Children's Books discussion

For May 2021, the Fiction Club will be reading two of four time travel novels. I have set up a poll with four MG time travel novels to choose from and said poll will be up for a month, so you have ample time to choose between the four novels shown below (just go to the poll section on the group homepage and cast your vote). The two books with the most votes will be read.

Charlotte Sometimes
Bridge of Time
The Root Cellar
A Handful of Time

Will be updating once the poll is done.

And to vote in the poll, just click on the poll icon and the poll should be featured first.

So yes, have slightly changed my criteria, so that in May, we will be reading the two novels with the most votes and not just one novel. That will give participants more choices, especially with there still being pandemic restrictions in many areas.

The poll is now closed and the two time travel novels which won the most votes (which came in first and second place) and will thus be read this May are the following:

Charlotte Sometimes

The Root Cellar

Happy reading, and I will reopen the thread on April 30.

Just a quick note. Although these are both avl. free to borrow as scanned digital editions on openlibrary, they may be a little harder to find in libraries on paper, so if you want them that way, check your system now.

And just to point out, that while Charlotte Sometimes is actually the third instalment in a series, the novel is in my opinion also a stand-alone story and therefore you really do not need to read the other two series novels in order to understand and get into Charlotte Sometimes.

Thanks for the info.!

I know I owned The Root Cellar but whether it's still here somewhere is another story. I don't think so. I really liked that one when I was a young teen. Switching Well is similar and another one I loved in my younger days.

QNPoohBear wrote: "I know I owned The Root Cellar but whether it's still here somewhere is another story. I don't think so. I really liked that one when I was a young teen. Switching Well ..."

This has been on my to read list forever.

I read both of these several years ago. Both earned five stars. I don't feel compelled to reread either of them (at least, not at this point in time) but I look forward to dipping into the conversation to see what you all think and I will post my reviews later after you've had time to read the books. I hope you all enjoy them as much as I did!

Kathryn wrote: " ... I will post my reviews later after you've had time to read the books...."

Thank you!

Kathryn wrote: "I read both of these several years ago. Both earned five stars. I don't feel compelled to reread either of them (at least, not at this point in time) but I look forward to dipping into the conversa..."

Not sure which to start with, but both have been on my to read list for aeons.

QNPoohBear wrote: "I know I owned The Root Cellar but whether it's still here somewhere is another story. I don't think so. I really liked that one when I was a young teen. Switching Well ..."

I read Switching Well a couple of decades ago. I loved it because it was set in San Antonio (Texas); and because the girl from the 1800s thought that Klingons were real when she saw an episode of Star Trek!

I also read Charlotte Sometimes and Root Cellar decades ago; in fact, I've read CS a couple of times. I doubt if I'll have time to try to re-read either one.

Beverly wrote: "I also read Charlotte Sometimes and Root Cellar decades ago; in fact, I've read CS a couple of times. I doubt if I'll have time to try to re-read either one."

I hope that I will enjoy this, but I love time travel and school stories, so I am expecting to really find Charlotte Sometimes up my alley.

Manybooks wrote: "I hope that I will enjoy this, but I love time travel and school stories, so I am expecting to really find Charlotte Sometimes up my alley. ."

I think you will enjoy it :-)

Beverly wrote: "I hope that I will enjoy this, but I love time travel and school stories, so I am expecting to really find Charlotte Sometimes up my alley. ."

LOL!

Kathryn wrote: "Manybooks wrote: "I hope that I will enjoy this, but I love time travel and school stories, so I am expecting to really find Charlotte Sometimes up my alley. ."

I think you will enjoy it :-)"

I do expect to.

The idea of in Charlotte Sometimes, a particular bed at a boarding school being the method of time slipping for Charlotte (present) and Claire (past) is ingenious and also a bit uncanny (for the matter of fact way it is being described kind of makes a reader look at his or her own bed and wonder).

Have been reading Charlotte Sometimes before falling asleep and think I might need to stop because (lol) keep dreaming about my bed being haunted and waking up in another time (but unlike the storyline of Charlotte Sometimes also in another place, namely my bedroom in the house in Germany where we lived until 1976).

Reminds me of an adult Time Slip I read recently for the Time Travel group, Before the Coffee Gets Cold, in which it's a certain chair/certain position on the floor.

I'll try to get to Charlotte Sometimes soon. I remember I didn't 'get' it the first time I read it, didn't see what was special about it.

Cheryl wrote: "Reminds me of an adult Time Slip I read recently for the Time Travel group, Before the Coffee Gets Cold, in which it's a certain chair/certain position on the floor.

I'll try to ge..."

Thanks for the heads up.

I do enjoy the early 19th century British boarding school descriptions and how lost Charlotte feels at first (and Claire as well of course, not to mention that the back and forth must be disconcerting and alienating for both girls).

Hope that Charlotte’s story, seeing its time and place setting during WWI will feel realistic and not anachronistic with regard to the this.

I'm more than halfway, and Clare only has her own voice through the notes she tries to pass to Charlotte. And Charlotte doesn't seem to be trying to use that communication to ease their alternating lives.

She is the proverbial 'wet blanket' and of no interest to me. Child me would have been bored by the lack of actual adventure, and exasperated by the passive character. Adult me can pick out some metaphoric literary resonances, but gosh it seems to me to be a dreary book. Boarding school seems like an awful place to be, in either time, no matter one's character or perspective.

Finally one episode of fun, shortly into part two, but then back to heavy history as Charlotte learns more about Clare's time.

Cheryl wrote: "I'm more than halfway, and Clare only has her own voice through the notes she tries to pass to Charlotte. And Charlotte doesn't seem to be trying to use that communication to ease their alternating..."

Gosh, I do hope I end up liking this more than you are. So many GR friends just love the book, but even after only starting, I do like you find Charlotte not all that interesting and relatable and am in fact actually and surprisingly finding my school story reading of Enid Blyton (from January and February) more engaging at present.

I had a hard time rating Charlotte Sometimes. I gave it five stars because I did find it absorbing, but it definitely wasn't a favorite of mine though I did love certain aspects of it. I hope you end up liking it at least somewhat, Gundula.

Agreed. I'm halfway through and Charlotte is kind of whiny and boring. She isn't a proactive character. I like Emily better. I hope we hear from Clare in the second half and how she deals with modern life. It seems funny to think of WWI as 40 years ago. That's closer in time to Charlotte's time than her time is to us. It sounds more like WWII with the rationing and air raid drills though. I was surprised it was 1918. I did skip to the last page to see what happened. (view spoiler)[I was shocked and sad to read Clare had died in the Spanish Influenza epidemic. I guess that makes sense so she doesn't exist in two times at once but I wasn't expecting that. (hide spoiler)]

QNPoohBear wrote: "Agreed. I'm halfway through and Charlotte is kind of whiny and boring. She isn't a proactive character. I like Emily better. I hope we hear from Clare in the second half and how she deals with mode..."

Charlotte definitely is rather whiny.

Interesting no Charlotte fans among the group. From my review: I especially appreciated Charlotte's introspective nature, her internal battle to remain Charlotte, to find courage, and to understand bravery. And her external battle to keep Emily happy, to be kind and good, and to understand the world she found herself so strangely thrust into.
(That said, she's not a character who has stayed with me the way some have... I really couldn't tell you much about her now. I read this in 2012 and at a much different point in my life so not sure what my reaction would be now.)

Kathryn wrote: "Interesting no Charlotte fans among the group. From my review: I especially appreciated Charlotte's introspective nature, her internal battle to remain Charlotte, to find courage, and to understand..."

I do hope I will end up liking her but my first general impression is a bit negative.

Later, when I read of Charlotte's dreams and fears, when she gets more concretely introspective, she (and the story) become more interesting. I still wish we also had Clare's pov though.

And yes, I was saddened to learn that even WWI had so much privation, and blackout curtains, etc.

About to start part Three now.

Cheryl wrote: "Later, when I read of Charlotte's dreams and fears, when she gets more concretely introspective, she (and the story) become more interesting. I still wish we also had Clare's pov though.

And yes, ..."

My father”s mother was born in 1906. And she remembered that during WWI, her family was pretty badly off with regard to being able to not only afford but also obtain basic groceries.

I finished the book. While I was curious to find out whether and how Charlotte and Clare would switch back, the book just didn't appeal to me. I liked Emily much better and wish she was the main character. ANYONE but Charlotte and Clare. Clare sounds even worse than Charlotte.

QNPoohBear wrote: "I finished the book. While I was curious to find out whether and how Charlotte and Clare would switch back, the book just didn't appeal to me. I liked Emily much better and wish she was the main ch..."

Am thus far liking Emily best as well!

I would not have enjoyed this book any better when I was a kid. The time periods are too recent for me (even 1918) and Charlotte is too bland, boring and annoying.

I loved
Switching Well
Running Out of Time
and I remember liking The Root Cellar too.

QNPoohBear wrote: "I would not have enjoyed this book any better when I was a kid. The time periods are too recent for me (even 1918) and Charlotte is too bland, boring and annoying.

I loved
[book:Switching Well|80..."

I do not find the time period too recent but would also prefer a time period that is earlier. But yes, finding Charlotte really bland so far.

I am actually enjoying Charlotte as a person more and more the further along I get with the story, but yes, I do wish that Charlotte Sometimes had a stronger role for Emily and especially for Clare who feels even after 40 percent done with the story as really almost non existent. Charlotte is at present still not really all that interesting but I am beginning to think that she is actually rather close to me in many ways and that perhaps me being annoyed with her is rather me being annoyed with myself.

I did end up enjoying Charlotte Sometimes more than I thought I would at the beginning of the novel. The questions about identity were definitely interesting and thought provoking (but frankly, for a middle grade novel also rather sophisticated, for I do think I would have felt a bit lost reading in particular the parts where Charlotte is stranded in the past as a tween or teen, since even reading Charlotte Sometimes as an older adult has sometimes felt a bit befuddling).

Now practical me does wonder why Emily and Charlotte (as Clare) would not have considered trying to get Charlotte into that special bed AFTER all danger of the influenza pandemic was over and done with (but of course I am likely also approaching this with too much non internal to the novel itself knowledge and wanting a good and positive ending for Clare as well, instead of her dying of the flu).

Final impressions of Charlotte Sometimes are that I have definitely found Emily a bit more enjoyable and interesting as a character than Charlotte but that Charlotte definitely not only grew on me but also kept reminding me of myself especially in parts two and three (and yes, I do kind of find the way Clare was never really part of the narrative of Charlotte Sometimes rather annoying, as I certainly wanted more information about how she was feeling in Charlotte’s time and whether she was in fact also keen on returning to her own time and to her sister).

Have just started with The Root Cellar and am finding Rose both a kindred spirit and at the same time rather annoying.

I picked up The Root Cellar at the library today. I'm reasonably certain I read this as a young reader. I read Running Out of Time and Switching Well so I'm sure I read Root Cellar too.

It is revelatory when we recognize ourselves in a character, sometimes uncomfortably so.

I'll try to get to Root Cellar soon, as you two are starting.

Yes, indeed Cheryl and with both Charlotte and now Rose I do feel a both comfortable and uncomfortable sense of kinship.

I'm trying to remember that time it happened to me, when I had an epiphany because I identified with a character, and saw how she worked through her problem (or grew up, or found a friend, or whatever it was), and was able to apply that learning to my own life.

Cheryl wrote: "I'm trying to remember that time it happened to me, when I had an epiphany because I identified with a character, and saw how she worked through her problem (or grew up, or found a friend, or whate..."

I found this partly with L.M. Montgomery’s Emily of New Moon series.

Cheryl wrote: "I'm trying to remember that time it happened to me, when I had an epiphany because I identified with a character, and saw how she worked through her problem (or grew up, or found a friend, or whate..."

I sometimes have also found identification with a character too close to home so to speak, making me appreciate a character but not really like him or her, and that is kind of what I am at present feeling with regard to Rose in The Root Cellar.

Rose "... worked herself into a frenzy of worry..." hits a little too close to home for me! I'm definitely feeling more engaged, very early on in The Root Cellar, than I was in Charlotte's story.

Cheryl wrote: "Rose "... worked herself into a frenzy of worry..." hits a little too close to home for me! I'm definitely feeling more engaged, very early on in The Root Cellar, than I was in Charlotte's story."

I agree, much does hit too close to home for me as well.

I once read an interview with the author of The Root Cellar and I really appreciated her attitude that when writing for children an author simply cannot get away with fudging things with regard to a solid plot and story, that kids need their stories told reasonably and with not too much philosophy.

Interesting. I'm not sure I accept that at face value. I think one of the things that my favorite children's books have is philosophy. The Secret Garden, The Phantom Tollbooth, The Little Prince, The Princess and the Goblin, etc.

Granted I was a weird kid, but those are all popular, enduring books.

Unless we're defining 'philosophy' differently....

I would even include that description of anxiety, and subsequent explorations of Rose's awkwardness and shyness, as pretty much philosophical.