Adapting A Game

This is taken, slightly edited, from one of my old blogs.
 For anyone unfamiliar with the Pollyanna books or movies, {there have been several film adaptations}the idea of the Glad Game is to find something to be glad about when things go wrong, or if you don't like the situation you're in. Hate Mondays? Well, according to Pollyanna, you can be glad because it'll be a whole week before you have another one. {In the Disney movie, "Monday" was changed to "Sunday.}

 The basic premise of the Glad Game is good, as far as it goes. The problem, however, is that before you can play it, there has to be something wrong. Pollyanna herself points this out in Pollyanna Grows Up. "Always, before, there have been bad things for folks to play the game on, and the badder they are the more fun 'tis to get them out-find the things to be glad for, I mean. But where there aren't any bad things, I shouldn't know how to play the game myself."

 So I decided to make my own adaptation of the Game. Instead of looking for things to be glad about, I look for things to be thankful for, and to thank God for WHATEVER happens, good or bad. This helps make the bad things seem not quite so bad. Even better, it helps me to notice the good things, the little, everyday blessings.

To Think That These Things Were Once New!

Thanks to some books, I’ve been able to experience, at least vicariously, some of the excitement people felt at the introduction of movies, radio, and television. To think that these things were once new!

In “Heaven To Betsy,” the first of the Betsy-Tacy High School books, Maud Hart Lovelace tells us that “Moving Picture Entertainment had been only a rumor emanating from nearby St. Paul and Minneapolis. There, travelers said, pictures moved on a screen.” She goes on to say, a few sentences later, “Then talk of a moving picture called “The Great Train Robbery” rolled over the country like a tidal wave.”
I’m going to continue in my own words now. I love reading about how storefronts were painted red and yellow, and a piano, chairs, a screen and a projector brought inside.

Fast-forward [which none of the characters mentioned in this post were able to do!] to the time of the First World War. Jane’s brothers, Joe and Rufus, listen with great excitement and anticipation to hear the Arlington time signal on the wireless in “The Middle Moffat,” by Eleanor Estes.

And in Judy Delton’s “Kitty In High School,” set right after WWII, Kitty is fascinated to see a test pattern [presented for half an hour] on her friend Mimi’s family’s television.

I was able to find The Great Train Robbery on youtube, and a picture of a test pattern from the late 1940s on mediacollege.com. This may be the same as, or at least similar to, the one in “Kitty In High School.” [KSTP, the station mentioned in the book, was an NBC affiliate.]
So far, I haven’t found any online recordings of the Arlington time signal, but I’m still looking.

I find it almost as exciting, almost as interesting, to read about the early days of movies, radio, and tv as I do to listen to and or watch the more modern versions now.
I take back that word “almost.”

Jewish Fiction (Originally Posted In 2019 On A Now-Defunct Blog)

One of the many, many genres I enjoy reading is religious fiction in general. This post, however, will focus on the specific category of Jewish fiction.
So how do I, personally, define Jewish fiction?
Any work of fiction, whether it is a novel, chapter book, or collection of stories from a Jewish publisher is, of course, Jewish fiction.
But what about books from secular publishers?
Well, in that case, it’s not enough for the characters in the book to be Jewish. They should be shown celebrating Jewish holidays, observing the Sabbath, perhaps getting ready for a Bar or Bat Mitzvah.
The only indications that the family in “Amy Moves In” by Marilyn Sachs [a favorite book of mine, by the way] is Jewish is the use of some Jewish expressions, and the mention of matzah-brei [fried matzah]. Therefore, I don’t consider it to be Jewish fiction.
The same author’s “Peter and Veronica”, however, does qualify in my eyes as Jewish fiction, because a good portion of the book centers around Peter’s Bar Mitzvah.
I also feel that good Jewish fiction, in fact ANY good religious fiction, should include the characters secular interests. For example, Sydney Taylor’s wonderful book, “All-Of-A-Kind Family” begins with a chapter about Sarah’s lost library book. Such an incident can happen in Catholic literature, Protestant fiction, books without any religious themes, and… all too often… real life.
And it’s not always necessary for the main character in a book to be Jewish.
In “It Happened To Hannah”, by Ruth Rounds, Hannah, a little Methodist girl who has recently moved to a new neighborhood, finds a Jewish star necklace, and winds up
learning about Jewish customs. To me, that makes the book Jewish fiction.
But whether a book is a work of religious or secular fiction, it should, first of all, be a good story or collection of stories.

Reading List From 10 Years Ago

 This post, which I'm sharing on Fandango's Flashback Friday, was first published on one of my old blogs in 2016. Updates added today.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK

Books read for the first time are marked with a #
Books are listed by author (or series creator),
 and not necessarily in the order read.

"Mary Erskine: A Franconia Story"
by Jacob Abbott
[children's fiction]
(free online book)

 "Summa Theologica"
by St. Thomas Aquinas
long-term Catholic studies
(Kindle book)

"Tangled Web"
by Kristi Holl 
(openlibrary.org loan)
"R U 4 Real?"
by Nancy Been Peacock 
(physical copy)  
Luv @ First Site
by Tess Kindig
(physical copy) 
( todays.girls.com series, created by Terry K. Brown)

 [children's fiction, Christian, (Protestant, denomination or denominations not specified)] Some, but not all, of the books in this series were lost when I moved, so thank God for free online books!
Update: I'm now in a nursing home, and have once again lost many books.

 "A Right to Be Merry"
by Mother Mary Francis, P. C. C
(Kindle book) 
reserved for Sunday

 "Pauline Archer" #
 by Anna Theresa Sadlier
[fiction] 
(free online book) 
 reserved for Sunday
Update: I no longer reserve books for Sunday.

 "Every Day Is A Gift:
Minute Meditations for Every Day
Taken From the Holy Bible
and the Writings of the Saints"
Introduction by Rev. Frederick Schroeder 
 daily devotional reading for 2016
Update: I'm using this book again this year.

"Fifth Chinese Daughter"
by Jade Snow Wong
[autobiography]
Update: Also read this week. I was thrilled to find this
book on Internet Archive.

And I have a spicy feeling that I will be re-reading some more of the books on this list!