Goodnight Goon: A Petrifying Parody by Michael Rex

The six-year-old picked this up from the school library. Aparently this is a parody of Goodnight Moon. Unfortunately, neither I nor the girls knew of this other story, and therefore we didn't read it as a parody. We just read it. And it was just okay. The girls are really into Scooby-doo shows right now, so the illustrations were fun for them. I think if we had known about Goodnight Moon, we may have been more into this book.

I know that my girls love a book called Hush, Little Alien. Jen and I picked it up at a white elephant gift exchange over ten years ago, and the book is about ready to be thrown out because it has been so loved. It is a parody on the folk song Hush, Little Baby. I knew what the original song is, but my girls only know the alien version.

I think the difference between Goodnight Goon and Hush, Little Alien is Hush, Little Alien could stand on its own, whereas Goodnight Goon is really only a good book if you know Goodnight Moon.

My siblings and I are preparing for a family reunion this summer. We had an email chain going about which movies from our childhood we needed to bring and watch. UHF was nominated and seconded by many of us. I shared that Jen and I were recently watching The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, which I had never seen before. While watching, I came across this scene, which is apparently the inspiration for this UHF scene. When Jen and I watched this, it made UHF funnier knowing it was a parody. My brother then reminded me that this same scene from The Treasure of the Sierra Mandre was parodied in the movie Blazing Saddles in this scene.

I guess some parodies can stand on their own, but others need to have the original material known to have the parody appreciated. Goodnight Goon falls into the second category.

Summary: "A young monster says goodnight to all of the other monsters in his bedroom."

Format: paper
Read/don't read: read if you have read Goodnight Moon, otherwise don't read.

You can find this book at Amazon.com here: Goodnight Goon: A Petrifying Parody

Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer

Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony is book five in the Artemis Fowl series.

My post about the last book in the series focused on the timeless of some books and the dating of others. I have had some additional thoughts on the subject.

I was critical of the way Colfer addressed the parallels between the fairy world and the human world, but I think one of the things he was trying to accomplish was making statements about the human world through the fairies' advancements. In other words, when humans advance in their technology and thinking, they will come to the conclusion that... One of Colfer's desired conclusion is that we will be more considerate about our treatment of the earth. The way he communicates this is by discussing the current state of humanity, which in this case includes technology. I am not feeling so critical. I still think it presents an issue with the timelessness of a book, but I don't think every author needs to write timeless books.

As far as this particular book is concerned, Artemis Fowl is again faced with moral dilemmas.This makes a young adult science fiction novel so much more fun to read. In this book Artemis begins to take an interest in girls, as his hormones rage. I am excited to see if the new female character introduced in the book will continue to show up in future installments of the Artemis Fowl series. It certainly felt like Colfer was setting that up.

Format: paper
Read/don't read: read

You can find this book at Amazon.com here: Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony (Book 5)

The Berenstain Bears Forget Their Manners by Stan & Jan Berenstain

I don't know if we had this Berenstain Bears book in my house when I was a child, but we did have several Berenstain Bears books. This is one that we own, and it comes up every now and then as a bedtime story selection.

I know that I loved these books when I was a kid. I find that funny now because the books are all about teaching a lesson, and I would have thought I would have seen through this when I was a kid. My girls certainly don't seem to mind that the book is trying to teach a lesson. Not that they listen to the lesson, and not that we ever try to implement Mama Bear's plan to remedy whatever the problem seems to be. In this version the problem is manners and Mama Bear comes up with a chart with a bunch of punishments in the form of household chores if the family members forget their manners.

I don't know that I am a huge fan of the books, but I liked them when I was a kid, and the girls still like them today.

Format: paper
Read/don't read: read

You can find this book at Amazon.com here: The Berenstain Bears Forget Their Manners

Best Books according to my local library

The local library posted the following list of great books read in 2014 on their blog found here:

• The Book of Life: A Novel (All Souls Trilogy) by Deborah Harkness. (#3 in the All Souls trilogy)
• Euphoria by Lily King
• The Heavens Rise by Christopher Rice
• The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street: A Novel by Susan Gilman
• The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel by Neil Gaiman
• The Southern Reach Trilogy trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer
• Written in My Own Heart's Blood: A Novel (Outlander) by Diana Gabaldon (#8 in the Outlander series)

Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception by by Eoin Colfer

I consume less while taking time off work because I drive less. Also, we are not so rigid about the bedtime routine while the kids are out of school, resulting in fewer children's books being read as well. Nonetheless, a couple of days ago I finished reading the fourth book in the Artemis Fowl series. As with the others, this was a fun book. The author's willingness to hurt and eliminate characters is refreshing, and makes the story less predictable.

One of the things about the Artemis Fowl books that I have been thinking the whole time I have read them, and thought again while reading this book is an author's dilemma with regards to technology. It seems that there is little that can date a book faster then the use of technology. If I write about how cool my CD collection is, a kid today certainly knows what a CD is, but the whole idea of collecting CDs as an actual source of music seems ridiculous today.

So part of the story line in the Artemis Fowl books is this idea that there is a parallel world of fairies living beneath the surface of the earth.  The have a very similar social institutions to ours: television programs (including some reality TV), police forces, private detectives, and a lot of similar technology. One of the main differences is that their technology is far advanced to ours... so the author claims. But then in 2014, I am reading about how this crazy technologically advanced society has some really cutting edge technology that surrounds the idea of storing data on physical discs that people carry around with them.

Even by 2005 standards (the copyright of the text) the idea that a physical disc, as opposed to some solid state drive, seems a little dated. I know, I know, I know this is a young adult fantasy novel, I need to give it some leeway. I do, when it comes to fairies and dwarfs and trolls and all the other fantastical creatures. But the technology just dates the book.

I don't know what an author is supposed to do. Because technology is so much part of our lives, he can't simply leave it out, but how does he write about it in more of a timeless way? I realize he is not trying to write the novel of the century, but they are good books, and it would be nice if there was a way to solve the problem.

One of the things that I really enjoyed about the Ender's Game series of books which I read this last year was the way the author addressed this issue. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but when it came to alien technology, it was as if they were doing things that humans just didn't even consider. The ten-year-old was able to read those books with me, and she seemed to really understand and enjoy them, so it is not as if writing in this way just doesn't appeal to the younger audience.

I guess it seems like it is the difference between an author that is looking to sell some pulp and one that wants a book to last.

Either way, I hope this criticism of the book doesn't dissuade anyone from reading the series. Overall I enjoyed the book, and the author's sense of humor. But I don't know that twenty years from now, the books will be enjoyed the way that I have re-enjoyed the Ender's Game series all these years later.

Format: audiobook
Read/don't read: read

You can find this book at Amazon.com here: Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception (Book 4)