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Cornwind Evil posted:I was returning to this thread to post that when I remembered it. Growing up in the 80's sucked. quote:In the days of cyber bullying and much greater awareness of suicide, it basically reads as the equivalent of splatterpunk horror for young female social interaction. Either be a monster perfect alpha nightmare bitch who has all the power, or pray you never draw their ilk's attention, or else your life will be hell and there will be nothing you can do to prevent it. My childhood was loving rough/an actual nightmare, so my perceptions are probably skewed, but I've always kind of figured this is how most people just are. Like, most people, if they knew for a fact there would be no consequences, would kill you just because they could. The only thing that stops them is fear of punishment, not empathy. They don't just not feel bad about doing it, they gain pleasure and joy from the act. It would be a fun experience for them. I mean, look at cops, or people in powerful positions like senators and CEOs. No punishment is common for them, and they inflict extreme harm on millions and don't lose a moment of sleep over it. I don't think everyone is like that, of course, but I've always suspected that the vast majority of people are. The Bible fucked around with this message at 01:55 on Apr 24, 2024 |
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Apr 24, 2024 01:47
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The Bible posted:Growing up in the 80's sucked. During the pandemic, I learned a lot of things. I learned a lot about viral epidemiology, and about proper handwashing technique, and about the weaknesses and resiliencies of our global supply chains. (I also learned that my usual lifestyle falls under what most people would call "quarantine".) But mostly I learned that about thirty percent of my fellow human beings are utter monsters who would rather indirectly kill a thousand people than voluntarily take on some trifling temporary inconvenience to themselves.
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Apr 24, 2024 02:40
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The Bible posted:Growing up in the 80's sucked. Eh, you're right that these people exist. But I think personal pain and bad experience colors our ability to assess just how many of them there are. Bad experiences loom very large in our thought processes, after all. So I don't think 'most' people are like that. Heck I think it's a minority, maybe even a minority of a minority. Of course, that does one absolutely no good if you're the victim of this minority. Then again, I probably have a little TOO much empathy myself.
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Apr 24, 2024 02:48
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Extra Large Marge posted:
This book was how I found out I was mistakenly put in the wrong level English class in middle school one year (normal instead of the fancy "advanced" one). I'd read it myself two years prior to then. Reading through this thread I realized there's a number of books I read the first one or two of and then later books in the series came out that I just never knew existed.
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Apr 24, 2024 03:28
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Did anyone ever read the CYOA series about the Space Hawks? I only read "The Fiber People" which was book 5 of 6 in the series.
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Apr 24, 2024 06:24
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when it comes to the influential books of my childhood, it goes: 1) mcgurk detective agency 2) boxcar kids 3) animorphs and this absolute fuckin gem of a book that I'm shocked hasn't been adapted to film/tv 
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Apr 24, 2024 08:11
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postmodifier posted:when it comes to the influential books of my childhood, it goes: Oh man, I totally forgot about this book. I remember wanting to live in that city at the beginning, because you could get new clothes for free and eat every day even if you only had one parent who didn't work. It seemed like a paradise. The Bible fucked around with this message at 08:48 on Apr 24, 2024 |
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Apr 24, 2024 08:46
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I've read many of these books much more recently to my kids. And I now assume in books like the Fudge series or Diary of a Wimpy Kid that the older brother is an unreliable narrator, especially when they make the younger sibling sound like a completely psychotic piece of poo poo who gets away with everything. Just think back to when you were that age, and how every slight felt like the greatest injustice ever endured by a human, and it seemed like your parents' always took everyone else's side in any dispute, when in realty you were also a little rear end in a top hat.
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Apr 24, 2024 18:27
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Gordon Korman’s “I Want To Go Home”. Incredibly bored kid repeatedly attempts to escape summer camp. Animorphs. Everyone’s favorite R-rated alien worm invasion for kids. I was big on these for a bit even though they’re 90% filler. “Under the Mountain”. Weirdly, another book about an invasion of alien worms! Even creepier than Animorphs in some ways. “The Gammage Cup”. hard to describe…it’s vaguely hobbity type kids fantasy about conformity. No idea if this holds up, I remember thinking this was really funny but I lost my copy years and years ago. Moomins. Especially “Comet in Moominland” and the one about the dad growing up. I revisited these as an adult and the last two are bleak as gently caress, basically modernist novels except all the existential crisis havers are goofy little trolls. The Wiggly Wizard posted:I remember devouring any Redwall book I could get my hands on, but also Garth Nix’s Sabriel was my jam. I’m often tempted to go back and reread those books but I suspect they might have sucked for anyone but middle schoolers Sabriel and the first…half(? the glacier part) of Lirael are pretty good. Once the big bad guy plot really kicks into gear in Lirael and Abhorsen, it gets less interesting (although you do get to see what the deeper gates of death are like). The later books are relatively not that good.
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Apr 24, 2024 19:39
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Technically not a chapter book but I’m ride or die for Uncle Shelby, Shel Silverstein. I remember my mom reading The Giving Tree to me from the library when I was really young, and my grandma got me four of his other books. I found some of his other work, later on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZnjxfm5I3Y skasion posted:Moomins. Especially “Comet in Moominland” and the one about the dad growing up. I revisited these as an adult and the last two are bleak as gently caress, basically modernist novels except all the existential crisis havers are goofy little trolls.  but read some after moving here as an adult and I had to pause a few times to just sorta lie there and think. Few months ago I bought a collection for my cousin’s first kid for when he’s older. I’m gonna make this triste generational.
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Apr 24, 2024 19:59
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Cornwind Evil posted:I was returning to this thread to post that when I remembered it. My daughter is going to be 12 this September, and I have been dreading for years her inevitable middle school experience. Mine was terrible, as most people’s were, but at least I’m a guy and my experience was primarily one of isolation and loneliness. Fortunately, we found out about a public school in our area that focuses on art, so we enrolled her there and her friends will all be going there as well, and I think it’s going to be a place where everyone there is sort of in that outcast weirdo crowd, so there will be a greater deal of commonality—and thus empathy—among them. But good christ I still worry that her adolescence will be like what’s described in that book.
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Apr 24, 2024 20:56
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A couple YA books I recall from my childhood and was able to find the titles via googling the synopsis; The Trumpet of the Swan, an empowering story of a mute swan pulling itself up by the bootstraps (stealing) and making something of itself. Probably wouldn't enjoy this one a whole lot on a reread. How to Eat Fried Worms, an empowering story of an impoverished weird kid pulling himself up by the bootstraps (eating worms for cash) and diminishing his already miniscule reputation. And one I haven't been able to find the title of, a book about a girl who turns in to a swan or goose and the only way to stop it is by drinking pickle juice?? Was also a big Gary Paulsen fan after having The Hatchet read to my class in the 5th grade. My absolute favorite of his would have to be Harris and Me, a story about a young boy with abusive alcoholic parents who gets sent to stay on his aunt and uncle's farm in Frogballs Minnesota. At first he dislikes the farm life and feels uneasy about his aunt, uncle and cousin Harris but by the time summer winds down and it's time to leave there is nowhere else he would rather be and no one else he would rather be with, the ending really sneaks up on you and is a huge gut-punch. I can't recommend it enough, especially if you are a fan of Paulsen's other books.
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Apr 24, 2024 21:16
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Legin Noslen posted:A couple YA books I recall from my childhood and was able to find the titles via googling the synopsis; I vividly remember Harris and Me being read to my class in school, except the teacher bowdlerized the part where they find porn and the crusty rear end handyman steals it from them and they’re too afraid to get it back. Which yeah, in retrospect I wouldn’t have wanted to explain that to a bunch of fourth graders either Also iirc there’s a bit at the start where the narrator is being bounced around between his various irresponsible relatives and one of them is a farmer who believes that God lives in his hayloft, where he won’t go without putting a bag over his head so God can’t see him because if God can’t see you you never die.
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Apr 24, 2024 21:21
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gary paulson’s the transall saga was both a weirdly good sci fi book from an author that didn’t really pull from that genre elsewhere, and it also has a title we can all aspire to
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Apr 24, 2024 22:07
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teen witch posted:Technically not a chapter book but I’m ride or die for Uncle Shelby, Shel Silverstein. I remember my mom reading The Giving Tree to me from the library when I was really young, and my grandma got me four of his other books. I was blown. AWAY. When I learned Shel Silverstein had this whole adult side. Eye opening. Fun song about smoking weed: The Smoke Off https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjewmFr9b0Y
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Apr 24, 2024 22:09
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skasion posted:Gordon Korman’s “I Want To Go Home”. Incredibly bored kid repeatedly attempts to escape summer camp. holy fuckin poo poo I'd completely forgotten this one. I remember the narrator being like Watson to this guy's Holmes, if Holmes used his brain to torment camp counselors instead of solve crime. Did anybody else read Beloved Benjamin is Waiting? I remember it freaked me out so badly as a kid, an (abandoned? orphaned? simply neglected?) kid talks to aliens through a gravestone somehow.
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Apr 24, 2024 22:09
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Rat Patrol posted:holy fuckin poo poo I'd completely forgotten this one. I remember the narrator being like Watson to this guy's Holmes, if Holmes used his brain to torment camp counselors instead of solve crime. Yeah it’s awesome, he spends all his time coming up with Calvin-and-Hobbes type pranks. For some reason I really dug books with elaborate pranks as a kid. I used to read this series possibly just called “Boys vs Girls” about two families, all brothers vs all sisters, who have a year long prank war in shitsville middle America. (Don’t dare go back to this one)
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Apr 24, 2024 22:24
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redshirt posted:I was blown. AWAY. When I learned Shel Silverstein had this whole adult side. Eye opening. For me that was Roald Dahl. I wondered why the author I knew for goant peaches and chocolate factories had stories about a hitchhiking pickpocket, a gambler with X-ray vision, and I think about getting beaten up at boarding school.
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Apr 24, 2024 22:51
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The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar was one of my favorite Dahl stories. I loved it so much and read it even more than I reread Great Glass Elevator (which I read a LOT!). I was very happy with the short film adaptation that recently released on Netflix.
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Apr 24, 2024 22:53
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Recently I remembered a book about a school setting up a nativity play and somehow all the actors ended up being about half a dozen kids all from the same family who had a reputation for being troublemakers, and at some point it's revealed they live in a lovely house with neglectful parents - I might be conflating it with a similar story but I think the younger kids all slept inside dresser drawers because there weren't enough beds. I can't recall if any of the other characters actually did anything to help the kids out though, or if it was one of those stories where the only lesson the protagonist learns is that bullies are people too. When going through some old boxes I never unpacked I also found a story about a one-legged bird at a beach, Sandy of Laguna. If I remember right it was inspired by a photo of a real bird but otherwise totally fictional. I don't remember much else about the story itself and only reason I bring it up is because the illustrator is credited as Ben Garrison. I doubt it's the same guy as the political comics artist (the art styles are completely different, though I guess a lot can change in 20-30 years) but I definitely did a double-take when I read the names on the cover. MiracleFlare fucked around with this message at 23:09 on Apr 24, 2024 |
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Apr 24, 2024 23:07
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MiracleFlare posted:Recently I remembered a book about a school setting up a nativity play and somehow all the actors ended up being about half a dozen kids all from the same family who had a reputation for being troublemakers, and at some point it's revealed they live in a lovely house with neglectful parents - I might be conflating it with a similar story but I think the younger kids all slept inside dresser drawers because there weren't enough beds. I can't recall if any of the other characters actually did anything to help the kids out though, or if it was one of those stories where the only lesson the protagonist learns is that bullies are people too. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, by Barbara Robinson. I had no idea until just now that it was from the 70s, and New Zealand. It was a really fun one. Lots of books about school plays gone ridiculous made an impression on me. I think about No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman a weirdly large amount for what was essentially a young adult comedy book, because the jokes in it and situations get so absurd that they were impossible to forget. It starts with a protagonist named Wallace Wallace and goes on with a secondary character who mashes together idioms and climaxes with the entire school putting on an "updated" version of Shiloh where the dog lives, except someone put a bomb on the dog plush and it goes off at the end. 
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Apr 24, 2024 23:14
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Does anyone remember a series of stories that appeared in elementary school literature books about a group of kids being abducted by these aliens they called "pop-eyes" because they had eyestalks? One of the children was deaf, and the planet had some kind of hostile fungus or plant and the kids manage to beat their captors by throwing grass mats over the plastic roadways the plant couldn't usually bypass. It took three years to read because we only got a single chapter in the new book each half-year from grades 4 through 6.
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Apr 24, 2024 23:37
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root beer posted:My daughter is going to be 12 this September, and I have been dreading for years her inevitable middle school experience. Mine was terrible, as most people’s were, but at least I’m a guy and my experience was primarily one of isolation and loneliness. Fortunately, we found out about a public school in our area that focuses on art, so we enrolled her there and her friends will all be going there as well, and I think it’s going to be a place where everyone there is sort of in that outcast weirdo crowd, so there will be a greater deal of commonality—and thus empathy—among them. But good christ I still worry that her adolescence will be like what’s described in that book. There's also been a pretty significant cultural shift in the attitudes toward bullying. Back when those books were written, there were school authorities who literally saw bullying as a part of the learning process. The nail sticking up being hammered down, as they say. It was considered a necessary and even ultimately positive part of growing up. It "built character". There are definitely still elements of this today, but they are far weaker than they were. We are much more aware of different types of bullying now, the effects of it, and even student attitudes toward it aren't quite as cavalier as they once were.
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Apr 25, 2024 00:43
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Erin M. Fiasco posted:The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, by Barbara Robinson. I had no idea until just now that it was from the 70s, and New Zealand. It was a really fun one. Not a book, but these always take me back to that episode of Home Movies where Brendan puts on a show called "Bye Bye Greasy" or something like that and it just goes to poo poo in the most hilarious ways possible.
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Apr 25, 2024 00:44
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Shel Silverstein also wrote a tonne of songs, including Cash's "A Boy Named Sue", plus a tonne for Dr Hook and the Medicine Man Show and a tonne of other songs that got a lot of versions and play. Dude was hella talented.
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Apr 25, 2024 01:00
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syntaxfunction posted:Shel Silverstein also wrote a tonne of songs, including Cash's "A Boy Named Sue", plus a tonne for Dr Hook and the Medicine Man Show and a tonne of other songs that got a lot of versions and play. Sylvia’s Mother is a banger.
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Apr 25, 2024 01:16
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skasion posted:For some reason I really dug books with elaborate pranks as a kid. This sentence brought to mind a book I haven't thought of in decades: Thirteen Ways to Sink a Sub. The premise, as best I remember it: one day at school there's a substitute teacher, and because all kids are little monsters, they compete with each other to do various pranks and torments to try and get her to break down and cry (to "sink the sub", in the local slang). Naturally, the sub is savvier than the kids expect and there's a fun twist ending where she does finally cry, but it's from laughing so hard at something the kids did. (There was a sequel but it must not have been as good because I can't remember much of anything about it.)
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Apr 25, 2024 01:22
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dividertabs posted:The first books in the series were from the perspective of Henry Higgins. His friend and neighbor was Beatrice "Beezus." Beezus's bratty annoying tag-along little sister was Ramona, similar Fudge. Later books switched to focus on Beezus, and then to Ramona. Ellen Tibbets got at least one book too, was good. Full of conflict. I think her antagonists included woolen stockings, and a beet. I wanted a Ribsey when I got older and ended up lucking into one. You can keep your "pure Airedales". Ramona had a good anecdote where she starts yelling that she wants TV loudly over and over because someone mentioned it and she'd recently discovered that when people spell words around her they are describing things they do not want her to have. There was a book about a kid who was from the city and moved to live with his uncle in Louisiana or somewhere in the South. The only thing I can really remember is them going to a restaurant and the grandfather orders a hamburger steak for the kid and the kid asks for bread and doesn't know how to eat it except as a sandwich.
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Apr 25, 2024 02:50
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AvesPKS posted:
Leroy and the old man. Good book
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Apr 25, 2024 02:58
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Powered Descent posted:Across Five Aprils - A family's idyllic rural 19th-century life is torn to loving shreds by the Civil War. We spent like two months on this one in middle school, and I only remember two things from it: (1) The mom had a crippling caffeine addiction to the point where she couldn't give up coffee no matter how slowly she tried to wean herself off it. (2) The kid protagonist refers to the president as "Ol' Abe" in front of his teacher?, who gently 'corrects' his 'disrespect' by saying "It's Mr. Lincoln", after which the narration notes that the protag relived the deep shame of that moment every time he remembered it for the rest of his life. That was a real bummer because I had assumed that laying awake at night dwelling on every misstep I made was a kid thing that I'd outgrow once I had a job and a car and poo poo, LOL, nope. (Also I don't have a car anymore and I barely have a job these days either, so...)
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Apr 25, 2024 15:28
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wesleywillis posted:Leroy and the old man. Thanks! I've been trying to remember that one for years.
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Apr 25, 2024 15:29
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Maniac Mcgee and Spider-Boy GREAT loving BOOKS
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Apr 25, 2024 22:34
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Szyznyk posted:Sylvia’s Mother is a banger. I got to see that live 
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Apr 25, 2024 22:40
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Impossibly Perfect Sphere posted:I've read many of these books much more recently to my kids. And I now assume in books like the Fudge series or Diary of a Wimpy Kid that the older brother is an unreliable narrator, especially when they make the younger sibling sound like a completely psychotic piece of poo poo who gets away with everything. Just think back to when you were that age, and how every slight felt like the greatest injustice ever endured by a human, and it seemed like your parents' always took everyone else's side in any dispute, when in realty you were also a little rear end in a top hat. There was no Fudge. Peter did all of it himself.
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Apr 25, 2024 22:48
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Impossibly Perfect Sphere posted:I've read many of these books much more recently to my kids. And I now assume in books like the Fudge series or Diary of a Wimpy Kid that the older brother is an unreliable narrator, especially when they make the younger sibling sound like a completely psychotic piece of poo poo who gets away with everything. Just think back to when you were that age, and how every slight felt like the greatest injustice ever endured by a human, and it seemed like your parents' always took everyone else's side in any dispute, when in realty you were also a little rear end in a top hat. the kid ate a turtle
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Apr 25, 2024 23:38
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CoffeeBoofer posted:Maniac Mcgee and Spider-Boy Hell yeah Maniac Magee, still have my copy at my parents’ house Also, don’t forget, noted turtle swallower Farley Drexel “Fudge” Hatcher was given a loving mynah bird because he was such a precious smartboy
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Apr 26, 2024 00:07
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AvesPKS posted:Ellen Tibbets got at least one book too, was good. Full of conflict. I think her antagonists included woolen stockings, and a beet. A sugar beet! She had to wear woolen long underwear because she was so skinny, and she tried to hide it under her clothes during ballet lessons. I loved that book.
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Apr 26, 2024 00:08
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AvesPKS posted:Thanks! I've been trying to remember that one for years. I'm pretty sure I have two copies of it somewhere.
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Apr 26, 2024 00:14
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Where the Red Fern Grows is awesome and im glad that rear end in a top hat kid died
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Apr 26, 2024 00:33
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I remember when Out of the Dust was published and became available in our school library. It's an unusual style, entirely blank verse, about a 14 year old girl living in the Texas panhandle during the dust bowl. It's also gruesome in places, since the girl's pregnant mother gets set on fire in a kitchen accident. The whole thing is available as a pdf if you google it. Highly recommend. I can't believe they had us reading that as elementary school kids, but I guess children are resilient and they wanted us to learn Texas history. Daphne's Book was something I randomly picked up at the library because I like the name Daphne. Think about the class weirdo nobody wants to be friends with. Think about getting paired with them for an assignment to write a picture book. Think about eventually coming to like her and being her friend. And then finding out she lives in a run-down farmhouse with her little sister and her grandmother, who has dementia, with no power or water. It's sad as hell but I remember liking it.
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