Harriet the Spy

Going into this story, I thought it was going to be more of Harriet solving mysteries using her spy skills. I didn't expect it to be so much about Harriet's daily life and relationships, but I am thoroughly enjoying seeing how she interacts with the people around her, as well as how she thinks about them and what she says about them in her notebook. She seems to love to learn about as much as she can, and she seems very intelligent for her age in a lot of ways. She loves to learn; we see her skipping into school singing about how she wants to learn everything in the world, and the book says at one point while talking to Sport that "she never minded admitting she didn't know something. So what, she thought, I could always learn." The very nature of her self-proclaimed spy career forces her to pay close attention to everything and learn about the people around her. Harriet seems to be very perceptive of what is going on around her, as you would expect from someone who make it her business to learn and take notes on everything she sees, but it's interesting that, despite how much she notices, she doesn't understand much of it. She notes while watching Ole Golly and Mr. Waldenstein interact that "Life is a great mystery. Is everybody a different person when they are with somebody else?" It is very clear to her that Ole Golly is acting unusual, but she doesn't understand why. She knows that it has to do with Ole Golly's boyfriend, but it doesn't make sense to her that someone would act a different way around a boy than they do normally. When she suddenly asks her mom a bunch of questions about marriage, she doesn't understand why her mom would would ask Harriet if that was something she was thinking about, and says that "adults are getting sillier every year-" when, as adults, we know that Harriet's mother was just trying to humor her, and that it isn't necessarily unusual for a child to want grown-up things (like marriage) even if they don't understand them. It's just so fun to watch Harriet react to things as if adults are the ridiculous ones and she is the only rational person trying to deal with their antics.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

It's interesting and heartbreaking to see Cassie discovering the extent of racism in this book. We see many instances where she encounters it, but the first time she experiences it for herself is when they go to Strawberry. We know she already knows that there is some separation in her society between white and black people: in the same chapter, we see her complaining that they can't put their cart with the white people's carts and saying that she likes Mr. Jamison because "he was the only white man I had ever heard address Mama and Big Ma as 'Missus.'" But she doesn't seem to make the connection when they go into the store and Mr. Barnett stops filling T.J.'s order multiple times to fill white people's orders. She keeps asking her brother and T.J. what he's doing, and they keep telling her to hush and that he would be back, as though they understand perfectly what's happening and are more resigned to it, much like many the adults in the novel seem to be to "the way things are." Cassie is so confused and enraged, as opposed to the calm resignation of Stacey and T.J., and seeing this scene, especially from Cassie's point of view, makes you feel that same rage she feels. You want to yell at Mr. Barnett too, and you want make Stacey and T.J. stand up for themselves. This seems to be the first time she is personally targeted as well, and experiences physical violence: being pushed into the road when Lillian Jean demands an apology from her. You get so much more of a sense of the injustice of what's happening when not only seeing it from the point of view of the victim, but seeing her experience this for the first time. The last line of the chapter is "No day in all my life had ever been as cruel as this one," and the bluntness of it leaves you feeling even more terrible for Cassie. You can see in this chapter especially that she is not one to take injustice lying down, even if it hurts her, and this is where you really start both feel glad that she stands up for herself and also worried when she does that she is going to get herself into bigger trouble sometime than she can get herself out of.

The Birchbark House

Something that stuck out to me while reading The Birchbark House was the respect with which the characters treat animals and nature. When Omakayas's grandmother has to use the tree bark to build their house, she says "Old Sister, we need your skin for our shelter" and gives the tree an offering in return. She seems to do this by way of apology and gratitude, which are not emotions we are used to thinking of feeling towards trees. When Omakayas has her encounter with the mother bear, where you would imagine most people to either flee or attack, Omakayas explains her intentions to the bear and apologizes for the misunderstanding and for frightening her. She tells that bear that her scissors "are nothing compared to your teeth and claws," which shows a respect for how much stronger the bear is and shows that she means her no harm. She calls the bear grandmother, remembering how her own grandmother had instructed her to treat bears with "the greatest respect;" the same reason that, despite using bear pelts and meat for their survival, the Ojibwe people still bury their bones. This encounter also means a great deal to Omakayas, so much that it becomes the most important event in the book for a while. Another thing I found interesting were the parallels between Old Tallow, who found and rescued Omakayas, and Omakayas's father. They are both described as being over six feet tall, quickly wearing through their makazins (an indication of physical labor), and being sharp of tongue and someone that people don't generally like to mess with. They both have a fondness for Omakayas; Mikwam because she is his daughter, and Old Tallow because she has a respect for Omakayas's mother and grandmother, although, more than likely, it also has something to do with the fact that Old Tallow is the one who brought Omakayas into the tribe as a baby. Although Old Tallow is a woman, she takes on many of the responsibilities that men would usually have: she hunts, and shares her spoils with Omakayas's mother while Mikwam is away. She seems to be a provider and protector, filling in for Mikwam while he is away, in a sense.

Little House on the Prairie

I never thought that the Little House books sounded very interesting, and when I saw this book on the syllabus, despite the couple of people in class who named this as one of their favorite children's books, I was less than enthusiastic. Even my sister, who rarely reads, telling me that they were really good didn't quite convince me. But I was pleasantly surprised when I finally sat down to start reading it and found myself actually becoming invested in the plot and characters. I was heartbroken when I thought Jack had died, I was nervous during every mention of wolves, and I cringed when Caroline's foot got crushed under a log. I also found myself dancing along excitedly when Pa was playing his fiddle. I somehow forgot about how sure I was that I wouldn't enjoy the book, and although I still wouldn't consider myself a huge fan of the genre itself, this story is a testament to how a well-written book, even with a subject matter you don't think you'll like, can captivate you. It's also another lesson that I'm still learning, even after nearly twenty years of reading like crazy: don't judge a book by its cover (or by its genre).