Rachel's Corner
For this issue I've picked a few books that all have some deeper meaning, even though two of them are regarded as children's books. But no matter your age, I highly recommend you to read all three books. They are about friendship, hope, dreams, and acceptance. Things that, I dare to say, most of us wish to see and know more of in our lives.
A Little Princess
By Frances Hodgson Burnett
Rachel's Rating: G
A Little Princess (1904) is a classic book for girls, written by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924), who is also famous for other children's stories like Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886). She wrote this story as early as in 1888 but, after turning it into a play, she realized that there was so much more to the story, and so many more characters, that she needed to rewrite it. That was how A Little Princess came into being.
The story tells about the life of a young girl, Sara Crewe, in London in the 1800s. When the story starts she is seven years old and is taken by her father, Captain Crewe, to a boarding school in London. All her life they have lived in Bombay, India, and her father is very rich. They lived in a fancy house, had servants, and Sara could do whatever she wished to do. When she arrives at the boarding school, her father instructs the headmistress to give Sara a private room with a parlor, a maid, a pony and carriage, and anything she desires. Before he goes back to India, he goes shopping with Sara in London and she gets many beautiful dresses, many more than she needs, because her father loves to give her beautiful things. She also gets a doll which she calls Emily.
Sara almost immediately gets the headmistress, Miss Minchin, as an enemy because Miss Minchin is jealous of the girl and thinks she is spoiled and too bright. Many of the older girls at the school are also jealous of her because of her rich father, but the younger girls think that she is interesting and soon become her friends. Sara is uncommonly kind and considerate for being so young, and she always wants to be friends with and help other people who are less fortunate than her. She also has a very vivid imagination, and she often makes up stories to entertain the other girls. Miss Minchin makes sure that Sara has a good life, as she and her father often write letters to each other. But, on Sara's eleventh birthday everything changes. It appears that her father has died in India, and Sara is left without relatives, without money, and without a home. The girl who has lived like a princess is told to live in a small room in the attic and to work like a servant.
I first read this book when I was 12, so I was about the same age as Sara. It was very inspiring for me to read about a girl of my age who had to go through so much hardship and used her imagination to make the best of things. I wished that I could have at least a small part of that imagination to help me with my everyday life struggles as a child. A Little Princess is a wonderful story that has lived on for many years. I remember my grandmother talking about the book when I was young, saying I should read it, and it was my grandmother who also gave me the book. I recommend it to everyone, no matter your age. Books like this are rarely written nowadays.
Ronia, the Robber's Daughter
By Astrid Lindgren
Rachel's Rating: G
In the last issue I wrote about Mio, My Son. Well, here's another story written by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. Yes, I do love her books!
Ronia is the daughter of a robber chief, Matt, and is born in a castle deep into the forest. On the night of her birth there is a huge thunderstorm. A lightning bolt strikes the castle, dividing it into two parts. Ronia and her clan of robbers live in one part of the castle, the other part stays empty.
Ronia grows up without knowing that her father is the chief of a clan of robbers, so she has no idea where he and the other men find the things they bring back to the castle. But, she doesn't think much about it. She enjoys her life, helping her mother Lovis, and she is a very close friend of her grandfather, Noddle-Pete. But one day Ronia thinks she is old enough to explore the world outside of the castle. The forest is filled with strange and sometimes dangerous beings, but Ronia is an adventurous and curious child, not afraid of anything — or so she thinks. Her curiousity leads to many adventures.
One day she discovers a boy in the other part of the castle, watching her from across the chasm. He turns out to be Birk, the son of Matt's rival Borka. The two of them immediately see each other as enemies because their fathers have always told them what scum the other clan is. But because of an accident, they end up being friends. They have no idea what their friendship will lead to....
Astrid Lindgren wrote many books, but my favorites have always been her fantasy stories. Mio, My Son is one of them, and Ronia, the Robber's Daughter is another. This is a beautiful story about discovering the world around you, about friendship, and doing what you feel is the right thing to do.
Chocolat
By Joanne Harris
Rachel's Rating: PG-13
Lansquenet-sous-Tannes is a small village in southern France. The village holds no more than a couple hundred inhabitants, and it's the kind of village where everyone goes to church on Sundays, anyone who is different is driven away, one way or another, and everyone knows about everything that happens. One day at the beginning of February, Vianne Rocher and her six-year-old daughter Anouk come to this village and decide to settle down there for some time. They have been travelling from place to place, not staying for very long anywhere. Maybe this could be the place for them?
The villagers begin whispering amongst themselves when Vianne transforms the old abandoned bakery into a chocolate boutique. La Céleste Praline — Chocolaterie Artisanale it says on the hand-painted sign above the entrance door. Not only is Vianne a stranger, she is a strange stranger. She does not go to church, and there's something mysterious about not only her, but her knowledge about chocolate and the chocolate itself. Her decision to keep running her chocolaterie despite the fact that it's Lent (a religious period of fasting) starts a conflict between her and the village's parish curate who expects the villagers to stay away from pleasures. And when more and more of the villagers are tempted by Vianne's almost magical chocolate, he is even more determined to get rid of her.
This is a story about being different and struggling to fit into a community where people watch you with suspicion from the distance, but also about acceptance and change. The book has been made into a film, directed by Swedish director Lasse Hallstrom and starring Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin and Johnny Depp, among others. I highly enjoyed both the book and the film.