There is dialogue!

On page 77 of "Smokey the Cowhorse," a cowboy finally speaks! Even though he is only talking to the Smokey and Smokey doesn't talk back, I am very excited about this new turn of events. It has not turned out to be "one of the finest horse stories ever told," as New York Times Book Review once said, but I think I will enjoy this book a little bit more now.

Done with Shen of the Sea

Tada! I'm glad to be done with this guy, and with folk tales of foreign cultures for that matter. No comment on this book, except to say that he uses "howbeit" quite often. That word has really died or at least I never come in contact with it. Howbeit, it is still an English word and I am therefore resolved to use it in a sentence at least once this week. Check.

"We are the Shen, demons of the sea."

So I know that guy is probably holding some sort of fan or something to shield the sun, but I can't help thinking that it is an ancient Chinese cattail-esque boom mic.

I Finally Finished It!

No, not "The Story of Mankind." I wish! But I did finish "Tales From Silver Lands," so that is good. I am very glad it is over. I am mostly feeling sorry for kids from this time period - if the Newbery books are the best of the best, is this all children's literature had to offer?
Well no real deep insights from this book, although I am interested in the different spellings that are used, such as "to-morrow", "sea-shell", "cañon", and "manikins" when we would normally spell them "tomorrow", "seashell", "canyon", and "mannequins". The idea of words developing and changing over time is kind of fascinating to me.
Welp, on to "Shen of the Sea" for me. I'll probably go get it at the library pretty soon here. One of the library's copies has not been checked out since 2003, but another one was already checked out this year, so that provides a little bit of hope.

No more history!

I finished the Story of Mankind. I'm glad that's over. I have learned my lesson; I will never again read a history of the world written for children.
On a slightly different note, ACU is missing its copy of Tales from Silver Lands; I'll check it out from the public library soon. Possibly on Thursday. Meanwhile, I read a couple chapters of the next book that ACU does have, Gay Neck: The Story of a Parrot. No, I did not make that up; it's the 1927 Newberry Award winner. I won't read any more of it until we catch up to it though. It didn't exactly wow me, but maybe it gets better.
My hands down favorite so far is still The Dark Frigate; wherein is told the story of Philip Marsham who lived in the time of King Charles and was bred a sailor but came home to England after many hazards by sea and land and fought for the king at Newbury and lost a great inheritance and departed for Barbados in the same ship, by curious chance, in which he had long before adventured with the pirates. Good story.
That is all.