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cxffee_addxct's review
5.0
This is the first time I've picked up this book since I was a child, and I forgot how much I loved this book until now. This is the one children's book I remember from my childhood and I had convinced myself that I'd imagined this book because no one else I knew remembered it or knew what I was talking about, but reading it again brought it all back for me. This book makes me feel some sort of unadulterated, childlike happiness that I haven't felt in a number of years, and it makes me nostalgic for the years when I could run around, climb trees, read in the sunlight and not have to be worrying about every responsibility I was ignoring to be able to relax. Thank you to my friend Em for giving me this book because I adored being able to read it again and I look forward to being able to keep it so I can give it to my own children eventually.
midwifereading's review
4.0
I loved it. It's sweet, a little melancholy, and utterly wholesome. It made me smile. That's about it. ❤
rereader33's review
2.0
2022 April It's Raining Rereads Reading Challenge
Prompt: reread a book you gave 3 stars
Bumping this down from 3 to 2 stars.
I was pretty excited to reread this since it had been about two decades since I last read it, but this was incredibly disappointing. The story was way, WAY too short for the story its trying to tell and the topics it covers. Because of this, the topics feel liked they're just dropped into the story with little to no thought put into them. It's just, "here's a character who's grieving," "here's a character that went to jail," "here's a character that's a recovering alcoholic," and that's it. No depth, no discussion, nothing. And the characters that these topics are attached to have about as much depth to them as well.
Also, on top of all that, Opal is bullied by these two boys who are saying nasty things about one of her friends, so she insults them back. Guess who is told by TWO SEPARATE ADULTS on TWO SEPARATE OCCASIONS to apologize? You guessed it, Opal! I absolutely HATE this, this idea that "oh, I get that you're a victim of bullying, but you MUSN'T EVER fight back," and the victims almost always have to apologize despite, you know, fighting back after being bullied. As someone who was bullied most of their life and has had this exact thing happen to them most of the time, it infuriates me that they put this in kids books and think its okay. SPOILER ALERT, NO IT ISN'T! Please don't promote this behavior, you're only punishing and further victimizing the victims and rewarding the bullies.
Anyway, this was a disappointing reread since I remember having such fond memories of it as a kid. Oh well, time's change and people change with them. I'll stick to Dicamillo's more whimsical books from here on out.
Prompt: reread a book you gave 3 stars
Bumping this down from 3 to 2 stars.
I was pretty excited to reread this since it had been about two decades since I last read it, but this was incredibly disappointing. The story was way, WAY too short for the story its trying to tell and the topics it covers. Because of this, the topics feel liked they're just dropped into the story with little to no thought put into them. It's just, "here's a character who's grieving," "here's a character that went to jail," "here's a character that's a recovering alcoholic," and that's it. No depth, no discussion, nothing. And the characters that these topics are attached to have about as much depth to them as well.
Also, on top of all that, Opal is bullied by these two boys who are saying nasty things about one of her friends, so she insults them back. Guess who is told by TWO SEPARATE ADULTS on TWO SEPARATE OCCASIONS to apologize? You guessed it, Opal! I absolutely HATE this, this idea that "oh, I get that you're a victim of bullying, but you MUSN'T EVER fight back," and the victims almost always have to apologize despite, you know, fighting back after being bullied. As someone who was bullied most of their life and has had this exact thing happen to them most of the time, it infuriates me that they put this in kids books and think its okay. SPOILER ALERT, NO IT ISN'T! Please don't promote this behavior, you're only punishing and further victimizing the victims and rewarding the bullies.
Anyway, this was a disappointing reread since I remember having such fond memories of it as a kid. Oh well, time's change and people change with them. I'll stick to Dicamillo's more whimsical books from here on out.
delaney253's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
readingrambles's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
egrullon12's review
5.0
I adored this book!! I had never read it. I read it to the kids (6&4) and we finished it in 5 sittings! They begged for one more chapter. Honestly, I could have probably read it in one shot if I didn't need to cook and such ha! There were some heavy themes and some beautiful discussion points. We even got into a long discussion on the Civil War! If you haven't read this one don't wait! <3