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Marshmallow reviews Blubber by Judy Blume

Marshmallow reviews Blubber (1974) by Judy Blume, about school, bullying, and friendship.

Marshmallow likes reading books about school-age kids, even if there are no dragons or wizards, though she quite likes it when those kinds of things do appear. Below she reviews a classic, Blubber by Judy Blume, first published in 1974.

Marhsmallow reviews Blubber by Judy Blume. — Marhsmallow reviews *Blubber* by Judy Blume.

Marshmallow’s quick take: If you like books about things that happen at school, then this might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s Summary (with spoilers): Fifth grader Jill Brenner is a part of a group of girls that bully a girl named Linda. Linda is bigger than the other kids in the class and so is bullied and mistreated. Since she gave a report on the whale and talked about a whale’s blubber, the bullies call her Blubber. Jill’s group, along with the rest of the class, tease, bully, and mistreat Linda.

The gang of bullies is made up of girls named Wendy, Caroline, and Jill. In this group they all have roles. Wendy is the leader, while Caroline is the muscle that holds the victims’ hands together while Jill does whatever Wendy says. Wendy is very manipulative. All the teachers like her and so if one of her victims tells on her, she just comes up with a lie, and then the teachers believe her, and so she does not get in to trouble. In this terrible way Wendy not only makes herself seem innocent but also makes the victim look like a liar.

On Halloween, Jill and her friend, Tracy Wu, try to get revenge on a man named Mr. Machinist (apparently he is a mean person) by putting rotten eggs in his mailbox. They put the rotten eggs in his mailbox. Then they meet Wendy and Caroline, who don’t believe that they put the eggs in his mailbox. When they show the eggs to Wendy and Caroline, Mr. Machinist catches them. They manage to get away, but Mr. Machinist takes a picture of Jill and Tracy before they can get away.

Marshmallow is pointing toward the letter Mr. Machinist sent to Jill's parents. — Marshmallow is pointing toward the letter Mr. Machinist sent to Jill’s parents.

Later Mr. Machinist sends a letter to Jill’s and Tracy’s families telling them that they put rotten eggs in his mailbox and that they need to pay. Mr. Machinist assigns them the job of raking up leaves in his backyard.

At school the girls decide that someone must have told Mr. Machinist the names of the girls in the picture. They think that it must have been Linda. Jill convinces her friends that they should hold a trial to determine if Linda is innocent or not. The trial brings an unexpected twist which changes the course of the story.

Marshmallow’s Review: This book is written in the first person, from the perspective of Jill Brenner, who is part of the gang that bullies Linda, or as the group of bullies call her, Blubber. This fact (that the book is written in the first person) is not the only difference from most of the other books that I have reviewed though. (Ella Enchanted was also in first person.) The narrator, Jill, is just not a nice person. It is strange reading the story from her perspective. She does call Linda Blubber, which is not nice at all.

This book is about events that can occur in real life, and life doesn’t always end like “and they lived happily ever after“. This book does not end happily, but the main message (“treat others how you want to be treated“) does come through very clearly. It will make a good read for readers who appreciate books that don’t end “happily ever after” but instead leave you with things to think about.

There are some curse words in the book, which is one of the reasons why it might not be appropriate for all young readers.

Marshmallow’s rating: 90%

Marshmallow rates Blubber by Judy Blume 90%. — Marshmallow rates *Blubber* by Judy Blume 90%.

Marshmallow reviews Half Magic by Edward Eager

This week Marshmallow reviews a 1954 classic, Half Magic by Edward Eager, the first book in his Tales of Magic series.

Marshmallow’s quick take: If you like books about magical charms, and adventure stories about a handful of siblings, then this might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s Summary (with spoilers): The four siblings Jane, Mark, Katharine, and Martha are expecting to have a very boring summer. That is until they find the charm. The charm that works by halves. If you made a wish while touching the charm, then half of your wish would come true. So in order to get your whole wish you would have to say it in this fashion. Let’s say you wish is to have a dog appear then you would say that you wanted two dogs to appear because if you wished that one dog would appear then one half of a dog would appear. (You probably wouldn’t want to have half of a dog.)

Wishing for two times some things is a cinch, but other doubled wishes only cause twice as much trouble. What is half of twice a talking cat? Or to be half-again twice not-here? And how do you double your most heartfelt wish, the one you care about so much that it has to be perfect?

The children decide that they will take turns to use the charm. It turns out that other people have knowledge of the charm that grants wishes and they happen to want the charm. In a desert, which they travel to on Mark’s wish — he wants a desert island but the charmed coin takes them to a desert –. a man tries to abduct Jane, Mark, Katharine, and Martha. When he realizes that they have the charm, he says that they stole it from his people.

On Katharine’s turn to make a wish, they travel into the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. They help stop Morgan Le Fay, an evil sorceress in this retelling of the myth, from kidnapping and killing the Knights of the Round Table.

Marshmallow is pointing toward one of her favorite parts of the book, where Jane makes a foolish decision. Here Jane is wishing that she belonged to a different family.

They have some problems though, before they figure out how to use the charm. For instance, Martha wishes that she was not at the place she was and since she didn’t say it the way you need to, she became half there and half not there. The children eventually learn how to use it, and in the end, they have a very exciting summer, not at all the one they thought lay ahead.

Marshmallow’s Review: Half Magic is a classic and I think a great read for all ages. Written in 1954, it successfully entertained children for many years and probably will do the same for many to come. I enjoyed Half Magic very much and look forward to reading more about these characters in Edward Eager’s other novels.

Marshmallow’s rating: 100%

Marshmallow rates Half Magic by Edward Eager 100%. And she adds: "May the Fourth Be With You!" — Marshmallow rates *Half Magic* by Edward Eager 100%. And she adds: “May the Fourth Be With You!”

Marshmallow reviews Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren

Marshmallow reviews an old favorite: Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren.

Marshmallow’s quick take: If you like books about kids with extraordinary life styles, then this might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s summary (with spoilers): Pippi Longstocking lives in a small house called Villa Villekulla with her horse and her monkey Mr. Nilsson. The town that Villa Villekulla is in has an extraordinary time with Pippi living there. Pippi has many adventures including going to the circus and saving two boys’ lives.

Soon after she moves in to her new home, Pippi makes two new friends, Tommy and Annika. They go to picnics and tea parties together (with Mr. Nilsson the monkey). While at a picnic, Pippi attempts to fly and fails miserably. At a circus, Pippi angers the people performing and beats the “strongest” man in the world. (Pippi is the strongest girl in the world and therefore beats him in a fight that the owner of the circus challenges the audience to. (The circus chapter is my favorite besides the one where Pippi goes to school.)

Pippi is not always welcomed with open arms. A boy named Bengt tries to taunt Pippi and pays the price. No one messes with Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Efraim’s Daughter Longstocking, Daughter of Captain Efraim Longstocking, formerly the Terror of the Sea (in Swedish, according to Wikipedia: Pippilotta Viktualia Rullgardina Krusmynta Efraimsdotter Långstrump).

The people who live in the town think that a child should not be living alone, so they send two police men to go and escort Pippi to a Children’s Home. (If violence is necessary they will use it.) Later that afternoon the policemen come rushing out and tell the people that she is not fit for an orphanage.

Pippi is always happy and is almost never mad. She has a good sense of humor but desperately lacks an education. She does not know what the letter “i” is. She also lies a lot and makes up a lot of stories.

Marshmallow’s Review: I think that if you read this book then you will soon like Pippi. She is a very likable character but is not always very smart. She also lies a lot so she is probably not a very good role model. But she is strong and independent and always sees the good side of things.

The first Pippi book was written in 1945, and there were quite a few times I noticed it was an old book. But I could move beyond these reminders of past times and expectations and still enjoy the book. Pippi can be really silly and very entertaining. She always means well but she is pretty wild. So her adventures are really fun to read. But do not copy what she does! (Her pancake making, for instance, is very unusual.)

The author Astrid Lindgren wrote several other books about Pippi. (And I have seen a movie version, but I was a baby bunny back then, and I was quite scared by all the action. But that was a long time ago and I don’t remember much, so maybe I should just watch it again.)

Overall Pippi Longstocking is a very good book. I know I will read it again.

Marshmallow’s rating: 100%

Marshmallow rates Pippi Longstocking 100%. — Marshmallow rates *Pippi Longstocking* 100%.