From: Mary Ann Blahnik <mblahnik>
Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2002 21:26:18 -0600

I've been lurking for lo these many years of the listserve, but this month's subject resonated with me. I had noted in booktalking the titles nominated for this year's Golden Archer Award that a great preponderance of them had orphans, "half orphans", or other situations in which parent(s) were not present in a way very much needed by the child. In Three Days, the father was killed while driving with his daughter in Italy. In The Last Book in the Universe, the boy had been ejected from his family and from the part of the city in which they lived. Because of Winn-Dixie featured a motherless girl. In Stormbreaker, even the uncle who raised his orphaned nephew is killed! In Mary, Bloody Mary, the princess was rejected by her father, Henry VIII, who declared her illegitimate and forcibly seperated her from her mother. The boy in Can of Worms is truly alien-ated from his concerned, but earth-bound parents. Stuck in Neutral includes very concerned parents who have absolutely no idea their son is able to hear, read, think! The heroine in When J.F.K. Was My Father dreams of the ideal father who isn't on another continent!
-
    However....the reason I finally came aboard was the invitation to share favorite family stories in light of the holiday. It doesn't deal with the particular holidays being celebrated at this time of year, but one of my birth family's all-time favorites was The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes. I surely wish my household was as organized as that of the bunny mom...a single parent at that! Not only would my house be clean, but there would be live music wafting through the rooms, and everything would be ready for tomorrow's feast! Happy Thanksgiving!

Mary Ann Blahnik, Librarian Sturgeon Bay HS/MS
Received on Wed 27 Nov 2002 09:26:18 PM CST