The Rundown- March/April ’17

It took me a loooong time to get through this first book, hence the doubled-up post.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (reread) 

There were two things I remembered about this book: the majority of the book is written in dialect and the rampant use of the “n-word.” The combination of those two made it a difficult book to get through, not to mention it’s just plain LONG.

This book is a sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but there’s no need to have read that in order to be able to follow this. There’s a succinct recap in the first chapter that gives all the pertinent information.

Huck Finn runs away when his father shows up back in his life without the best of intentions. He runs across a neighbor’s slave, Jim, who is trying to escape his life as well. They decide to help each other on the way to freedom.

It’s a journey story with a lot of stops along the way. There are a lot of characters to keep up with, which becomes more difficult when they are referred to with multiple monikers. As they go through different territories along the Mississippi, the dialect changes with each new place and Twain uses it all. I had to slow down a lot and hear the voice in my head to be able to understand what they were saying!

VERDICT: In general, it’s a decent story. It has a good premise and there are some important themes. It wasn’t my favorite book, but I can’t think of a good enough reason not to keep it on the list, so… let’s keep it.

**Check out Ashley’s review of it HERE**

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien (new read) 

This is another of those books I’ve heard of my whole life, but had no idea what it was about. Now that I’ve read it, I wish I had know the premise, because my elementary-aged self would have LOVED it. As it is now, I still think it’s a fun book!

Mrs. Frisby is a widowed mouse who has four children to take care of. It’s the time of year when the family has to move their house for planting season, but her youngest son, Timothy, is ill. She finds her way to a group of creatures called the rats of NIMH, who help her come up with a plan.

When I first started reading, I got bored pretty quickly. As the problem begins to unfold though, it quickly became more interesting. One of the best parts of the book was finding out about the rats of NIMH– who they were, what they did, and how they came to be there. I can’t give any of that away though!

VERDICT: Once again, I don’t know if this is really a “young adult” book– I mean, can any Newbery winner be considered one? However, I really enjoyed it as a unique fantasy adventure. Definitely recommended!