The Giver by Lois Lowry

The Giver by Lois Lowry is another dystopian novel. While I was reading the book, I was reminded of Anthem by Ayn Rand, Divergent by Veronica Roth, Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. In The Giver, sameness is valued, and there is no place for anything that’s different. In the community where the story takes place, the weather is the same every day, the people dress the same, and everyone is expected to be the same. Those who are sick are released, and when you get very old, you are released as well. When you are born, you are given a number and you do not receive your name until you attend the special ceremony. If you do not develop at the same rate as babies your own age, you are released.

Your spouse is selected for you, and they pair men and women who balance each other. At about eight years old, children begin volunteering, and they are closely monitored so that when they are 12 years old, their vocation in life is chosen, based on what they have an affinity for. There are four people in the family, a father, a mother and a boy and a girl. When the children grow up and leave home, the father and mother are placed in a Home for Childless Adults, and when they become old, they are placed in the House of the Old.

A husband and wife do not procreate. There are special women for that role. The women who procreate, are important for three years when they bear children, after which, they are relegated to positions that others look down on. Whenever you get to an age where you have sexual urgings you have to take pills to suppress the feelings.  This is a perfect world, where members of the community are under control. There are no diseases and no war. You do not have choices, and every member in the community has a specific role.

When children are 12 there is a big ceremony – The Ceremony of Twelve – and they learn what their future vocation will be. Eleven year old Jonas is different because he can see beyond. Every so often he gets a glimpse of something that is inexplicable to him. For instance, he sees a red apple, and that is unusual because there is no color in that society. Everything is the same, no deviation. At the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas is excited yet anxious because he has no inkling of what his vocation will be. All the 12 year olds sit together in the order of the number they are given at birth. One by one, the tweens are going on stage as their numbers are called, but when it comes to Jonas they skip over his number. This causes him great anxiety, and embarrassment to his family.

After they have assigned all the 12 years olds their vocation, the Chief Elder, the leader of the community, apologize, to everyone and explains why Jonas has been skipped over. It turns out that Jonas is being given a special role. He will be the next Receiver in the community. The Receiver is the keeper of all knowledge. He is the only one who knows the history of the world, long before the community morphed into the way it now is. Jonas will receive special training and the present Receiver will transfer all his knowledge to Jonas. The Receiver holds an important position in the community, and that is a lot to place on the shoulders of one person.

Although residents of the community should be truthful at all times, the Receiver is allowed to lie, and also has access to all information. Jonas’ father is a nurturer, so he cares for the baby. There is a baby boy who is not developing very quickly and will likely be released. His father takes the child home with him to get extra care with the hope that it will aid his development. The father commits a crime, which is looking at the name of the child before the ceremony. The baby’s name is Gabe.

Jonas starts to get his training from the Receiver who starts to transfer his knowledge to the boy. As he transfers knowledge he feels lighter, and less like Atlas who carries the world on his shoulder. After one year of receiving knowledge, Jonas gets to experience virtual snow and rain, sees a sled, and learns that life exists outside their community. And for the first time, he has access to books. He also experiences pain for the first time and learns that release means death. He actually sees a video of his father injecting a baby and killing it, simply because the baby was not developing as quickly as is expected. Jonas realizes that his father has been lying to him.

The Receiver is very much like Jonas. He doesn’t like what is happening in the community but he believes he is too old to make a difference but Jonas can. The two hatch a plan for Jonas to leave the community, because if he does, the knowledge will go to the people and their eyes will open. It will be painful for them, but they will manage and the community will grow stronger because of the forced change. One night Jonas stays overnight at the Receivers place so they can plan Jonas’ escape. When the boy returns home the next day he learns that Gabe will be released because he fusses when he doesn’t get the extra nurturing. Jonas has been transferring some of the images that were transferred to him to calm the baby.

Jonas realizes that he has to leave earlier and take Gabe to save him. He steals his father’s bicycle because it has a child’s seat and he and the toddler leave the only community they know. They travel during the night and hide during the days because a helicopter is searching for them. The escape is very difficult and perilous. They are hungry and experience real snow, but they are not equipped for the cold. Jonas sees a sled and recognizes it, and he and Jonas ride down the hill on it. They are close to starvation, but at some point, Jonas sees beyond and knows that they are going to be okay, and the story ends.

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry is the second part of the Giver trilogy. Unfortunately, Jonas and Gabe are not mentioned, so you are left wondering what happened to them. The story focuses on Kira. We are not sure of Kira’s age – she could be a pre-teen because her name has two syllables – but she has a disability – one of her feet is turned inwards so it makes walking very difficult. Her mother Katrina has just died and Kira has to wait in the Field of Leaving for four days until the spirit of her mother moves on. Kira is now an orphan, her father was killed by a beast when he was out hunting before she is born.

In the society in which Kira inhabits, they do not care for the weak, and in fact she should have been killed because she was born with a disability. They believe in giving back imperfect children to the earth. Her mother was a strong woman who resisted the leaders taking away her baby daughter, and since Kira’s grandfather had once been an esteemed leader and was still living, they left Kira alive. In addition, before her father died he was slated to be a member of the powerful Council of Guardians.

Although Kira and her mother were poor, they always found a way to manage and take care of themselves. Katrina was a weaver and taught the craft to Kira, but the mother could see that her daughter would become a much greater weaver than she ever could be. Now that Katrina has died as well as her grandfather, it will be very difficult for her to survive in a society that shuns those who they perceive as being weak. While she is away in the Field of Leaving, they burn her things so as not to spread any illness. She is worried about what will become of her. While she is away, her young friend Matt secures some of her things for her and he is waiting to see what will become of her, if the community will send Kira to the Field of Beast.

When Kira leaves the Field of Leaving and returns to the spot where she lived with her mother, Valdana, the instigator, and other women are already plotting the girl’s demise. Kira reminds them that they cannot harm her, they have to seek the advice of the Council of Guardians. Kira is summoned to the Council and so is Valdana, who makes her case against the girl. The Council asks Kira if she wants to speak on her behalf or get a council member to defend her. She opts for a council member and Jamison acts on her behalf. For each claim that Valdana makes against Kira, Jamison admits that it is true, but he counters with exceptions to the rules.

Kira wins the case, and she is told to get her things. She meets Matt, and he gives her the things that he secured for her before they were burned, one of which is a necklace that her father gave to her mother. Matt helps her to move, but she doesn’t have many possessions. She later learns that she is moving into the federal building. Kira’s life is transformed, and now she has access to indoor plumbing, she didn’t know that such a thing exists. Living in the building is also Thomas the carver. It’s interesting because the two have very unique gifts – Kira’s thread sings and speaks to her, and she is able to see ahead, and so does the wood that Thomas carves.

The Council of Guardians spares Kira’s life because they need her gift as a weaver to repair and complete the robe worn by the Singer. The robe is important to the community because it houses the history of mankind, and the Singer also has unique gifts like Kira and Thomas and once a year at a public gathering, he sings their history. The Council of Guardians is very cunning, and what they want to do is to manipulate history instead of allowing it to unfold, and they need Kira to weave in the untouched section of the robe.

Kira hasn’t yet learned the art of dyeing, so they send her to an old woman, Annabella, who taught Katrina how to dye. Annabella has four syllables which represents four generations of wisdom. The old woman teaches Kira a lot, and Matt often walks with her to Annabella’s cottage. Kira learns a lot, and she finds out that it is difficult to make blue, and that blue is plentiful in another community and points her finger in the direction. Girls are not allowed to learn to read and write so Thomas writes down all the information that Kira learns from Annabella each day. And watching Thomas, Kira learns to write and read. Kira often talks about beasts killing people to Annabella who tells her more than once that there are no beasts.

Kira has to balance learning while mending the robe because Jamison wants it to be completed before the gathering. Each day he inspects what Kira has done and he is pleased and recognizes that Kira is a lot better than her mother Katrina. One day she tells him that Annabella says there is no beast because she is confused since her mother was told that a beast had killed her husband. After she tells Jamison what Annabella said, the next day she learns that Annabella has died. This is upsetting.

Thomas and Kira discover Jo, a small girl who is also in the federal building. She is locked up in the basement. Jo has a beautiful voice, like a bird, and lyrics come to her naturally, so she too has their special gift. Kira starts to realize that the Council of Guardians wants the three because of their gifts, and she realizes that they killed her mother to get access to her.

Kira has always shown love to Matt, unlike all the other people in the community. It is also distressing that children are not valued there and their parents often beat them and they are expected to be seen and not heard. Because of the love that Kira gives to Matt, sharing her food, giving him a bath, he wants to repay her kindness, so one day after he receives a beating from his mom he leaves and go in search of blue for Kira to give her as a gift, but Kira doesn’t know this.

After not seeing Matt for a few days, Kira is very worried and goes to his home which is what we would call a ghetto. She learns from Matt’s younger brother what has become of the boy. Matt returns and with him is an old man, which is Christopher, Kira’s father. She has what she needs to make blue dye. She learns that Jamison tried to kill Christopher because of jealousy. Her father cannot stay because if word gets out that he didn’t die, they would be sure to kill him. Kira learns of the kindness that others showed her father in the community that accepted him.

Her father asks her to return with him, but she promises that she will do so later, because she is needed where she is to make sure that the change takes place. Matt leaves with Christopher, the Seer.

The Messenger by Lois Lowry

The Messenger by Lois Lowry is the third installment of The Giver trilogy. For me, this was the weakest of the three because too many things were unresolved, and I learned that there is a new book out, so the trilogy has turned into a quartet. This story focuses on Matt, now called Matty, who is now living with the Seer, Christopher, Kira’s father. And he is the official messenger for the community. The leader is Jonas, who arrived years earlier. We get the sense that things are much better where Jonas and Gabe came from.

There is only one mention of Gabe who is eight years old and very mischievous. I wondered why Gabe is not living with Jonas, the Leader. Jonas was chosen to be the Leader because he can see beyond.

Over the years, Matty has been taking messages from Seer to Kira and vice versa, but he hasn’t been to his old community in over two years. Matty delivers messages for the Leader, and he loves the home where Leader lives, the ornate stairway and the many books. Matty also discovers that he has a unique gift, the ability to heal, but he keeps it a secret, although keeping secrets are frowned upon in the society.

Recently, there has been a change in the community and Seer and Leader are very concerned. The people are changing and are becoming very selfish and want to close their borders to others. They are becoming inhospitable, even people who were once very charitable. The only change is that a Trade Master has come into town and people are making trades, but no one can see what they are trading. For instance, Mentor is a compassionate teacher who spends a lot of time helping students. He has a birth mark across his face, and is stooped.

Leader and Matty notice that the birth mark is fading, he is more erect and he has lost weight and is now quite trim. His disposition changes, and he is now very mean-spirited, kicking dogs, something that he has never done before. His daughter, who Matty is in love with, also notices the change in her father. One day Matty goes to one of the Trades, and when he returns home, he relates everything that transpired there to Seer. Something sinister is going on at the Trades.

There is a public meeting and the majority vote to close the border. Leader needs Matty to put posters telling others that they are no longer accepting them. And residents in the community who oppose newcomers’ arrival are poised to build a barrier. Seer asks Matty to get Kira who promised that one day she would leave her community to be with her father in his community. Matty has three weeks to get her and return, and deliver the flyers.

Matty knows that Leader can see beyond, and Kira can see ahead, so he wonders if he couldn’t meet Kira half way. When Matty enters the forest he notices that it is changing and when he returns it will probably be the last time he will walk through it. When he gets to Kira, she is expecting him because she is able to see ahead when she weaves. She was also able to see the change in the forest. After they enter the forest, it has changed significantly in only a few days and it is very hostile and tries to kill the two.

Before Matty leaves to deliver the messages and get Kira, Leader tells him that he knows his secret and that he should not squander it. While he is away, Seer visits Leader because he wants to know if his two children are safe, his adopted son Matty, and his daughter Kira. Leader tries to hide the truth from Seer because he can see the danger that Kira and Matty are facing. He finally decides to go to rescue them, but he keeps his departure a secret from everyone except Seer.

The journey is very perilous and it gets to a point where Leader can go no further although he can see them. Matty and Kira are injured and close to death. The air is heavy making it impossible for them to breathe. In their weakened state, Kira decides to weave, which Matty thinks is foolhardy, but she ignores him and sees that someone is coming to rescue them. Matty instantly knows that it’s Leader. He tells Kira that Leader can see beyond.

Matty tells Kira to put her needle into the cloth again so that she may meet Leader half way. Leader’s consciousness meets Kira’s and she tells him that they are wounded. Leader tells Kira to tell Matty that they need his help, the world needs his help. Kira imparts the message, but Matty is in agony and feeling hopeless. Nevertheless, he stretches out his injured hands and touch the earth, and he feels a tingle. He summons his gift and feel the power entering his body, and Matty is able to heal the forest, his friends and the people in his community.

Leader is able to get to them, but he sees Matty’s lifeless body. He lifts up Matty, and they head home. The story ends there.

Son by Lois Lowry

Son by Lois Lowry is the conclusion of the quartet, and she does a good job of wrapping up the Giver series. Son is more than twice the length of the other books, and I am concerned about that. I do not think that it had to be. Lowry devotes a lot of time telling the story of Claire, Gabe’s birthmother. If you remember, Jonas took Gabe away because they were going to kill him because he wasn’t developing at the same rate as the other children in his age group. 

In Son, Lois Lowry starts the story, and we learn that Claire was selected as a birthmother whens he was 12 at the Ceremony. They prepare her body for birthing, and at age 14 she is inseminated. Her pregnancy is different from other birthmothers, and she has to have a caesarean section, which is not normal. After she recovers, she is transferred to the Hatchery because she is unsuitable for the role of birthmother, but no one remembers to give her pills to suppress all human emotions. Claire learns that her son is number 36 and she goes to the Nurturing department and starts to develop a relationship with her son, but this is done in secret.

We are taken to the time when Jonas leaves with Gabe and they are searching for them and cannot find them. Claire is devastated and stumbles on the riverboat that delivers supply. We know that there is a storm, and somehow Claire is rescued from drowning and awake in another place suffering from amnesia. She knows her name but nothing else. Alys, an old lady, the community healer and midwife, takes her in because she has always wanted a daughter.

Claire gains strength, and every now and then get bits of her memory back. She goes out with Alys on calls and starts to learn about herbs, healing and midwifery. She remembers that she had a son, and she tells Alys, but while she is talking some girls hear the story, and not knowing any better they tell others and soon the whole village knows and some people ostracize her and refuse to have anything to do with her. Clair is intent on finding her son Gabe.

It’s difficult to get off the island so Einar who had successfully completed the trip trains her. As the story unfolds we learn that Einar encountered the Trademaster who we learned about in Messenger and Matty gave up his life to undo the damage that he did in the community. Einar would not submit to the Trademaster and was harmed for his opposition – he has a physical disability. Einar and Claire form a friendship and although it is not explicitly stated we know that he has grown to love her.

Claire trains for years until she has the strength to undertake the trip. Einar tells her that there is a man who will approach and whatever he asks for, she should say yes and he tells her about his experience. Einar tells Claire when she is ready for the trip. The trip is not easy, and she is injured by a bird, but she makes the difficult trip. The Trademaster appears and to get to find her son she has to trade her youth. Claire will do anything to see Gabe again. As she starts on her journey to where her son is living, she ages incredibly fast.

For years she watches Gabe, and he notices her but she never approaches him. Gabe has also discovered his unique gift which he is calling veering. He can go into someone using his mind without them knowing. Over the years, Claire grows weak and is now close to death and decides to confide in Jonas, who is now married to Kira and has two children.

The story is incredible, but Jonas believes Claire. On her deathbed, Jonas is holding vigil and Gabe seeks him tohave a talk. Jonas tells him what Claire told him but the tale is too fantastic for the teenager to wrap his head around. Jonas asks Mentor to tell Gabe about the Trademaster and he does. At that time, Gabe discovers that trades are reversible. They have to act quickly if they want to save Claire.

Jonas has been losing his power to see beyond because he doesn’t really need it and it also saps too much of his energy. For one final time, he uses it to see where the Trademaster is located so that Gabe can seek him. Jonas tells Gabe that he has to use his power to finally kill the evil man. When Gabe is going after the Trademaster he realizes that he cannot kill anyone.

We get to the point where Gabe and the Trademaster meet. For a while Gabe forgets what Jonas tells him, then he remembers to use his power so he goes into the Trademaster and discovers that he is hungry – Trademaster feeds off his trades. Gabe tells him of his failed trades and the Trademaster starts to disintegrate because it isn’t human, but pure evil. As the Trademaster disappears into the earth Claire grows stronger and her aging is reversed. The story ends when she is a young woman and waiting for Gabe who is now walking toward her.

In the Son, Lois Lowry does a good job, but I am not quite satisfied with the ending, there are still a few loose ends for me. We learn that Claire is in love with Einar, and I suppose we can guess and conclude that they get together creating our own ending. But was the harm that the Trademaster delivered to Einar also reversed when Gabe used his power? Einar deserves happiness after the way he suffered at his father’s hand while growing up.

What are your thoughts on The Giver quartet? Please write your comments in the box below. Book links are affiliate links.

1. The Worlds of Lois Lowry 3-Copy Boxed Set (The Giver, Messenger, Gathering Blue), Son
2. Divergent, Insurgent (Divergent Series Box Set)
3. The Wrinkle in Time Quintet Boxed Set (A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, An Acceptable Time)
4. Anthem
5. Fahrenheit 451: A Novel
6. Herland (Dover Thrift Editions) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

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This week, we have stopped in a little place in the US called Dystopia. Dystopian literature is very popular today, and today we are looking at A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, and tomorrow The Giver quartet. In case you haven’t noticed it yet, the majority of the books that I have mentioned on the unofficial leg of the tour, including the books this week, are children’s books, so the rest of the tour is primarily devoted to books written with adults in mind.

Big Lessons from A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle

1. You can achieve far more than you think: Meg Murry was reluctant to embark on the heroine’s journey to release her father, not because she didn’t love him, but she didn’t believe that she had the capacity to do so.
2. A small group of committed people can make a difference: Meg, her brother Charles Wallace and schoolmate Calvin O’Keefe, with the assistance of Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who and Mr Which, were able to release Mr Murry, a government scientist being held on the planet Comazotz. Margaret Mead’s quote comes to mind. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
3. You don’t know everything: This advice was given to Charles Wallace Murry – the five year old genius – before he travelled to Comazotz with the other two children to release his father. He didn’t heed the advice and IT the large brain took over his mind. This may seem like an extreme example, but the day we  start thinking that we know everything, is the day that we are doomed.
4. You have superpowers: We have latent superpowers that we are unaware of, but we can call on them when we are in a tight spot. Don’t be afraid to act when you find yourself in a tight corner, you’ll be amazed by what you can accomplish.

 Summary of Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle is a science fantasy novel first published in 1962. The story revolves around Margaret Murry (Meg) who is 13 years old and has brilliant parents, but doesn’t apply herself in school so she is in danger of failing. Meg wears glasses and braces and others view her as somewhat of a misfit. Meg gets along very well with her five yearold brother Charles Wallace Murry, a super-genius, who has the ability to see inside people’s minds. She has also has 10 year old twin brothers, Sandy and Dennys, who are very athletic.

Her father, a government physicist, has been missing for over a year. It is a rumored that he left his beautiful wife, who is also a scientist, and their four children for another woman. Meg’s father vanished while working on a project called tesseract, which is going from the fourth dimension to the fifth.

Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who, and Mrs Which live in an abandoned house nearby. While Meg and Charles are going to meet Mrs Whatsit, they encounter 14 year old Calvin O’Keefe, who attends Meg’s school and is a couple of years older than her. Calvin gets what he calls compulsions to do certain things, and he usually goes with the feeling and that’s why he meets Charles and Meg – he was led to that spot. The trio with the dog, Fortinbra, continues on to Mrs Whatsit. They learn that Mr Murry needs their assistance, but the time is not quite right for them to rescue him.

A short time thereafter, Meg, Charles and Calvin tesser (travel) through time and space to Uriel, the third planet of the star Malak in the spiral nebula Messier 101. They land in a field and are momentarily separated while traveling. They find each other, and Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who, and Mrs Which appear as well. Mrs Whatis is transformed into a beautiful creature with wings made of rainbows. The three children climb on her back, and they fly off to the dark planet of Camazotz where Mr Murry is being held. Comazotz is dominated by the “Black Thing.”

Before Mrs Whatsit leaves the children, the only assistance she can give them is a talisman. “Calvin, your great gift is your ability to communicate with all kinds of people. So, for you, I will strengthen your gift. Meg, I give you your faults…I think you’ll find them handy on Comazotz. Charles Wallace, to you I can give only resilience of your childhood…”

She advises Calvin to listen well, and to Charles, she tells him that he doesn’t know everything, and to Meg she gives her glasses and instructs her to only use them when absolutely necessary. Meg places the glasses into the breast pocket of her blazer. On Comazotz, they notice that the inhabitants behave like they are machines. There is a sameness about the place – everyone rides their bikes in exactly the same manner, they toss a ball the exact way. They appear to be controlled.

The children enter CENTRAL Central Intelligence, which is the planet’s headquarters. They encounter a man with red eyes who has the power to hypnotize them if they look into his eyes. He tries to trick them, but the children heed Mrs Whatsit’s advice and use their gifts. Charles decides to go into the man’s mind to try to locate their father and he is taken over by the mind, and turns against Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who, and Mrs Which.

Comazotz is controlled by a brain called IT with powerful telepathic powers. Charles who is now under the influence of IT takes Calvin and Meg to where his father is being held. Meg is able to get to her father using the special glasses she received from Mrs Whatsit. Mr Murry is finally released. Charles takes them to IT and to escape the being’s telepathic powers, Mr Murry tessers Meg, Calvin and himself off Comazotz through The Black Thing, but Charles is left behind. The experience nearly kills Meg, and they land on a neighboring planet, Ixchel. Meg is frozen and paralyzed. The planet is inhabited by large, sightless “beasts” with four arms and more than five fingers to each waving tentacles. The beasts prove to be wise and gentle, and one of them nurses Meg back to health. Meg names her Aunt Beast.

When Meg’s health returns, they summon the trio of Whatsit, Who, and Which. When they arrive, they task Meg with rescuing Charles Wallace from IT. They cannot physically assist in rescuing Charles from IT, but what they can do is to each bestow upon her a gift. Mrs Whatsit gives Meg her love. Mrs Who tells her to listen and cites a biblical passage. Mrs Which travels with Meg and once again they have to pass through the “Black Thing”. Once again Meg enters the CENTRAL Central Intelligence building. The showdown begins, and by this time IT’s hold on Charles Wallace is even stronger.

Charles Wallace and IT try to play with her mind, but Meg remembers the gift of love, so she starts to project feelings of love toward her little brother until she breaks the hold that IT has on him, and they are able to escape. They return home and only a short time has elapsed since they had left. There is much celebrating when the family is reunited.

You may be thinking that A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quintet) by Madeleine L’Engle is a children’s book and cannot see how it applies directly to your life, but if you read the book thoughtfully, you will find relevant pieces of information that you can use. Jason Falls’ post “The Trick is Applying General Knowledge to Specific Needs supports my thinking on this.” Please add your thoughts in the comment box below. Book links are affiliate links.

When we start to travel from country to country on the Virtual Literary World Tour, book summaries will only be a paragraph in length.

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According to About.com, “A dystopia is society that is broken down, unpleasant, or in an oppressed or terrorized state. Unlike a utopia, a perfect world, dystopias are grim, dark, and hopeless. They reveal society’s greatest fears. Totalitarian governments rule and the needs and wants of individuals become subordinate to the state. In most dystopian novels, a tyrannical government is trying to suppress and control its citizens by taking away their individuality…. Dystopian governments also ban activities that encourage individual thinking.”

Utopia vs. Dystopia

A utopia is an ideal place. “An imaginary island described in Sir Thomas More’s Utopia (1516) as enjoying perfection in law, politics, and so on.” The word dystopia is a combination of the prefix dys, which means faulty and bad, with utopia.

 Dystopian Literature

George Orwell’s 1984 was the first dystopian literature that I read. At the time, I didn’t know there was a name for that genre of literature. I know that the book made me angry, and I was upset that the people who lived in the society didn’t fight hard enough to win their freedoms. But what do I know really? Recently I have been reading more dystopian novels. In the Young Adult grouping, I have enjoyed The Hunger Games trilogy (The Hunger Games (Review), Catching Fire and Mockingjay (Review)), Divergent trilogy (Divergent and Insurgent (Review) so far), Dustlands trilogy (Blood Red Road (Review) and Rebel Heart (Review) so far), A Wrinkle in Time, the first of the quintet, and the Giver quartet (The Giver, Gathering Blue, Messenger and Son). And for adults, I have enjoyed Anthem (Review) by Ayn Rand and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 (Review).

All these books are set in a future time, which is disturbing for people who are living today because the government controls people’s lives. People are told when to go to bed and when to arise. In some of the literature, people have no choice in what they eat. You are not able to choose your own romantic partners, and you procreate at a time specified by the government. In The Giver, the people are given pills to suppress feelings and emotions, and people are selected for the purpose of having babies.

When reading dystopian literature, readers find themselves asking the three questions:

1. What does it mean to be human?
2. What does it mean to be free?
3. What does love mean and what does it mean to love?

Can you be fully human if you have no control over your life – there is no free will? Many died on our behalf so that we might have liberty, what would we be willing to do to keep our freedom? Have you ever been in love, and what lengths would you go to, to be able to love whomever you choose. These are very difficult questions that are worth thinking about. People fight harder to prevent losing something they already have, than they would do to acquire something new. What does this say to us?

What I like about the dystopian literature that I have read over the past four years, is that you have strong heroes and heroines who fight for what they believe it, and the novels often end well – not always – which gives us hope. The other important aspect of these dystopian novels is that the heroes and heroines embark on the heroes’ journey on our behalf. The dystopian novels are mythical, and set in a future time, but can the scenes they paint become a reality in our time. What can we do to prevent that from happening?

Utopian Society vs Dystopian Society

Neither a utopian society nor a dystopian society works. We have to try and work with what we have. Sameness is boring and stifles creativity, what are your thoughts? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. If you enjoyed this post, please share it.

1. The Hunger Games Trilogy Boxed Set
2. Divergent, Insurgent (Divergent Series Box Set)
3. Blood Red Road (Dustlands, Book 1), Rebel Heart (Dust lands)
4. The Worlds of Lois Lowry 3-Copy Boxed Set (The Giver, Messenger, Gathering Blue), Son
5. The Wrinkle in Time Quintet Boxed Set (A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, An Acceptable Time)
6. Anthem
7. Fahrenheit 451: A Novel

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At a Girl Geeks Toronto event I conducted an impromptu interview with Natalie Panek, a mechanical and aerospace engineer.

Avil Beckford: Tell me about yourself.

Natalie Panek: I am an adventurer, next generation space explorer, and advocate for women in science and technology.

Avil Beckford: Please share your thoughts on mentors and the role they play in your life.

Natalie Panek: Mentors are like powerful tools. I was always on the lookout for female mentors when I realized that I had a lot of experience so I could be a mentor to inspire the next generation to go into science and technology. I once heard someone use the phrase, “Lift while you climb,” so I am helping others while I am rising in my career.

Avil Beckford: Looking  at your success, what one step have you consistently taken to succeed in your career?

Natalie Panek: I live peak moments. I am always looking for challenges and opportunities to learn. I constantly learn from my past experiences. I look at my peak moments and use those to propel me forward, and I identify the resources I need to succeed.

Avil Beckford: What are five must-read books?

Natalie Panek:

1. Screw It Let’s Do It, Richard Branson
2. Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains, John Krakauer
3. Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control From Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond, Gene Kranz
4. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
5. Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, Mary Roach

For Those Who May Be Interested in Bout of Books read-a-thon

I am always seeking ways to read the final books for the Virtual Literary World Tour so I have decided to participate in the Bout of Books read-a-thon this week. I commit to reading five books, not sure how I’m going to do it with my workload, but we’ll see. I’m reading Norwegian Wood Publisher: Vintage by Haruki Murakami who is Japanese.

Reading Goal: Books to Read May 13 – 19, 2013

1. Norwegian Wood Publisher: Vintage by Haruki Murakam
2. July’s People, Nadine Gordimer, South African
3. A Jest of God (Phoenix Fiction), Margaret Laurence, Canadian
4. On the Road, Jack Kerouc, American
5. The Laughing Policeman (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard), Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, Swedish
6. The Dew Breaker, Edwidge Danticat, Haitian

May 13, 2013: I read 44 pages of Norwegian Wood

May 14, 2013: I finished reading Norwegian Wood

May 15, 2013: Started reading July’s People. I read 30 pages.

May 16, 2013: I finshed reading July’s People and The Dew Breaker

May 17, 2013: Reading On the Road

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 13th and runs through Sunday, May 19th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 7.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team.

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In your career, there comes a point when you are forced to embark on a hero’s journey. It could be a job loss, or perhaps you are given a large project or promotion, which you perceive does not align with your career objectives and goals. Or you may perceive that you are not qualified for the promotion, or lack the technical skills to work on the project. You have the option to refuse the promotion or the project, but you know that from experience, if you decide to do so, it is career suicide, so you reluctantly accept the promotion. On this career journey, you encounter many challenges and difficulties – your lack of technical expertise prevent you from performing at peak level in the position, or you do not have the resources and tools to perform the role effectively. To keep your reputation intact, as well as step up into the new role, you seek a mentor, someone who guides you on which steps to take to achieve professional success.

Because of the many difficulties and challenges that you face on your career journey, you are forced to find innovative ways of doing things. When you engage with the challenges and difficulties that you encounter, you discover solutions that you never would have found had you not been placed in this situation. Although this career journey isn’t the one you wanted to take, or would have chosen for yourself, you discover that the experience has changed you forever, and you are transformed into what you could become – you grew into the person you never knew you could become. You can continue along the path, or you can teach what you have learned on your career journey to others.

This example may appear extreme to you, but we are constantly called to go on quests in our lives and careers every day, and we turn them down because we do not recognize them. We play it safe in our lives and careers, therefore we never stretch ourselves to grow into who we might become. The hero’s journey and your career journey are one and the same thing. How many times have you had an idea that if executed, would radically change the ways that “things” get done? What prevented you from going on the adventure of implementing the idea? We love to play it safe, but what if we decided that for a change, we will take the road less travelled?

In what ways can you use the concept of the hero’s journey as a guide to embark on a career journey that will stretch you to become the person you were meant to be? Remember that there are countless mentors waiting in the wings to support you. As the saying goes, “When the student is ready, the teacher appears.”

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Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang by Mordecai Richler

Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang by Mordecai Richler is a delightful children’s book that adults should read. The story is told from the perspective of six year old Jacob Two Two, who is called that name because he says everything twice. He is small so whenever he speaks no one hears him the first time so he has to repeat it to make sure that he is heard. Jacob Two Two has four older siblings – two sisters, Emma and Marfa; and two brothers, Daniel and Noah. None of his siblings play with him because they think that he is too small. And whenever he tries to assist his mother, she insists that he is too small.

In the world where the story takes place, children are often arrested on the grounds of insulting behaviour to an adult. One  day, after trying to find someone to play with, and assisting his mom, after being repeatedly turned down Jacob Two Two goes to his father and tells him that he’d like to run an errand. His father tells him that he is too small, but in frustration the lad burst into tears so his father gives him some coins to go to Mr Cooper, the greengrocer to buy two pounds of firm, red tomatoes.

Jacob Two Two is ecstatic, yet frightened. For the first time in his life he is given an errand to run all by his lonesome, and he takes the task seriously. He carefully walks to the greengrocer not very far from his house and asks Mr Cooper for two pounds of firm red tomatoes, and of course we know that Jacob Two Two repeats everything he says, but shopkeeper thinks that the boy is being rude, and when children insult adults they get arrested. Mr Cooper threatens to call the police, but the police appears before he is able to do so and he summons him inside the shop.

The policeman looks down at the young boy menacingly, and Jacob repeats what he wants twice. Mr Cooper demands justice and insists, this boy, “must be charged with insulting behavior to a big person.” The policeman steps closer to the boy who dashes out of the shop running as fast as his little feet will take him. One would think that he would run home to his parents, but no one knows how they will truly respond when they feel fear. Instead, Jacob Two Two heads to the park. He is breathless and tired when he gets there he falls asleep. When he wakes up he finds himself locked in a prison cell.

He doesn’t get his one phone call, not in the world he lives in. Jacob Two Two is appointed a lawyer, Louis Loser and his name needs no explanation. The poor boy is doomed, and it doesn’t help when he appears in court in front of Mr Justice Rough. And people are guilty until proven innocent. The kid doesn’t get a break. He is found guilty, and when the judge is passing the sentence, he says this, “Jacob Two Two, because you are an unredeemed scoundrel, a charlatan, an ingrate, and a smart aleck to boot, I hereby sentence you to two years, two months, two weeks, two days, two hours and two minutes in the darkest dungeon of the children’s prison. I do this for your own good, naturally, it hurts me more than it hurts you.”

The infamous Child Power Duo interrupt the proceedings, and they are feared by many. One of the two is O’Toole who is actually Noah, and Shapiro who is actually Emma. But they do not rescue Jacob Two Two. Instead, they wait until later that day when the boy is in the cell when they tell him that they could have rescued him, but they want to discover the location of the children’s prison. They give him the supersonic bleeper to hide inside his ear. They also tell him to be aware of the Hooded Fang. The place a transmitter in his ear so they can track Jacob Two Two while he is being taken to children’s prison where he will serve his prison term.

Jacob Two Two is locked up in a prison for children, and as the story unfolds, Mordecai Richler, by way of Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang, demonstrates that small children can do the same things that their older siblings are capable of doing, and that we should love our children equally, treating all of them with respect.

Interview With Modecai Richler

Cannot see the video, click Mordecai-Richler Interview

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

If you are looking for a story that moves quickly, then The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon is not the book for you. The story is told from the point of view of a 15 year old, autistic boy, Christopher Boon. When it comes to math, Christopher is brilliant but has problems with language and communicating with others, especially those who are unfamiliar to him. When the story begins, he notices that his neighbour’s poodle, Wellington has been killed with a garden fork.

Christopher decides to investigate to determine who killed Wellington. His father tells him to leave things alone, but anyone who is familiar with someone who suffers from autism, knows that they have a dogged determination. The teenage is also under the impression that his mother died. As the story unfolds, you are taken in to the world of someone with autism, and the story is very realistic. Christopher discovers that his father killed Wellington, so now he believes that his father is going to kill him as well. He also learns that his mother is alive and this confuses him. Christopher decides to go to the address that’s on the letter, to find his mother. He has never done anything like this before. Although, he is scared, and the trip takes him much longer than it would take other boys the same age, he succeeds – he finally arrives at his destination, and this teaches us that we have the capacity to do much more than we think we can.

Mark Haddon Interview by DNA Learning Center

Winnie-the-Pooh by A A Milne

Winnie-the-Pooh (Pooh’s Library: Winnie-The-Pooh, The House At Pooh Corner, When We Were Very Young, Now We Are Six (Pooh Original Edition)) by Alan Alexander Milne is a children’s book and the stories were originally written for his only son Christopher Robin. It is worth mentioning that when Alan Alexander attended a public school run by his father, one of his teachers was the grandfather of science fiction, H G Wells. Winnie-the-Pooh was first published on 1926.

Winnie-the-Pooh is one of those books that you should have read when you were a child. I didn’t, and reading it now I can see why children find the tales so endearing. Edward Bear is Christopher Robin’s toy bear, and AA Milne spins a few tales and transforms the bear into a rotund Winnie-the-Pooh. And his son is also an important character in the tales.

There are 10 tales in the book, and you meet the characters – Pooh, Piglet, Owl, Rabbit, Kanga and his child Roo, and Eeyore – who have very human traits. Pooh is always hungry, and often drinks the honey he intends as a gift. Piglet is very anxious, but becomes braver if he has company. Owl, although he is wise, is very pompous and arrogant. Rabbit is very organized, thoughtful and smart. Kanga is very nurturing, and Eeyore the grey mule is very gloomy and self-pitying, and not someone you want to be around for extended periods of time.

AA Milne’s title for each tale is a summary of what the reader can expect, and we are taken on an adventure around the Hundred Aker Wood with Pooh as he finds himself in various situations. First, he wants to trick the bees so that he gets their honey, so Pooh co-opts Christopher Robin to assist him. You see him travelling up with a balloon, and Christopher shooting the balloon because he is stuck.

In another tale, Pooh visits Rabbit in his warren and consumes so much food, that when he goes up the rabbit hole he is stuck. Christopher stays  and reads him stories for a week, until he loses weight and can go through the hole. In one funny tale, Rabbit wants to drive Kanga and Roo out of the woods because they are new there so he comes up with a plot to substitute Roo and place Piglet in Kanga’s pouch. It’s difficult to execute the plan but they finally succeed. When Kanga realizes that Piglet and not Roo is in her pouch, she knows that Christopher Robin and his friends would never harm her child, so she pretends that Piglet is Roo and this confounds the pig. Kanga has turned the tables on them. After this they are able to coexist harmoniously in the woods.

Eeyore loses his tale and Pooh goes in search to find it. Pooh decides to consult the “wise” owl to figure where and how he can find the tale. The owl had found the tail and not knowing what it was, attached it on to his door. Pooh took the tail to Christopher Robin who nails it back on to Eeyore.

The way Milne presents the stories make them age appropriate and I appreciate that because I can clearly see how children would be entertained – his use of language is superb. As an adult, reading Winnie-the-Pooh by Alan Alexander Milne, the book didn’t really impact me and that’s because it was not written for me in mind. Surprisingly, I found Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, two other books I should have read a long time ago, to be hysterically funny.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl is a rags to riches story. The story has a very strong moral message and on top of that it is fun to read. Charlie lives in a tiny house on the edge of a great town with six adults – his parents, and both his paternal (Grandpa Joe and Grandma Josephine) and maternal grandparents (Grandpa George and Grandma Georgina). They are extremely poor. The tiny house, where the seven of them live has two bedrooms and one bed. The grandparents share the bedroom with the bed, and Charlie and his parents sleep on a mattress in the second room.

The house doesn’t have proper insulation, and the windows are not sealed properly so the cold comes in and rests in their bone. Mr Bucket is the sole breadwinner who is underemployed. He works in a factory and places the cap on tubes of toothpaste. There is never enough food to eat in their household.

Once a year, on his birthday, Charlie receives a chocolate bar, which he eats and savors for an entire month. Despite their poverty, this family understands what is important in life, and they offer love to each other, especially to Charlie who is the light of their lives. The grandparents get through the days thinking about Charlie. When the young boy returns home from school each day, he visits with his grandparents, and Grandpa Joe who is the great storyteller, regales Charlie with many stories.

One day, he tells Charlie a story about Willy Wonka, who owns the best and biggest chocolate factory in the world. And that’s interesting because each day as Charlie passes by the chocolate factory, to and from schools, he breathes in the aroma of chocolate.

According to Grandpa Joe, Willy Wonka had many employees working for him at his chocolate factory, and things were going swell. But his competitors – Fickelgruber, Prodnose, Slugworth – sent their employees as spies to work at Wonka’s factory so that they could steal his secrets. Wonka is very inventive and makes the most delectable candies and instead of his competitors trying to  learn from his example and experiment to create new and wonderful things, they try to take the easy way out by stealing Wonka’s secrets.

Willy Wonka fires all his employees and closes his factory, and for months the factory remains closed. Mysteriously, although employees no longer enter or leave the premises, the factory once again is making candies, and people can see shadows of what appears to be very small people. No one sees Willy Wonka, and this has now been going on for years.

One evening Mr Bucket returns home from work and tells them that Willy Wonk is having a contest that will allow five children to see his factory and learn all his secrets. He runs a contest, and five candy bars will have Golden Tickets inside the wrapper. The five winners will get a supply of candies for the rest of their lives. The next week is Charlie’s birthday, and although the chances are slim that he’ll be a winner, there is still hope.

The next day after the contest is announced, Augustus Gloop wins the first Golden Thicket. For this boy, eating is his pastime, and you can tell when you look at him. Professor Foulbody who resides in England, builds a machine that will be able to sense gold without opening the wrapper. At a demonstration, the machine grabs for the gold in someone’s tooth and the people smashes its arm.

The second winner is Veruca Salt who lives with her wealthy parents. The girl is a spoiled brat and her parents indulge her all the time. When Veruca heard about the contest, she had to have a Golden Ticket so her father bought half a million Willy Wonka chocolate bars, and had his employees stop shelling peanuts for roasting in his  factory and focus on opening the candy bars he bought and that’s how Veruca won.

Charlie gets his chocolate bar for his birthday present and the rest of his family wait with bated breath. As luck would have it, he doesn’t win. One day, Grandpa Joe gives Charlie a dime that he had hidden, and asks Charlie to purchase a chocolate bar to try their luck again. Once again luck is not on their side.

Violet Beauregarde wins the next Golden Ticket. This girl is the gum chewer, and has been chewing one piece of gum for three months and counting. The next winner is Mike Teavee who is addicted to watching TV and the more violent the show, the more he likes it.

Mr Bucket loses his job when the toothpaste factory goes bankrupt. He cannot find a comparable job and starts to shovel snow. The family is starving, and Charlie who is already skinny is losing weight. This family offers to give him some of their meagre food, but the lad says no.

One day while returning home from school, he sees a dollar bill half hidden in the snow. He takes it out, and he is so hungry that he decides to buy a chocolate bar and take home the change to his mother. Charlie buys a chocolate bar and eats it in record time because he is so hungry.  He is not sated and decides to buy another. When he opens the package there is the last Golden Ticket. The shopkeeper gets excited and starts to tell everyone. In no time the shop is packed, and everyone wants to get a glimpse of the ticket. One person offers Charlie $50 for his ticket and another $500. The boy is overwhelmed so the shopkeeper gets him safely outside and instructs him to run straight home, which the lad does.

Charlie’s family is filled with joy at their good fortune. And it is in the nick of time because the five children have to appear at the chocolate factory tomorrow morning at 10:00 am. Charlie’s Grandpa Joe, accompanies him, and this is important because Grandpa Joe has been bedridden for 20 years, and when he learns that Charlie won a Golden Ticket, renewed life returns to him.

Everyone is in awe as they tour the factory because it is a great adventure, and they also see the true inventiveness of Willy Wonka. They also discover who is making the candies – the Oompa-Loompas from Loompaland, a people who are small in stature. As the tour goes on, the children and their parents are brought down because of their vices and hopefully they will learn important moral lessons.

Willy Wonka says he is much older than he looks and since he has no children, he is looking for a successor and that’s why he held the Golden Ticket contest. He doesn’t want an adult because they will want to do things their way. But with a child, he can mentor and mold them in his way of doing things. And in this case, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, because Wonka is constantly stepping beyond the lines and doing the impossible with his candy creations, and that’s why he is miles ahead of his competitors.

Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren

Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren is one of those books that show up on various lists of the must-read books. Pippi is a nine year old girl who lives without adult supervision in her home, Villa Villekulla with her monkey, Mr Nilsson and a horse. Her mother died when she was a baby, and her father fell overboard. Pippi is optimistic that her dad is going to return home and she creates this story that her father is a cannibal king and that as soon as he can build a boat he will come to get her. Her father leaves her a suitcase of gold pieces, and she is able to get what she needs.

Pippi meets her neighbours, a brother and sister, Tommy and Annika, and they have a lot of adventures together. Pippi has fun telling the most ridiculous tales, and although she doesn’t understand boundaries, you cannot help but like her. Obviously if we lived in a world with only people like Pippi, chaos would reign, but if we were a little bit more like her, the world would be a much better place. Pippi rights wrongs, and if we read Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren with an open heart, we’ll be able to discover the many lessons that are there for us to learn.

Astrid Lindgren, interview at her home in May 1989, Stockholm, by Anneli Reigas

Click if you cannot view the Astrid Lindgren interview with Anneli Reigas

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was a pilot, and according to PBS, “Flying his open cockpit biplane, Saint-Exupéry had to fight the desert’s swirling sandstorms,” so it makes perfect sense that he would start of The Little Prince story with a pilot trying to fix his aircraft in the Sahara Desert. Although The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery is a delightful tale for children, it forces us to take a look at ourselves and our motivations for doing what we do.

The narrator who is a pilot was discouraged from being an artist when he was six years old. His plane has crashed in the Sahara Desert. While he is repairing his aircraft, a little boy asks him to draw a sheep. After the pilot gets over his initial surprise he takes the time to draw the sheep.

Through the tale of the little boy, his visits to the various planets where he encounters a king, a conceited person, a lamplighter, drunkard, and geographer we get a look at adults with misplaced priorities. Adults often get things wrong. We are flawed and often do not recognize the important things in life — we get greedy, perform meaningless tasks and pursue the wrong goals.

In The Little Prince, we are reminded that people do not like what they perceive as strange. In the story we are told that an astronomer is discounted because of his Turkish attire. Later when he conducts his demonstration wearing a suit people take him seriously and listens to what he has to say.

Children have the ability to see what is important in life. They understand that what is important is invisible to the eye, and that the eye is blind so you have to look with your heart. They also understand the bonds of friendship.

The conversations between the little prince and the pilot change him, and he is reminded of his childhood and what it was like.

I have taken you on a journey into children’s books, and I hope that you will recognize the lessons that I learned from reading these books. I did not write about the Choose Your Own Adventure books because I had no additional information to add. There are six books in the collection, and based on the choices you make while reading, the outcome of the stories are very different. I am not sure how a reader is supposed to read choose your own adventure books, but I kept on going back and forth to determine how an outcome would change based on a different decision. I found the process exhausting, but a profound lesson for me is that we need to take time to make important decisions, and ensure that we have the information we need to assist us in making the best decision we can.

Please let me know your thoughts on a journey into children’s books in the comments section below. What journey have you taken into the world of children’s books? If you enjoyed this post, please share it.

1. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
2. Pippi Longstocking (Puffin Modern Classics)
3. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 
4. Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang,
5. Winnie-the-Pooh (Pooh’s Library: Winnie-The-Pooh, The House At Pooh Corner, When We Were Very Young, Now We Are Six (Pooh Original Edition))
6. (The Abominable Snowman/Journey Under the Sea/Space and Beyond/The Lost Jewels of Nabooti/Mystery of the Maya/House of Danger (Choose Your Own Adventure 1-6) (Box Set 1),
7. The Little Prince

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Although Winnie-the-Pooh is a staple on the must-read lists, I did not enjoy it, but I can see how children would find it endearing. I liked the choose your own adventure stories and am happy that I read them, but I wouldn’t read anymore because I find the going back and forth – as you see what impact a different decision will have – too draining. Overall the children’s books pack a big punch when it comes to lessons learned.

Tomorrow I will present the summaries of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Pippi Longstocking, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,  Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang, Winnie-the-Pooh, (The Abominable Snowman/Journey Under the Sea/Space and Beyond/The Lost Jewels of Nabooti/Mystery of the Maya/House of Danger (Choose Your Own Adventure 1-6) (Box Set 1), and The Little Prince. Through these books, we are taken to the United Kingdom, Sweden, Canada, the United States and France. There are other books written by authors from these countries that are on the Virtual Literary World Tour, so I will talk about the countries then. I have extracted some lessons on what children’s books can teach us based on my experience reading.

What Children’s Books Can Teach You

1. Resilience: As adults we need to learn to pick ourselves up when life knocks us down. Many children’s books can teach you that.
2. Move through the fear: There are many times when we are scared to do something that’s important because it’s unfamiliar. Experiencing fear is natural, but allowing it to cripple us is not. Children have an abundance of energy and they are unstoppable, we can learn from them.
3. You can do more than you think you can: We set artificial limitations on ourselves so we learn to believe that there are limits to what we can accomplish, and that threshold is too low.
4. Embrace differences: Pippi Longstocking gives each of us permission to celebrate the differences in ourselves, whether or not the majority agrees with what we are doing.
5. Nothing lasts forever, not even our troubles: I was reminded of this lesson while I was reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
6. Focus on the things that really matter: As adults we are constantly busy, but busy with unimportant stuff. We often lose sight of the things that really matter in life.

The fascinating thing about the Virtual Literary World Tour is that I am being introduced to many books and cultures. And by way of this blog, you too will be introduced to a variety of books and cultures. At the end of the tour, using my analysis skills, I will attempt to pull together the overall major themes that emerged from reading all the books. When people hear about what I am doing to heal my broken heart, they are fascinated, and the main thing they are interested in learning, is the major lessons that I can pass on to others. I cannot adequately answer this question yet since I am reading until the end of May.

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. If you enjoyed this post, please share it.

1. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
2. Pippi Longstocking (Puffin Modern Classics)
3. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 
4. Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang,
5. Winnie-the-Pooh (Pooh’s Library: Winnie-The-Pooh, The House At Pooh Corner, When We Were Very Young, Now We Are Six (Pooh Original Edition))
6. (The Abominable Snowman/Journey Under the Sea/Space and Beyond/The Lost Jewels of Nabooti/Mystery of the Maya/House of Danger (Choose Your Own Adventure 1-6) (Box Set 1),
7. The Little Prince

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I am taking the Gamification course because I am looking for ideas on how to make The Invisible Mentor blog more interactive. I saw two other courses which I have signed up for as well. In the Gamification course, there are over 60,000 people signed up from all over the world, so this makes it impossible for a professor to mark your assignments. I uploaded the homework assignment, and part of the process is that you have to mark each other’s assignments – I had to mark five assignments as well as rate my own assignment. I quickly realized that I have absolutely no interest in grading assignments.

Effectiveness of Massive Open Online Courses

Forums are also a big part of Massive Open Online Courses, and I must admit that I always have intentions of participating in forums but seldom do. I have yet to visit the forum for the Gamification course. I am sure that some will find Massive Open Online Courses to be effective learning tools, but how much of what you learn in such an environment, do you retain. In a recent article in New York Times, in reference to a course on Coursera, the writer commented that although the instructor was great, he didn’t retain the information. I think that I will retain the information from the Gamification course simply because I have more than a fleeting interest in it, and because I have bought the professor’s book, For The Win (my review), and I have three additional books to read on the subject.

I recently attended the webinar, Can Game-Based Learning Improve Learning Impact? offered by Chief Learning Officer. And it turns out that online learning is not as effective as game-based learning. Game-based learning also has a higher retention rate of course information because the learner spends a lot of time doing. For instance, in traditional online courses, you spend about 80 percent of the time learning the information and 20 percent of the time doing assignments – applying what you have learned. With game-based learning, 10 percent of the time is spent on learning the information, and 90 percent of the time applying what you have learned. In summary, engagement, skill proficiency, post-training confidence, retention of learning skills and application of newly acquired skills are higher for gamed-based learning courses than for online learning courses. Wikipedia offers some statistics on Massive Open Online Courses.

Formula for Game-Based Learning

Gamification + Simulation = Game-Based Learning

I think that Massive Open Online Courses have a place, especially if you have an interest in a topic, but if you are thinking of taking a Massive Open Online Course, which has information that is critical for the work you do, to make sure that you get the most from your learning, immediately apply what you learn to increase the amount of information that you retain.

Top Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

You can find a list at About.com

What has been your experience with Massive Open Online Courses? Please write your comments in the box below. Book links are affiliate links.

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So I haven’t accomplished much in two weeks, really, if I am going to achieve the goal of reading 70 books in total by authors from 30 countries by May 31, 2013. And to top it off, I haven’t mastered the technology piece which will bring the project to life. I asked the professor what software she would recommend for me to get unstuck. I found a software, Wrike, that I wanted to use, and attended a webinar to learn how to use it. After 10 minutes on the call, I realized that the webinar wouldn’t assist me because I have never used any project management software before so I don’t have the fundamentals. That’s why I always say to make sure that you master the fundamentals before building on it. The problem is not with Wrike, the issue is that I do not have the time or energy to be learning so many new things to successfully complete the Virtual Literary World Tour.

Surprisingly, although we are living in a technology age, the professor did not recommend any software to solve my being stuck in a rut with the project. We talked about the big picture of what I was trying to accomplish, what big items I hadn’t completed as yet, and we started to work our way backward. Ever heard of Stephen Covey’s start with the end in mind? I know this, but when you believe that you are stuck in a rut, you cannot see clearly. I had great mentoring in 15 minutes. I have 15 books to read in 24 days, and I have read 30 books in 30 days, so I know that I am capable of achieving the goal. All I have to do now is manage my time more effectively. I also have to institute a rule where I limit the books I read that are over 250 pages. In life we have to make choices, and this should have been a criterium before I embarked on the project. The Tale of Genji (Vintage Classics), The Complete Works (Everyman’s Library) of Michel de Montaigne, and In Search of Lost Time: Proust 6-pack (Proust Complete) will have to wait for the next Virtual Literary World Tour.

So if you feel that you are stuck in a rut, try mentoring in moments. But the trick is to find the right mentor who has the ability to assist you in getting unstuck.

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. If you enjoyed this post, please share it.

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4 Resources to Aid in Your Professional Development

Open Culture

18 Animations of Classic Literary Works: From Plato and Shakespeare, to Kafka, Hemingway and Gaiman

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky Told in a Beautifully Animated Film by Piotr Dumala

I watched the animation of The Old Man and the Sea, which I read six years ago and really enjoyed it. I plan to watch one or two each day.

CATAAlliance/ Women in Tech Division

Leadership for the 21st Century: Innovation, Mentorship & Social Engagement: I listened to Peter Aceto, President and CEO ING Direct. Peter is very active on social media @CEO_INGDIRECT.

Book Riot

Audio Recordings From Favorite Authors: There are six audio recordings to listen to. I listened to Virginia Woolf already.

What are your thoughts on these resources to aid in your professional development? Thinking of the definition for an invisible mentor, what other resources would you add to the list? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. If you enjoyed this post, please share it.

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