Nicholas and Anne

I'm a little further along in Nicholas Nickleby; as with most classics, the more I read of a certain author, the more I appreciate them. I didn't have much to say about Great Expectations when I read it in high school, but I wound up coming around to David Copperfield and now I'm just solidly enjoying NN (I am still alternating between 100 pages of that at a time and my books for my summer book camp*, because I do need to make it through those by mid-August and I want to be sure I do that).

*I want to interrupt myself here to mention that today I finished Karuna Riazi's middle grade fantasy/adventure The Gauntlet for that aforementioned book camp (did I post a list of all the books earlier in the summer or did I just think about doing that?). I think my hopes might have been a little high. I'd place it in the same category as Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein - I like the idea and I think 5th and 6th graders will enjoy it, but I was completely underwhelmed by the craft of it. Farah is really the only character that is developed and I didn't feel like there was a lot of suspense in the plot. I know it was inspired by Jumanji and I can see it making an entertaining movie, but it really left me cold. It's from Simon & Schuster's new imprint Salaam Reads, which is focused on children's and YA books about Muslim characters and that is awesome (and I do think that aspect of this book is well-done), but I'm hoping for better. I will say that another of their books, Amina's Voice by Hena Khan, is also on our summer list and that one was very good. 

Okay! That went longer than intended. Back to Nicholas Nickleby! I've been thinking, during Nicholas' spell at Dotheboys (which just ended - and what an exit!), about noted Dickens fan Anne Shirley. The Dickens book I remember her reading was Pickwick, but I bet she dug this one too. After all, Nicholas is a teacher, just like her. Of course, Anne would have taken a very different approach to Dotheboys - where Nicholas just suffered and then exploded, Anne would have expended a tremendous effort to turn it into a proper school and would probably have won over at least the younger Wackford Squeers. I suspect Smike would have wound up adoring her, although I suspect he was bound to follow anyone that showed him even the tiniest bit of kindness. I'm glad Nicholas is willing to keep him around.