For the Littles:
Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel
We are studying Asian culture and history this month, so you’ll notice a theme!
My younger kids thought this book was hilarious—the older brother has a very long (specially honored) name, the younger one has a short name (which means basically nothing), and this causes trouble when the oldest falls down the well and it takes a long, long, long time for the youngest to get help. It sparked some interesting conversations about what their names all meant.

The Luminous Pearl: A Chinese Folktale by Betty L. Torre and Carol Inouye
In this story, two brothers are working to complete a quest to fetch a pearl for a beautiful magical princess. My kids loved this fairytale-type folktale, and the illustrations were beautiful, reminiscent of Jan Brett’s style.

The Dad Who Had 10 Children by Benedicte Guetierr
What is this book?? It is strange and delightful. A dad has ten children of infant age, dresses them, takes them various places, ending in a trip to the museum where he loses (and finds) them all. The kids liked this because they said “that dad is like our dad” (there are only five of them though). There is some potty humor, but, of course, that made the kids like the book more.

For Family Readaloud:

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin
Everything Grace Lin writes is gold (check out her early readers Ling & Ting).
This is the first in a three volume series; our favorite book of the series is the 2nd one, but I do recommend you read these in order to know the full story. Lin seamlessly weaves in Chinese folktale through characters telling stories in the book. I was impressed with how she took the disjointed tales to weave a larger narrative. There are broader themes of contentment (in this book), forgiveness (in the second book), and courage (in the third). The illustrations are also beautifully done. We did this as a family readaloud and all ages were engaged.

A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
This book was a little bit slower; it is set in Korea, following an orphan named Tree-Ear. He ends up apprenticed to a potter and finding a family of his own. I though that this book was particularly interesting for its portrayal of Korean honor and customs, and the details of how this particularly pottery was made in the 12th century. This may be a better read for a 10 to 13 year old to tackle on their own, since there are long descriptive portions.

For Myself:

Moby Dick by Herman Melville
I never had to read this for school, but I’m slowly working through a list of books I want to read before I turn 40, and this is on my list.

It was a mix of boring and gruesomely exciting. The longer portions where Ahab or Starbuck (the first mate) are speaking are very poetic and Shakespearean. There are chapters on random whale facts (literally one about all the different kinds of whales he knows about) and whaling details—I guess the goal is to give the reader an immersive, prismatic experience with whaling, just like whaling was for these characters.

Characters were the strength of this book—Ahab is really cool. Not only does he have a missing leg because a whale BIT IT OFF, he replaced the leg with whalebone! Starbuck is a lovely character who is honorable to the end. Queequeg is the most invested in saving human life—but also was a cannibal.

However. This book dragged quite a bit, and I mostly just wanted to read the chapters where Moby Dick was killing people. I had no idea how terrifying a whale can be! Or quite how bit they are. So in that sense, the long chapters of unnecessary whale details were good to have.

Sometimes Melville isn’t sure you are getting the metaphor so he makes darn sure you are getting the metaphor (the ship Rachel looking for a captain’s missing children, for example - in case you don’t get the biblical allusion, he makes it a few different times).

I can entirely see why this was not a best seller when it first came out, and I won’t have my kids read it until they are in college / adults, and only if they really want to.

Trusting God by Jerry Bridges
This book was so beneficial to me. Bridges backs up everything he says with scripture, and starts off with a foundational understanding of God’s sovereignty and his love for us. I think anyone who has gone through or is going through a major trial should read this book; better yet, read it now before you go through a trial.

Foster by Claire Keegan
This novella set in rural Ireland follows a girl who is fostered by a couple for a few months while her mother has a baby (the sixth or so in the family). There is so much tension in it, between the girl missing her mother yet blossoming under the care and nurture of this other couple; the couple (particularly the wife) knowing they want to love this girl while she is here, but that she won’t be there forever. The ending is a bit ambiguous, but I choose to believe it ends happily. I can’t wait to read more of Keegan’s work!

The Gods of Winter by Dana Gioia
This is an older poetry collection by Gioia, who has written much. I was interested to read this after learning it was written after he lost a son to SIDS at 3 months old. His collection is infused with this loss, but not overwhelmed by it (like my work in progress, to be honest!). I admire his ability to write formal poems, and this collection shows his range. Here’s a poem I found particularly moving:

Planting a Sequoia
by Dana Gioia

All afternoon my brothers and I have worked in the orchard,
Digging this hole, laying you into it, carefully packing the soil.
Rain blackened the horizon, but cold winds kept it over the Pacific,
And the sky above us stayed the dull gray
Of an old year coming to an end.

In Sicily a father plants a tree to celebrate his first son’s birth–
An olive or a fig tree–a sign that the earth has one more life to bear.
I would have done the same, proudly laying new stock into my father’s orchard,
A green sapling rising among the twisted apple boughs,
A promise of new fruit in other autumns.

But today we kneel in the cold planting you, our native giant,
Defying the practical custom of our fathers,
Wrapping in your roots a lock of hair, a piece of an infant’s birth cord,
All that remains above earth of a first-born son,
A few stray atoms brought back to the elements.

We will give you what we can–our labor and our soil,
Water drawn from the earth when the skies fail,
Nights scented with the ocean fog, days softened by the circuit of bees.
We plant you in the corner of the grove, bathed in western light,
A slender shoot against the sunset.

And when our family is no more, all of his unborn brothers dead,
Every niece and nephew scattered, the house torn down,
His mother’s beauty ashes in the air,
I want you to stand among strangers, all young and ephemeral to you,
Silently keeping the secret of your birth.

Writing News:
I have a poem in a special project - Poems for Life with Let Go the Goat
My doctor encouraged to abort my daughter Kit when she was diagnosed with her heart condition in utero, and, though we only had six months with her outside the womb, I will never regret choosing life.