Book Review: Percy Jackson holds up to Potter

We’ve been listening to the Percy Jackson series in the car. It is a series of kids books that relies heavily on Greek mythology. The Greek pantheon is real and Mt. Olympus is now on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building. The series is about a young man who never seems to quite fit in. He has a wonderful mom, but doesn’t know his father. It turns out that his father is a major deity. The sons of the denizens of Olympus are heroes who, like the figures of myth, have great capabilities and have adventures on behalf of the gods.

It would be easy enough to deride it as a Harry Potter knock-off. Obviously there are innumerable parallels to the world of Harry Potter – even down to the main characters. Young heroes train at a special camp, hidden from the world of mortals. In fact, much of the world of gods and heroes is hidden from mortals. The writing in Percy Jackson is not as strong – although some of that may be due to the fact that it is narrated in the first person by the main character. A teenage boy describing the world in rich, complex and neutral tones would be unlikely.

But while Percy Jackson suffers in direct comparison, it definitely has a charm (it can also be funny – although sometimes it tries to hard.) I keep recalling a literary critic comparing Dickens to one of his leading rivals. The rival could create planets, but Dickens created whole universes. But sometimes those mere planets were awfully compelling. By building upon an established mythology, the Percy Jackson series seems more limited then the universe of Potterdom. After all, Rowling’s work included a number of terms that have joined our vocabulary (although the only one springing to mind is “muggles.”) There were wonderful evocative names for people and things in Rowling's universe.

But the magic world was only partially connected to ours. In Percy Jackson the affairs of the Olympians are inextricably linked to those of mortals. There is a sense of something palpable at stake. Choosing to build on well-established archetypes helps teach children about them (plus it gives them at least a sense of Greek mythology). The Dumbledore-esque teacher of heroes (who – and I like this – is not nearly as formidable as Dumbledore) explains that Olympus dwells wherever the heart of western civilization dwells – and to find it, look at the architecture. Something at stake indeed!

My verdict: Percy Jackson bests Harry Potter

We are nearing the end of the Percy Jackson series. I reviewed it before and argued that while it would be easy to deride it as a Harry Potter knock-off, it was pretty good in its own right. Further, one of the things I really liked was that there was something at stake. The doings of the Greek pantheon and their heroes were plugged into the mortal world and we learn that if the pantheon goes, Western civilization goes with it. (I’m pretty keen on Western civilization.)

One thing that always bugged me in Harry Potter was the scene at the beginning of book six, when the Muggle Prime Minister meets with the Minister of Magic. Top-level politicians don’t tend to be passive types. I can’t help but think that the prime minister’s reaction to these magic types wreaking havoc in his country might involve F-16s and Tomahawk cruise missiles. Being a wizard does not make one bulletproof and for all of their magic powers, except for Dumbledore none of them seemed all that clever.

I’ve probably gone a bit farther with this then is completely healthy. I imagine the prime minister calling in the head of MI-5 and bringing George Smiley out of retirement. I see Mundungus Fletcher being waterboarded. I see cruise missiles slamming into Hogwarts and Special Air Service commandos clearing out Diagon Alley.

OK, maybe I went a little far with this. But in the Percy Jackson series, usually the mortals are unaware of what’s going on – but when given a chance they fight monsters and do pretty well. In fact, my favorite scene is when the tide of battle turns and the father of a daughter of Athena shows up in the Sopwith Camel he had reconstructed – machine-gunning Titans and medusae. I kept hoping for a reprise, but no luck.

There are innumerable intriguing bits in this series. In the section we just listened to Hermes and Percy discuss the “Mist” which prevents mortals from seeing the activities of the deities and monsters. In some profound sense, this rings true. Not that I’ve become a pagan, but the idea that we only understand the surface of things and how we create stories to explain things to give us an illusion of understanding is humbling.

Also, I love the centaurs. In Harry Potter they are mysterious creatures that possess a deep wisdom. But the ancient Greeks saw the centaurs as dominated by their beastly appetites – and in Percy Jackson they are party animals.

I can offer no higher praise then to say that I am sorry the series has come to an end.

A Pair of Great Books from Clare Vanderpool

"Dad, this story is so good!"

I was relieved to hear this.  On our drive home from an excursion to Philly we finished Watership Down.  I knew this would happen, so I had gotten a new book.  But we were out of Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, and the City of Ember - and the kids had started reading Lemony Snicket on their own.  So I just started poking around looking for something new.  I stumbled on the 2011 Newbery Award-winning Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool.  I guess Newbery Award should be enough of an endorsement, but I worried that it would be too precious, or without action the Goofs would be bored.

I needn't have worried at all.  Within moments of listening we were swept into the story (cynical Father Goof included!)

Set in the Depression it is about Abilene, a streetwise girl who had been riding the rails with her father when suddenly he sends her off to the town of Manifest where he had been raised.  She lives with the man who took in her father when he was a teenage drifter, discovers a cache of letters from almost two decades earlier.  The story moves back and forth between the narrator's present and the stories told by the letters, set during World War 1 and the Great Influenza.

Abilene, feeling that her father has sent her to Manifest to abandon her, begin exploring the town's past in order to learn who her father really is.

Moon Over Manifest is a nice change of pace from all of the fantasy and adventure.  There are fantastic, mysterious moments but the story is based in reality.  It is sad and sweet, with a history lesson thrown in.

In short, the little Goofs description was dead on.

Best of all, Ms. Vanderpool has another book, Navigating Early.  Another story of a young person feeling abandoned by his parents.  Set in Maine during World War 2' Jack 's mother in Kansas has died and his father is serving in the Navy.  Jack is sent to a boarding school in Maine where he falls in with the odd outcast Early who sees the number Pi as a story.  Over a school break, Jack joins Early on a quest through Maine's deep woods.  We are still in the middle, but, while completely real, Navigating Early also has a magical, mythical quality to it.


The little Goofs say Navigating Early is even better than Moon Over Manifest.  I say, why choose.

Anne of Green Gables I: A Review

During carpool the little Goofs and I have been listening to the Lucy Maude Montgomery classics beginning with Anne of Green Gables. They are great books and a nice change of pace from Percy Jackson and more adventurous fare. But they are nice to listen to, a window into a different time and place. The little Goofs cannot grasp that there was no TV or cars. Anne as a schoolteacher as a teenager is simply unbelievable. Rural life a hundred years ago is quite exotic to the suburban Goofs.

The writing can be funny – as when Anne accidentally gets her playmate drunk or breaks the slate board over Gilbert’s head for calling her “carrots.”

GoofBoy mutters a bit about it, because it isn’t action-packed. But he remembers each character and each plot turn. GoofGirl demands it the minute we get in the car. Certain tropes and characters have become jokes for us. In the first book, Anne obsessed over getting a dress with puffy sleeves. GoofGirl – no slouch at fashion – sighed in exasperations, “What is the big deal about the puffy sleeves. Get over it girl!”

We also laugh about the town busybody. But, and this credits the depth of the characters, the town busybody isn’t simply a one-dimensional joke. She is a real person. While her advice is often unwanted, it is almost always good. Sometimes she is awfully annoying, but sometimes she is a great friend – and that is how people actually are.

There are also wonderful, lush descriptions of a beautiful country that make us want to visit Prince Edward Island. Finally, there are the snide jokes about “the States,” which is a fount of crazy notions like women preachers and where honest Canadians are likely to be cheated of their hard-earned wages. At the same time, the glamorous millionaires that summer on the Island are from the States.

Worlds of wizards and magic are somehow easier to imagine, though far less real then life in the country a century ago. Anne of Green Gables is broadening in a way that Harry Potter and its ilk can never be.

Harry Potter & The Revenge of the Muggles

I’ve written before about how I’d like to see a more activeMuggle role in the Harry Potter series (in great part motivated by the Percy Jackson series where humanity matters quite a bit.)  I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands, and write some slight changes that would make the series work better for me.  My first addition should be placed at the end of the very first chapter of the sixth book, Harry Potter and theHalf-Blood Prince.  The Minister of Magic and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom have just met and frankly I don’t believe the leader of a major country would simply roll over and accept the situation.

The Prime Minister slumped back in his chair.  It had already been shaping up to be a trying day.  There was a domestic terrorism threat to monitor, some members of his party had to be pushed back into line on the economic crisis, and there was a special operation in Afghanistan awaiting his decision.  Now this, wizards running a muck and there was nothing he could do about it.

His intercom buzzed and the now familiar deep voice announced, “The briefer from MI-5, a Mr. Geoffrey Grimace, is here.  Shall I send him in?”

The Prime Minister’s jaw set and his eyes narrowed.

“Yes,” he replied, “Please send him in.  Oh, and Shacklebolt, I’d like you to join us as well.”

To be continued!

Necessary Darkness: Review of Lemony Snicket

The little Goofs and I are driving around listening to Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.  We are on book six, out of 13.  They are quick listens and reads and each one follows a fairly similar trajectory.  The main characters are the Baudelaire orphans, three charming and bright children whose parents were killed in a fire.  When the eldest turns 18 they will inherit the vast Baudelaire fortune.  In each story they are placed with a guardian and pursued by their evil cousin Count Olaf who adopts ingenious disguises in order to carry out a dastardly plan to steal their fortune.

So the plots are repetitive and the series does not have the vast import of say Harry Potter or Percy Jackson.  But the fun is really in the journey.  The series is written with witty, wonderful language full of funny juxtapositions and wry observations.  It is sophisticated enough for adults to enjoy and children can really sink their teeth into the rich witty language.  Even the names are wonderful, in one book the children live on Lake Lachrymose.  In another they attend Prufrock Preparatory School where they are placed under the care of Vice Principal Nero.  We are currently listening to Book Six, The Ersatz Elevator.

The stories can be a bit difficult to take because they are unrelentingly dark and whenever something not terrible happens, the reader knows something awful is just around the corner.  It is a world in which adults come in various combinations of creepy and evil, well meaning and ineffectual, or just plain distracted.  The books also present a number of adult phenomena but from the point of view of some rather serious children.  Hopefully few children live in a situation resembling those depicted in Lemony Snicket, but most children will relate to a world of useless and hostile grown-ups.

Finally, my favorite character is the youngest of the three orphans, Sunny.  She is a little girl who cannot quite walk and speaks in baby talk words that her siblings understand as clear and sophisticated concepts.  She also has four very sharp strong teeth.  Biting things is her hobby and she uses her teeth strategically in a number of difficult situations.  She is delightful.

(Sunny is the one biting the snake - because that's how she rolls.)

I listen to lots of books, but rarely have much to say about the audio production, but in this case the audio production is noticeable – for the better and worse.  Tim Curry, who is quite good, reads much of the series.  However, one of the characters, the children’s guardian Mr. Poe, is described as coughing a great deal.  Curry takes this to an extreme, which can be difficult to hear.  The little Goofs and I moan whenever a coughing fit comes along.  The author, Daniel Handler, reads some of the books.  His reading is ok – but his voice is often too soft and I have trouble hearing.  Finally, there are production problems with some of the books and parts are inaudible.  This may be my equipment or the specific reproduction from my library.  But the fact is out of dozens of audiobooks I’ve listened to in various formats these are the only ones I’ve had these kinds of problems with.

On the plus side, Sunny’s loud baby talk exclamations are much funnier heard then read – endearing her to me all the more.  So please, don't let this minor complaint stop anyone from listening or just read them.

Goofs Take Manhattan: Going to NYC with Kids

Because I am a terrible parent, I had not taken my children to NYC, despite living only a few hours away. To forestall a visit from Child Protective Services, we rectified that between Christmas and New Year's.

Although the little Goofs thought it would have been awesome, we left before New Year's because I'm pretty sure taking your kids to Times Square to see the ball drop is a form of child abuse in its own right, or at least insanity.

I am a meticulous and intense traveller and travel planner. I want to maximize the things to be seen while balancing different interests. I study maps and guidebooks and badger everyone with questions and just generally make a nuisance of myself - I'd like to think it all pays off when, in the middle of the trip the children announce, "Dad, we are soooo tired. Can't we just get pizza and watch TV at the hotel?"

New York, with its scale, density, and variety challenges any trip planner. But I did my best.

Day One: Mid-Town Muddle
We arrived about noon, parked, checked in and had some sandwiches we had brought. Having just been in the car for almost four hours, we didn't want to have a family debate on where to eat (even in NYC, where options abound - besides our next ten meals would be at restaurants, no need to start on that too soon.)

Our hotel (cheap, clean, convenient, and with a few neat features - I almost don't want to post it...) was about a block from the Empire State Building. So we walked over. The little Goofs were astounded when actually confronted with this massive, iconic skyscraper which they had seen so often on TV and in movies. There was however, little interest in going to the top (the little Goofs don't love heights), which was fine with me since it is expensive ($29 each) and time consuming. However, wandering around the beautiful lobby is free - so we did!

We then took the short walk to the Museum of Mathematics (in the Flatiron district), which features a range of mathematical puzzles and games for children of all ages. MamaGoof (who is kind of a math ninja - PhD in statistics) loved it. It was a bit crowded. Still the exhibits were fun and gave at least some sense to yours truly about who mathematics underpins and shapes our world. Cool stuff.

Then we walked. Walking around NYC is half the fun, stopping in shops and looking at the barrage of architecture. Second-rate, little-noticed New York skyscrapers would be the pride of cities like my beloved hometown of Baltimore. We wondered to the New York Public Library and went in. It is a beautiful building, a temple of learning and not of tremendous interest to the little Goofs. Meanwhile my checklist monster had emerged. I knew we couldn't see everything mid-town Manhattan had to offer, but I hoped to show my children a few more of the iconic sites they had seen so many times in movies.

The troops, however, began to get cranky - and I began to get annoyed because whiney children are annoying children. This meant we were hungry, so we grabbed pizza. I don't hate pizza, but I don't love it either. I was hoping to wait a bit longer before playing the pizza card, but there was a rebellion in the ranks.

It was also a tactical mistake, because Grand Central Station and its extensive market was just a few blocks away. It is an architectural marvel in its own right, we got dessert, and played at the Apple Store. We also got a nice look at the Chrysler Building.

OK - I knew we didn't have a lot of gas left, but I really felt it was my duty to show my children Rockefeller Center and Times Square. I was not the only person to come up with that plan. As we got close to Rockefeller Center the crowds became very dense. The little Goofs were a overwhelmed and GoofGirl was a bit scared. I should say, it was a very nice, polite crowd. Nothing to be scared of.

So we pushed through and saw the buildings and Christmas Tree. We got to see the ice rink and, serendipity, one couple was skating and he got down on one knee and proposed. She said yes and the crowd cheered. I have a feeling that happens every five minutes now - I think you can purchase a proposal package. NYC experience - check!

The crowds dampened GoofBoy's enthusiasm for Times Square, so we headed back to the hotel. MamaGoof and I got a drink and decided we were hungry. There is a brewpub in the Empire State Building and it is pretty good. It is also awesome that the little Goofs are old enough that we can leave them for a stretch in the hotel.

Day Two: Meet the Met
I set myself a limit of one museum a day and only one art museum. Kids overall have a lower tolerance for museums in general and art museum in particular. New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the great museums of the world. Its collection would take a lifetime to explore. The little Goofs were nervous about our visit, knowing that I would spend hours studying paintings which bore them. But I had chosen carefully, the Met's collection isn't just paintings. It has vast exhibits of artifacts from ancient civilizations throughout the world.

I also promised a long break in the middle of the day.

We started in the Egyptian wing. GoofGirl had studied Egypt a bit and explained some stuff about hieroglyphics to me. However, in her unbounded enthusiasm she kept running off when I paused to read about a display. I was angry, but my frustration was tough to sustain in the face of her sheer enthusiasm. GoofBoy, with his iPod Touch was excited to take pictures. After a bit, we agreed to let the little Goofs explore as long as they stayed together and MamaGoof and I could examine items at our leisure. Text messaging makes coordinating a family in a big space much, much easier.

The Egyptian exhibit is awesome, featuring items collected from tombs that are 4000 years old and a reconstructed shrine. The scale and antiquity of ancient Egyptian civilization is humbling. As it happens on the car ride up we had started listening to Rick Riordan's Red Pyramid. I'm a big fan of Riordan's Percy Jackson series based on Greek mythology. The Red Pyramid is about Egyptian mythology and features a big battle scene in the Met's Egyptian exhibit.

Two hours of ancient Egyptian artifacts was enough, it was time for lunch. We went to an upscale Mexican fusion place and were unimpressed. MamaGoof and I had the idea of walking to the water. This was several blocks east. We visited the riverside park that is also home to Gracie Mansion, official residence of the mayor of New York. We saw Roosevelt Island across the water and a bunch of bridges. The little Goofs were unimpressed and started to get whiney. Have I mentioned that I don't like whiney children - even if they are mine?

So we stopped for coffee and donuts but that did not improve the spirits of the little Goofs. However, a maintenance man from a nearby building came in and yelled at the cashier about leaving the stores garbage in his bin. Cool, an Upper East Side trash residential trash dispute - staple of New Yorker short stories.

We headed back to the Met by way of the Guggenheim - merely to grab a glimpse of the building. I don't know about your kids - but mine really don't seem to care much about architecture. I believe this is near universal to children and a serious design flaw.

Back at the Met, GoofGirl dragged her mother around the Asian art exhibit at lightning speed. GoofBoy checked out arms and armor. Having looked at ancient stuff all day, I needed a bit of modern art as a kind of palate cleanser and checked out a major exhibit on cubism for contrast.  Again, thanks to texts, we all kept in touch and linked up when we were done. The little Goofs showing evidence of suffering from Museum Fatigue Syndrome (it's a thing!)

The GoofClan keeps flexible kosher - we eat fish, dairy, and veggie at restaurants but meat must be kosher. Usually on trips we just plan on not eating meat. NYC of course features a huge range of quality kosher restaurants. I had found one near the Met, but no one was hungry so we went back to the hotel to rest.

When we got hungry I found Mendy's the kosher deli was nearby. I hadn't wanted to go, because in a Seinfeld episode the unctuous Banja made Jerry take him there as payback for a favor. This is, of course, a silly reason not to eat somewhere and when we did go, we ALL chowed down on burgers and meatballs.

Enough for a day.

Day Three: Lower East Side Finale
For a last day, we headed to the Lower East Side to visit the renown Tenement Museum. We had heard great things, and it was a terrific tour. There are several different tours available, each focusing on the experience of a  different group of immigrants. Since it was my background, we went on the tour about a pair of Jewish families who immigrated from Russia around the turn of the century to work in the garment industry. Originally, the tenements (about 325 sq. feet) would be home to large families that also ran small garment factories or sweatshops inside the tenement. Later reforms moved the factories out of the tenement so that it was only an apartment for 6-10 people.

As awful as these conditions were, many, many families managed to work their way out of them and into more comfortable quarters. Then their grand-kids became doctors and lawyers and their great-grandkids became bloggers. The American dream.

Some of my great-grandparents lived in tenements in NY, others in Baltimore. I know the conditions were rough. But it was such a good thing to GET THE HELL OUT OF RUSSIA! That is almost always good advice and I am glad they had the brains to do it.

The Russia they left was oppressive, impoverished, and anti-Semitic. It was bad enough, but only decades later they would have been crushed between Scylla and Charybdis of the 20th century Hitler and Stalin.

It was a good tour - have I made that clear?

We got to the Lower East Side before the museum opened and wandered around. Chinatown is next door. But the area is pretty sedate in the single digit hours of the morning. After the museum we headed to Essex Market for lunch, which looked great but the little Goofs wanted pizza. Fine, we let them have pizza - then MamaGoof and I wandered around Essex Market and had some good upscale tacos, yummy veggie soups, and a terrific fish sandwich. I'm not a big foodie, but I have my limits as to how often I can eat pizza.

It turns out, we were right next to Economy Candy which is a candy store selling familiar candy, retro candy, and just plain weird candy (including candy cigarettes!) We let the little Goofs go nuts and they were - well - kids in a candy store.

And that was enough. We knew we either had to leave NYC by 3 or plan to stay till 8. I had a good sense by now of how much the little Goofs could tolerate and it was time to pack it in and drive home.