Hi, I’m Rebecca. I write books and I write here at This Joyful Mess to inspire everyone to find JOY in the everyday messes of life. Here you’ll find inspiration, educational resources, and so much more. Please explore and connect—I’d love to hear from you!
What are the Outsiders Outside Of?
S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders. Amazing. Hard to believe this novel was written by a teen. What trumps all here is a sympathetic protagonist and a strong storyline. Hinton can get away with...
An Everlasting Favorite: Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
Tuck Everlasting. I first read this in upper elementary when I was in a special "advanced" reading class where I got to spend the English hour on the beanbags in the corner and read my way through Newbery classics.
A (Depressing) Holiday Classic
This was one of my favorite picture books as a child. In the late 80s I was an older child—8ish. Anyway, I so felt for the little girl’s plight. I loved her sad courage, her imagination, and her escape at the end.
Reading it now though...
That's Just Plain Nonsense, Eddie: Complete Nonsense of Edward Lear
Lear was the youngest of 21 children and was brought up by his sister, who cared for him until he was nearly 50. He was an eternal child with “invincible boyishness,” according to the editor. This collection...
Classics of Moles and Rats: The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
So Pooh-like with that quaint voice and silly words and lots of happy adverbs (see, sometimes adverbs can be good!). Mole meanders aimlessly and is bewitched, entranced, fascinated by a bubbling, gurgling, chuckling river. What wonderful words! Never mind that...
Twice Read, Nonce Enjoyed: Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
Interesting opening, full of subtle tension. But what is the narrator dying from want of? What’s the promise of the first page?
A Spider and a Pig: Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
Similar in voice to Babbitt’s Tuck Everlasting, White’s is written in a pleasantly distant third person with an air of mystery, like the story that is unfolding is Very Important. Some things of note...
Strange Little Family: The Animal Family by Randall Jarrell
What a strange book. Jarrell’s is the story of a hunter and mermaid who fall in love and make a family from a bear cub, a lynx, and an orphaned boy. The story is uncannily realistic for all the lack of realism...
Little Black Sambo vs. Sam and the Tigers
I have this story in a set of old blue storybooks from the 20s. My grandmother read it to me when I was a girl. It was my absolute favorite then, and I still enjoy it now. It’s considered to be absurdly racist, primarily the stereotyped...
And the Thunder Rolls: Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor
Love the voice. “Mama’s gonna wear you out.” It sings with authenticity with enough description to make the setting vivid without being overwhelming, and all of it is in Cassie’s voice (more or less), which makes it interesting as well as...