Movie Minute: Being Told Off by a Four-Year-Old

My four-year-old sister Anne tells me off in front of the camera!!! There is definitely some attitude going on here!

Movie Minute: KONY 2012

This is the most important video you will see this year! Watch It!

43. Aquamarine

Book 43: Aquamarine by Alice Hoffman (B-)

I really did expect more from this novella. After reading the praise of the author on the back cover, I thought the tale was going to be an explosion of description, beautiful adjectives, and such detail! But really... Hoffman uses the same adjectives and descriptions so much that they lose their magic. At the end, I shrugged and thought, "Well, I got another book out of it for my goal." There was nothing magical about it.
Two girls are spending their last summer together before one moves away to Florida with her grandparents. One night a horrible storm rocks their coastal town, and a mermaid is washed into the local swimming pool. The girls help her find true love during her brief time in a club's swimming pool. The mermaid, Aquamarine, wasn't some fantastical creature from the ocean's beauty. She was actually spoiled and snobbish. The character wasn't at all fascinating as the girls thought she was. Aquamarine was quite plainly a b____!
This book excelled in its beautiful blue-inked sketches at the beginning of every chapter. They were the spark the text was lacking. I looked forward to seeing what sketch would appear on the next chapter more than I anticipated the plot of the book.

Chapter 1's illustration

I think the story is better written for young readers. While it was in the young adult section that sported popular fiction like The Vampire Diaries and some twisted supernatural college-appropriate stories, the novel is clearly meant for middle schoolers. I was surprised it in the young adult section, because isn't there a popular family friendly movie about this little book? Well, young adult or not, it deserves to be in the juvenile section.
If you're looking for a quick read or a new bedtime story for the kiddies, this is definitely the book that spark their imaginations. It has a simple plot that won't give nightmares, and it teaches important values like friendship and courage. Looking at the novel from a young reader's viewpoint, I was impressed, but definitely 14 or younger.

7. A Child Called "It"

Book 7: A Child Called "It" by David Pelzer (A+)

Wow...
Just wow...
This book is the first part of a trilogy that tells the first hand account of David Pelzer's childhood where he was mentally, emotionally, and physically abused by his mother. It went on for years. According to the back cover, it was "one of the most severe child abuses cases in California history."
I have never been so distressed and horrified by what an adult human being could do to a child. Unfortunately, I was not able to finish the story and learn how David escaped because that is in part two The Lost Boy.
To read this book, you need two things: a strong stomach and a hard heart. I can't believe I didn't cry or sob hysterically. Probably because it was so surreal, so horrendous that I haven't been able to fully process it all yet. The book was so realistic in its accounts that I couldn't put it down. In fact, I read the whole thing in less than a day.
The mother in this story changed overnight and began attacking one of her boys. And there was nothing anyone in the family could do about it. David was not allowed to play or even look at his brothers. He was called horrible, vile names and told that he'd never amount to anything. He was hardly ever given food, and once, his mother starved him for ten consecutive days. She poisoned him with a mixture of clorox and ammonia. She purposefully left pork in the fridge for weeks so that when she threw it out and her son ate it from the garbage for want of food he would get food poisoning. She stuffed and smeared his baby brother's soiled diaper in his face and told him the eat its contents. The horror goes on from there...
The will of that child and how he has manged to lead a completely normal life now is unbelievable to me. It's more than an inspirational story... it's something that I can't even wrap my head around. Honestly, I have no idea what thoughts I have about this book because I am so... just so... I can't even express it. I don't know if I could survive if I had been David nor do I know how I could survive if I had been one of his brothers and had watched that happen to Kate or Anne every day. I was actually more shocked by how the father and brothers just allowed the mother to do that to their own blood than I was by what the mother was actually doing to the child.
I have no idea what else to say... just I can't believe that could happen to a child. I can't believe that can happen in our society.

I just lost another shred of my innocence.

Random Memory: Dance

One of my favorite things to do is to reminisce. Lately, this memory has been popping into my head.

* * *

Kate took a year of dance before I did. I was jealous of her mostly because she got a trophy at the end. The next year, I took a combo class of jazz, tap, and ballet. The trophy totally wasn't worth it as I recall.

Often when Kate danced, Ma and I would wait in the little side room with the other mothers for their child to finish the 45-minute-or-so class. It was like a walk-in closet jammed with chairs.

That day I had to sit on the floor next to Ma's chair which was closest to the door. From my spot, I could watch the younger dance class practice, which had a bunch of blonde girls and one poor boy who looked miserable. Ma was in the chair grading papers for her high school biology course... or maybe it was 7th grade science?! The other moms were quietly reading, staring into space, or messing with whatever.

Suddenly, Ma let out a strange, LOUD cackle! If you've ever heard my mom laugh, you know she can really let it fly. She has this giddy cackle that can be heard for miles! And that's exactly what she did that day.

The other mothers immediately froze. I nearly jumped out of my skin from fright. We all stared at her.

When she finally noticed the rest of us, Ma continued to laugh.

"I'm grading my class's test papers," she said.

Apparently, one of them was either really dumb or really sarcastic and had written something completely outrageous. At that point in my life, I probably didn't get a high school science problem or why someone's answer would be funny in comparison to that problem. Back then, all I wanted was to play; I hated school! Which would explain why I don't remember what my mom told the women that day. It was Greek to me!

The rest of the room laughed, maybe a few out of politeness because it went over their heads, too. Then, the "closet" returned to quiet until it was time to gather up the dancers for home.

* * *

I don't know why I remember this simple story so vividly. I'm not even sure Ma will remember what I'm talking about after she reads this post. I guess it's because that was one of the few times I saw my mom as the center of attention of a larger group of people, particularly women.

Growing up, Father and Ma never had any parties at the house or went out with a large group of people, leaving Kate and me with babysitters. If there was ever a group they socialized with, it was when their Bible study group at Cook's Presbyterian Church started reading the Bible chapter by chapter and supposedly grew closer. Suddenly, all they were talking about was what this chapter meant and what So-and-So and Jane were doing. Even then, I never saw those interactions; I merely heard about them secondhand. Ma never had cocktails with the other lady teachers on a Wednesday; Father never spent a night out of the week to skip family dinner to hang out with his work office in Charlotte at a sports bar. It wasn't because we couldn't afford it. They just didn't. It was one of those things that we all shrug at because that's just how it was.

I'll probably always remember that day of Kate's dance class, and I'll probably never figure out why I remember it. It's just one of those random memories.