Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by The Housework Can Wait and Never too fond of Books.

Once more in the grip of a winter storm, in an uncharacteristically cold and snowy winter, with the winter Olympics dominating the television, I am led to think of winter-themed books from my youth.

There was, of course, the classic Mary Mapes Dodge book Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates. Kind of apropos as the Dutch seem to be winning all the speed skating medals.

But then I liked Elizabeth Ladd's Indians on the Bonnet and Walter D. Edmonds' Drums Along the Mohawk a large part of which was set in winter on the American frontier.

Finally, I was a big fan of Jack London's two classics: the short novel White Fang and the short story "To Build a Fire". I remember one winter as a boy taking my Red Flyer and pretending I was a musher in Alaska. My imaginary dogs didn't pull too well unfortunately.

Are there more modern, winter-based books, you would recommend?

Throwback Thursday - Harriet the Spy

In honor of the last Thursday in Women in Literature Month, I'd like to remember one of the first strong female protagonists (and a stellar female author). Harriet the Spy was a book I got as part of a book club my parents subscribed me to. They took the base two books every month, no matter what they were; I had no choice. And I devoured every one that came.

Harriet was the first female protagonist I remember. She was precocious, smart, and energetic. She made mistakes and learned from those mistakes. I read the book three times the first year. I felt her pain and could see in the relationship of Sport, Janie, and Harriet the interactions of some of my friends and myself.

Unfortunately Louise Fitzhugh had died by the time I read Harriet and I did not read any of her other novels. However, she and Harriet are rightfully judged "a milestone in children’s literature" (Neva Grant, NPR 2008).

Anyone else love Harriet as a kid?