Well here we go, another week, another book. I probably shouldn't feel as proud as I do about making it a second week on this particular challenge (I still have 48 to go) but I do. I'm actually very proud of myself. I have made it two weeks into my New Year's resolutions and am still going strong. If I make it to February, I'll be surprised. Wish me luck.
The book for this entry is Moo by Sharon Creech. I was intending to use this for the YA category but I decided to save that for a different novel. Who knows, I might get lucky and see John Green publish his next book before the end of this challenge (if only). A "book chosen because of its title" fits this one so well, I felt it must be so. I, of course, found it in the children's library while I was waiting the eternity it takes for my son to choose a new Magic Tee House book to check out. I had read a couple of Creech's books before and enjoyed them, though I haven't read any since taking YA lit in college. Mostly I just really liked the title. I have heard a large variety of "moo"s in my life and each one communicated something different. I was curious what this one was saying.
First off, let me say, I love rural country, realistic fiction stories. They almost always have a great sense of down to earth humor that I love. They also often have some ignorant city type who gets thrown into all that humor. I always seem to feel like that's me. I have never lived on a farm or kept any livestock but I have spent half of my life around family who does. I feel I can sympathize with characters who get thrown into a world where they are expected to work hard at something they don't know anything about, but in the end find they love it and all the simple pleasures that come from that type of gritty labor. Creech manages to convey that transformation in a classic but beautiful way in Moo.
My favorite part was the fair. I come from a place were the county fair is a really big deal. It is always very well attended, despite the minuscule population size of the county. Every year we made sure to go. We would go check out the vender's booths, the home goods displays, try to get tickets to the demo derby or at least the rodeo. I even got to participate in the little buckaroo once (I caught the chicken!). And, of course, there is the livestock auction. Even now that I no longer even live in the state, I still try to see something of the fair when we go visit my parents in the summer. My mother is in charge of all the 4-H activities in her county (except livestock) because of her job as the county's university extension agent. Being a member seem to have come as an expectation in life rather than a choice, but I loved it all the same. I stuck with just the Family and Consumer Science (FACS) activities, but my brother got to raise a pig for the fair and my cousins covered all areas of the livestock show. Between them and my mom, I got a pretty fair exposure to the singing call of the auctioneer (a really talent I tell you) and almost insane task of keeping both your animal and your white 4-H shirt clean before you go in front of the judges. Reading that little section in the book brought all those memories rushing back. They were all happy and I could't help but smile.
I really enjoyed this book. The fair scenes were only a little part of how it brought me back to my childhood visiting grandparents and cousins and cows.
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