Willow by Julia Hoban (book review)

I started reading this book and found I could not put it down. It took me six hours to read the 342 pages, and I came away from the experience smiling but feeling vaguely haunted by some of the images the book conjured for me.

This book is as complex as it is simple. It is a character driven story, and the characters are all really robust – you will not find any two-dimentional characters in this book. Even the supporting characters have a depth to them that I have found uncommon in the current genre of teen fiction.

It is no secret from the back cover of the book that the main character is a cutter. If you don’t know what a cutter is you can get more information at this handy-dandy Wikipedia entry on self-injury. If you do know what a cutter is, either from personal experience or from someone in your family, be warned – some of the scenes in the book are graphic, but in a very authentic, respectful way. Nothing over the top or silly, which makes it even more disturbing in some instances but keeps the book grounded. It makes the fiction feel less like fiction and more like it could be based on a true story, which makes the story more compelling.

There is a love story here, as well as a story about family bonds and growth. It is a snapshot into a time period in a girl’s life – a time right after her parents have died and she feels responsible for the accident that took their lives.

It is a powerful, gripping, emotional story of loss and pain and growth and healing.

While this book is aimed squarely at the teen market, I think that the quality of writing and power of the storyline make it a great read for adults as well.

If you plan to give this book to your teen, talk about it with them when they’re finished. Willow is a book that can open the door between you and your teen to talk about the difference between perception and reality. How a teen can feel the world is perceiving them one way and how that can be vastly different from the reality that acutally surrounds them.

It’s a talk no teen wants to have but every teen could benefit from. Willow is the perfect way to have that talk, to keep the lines of communication open. To maybe use Willow’s story to help your teen through a time of healing he or she may be going through right now – to help them understand pain isn’t forever.

A Silly but Effective way to get Toddlers to Clean

I use songs the most when the girls are cleaning.

Convincing a two and three year old to clean is difficult enough. Keeping the momentum going to clean a whole room is almost impossible! Songs are a way that we all have fun while cleaning.

Our favorite is sung to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star:

Clean up, clean up, little girls
With your bouncing hair and curls
Putting all your toys away
To mess them up another day

Clean up, clean up, little girls
Bouncing hair and curls and twirls

This always gets the kids smiling and they like to put extra “bounce” into the bouncing hair and curls line. Occasionally they decide to pretend they are hopping bunnies and I have to corral them back to finish the playroom. It’s worth it, though, because bunnytime is adorable. Plus, I don’t mind if they take breaks now and then as long as they come back and finish what they started.

They’re fantastic and I love singing with them.

One song they haven’t learned yet is “Beans, beans, the musical fruit…:” I guess that’s a good thing because I found out from the Bush’s website today that beans aren’t a fruit, but a vegetable. Personally, I was under the impression they were Legumes and that those were different from veggies. Shows what I know!

If you want to participate, Bush’s is going to send a lucky winner to NYC to sing their song in Times Square! Visit the Bean Chant site to participate in the Magical Veggie Challenge and you could be meeting Drew Lachey!

If i were to rewrite the “Beans, beans, the musical fruit…” song so it was correct it would go a little something like this:

Beans, beans, are not a fruit
This vegatable has protein to boot
The more you eat, the better you feel
So eat your beans at every meal!

See, you could totally do better than that!

This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as an entry for a contest sponsored by Bush’s Beans.