Tuck Everlasting

Tuck Everlasting. Natalie Babbitt. 1975. FSG. 139 pages. [Source: Library]

First, I do want to say that I am glad I finally read this one. It's not like I've never heard of it before. I've just been slow to getting around to it. And there is something to be said for finally reading a book almost every other reader has read--either because it was their choice or an assignment.

I have to say that the book jacket gave everything away leaving absolutely no mystery whatsoever. Well, that's only partly true. I wasn't aware that this one was set in the 1880s.

The book has a simple premise: Winnie Foster, the 10-year-old-heroine, has a choice to make when she accidentally discovers a spring in the wood that "blesses" or "curses" anyone who drinks from it with immortality. I am purposefully choosing to call it immortality instead of eternal life. To clarify, on her own Winnie would never have come to the conclusion that there was anything special about the woods or the spring water. It is because she meets a boy, Jesse, in the woods drinking from it that leads to her HAVING to make a choice. Is it a choice she actually struggles with--especially after meeting the Tuck family and talking with each of them? I'm not sure it is. Though she likes the family well enough.

Is it a love story? I'm going to say NO. I don't think it is remotely a love story. Jesse, the boy Winnie meets, is 17. He is forever-stuck at the age of 17. And I can completely see why he finds it frustrating and lonely. The only people 'stuck' with him are his parents and his brother. As much as he loves them, I can see why he wants a little bit more from life. How his life might have been made a little bit better perhaps if he could have convinced someone--any girl really--to drink from the fountain of youth. But I'm not convinced that he really "felt" anything for Winnie. He wanted a companion, a soul mate, perhaps. But Winnie was the first person...ever...to stumble across the woods and the spring. She was the wrong age for him. But time could change that...eventually. So this accidental meeting in the wood might work out for him....or not. But a love story it decidedly is not. And even if Jessie liked Winnie--her personality, her character--I'm not sure it would be love to wish that kind of abnormal existence on her.

I also wish I could have read Tuck Everlasting without thinking about Twilight and comparing/contrasting Jesse with Edward. For the record, if I had to choose between them which book to reread again--or again and again, I'd probably go for Tuck Everlasting.

I liked this one. I didn't dislike it. The story was interesting enough. And it was a decidedly quick read!!!

© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

The Adventures of Miss Petitfour

The Adventures of Miss Petitfour. Anne Michaels. 2015. [November 2015] Tundra. 144 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: Very soon you will be meeting Miss Petitfour, and so, just to be sure you'll recognize her, this is what she looks like.

I loved this one from the very first page. Even before I turned the page to see that lovely phrase, "...and her Cats." Love isn't strong enough really. Let's make it LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. Miss Petitfour is a gush-worthy read if ever there was one!

So what is it about? The adventures that Miss Petitfour has with her sixteen cats. They get around town by flying--sailing in the wind using a tablecloth. What kind of adventures do they have? Are they big or small?

And some adventures are just the right size--fitting into a single, magical day. And these are the sort of adventures Miss Petitfour had.

There are five adventures in all:

• Miss Petitfour and the Rattling Spoon
• Miss Petitfour and the Jumble
• Miss Petitfour and the Penny Black
• Miss Petitfour and the birthday Cheddar
• Miss Petitfour and the "Oom"
  

The writing is absolutely lovely, charming, delightful, and practically perfect.

Do you know what a digression is? Well, of course you do. A digression is like quicksand or a whirlpool--sometimes you just can't find your way out of one. It's the part of a story that some people think is the most fun, when the story wanders off the point and gets lost, giving us all sorts of information that has nothing to do with getting us from the beginning to the end. A digression is just like what happens when you're walking to school: you stop to tie your shoelaces and notice the neighbor's dog looking at you, and so you stop to give it a pat, and then you see the fence has started to fall down, and so you have to climb it just a little, and then you look up and realize the clouds are in the shape of pianos, and then, oh dear, you suddenly remember you were on your way to school and you have to run all the rest of the way so you won't be late. That is a digression. Now, where were we?

An eccentricity is something everyone has--but everyone has a different one. An eccentricity is a quirky thing we like to do just because. Perhaps you always like to put on your right shoe first. Or perhaps you like to count by twos when you're bored. Or perhaps you only like to eat popcorn on Tuesdays. Or perhaps you like to count digressions and keep a record of them at the back of every book you read.

I enjoyed getting to know the characters. I loved Miss Petitfour, of course. But I also enjoyed all sixteen of her cats. Though probably Minky and Sizzles were my favorite. Other characters--human characters--that I enjoyed include: Mrs. Collarwaller (the bookseller), Mrs. Carruther (the grocery shop owner) and Mr. Coneybeare (confetti shop owner).
I also loved, loved, loved the illustrations. They were cute, sweet, charming, and absolutely perfect.

This is a book I see myself reading and rereading again and again and again.

© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

My Thoughts on Lark Rise to Candleford, season 1

First, I just want to say that I'm rewatching this series. I spent one delightful summer watching all the seasons.

So. The show centers around the post office of Candleford essentially. The heroines are Laura Timmins, a new, oh-so-young apprentice, and the older-and-mostly-wiser postmistress Dorcas Lane. Laura comes from the (rural) community of Lark Rise, and she finds quite a bit of difference between the two communities or villages--between those living (and working) in Lark Rise to those in Candleford.

In Lark Rise, viewers come to know Laura's family especially her parents Robert and Emma, but, also her older brother, Edmund. (She has other siblings, but, at least so far in season one they rarely leave an impression.) Then there is the Arless family. There are a LOT of children. But let's be honest. We really only get to know the mother, Caroline, and the oldest son, Alf. Alf is one of Laura's dearest, dearest friends. And let's not forget Queenie and Twister! One could hardly forget them; they may be the show's most eccentric characters. Another character I can't help loving is Margaret Ellison, the reverend's daughter.

In Candleford, viewers come to know Dorcas Lane, of course, and Zillah, the cook. While Dorcas Lane might have many "one weaknesses," Zillah's literally has one weakness: gossip. She can't help listening in on other people's conversations and then repeating what she hears. Thomas Brown is a lovably eccentric character who works at the post office delivering mail--or telegrams--on occasion. He is easy to tease, I suppose. But I do genuinely like him. And then there are the two sisters Ruby and Pearl Pratt. A LOT could be said about them. Including the fact that at least in season one they have identical outfits for each episode. They can sometimes cause a LOT of trouble. And I'm still not quite happy that they broke up Dorcas' new romance. But. I suppose they're not solely to blame.

The squire. There is a LOT I could say about Sir Timothy Midwinter. Let's start with the fact that he's played by one of my favorite, favorite actors BEN MILES. For better or worse, he is only in the first season of Lark Rise to Candleford. Part of me really LOVED having him on the show. And the other part of me realizes that in terms of story, it is probably for the best that he and his wife did move to London. Sir Timothy and Dorcas Lane were childhood sweethearts, in a way, and they've stayed close after he's married someone else, perhaps a bit too close. I don't believe for one second that anything would happen, that either Dorcas or Timothy would let anything happen. But emotionally, it's not good for either one to spend so much time together. I actually really liked Lady Adelaide Midwinter. And I was so happy that she finally conceived!!!

The first season is ten episodes. I think I really enjoyed--if not LOVED--all the episodes. Perhaps my favorite may be the tenth episode. I really loved Zillah in that last episode. Thomas and Margaret finally, finally admit that they like-like each other. Dorcas' plans to sell the post office come to nothing...thanks to Thomas. Dorcas' new romance occurs in episode eight. I rather liked that episode, and, in a way I wish James Delafield had stayed in Candleford. There was a LOT of drama in episode six, when Polly is abandoned by her family. Lady Midwinter wants to adopt her...and Sir Timothy does not. Dorcas is put into an impossible situation! And oh, that ending with the poem!

Essentially, what I love about the show is...everything. I love the characters. I love the relationships. I love the humor. I love the drama. I love the costumes. I love how dependably GOOD the episodes are. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the theme song!

Last week, I spent a lot of time watching Dr. Quinn. This week was all Lark Rise to Candleford. There is no comparison really. Dr. Quinn seems like such a "weak" show in comparison to LARK RISE. (Sully is still cute, however.)

© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

The Dorito Effect

The Dorito Effect: The Surprising New Truth About Food and Flavor. Mark Schatzker. 2015. Simon & Schuster. 272 pages. [Source: Library]

The Dorito Effect: The Surprising New Truth About Food and Flavor by Mark Schatzker is a gush-worthy book. It is. I loved, loved, loved, LOVED it. It is packed with information; it is fascinating--crammed full of 'I didn't-know-that-facts; it is compelling--a real page-turner! And it had me hooked from the very start.

In the early autumn of 1961, a thirty-seven-year-old housewife and mother named Jean Nidetch was pushing a shopping cart through a Long Island supermarket when she bumped into a woman she knew. "You look so marvelous," her friend said, and for a sweet moment Nidetch basked in the compliment. Unfortunately, her friend kept talking. "When are you due?" Nidetch was not pregnant. At the time, she stood five seven and weighed 214 pounds, which marked her, in today's parlance, as obese, although Nidetch didn't known what that word meant, or that the obese were, at that very moment, coalescing into a demographic ripple that was on its way to becoming a wave.

The Dorito Effect is in effect a book about many things:

• the history of food (manufactured, processed, taken-to-market food), or, the business of getting food on the supermarket shelves; in part it is focused on 'junk food' but only in part. Chicken is not junk food--necessarily--but he spends a lot of time talking about CHICKEN.
• the history of diets (the book opens with the founding of Weight Watchers by Jean Nidetch), or, let the numbers shock you--they speak for themselves really. Did you know that 69% of Americans are obese or overweight? 
• the history of a society/culture obsessed with food
• the argument that food is without a doubt losing its flavor, an examination of WHY food is losing its flavor (Here is where he talks a lot about chickens, also, things like tomatoes and strawberries.) This is the section where he talks about farming and ranching--agriculture--how things have changed in the past seventy-five years or so. IN other words, what we've DONE to our food.
• the flavor-making business, how 'natural' and 'artificial' flavors have evolved in the past hundred years; how almost everything seems to have flavor added to it before it's placed on the shelves; what this manufactured flavor might be doing to our bodies and minds.
• The scientific process behind it all: nutrition, flavor, behavior, etc. In other words: why we crave what we crave, why we eat what we eat, why we behave the way we do, why we can both 'want' to be thin and to eat as much as we want. Why we are so quick to blame just 'one' thing for 'making' us fat.
• Why does food taste good in the first place?! (You'll learn all about plant secondary compounds!) 
• Why are some people ADDICTED to food and others are not? Why are certain foods delicious but unsatisfying?
• His premise: THE LONGER WE IGNORE FLAVOR, THE LONGER WE ARE BOUND TO BE VICTIMS OF IT. (17) Or, THE FOOD PROBLEM IS A FLAVOR PROBLEM. (157)
• the search for the ultimate, best-tasting, natural food (chicken, tomatoes, etc.) a search for a solution to a big, big problem

The Dorito Effect, however, is not about:

• other factors that lead to obesity or may lead to obesity
• practical steps you can take to become thinner and healthier
• in other words, the book, is NOT a diet book; there is no weight loss or exercise plan

Thought-provoking quotes--or a small sampling of quotes that I wanted to read aloud to anyone I could corner--

In the early '60s, well over half of Americans were "slender" and of the nonslender, the vast majority was classified as "overweight"--they needed to lose a few pounds. It is now abnormal to be slender. Today, less than a third of Americans are slender, which is another way of saying more than two-thirds are either overweight or obese. (7)

A thing, of course, is different from a flavor. Different things have their own different flavors. Oranges taste like oranges. Bananas taste like bananas. Tacos taste like tacos, and corn chips taste like corn chips. That, at least, is how the world worked back when there were still families who'd never heard of McDonald's. (13) 

The Dorito didn't just predict the future of tortilla chips. It didn't just predict the future of snack food either. It predicted the future of all food. Nothing tastes like what it is anymore. Everything tastes like what we want it to taste like. As food gets blander, we crank out zestiness by the hundreds of tons to make up for it. Most people recognize this as junk food. But it's happening to food served at restaurants and the food people buy at the supermarket and cook, from scratch, at home. It's happening to blueberries, chicken breast, broccoli, and lettuce, even fennel. Everything is getting blander and simultaneously more seasoned. Everything is becoming like a Dorito. The birth of Doritos was a watershed moment. Flavor wasn't up to Mother Nature anymore. Now it was in the hands of the folks in marketing. (15)

Eating has as much to do with nutrients as sex does with procreation...We think in flavor, we dream about flavor, and we get up out of our chair when the bases are loaded in the bottom of the ninth to get it. We eat for one reason: because we love the way food tastes. Flavor is the original craving. (16)

The Dorito Effect, very simply, is what happens when food gets blander and flavor technology gets better. This book is about how and why that took place. It's also about the consequences, which include obesity and metabolic disturbance along with a cultural love-hate obsession with food. This book argues that we need to begin understanding food through the same lens by which it is experienced: how it tastes. (17)

We have taken a system designed to bring our bodies to a state of nutritional completion and turned it against us (17)

Food has changed. The change has been documented scientifically. And it is a story best told by chicken, which has become not only our number one source of animal protein but is simultaneously the blandest and most flavored--the most Dorito-like--meat. (20)

We eat gigantic babies. As a paper in the journal Poultry Science puts it, if humans grew as fast as broilers, "a 3 kg (6.6 lb) newborn baby would weigh 300 kg (660 lb) after 2 months." (26)

Modern food may be the most compelling lie humans have ever told. (40)

One after another, humans have captured the chemicals that characterize foods like apples, cherries, carrots, and beef and moved their production from plants and animals to factories. In 1965, there were less than 700 of these chemicals. Today, there are more than 2,200. (50)

Whether it says so on the label or not--and it usually does not--McCormick is in every aisle and on every shelf of the supermarket. (54)

The word "natural," in fact, has nothing to do with the end product. It simply refers to the process that gets you there. (59)

Eating is a behavior driven by an expectation of pleasure. And the mental vocabulary of those desires is not salt, sugar, or any other class of nutrients. We crave flavors. Flavors are what make food seem like food. (76)

The Dorito Effect was inevitable. It took ten thousand years, but we eventually nailed "taco." We finally figured out how to make ourselves wondrously fat. It was just a matter of technology. (81)

The rise in obesity is the predictable result of the rise in manufactured deliciousness. Everything we add to food just makes us want it more. And no matter how hard we try, we can't make our outsized desires go away. If anything, we're lucky, inexplicably so, that only 8.3 percent of women and 4.4 percent of men have a BMI consistent with total food addiction. But remember the children...The percentage of slender Americans will gradually work its way down to zero. (82)

Flavor is information. (94)

To a parasitic wasp, cis-3-hexenol means, "The caterpillar is over here," to a plant it means, "We are under attack," and to a human it is a crucial note in the label for "strawberry." (107)

Flavor factories churn out chemical desire. We spray, squirt, and inject hundreds of millions of pounds of those chemicals on food every year, and then we find ourselves surprised and alarmed that people keep eating. We have become so talented at soaking our food in fakeness that the leading cause of preventable death--smoking--bears a troubling resemblance to the second leading cause of preventable death--obesity.(127)

Flavor's effects do not end at the mouth and nose. They have only just began. There are taste receptors all through the digestive tract exactly like the ones in your mouth. Smell receptors are sensing down there. The digestive tract is not some blind extractor of nutrients. It has sensors the mouth and nose lack--fat sensors, protein sensors, bacteria sensors, hormone sensors, even plant-compound sensors. The gut is its own chemical-sensing gourmand, tasting each bite and adjusting its processes accordingly. You don't taste what your gut tastes, but it does affect your feelings. (150)

© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Skinnybones

Skinnybones. Barbara Park. 1982/2016. 111 pages. [Source: Review copy]

Did I enjoy reading Barbara Park's Skinnybones, a middle grade novel originally published in 1982? Yes and no. First, as is obvious, I am not the target audience for this one. I am not in elementary school. I am not a boy. My sense of humor isn't that of a sixth grade boy. Also, I have absolutely no interest in baseball, or, in reading books about baseball. I didn't exactly want to like Alex Frankovitch, the hero nicknamed Skinnybones. But. At times I found myself liking him despite his obnoxious, attention-seeking ways.

Here are a few things you should know about Alex:

1) He has played little league for a good many years, but, he is horrible, absolutely horrible at baseball. I'm not sure *why* he keeps playing baseball when he's so bad at it. Perhaps he *likes* playing baseball, or, maybe he likes being part of a team. Perhaps his parents make him stay in baseball. Maybe he's afraid that by not playing baseball the other boys will think him strange, different, etc.

2) He loves, loves, loves attention. If he can focus the attention in on himself and make others laugh, then, he'll do it--no matter the situation. He can be very inappropriate, very loud, very annoying. The kids sometime laugh, usually laugh, his teachers and parents--hardly ever.

3) He hates one of his classmates and is in fierce competition with him. This is the focus of 90% of this book. The other kid, of course, is BRILLIANT at baseball.

I am glad there are books like Skinnybones being published--or republished. I am happy to recommend books like this to their target audience!
© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews