HEIDI, by JOHANNA SPYRI
Somehow
I reached my fifties without ever having read this children's
classic! And it is such a delightful read. I was of course already
familiar with the story (who isn't?), but I very much enjoyed reading
it. I was a little surprised when Heidi first goes to live with her
grandfather, as I expected him to be much more ogre like, frowning,
taciturn, etc. I'm thinking maybe he was portrayed more that way on
screen? Anyway, classics are classics for a reason, and HEIDI is a
wonderful story.
TEEN
IDOL, by Meg Cabot
Filled
with Meg Cabot's trademark humor and teen pathos. Like The Princess
Diaries, the plot is a bit fairytaleish, as a mega movie star decides
to spend two weeks at a typical midwestern high school as research
for an upcoming movie role. He's undercover as a transfer student,
and Jenny, a high school junior and secret author of the newspaper's
Ask Annie column, has been recruited by the staff to be his student
guide. She has to help him blend in while keeping his true identity a
secret.
It's
not all just light fluffy fun though. The story touches on the
serious issue of not just bullying, but of standing by and doing
nothing to try and stop the bullying. Through Luke's eyes Jen begins
to see the things that go on in a new light, and by the end she has
grown as a person and a human being.
GO
FOR THE GOAL: A CHAMPION'S GUIDE TO WINNING IN SOCCER AND LIFE, by
Mia Hamm
During
her school years my youngest daughter was very much into soccer, and
this was one of her books from those days. I'm donating it to a
school, and read through parts of it. A lot of it is technical and
motivational instructions for young girls about the game and the
different positions and different moves, and I skimmed over those
parts and just focused on the more personal stories about Mia's own
life and her childhood and experiences. I enjoyed those parts, but the other parts were
boring to me, which is to be expected as I am not the intended
demographic for this book.
