CBR 13 # 15 Tales of A Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume

I read in the CBR update emails that Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing was up for discussion in the next Zoom call and I jumped into rereading it not only because I was behind on my CBR reading (and this was a sure quick read), but because I love this book!  I was ultimately not able to join the discussion (time zones :( ) but I'm so glad I read it again.  

I loved Are Your There God? when I was in Grade school but I don't remember reading any other Judy Blume books until I read Tiger Eyes, Forever and Summer Sisters when i was in high school.  Then I gave birth to a boy.  Five years later, another one.  The eldest kid was a rule follower.  Logical and practical just like Peter.  Even before the new baby was born, I read a chapter or two at bedtime with the eldest kid, just to prepare him for what being an older brother might be like because being a single mother when I had him, he was a very adult kid and literally gave me no trouble.  When the second kid became a toddler he turned out, God help me, very Fudge-like.   The kuya (older brother in my native language)  was a bit mystified and at a total loss at what to do with the hurricane of mischief that he was living with.  I just reminded him about the book and it seemed to make him cope better.  He even reread the book and all the other sequels, by himself this time.

When the middle child was around 5 years old, eldest child told me, "Mama, you should read Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing to my younger brother."  So I did.  

I know this is not really a book review, but this book has such a special place in my family and I am thankful that it helped my kids to understand their life a bit better and approach it in a humorous way.  It is a fun, funny and touching book and most kids will relate to it, whatever part of the world they are from.

But our story is not yet over.  It turns out that it was a good thing I read the book to the second child because 3 years later, I had another boy.  By this time, the second child had matured and turned out to be very much like the eldest child.  And the baby, turned out to be even more Fudge like.  He even lost his two bottom teeth when he fell in the playground (it was also bloody).  Now the second child is the new Peter and we would always laugh about that when the baby was up to some mischief.  .  When the baby turned five years old just this month, the second child told me, "Ma, you should read  Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing to the baby".

CBR 13 # 14 The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

Did I read The Woman in the Window because I wanted to watch an episode of Netflix's Queens Who Like to Watch (with Trixie and Katya) but I couldn't watch it because I hadn't seen the movie, and I couldn't watch the movie because I hadn't read the book?  I will neither confirm nor deny but, YES I DID.  All this just to watch a 10 minute video of my favorite queens.  Was it worth it?  Well, yes but only because Trixie and Katya are so funny and NOT because the book ( or the movie) was good.

Anna is a child therapist who has not been out of her house for 10 months.  In those months, the only people she sees are her therapist, her physical therapist and the guy who rents her basement, who also does errands for her.  She spends her days spying on her neighbors (sometimes with a camera zoom), helping people out on an online forum for agoraphobes, talking to her separated husband on the phone, and a whooolle lot of drinking.  Then a new family moves in next door and Anna makes a connection with Ethan, the teenage son and Jane, his mother.  But something seems wrong with the family, and one day, through her window, Anna sees Jane being stabbed in her house.  Or was she? 

So goes the usual psychological thriller in the vein of The Girl on the Train in which the readers are being led to wonder, is the nice lady drunk/crazy?  Did she really see a crime being committed?  Why not both? I thought this one was convoluted and just had twists for the sake of twists with no genuine emotional or character development.  Of course, the plot, and the twist is improbable, maybe even unbelievable, but I am very willing to suspend disbelief with these kinds of books if the writing, or the characters are good.  I guess Tana French would be the gold standard for me.  This one does not even get to bronze.

Quick read, did not like it.  Did not like the movie either but loved the Trixie and Katya reaction in Queens Who Like to Watch.  Maybe I should have watched that directly without going through all the hoops I went through.

CBR 13 # 13 - Crash by Jerry Spinelli

One night, having had some milk tea right before bed (wrong decision) and also reading The Underground Railroad past bedtime (a good decision), I could not sleep.  I'm not sure why, but my heart was beating too fast and I felt anxious.  Maybe it was the tea.  So I went to the kids' bookshelf and picked up a book I had not yet read to maybe distract me and calm me down.

John "Crash" Coogan is a typical boys' boy.  His parents are busy working and the only time his father notices him is when he succeeds in sports.  He is a bit of a dumb jock stereotype.  When Penn Webb moves in next door, he unfortunately turns into a dumb jock bully stereotype.  Penn and his family are a bit strange.  Then, Mike moves in next door and he is an even bigger dumb jock than Crash, and an even bigger bully.  Naturally, Mike becomes Crash's new best friend and Penn is ostracized and occasionally made fun off by the popular, sporty kids.  However, in Seventh Grade, certain circumstances and events cause Crash to re-examine not only his treatment of Penn, but life and his attitude, in general.

I enjoyed previous Spinelli books like Manic McGee and Stargirl and this is sort of the same, I guess.  There is an outsider who becomes an impetus for the protagonist (and sometimes the whole town) to change.  While the previous books have a magical realist feel, this one feels more down to earth, realistic and smaller,  Maybe that's because it's for a younger audience and is shorter.  

I found it interesting that the protagonist in this book is not necessarily the good guy.  Most kids books would have the outsider, the introverted, smart bookworm as the main character.  In another book, Penn Webb would be the main character.  Maybe it's a smart choice because most kids are not going to be the "weird" kid.  Most are just "regular" kids, some even meatheads.  And a main character like that, but showing that they can be all that, but still be able to change for the good to be a kinder person, is pretty great. However, I feel that this one is too much from Crash's perspective.  I am interested in knowing more about Penn and his internal life and not just the pushover good guy as he is seen from Crash's point of view.  

All in all, a pretty good children's' book and yes, I was sable to go to sleep after.