OMG I wish this book had existed when I was entering high school. As it is, even 30 years later, I still found this an incredibly emotional read.
TeenOMG I wish this book had existed when I was entering high school. As it is, even 30 years later, I still found this an incredibly emotional read.
Teens, read this. Parents, read this too. The term "bitch" is used in its most empowered and empowering form, and there's a discussion early on about the different uses (disparaging and not) of the term. I admit I'm not a huge fan of the word "bitch," but there's power in coopting disparaging terms to defang them. In the end, it all serves young people's drive to advocate for themselves in areas of life where they may not feel like they have a ton of control. This includes school, friendships, extra-curriculars, work/money, relationships, etc. There's a primer on money management, a checklist of manipulative relationships, a great how-to on setting good boundaries with friends who may or may not realize they're stepping on your toes, and so on.
I clicked the "children" tag because I don't think it's too mature for more precocious 8th graders. At least, back in my day we were shedding our innocence as quickly as we could. OTOH, I read Cujo when I was 12, so ymmv.
Appropriate for girls, boys, trans kids, kids with disabilities, able bodied kids, queer kids, straight kids, athletic kids, theatre kids, math kids, economics kids, gifted/talented kids, regular-class kids, and older humans of all types. If you're a human who will ever have to live in society and deal with other humans, this is worth a read.
**spoiler alert** Torn between the charming and problematic, and there's a lot of both, but I've had a month of migraines and don't have the energy to**spoiler alert** Torn between the charming and problematic, and there's a lot of both, but I've had a month of migraines and don't have the energy to go through the problematic. In the end there is hope and a status quo of prejudice cracked wide open. Change is slow until it accrues enough momentum to blaze a new path. It would have been good to see that happen on a societal scale, but also it would need a thousand more pages to do justice. Not sure these hermit dudes are the heroes for that quest; tbh I'd have more faith in Zoe and the women....more
**spoiler alert** I switched editions, so I'm pasting this for posterity: at 43.0% 1. Holy crap, this is homoerotic. 2. [Checks Wikipedia] OK, so it's **spoiler alert** I switched editions, so I'm pasting this for posterity: at 43.0% 1. Holy crap, this is homoerotic. 2. [Checks Wikipedia] OK, so it's based on bedtime stories he made up for his young son who had various disabilities. 3. OK, that's fine. Innocent reading & 1908-typical absence of women, sure, whatever. 4. Holy crap, this is homoerotic.
I loved Mole. I liked Ratty. I tolerated Badger. And I hated Toad with all my soul.
Then I realized the reason I despised Toad was that he reminds me SO MUCH of The Former Guy. I can absolutely see wee ꞱᴚnɯԀ imprinting on Mr Toad and never sitting still long enough to hear the end of the book, because obvsly he would never finish an actual novel.
Re Toad, mad hijinks, whatever. It's fun. It's upperclass privilege. It's the fantasy of always getting away with it. But it's fucking inconsiderate to Toad's friends, who deserve better than having to clean up his messes.
OTOH, when, at Badger's command, they go all authoritarian fascist and literally lock Toad up in his room to control his behavior? WTAF was that?! It's a long stretch beyond grounding a disobedient child, as Toad is depicted as a grown-ass adult, and other adults imprisoning their friends "for their own good" completely baffles me as a plot point in a children's book.
Dear 1908 England, what the hell was going on that makes sense of this?
As a side note, I had many flashes of Good Omens while reading this, probably because Aziraphale rocks the antiquated Edwardian chic and frets over things much like Mole. I was charmed.
(If it isn't obvious, I did not read this as a child even though it was on the Classics shelf. Um. Probably because it WAS on the Classics shelf, actually. I kind of jumped straight from Susan Cooper to Stephen King.)
Anyway, I wish there had been a throughline plot instead of mashed together character moments. I wish, obviously, that there had been any positive treatment of women and female Animals. I wish this classic had not been part of instilling classist misogyny into generations of children. And yet weirdly I do love a good anthropomorphic animal tale and I enjoyed these characters in themselves -- I'm just not thrilled with what Grahame did with them. See T. Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon for how to get it right....more
So GOOD. Protag & Sidekick are age 14 &10. Very relevant to 2020 issues, including corruption in police and politics. Less violent than Harry Potter, So GOOD. Protag & Sidekick are age 14 &10. Very relevant to 2020 issues, including corruption in police and politics. Less violent than Harry Potter, but middle grade parents may want to preread. Incredibly charming and inventive....more
Loading...
