love, read, write

Such a sad book, and it reminded me so much of a long time ago classic for younger ages - Charlotte's Web by E. B. White. As it says on the cover, it's a modern classic... at least I can read it.

If Robert's age wasn't mentioned, you would think he was about sixteen years old. Because they keep saying he's going to be a man, he has to take over the farm, he has to do things for himself... but he's only thirteen! Though, maybe, thirteen is a big change or something. I don't know. Maybe.

Long ago, they must have thought religion a big part of life. Yes, in Social Studies/History class... religion was important. He was Shaker, wasn't he? Went to church every Sunday like we do, went to school, took care of the farm...
He thought strongly of sin. As bad. He'd say, "... as bad as sin..."And there was the Shaker book. The Shaker law. (I keep thinking Quaker when it's Shaker).

I'm guessing Learning with a capital "L" is the name of the town? Or something else... I don't know, actually. It sounded like the town's name, the way they would say Learning. In Learning, ... , they would say. Or something along those lines. Or maybe some kind of type of school for Shakers...?                    (I don't know... If you have any idea, please comment. I really need to know. ).

          The beginning was quite appealing. Sort of. The cow, and how he got hurt bad while he was "helping" the cow and the to-be newborn calf. It was scary, thinking of your hand in a cow (trying to save it) and it chews on your arm as if it was some especially hard stick of gum, chewing as hard as you can, running around, kicking you...
I can't even imagine it.  Nor will I ever want to. The mere reading of it makes me wince (oh no, it reminds me of a particularly gory part of the book Where the Red Fern Grows, when the Pritchers or Pritchard or the Prit-somethings... .. ... .... ... read it yourself.)
The mere reading of it makes me wince...
          It reminded me so much of Charlotte's Web that I wondered which book came first, and if one did, if the other author read the book and happened to get the idea of such story. Maybe. Not that I'm accusing anyone or anything, but it just comes to your head,,, you can't help it. Both pigs, both enter a contest, both win, both main human characters' parents work at a farm... Both have to "achieve" something to survive...

          Pinky was so cute... I could just imagine her, pink, small, moving around, following Robert around as if she were Robert's shadow... Sometimes, I wish I were Robert.
But sometimes not.
          There were many sad things in the book. For one, there was Hussy, the dog who got weaseled. That was quite a sad one. How he dies... poor Hussy. I wish he lived. And the two other deaths. ...
          The Rutland Fair was very obvious. Because first of all, Charlotte's web. And second of all, modern-classics in such format... they always win one way or another. 

There was one confusing part that I didn't get clearly. I didn't get why there was that part... kind of irrelevant to the storyline. Chapter Eight, I think. With Sebrig Hillman's dead daughter. I don't know... I didn't get it much. Don't think it was so important either. But in this book, there was so many deaths... I wonder if that has something to do with the story or maybe something to do with Robert growing up.

          Robert's misunderstandings of words was quite funny. For example, Chapter six. Aunt Matty and the Report card... funny enough how Aunt Matty spazzes out from a D in English, and funnier still when Robert mishears tutor for tooter. And how he laughs on, imagining his aunt, blowing up her cheeks, playing a tooter. And when she asks what the subject (of the sentence) is, he answers, English. And how in the end, " 'Next time,' said Aunt Matty, 'I'll teach the pig.' " Really funny.
          But, it's sad. How Pinky has to die. It was too descriptive, how Pinky dies. I wanted to skip that part, slam the book shut, imagine that Pinky wasn't dead. I'd thought that Pinky wouldn't die. Turns out, happy endings aren't always.
          And the death of his father, that was sad, too. He'd have to take care of the farm himself. Fatherless for the rest of his life.

          Reading this book makes me thankful. Thankful that my parents aren't going to... to... early. And that I have a proper education (actually my town is a very highly educated town so it's more than that...) And that I don't have to work every day in the farm (though I wouldn't mind if I had to) and that we have good doctors and ambulances and.. You get the point. I'm thankful that I have a wonderful mother and a funny dad and a brother and nice friends and that I... had a nice summer.
Aren't you?