I wish I could find the actual story, but I can't.  Anyway, Patterson autographed a copy of The Preacher's Boy, which I loved so much.  It was truly an awesome day!!

Preach It..

When I put the first CD of Preacher's Boy audiobook in my car player and heard the narrator, I almost stopped listening immediately. The reader of this amazing Katherine Paterson book is the reader whom everyone else loves, but who ruined The Pinballs and Who Put that Hair in My Toothbrush for me. Given that Preacher's Boy is not my typical book, as it is historical fiction, I knew I would have a harder time getting into it as it was and the added misery of the smart-alec tone of Heller's voice made me audibly groan. I gave it a shot though and I'm glad I did. The captivating story of a ten year old Robbie, the son of the Congregationalist pastor in a small town in Vermont in 1899, sucked me right in and I was able to overlook Heller completely. That's saying something about Paterson's magic.

Having pastored a church, I understood a great deal of what Paterson had to say about what is expected of a pastor's kid. I knew lots of PKs and they did have a lot of pressure put upon them. I can't even imagine how much more pressure was put on them back in 1899. Plus, 1899 was a time of change. Darwin had come out with his theory of evolution and this was an abomination, according to many faithful. Robbie's dad is a different kind of pastor though, a thinking man's pastor who isn't afraid of new ideas and doesn't see Darwin as a threat to a person's faith. This, and his strong opinions against war, make him a little less credible in the eyes of some of his parishoniers. Robbie says that some of the men in the congregation wish that he would preach more judgement. I remember a reitred pastor and member of my church saying the same thing to me after one of my Sunday sermons. I wasn't mad or upset. I admired the man and respected his opinion, well, you know, even though he was very wrong.
Robbie gets into trouble and even becomes an "apeist," swearing off his belief in God. This is just a fantastic book. I can't say enough about it and I don't want to give too many details, because it's just a lovely story to read.
Paterson is a woman of faith and has experience in the church and you can tell because her descriptions and details are right on.