Mrs. Frisby and The Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien

Tags

animals, BBI anniversary, children, CL/YA, classic, english, fable, fiction, NARC2015, newbery, review15

Judul: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

Penulis: Robert C. O’Brien

Penerbit: Aladdin Paperbacks (1986), first published in 1971

Halaman: 233p

Beli di: Bras Basah (thanks to Dewi)

Mrs. Frisby, seekor tikus ladang yang tinggal di dekat pertanian Mr. Fitzgibbon, sedang panik. Musim semi sudah di ambang pintu, yang berarti, ia harus membawa keluarganya pindah ke rumah musim panas mereka di hutan, agar tidak ikut diterjang traktor Mr. Fitzgibbon yang akan mulai musim tanamnya.

Namun, anak laki-laki Mrs. Frisby, Jeremy, terkapar lemah karena pneumonia, dan membawanya pindah rumah selama ia masih sakit, sama saja dengan mengancam nyawanya. Mrs. Frisby berusaha memecahkan masalah ini, apalagi setelah Mr. Frisby meninggal, ia harus mengurus keempat anaknya sendirian.

Untunglah, lewat beberapa kenalan, akhirnya Mrs. Frisby terhubung dengan koloni tikus besar dari NIMH yang tinggal di kebun keluarga Fitzgibbon. Konon, tikus-tikus ini memiliki kecerdasan luar biasa dan mampu memecahkan segala masalah.

Namun, ketika masuk ke koloni tersebut, Mrs. Frisby tidak menyangka kalau ternyata ia juga akan menguak masa lalu suaminya, dan mengetahui asal muasal para tikus jenius tersebut. Sebenarnya, di mana NIMH berada, dan mengapa tikus-tikus itu begitu cerdas sampai ingin membangun peradaban baru sendiri?

Buku ini adalah buku yang menyenangkan, fabel yang berisi banyak sekali isu menarik namun tetap bisa dikemas dengan ringan, sesuai dengan target pembacanya, para middle graders.

Beberapa yang menurut saya menarik dan layak menjadi pembahasan bersama anak-anak:

1. Percobaan laboratorium. Meski settingnya di tahun 70-an, O’Brien mampu mengangkat isu science/sosial yang akan semakin marak di dekade berikutnya. Sejauh apa manusia bisa menggunakan hewan (termasuk tikus) dalam percobaannya? Seberharga apa nyawa hewan dibandingkan dengan kebutuhan umat manusia tentang ilmu pengetahuan?
2. Peradaban baru. Sedikit menyinggung tentang teori evolusi kaum kera yang bisa “naik kelas” menjadi manusia, O’Brien dengan berani mengajukan teori tentang kecerdasan tikus yang sebenarnya di atas rata-rata- namun karena gaya hidup yang malas dan biasa mencuri, tikus pun kalah dengan kera di dalam seleksi alam. Namun sekelompok tikus yang berpikiran maju, bertekad untuk membangun peradaban baru, meninggalkan gaya hidup tikus yang identik dengan mencuri.
3. Feminisme- tokoh Mrs. Frisby merupakan contoh menarik tentang peran perempuan- single parent- membesarkan anak-anak dan mengurus keluarganya sendiri. Untuk buku yang ditulis di tahun 70-an, kisah Mrs. Frisby ini cukup progresif.

Saya sendiri menganggap buku ini seperti Animal Farm untuk level middle grade. Latihan yang baik untuk anak-anak dalam mengenal fabel atau alegori. Tak heran buku ini sukses menggondol penghargaan Newbery Medal di tahun 1972.

Submitted for:

Kategori Genre 101: Children

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Tags

bargain book!, BBI, english, fable, fiction, lucky 14, politics, review 2014, secondhand books

Judul: Animal Farm

Penulis: George Orwell

Penerbit: Penguin Books (1980)

Halaman: 119p

Beli di: Pesta Buku Jakarta 2012 (IDR 15k, bargain price!)

Animal Farm bercerita tentang sekelompok binatang yang hidup di Manor Farm, pertanian milik Mr.Jones yang kejam dan tidak menyenangkan. Suatu malam, Major, babi hutan yang sudah tua dan sangat bijaksana, mengumpulkan para binatang untuk bercerita tentang mimpinya. Dalam mimpinya, Major mendapat penglihatan mengenai sebuah revolusi besar yang dilakukan para hewan terhadap manusia, dan sebuah dunia utopia di mana hewan akan berkuasa atas dirinya sendiri, dan bukan dikuasai oleh manusia.

Tak lama kemudian, Major mati dan visinya tersebut segera diwujudkan, dipimpin oleh dua ekor babi paling cerdas di pertanian tersebut, Snowball dan Napoleon. Mereka mengajak para hewan untuk mengusir manusia dari Manor Farm dan mengubah nama pertanian itu menjadi Animal Farm. Dan setelah revolusi besar tersebut, para hewan mulai memimpin dirinya sendiri, membentuk sistem pemerintahan yang -katanya- berbasis kepentingan para hewan.

Namun perbedaan visi antara Snowball dan Napoleon menimbulkan masalah baru, dan menyebabkan perpecahan di antara mereka. Dan tak lama kemudian, golongan Napoleon membentuk kekuatan baru yang tak kalah tiran dibandingkan Mr. Jones. Bahkan visi yang mulia pun bisa berubah menjadi neraka, bila para tokohnya sudah dipenuhi keserakahan menjadi penguasa.

Animal Farm adalah jenis buku yang aku harap bisa kubaca di saat masih sekolah dulu. Tidak seperti kebanyakan fabel yang diperuntukkan bagi anak-anak, Animal Farm memiliki tema yang cukup berat, sarat akan muatan politik, moral dan bahkan kekerasan.

Banyak teori yang menyatakan bahwa George Orwell menulis buku ini sebagai bentuk kritiknya atas Revolusi Rusia dan bangkitnya kekuasaan Stalin. Ia menggambarkan Manor Farm sebagai Rusia saat dikuasai oleh kaum aristokrat dan kerajaan. Sementara Napoleon dan Snowball mewakili sosok Stalin dan Trotsky, yang meski sama-sama menginginkan Rusia bebas dari cengkeraman pemerintahan kerajaan, namun memiliki visi dan cara yang berbeda bagi negara tersebut.

Untuk seseorang yang tidak terlalu paham kisah sejarah Rusia, aku banyak mendapat pencerahan dari Sparknotes. Memang sifat-sifat manusia tergambar cukup jelas lewat tokoh binatang-binatang yang ada di Animal Farm: misalnya Benjamin, keledai tua yang sangat skeptis dan menganggap perubahan macam apapun tetap akan berdampak buruk pada rakyat, atau Boxer, kuda yang sangat setia pada Napoleon dan menganggap perintah sang penguasa adalah harga mati.

Buku yang kubaca ternyata bekas punya anak sekolahan, banyak catatannya 🙂

Namun untuk mengaitkan alur cerita, ideologi dan karakter dalam buku ini dengan sejarah Rusia, banyak yang harus dipahami lebih dalam lagi. Untukku pribadi, Animal Farm bisa mewakili apa saja, tidak hanya Rusia. Ide dasarnya sangat klasik- bahwa orang-orang yang mencetuskan perubahan, pada akhirnya seringkali menjadi tokoh-tokoh yang setelah berhasil mencapai puncak, justru mengembalikan keadaan menjadi sama buruknya (atau bahkan lebih buruk) daripada kondisi di masa lalu.

Indonesians, are you familiar with that? 🙂

Submitted for:

Tema Fabel bulan Januari 2014

Category “First Letter Rules”

The Ocean at The End of The Lane

Tags

british, english, fable, fantasi, fiction, horror

Title: The Ocean at The End of The Lane

Writer: Neil Gaiman

Publisher: Headline Publishing Group (2013)

Pages: 248p

Bought at: Kinokuniya Ngee Ann City (SGD 25.68)

The narrator of this story (whose name had never been mentioned in this book) was looking back to 40 years ago, when something bad happened during his childhood. A man from South Africa, who lodged in their family’s house, killed himself in their car, parked near a farmhouse at the end of the lane.

This suicide stirred up ancient powers, very bad creatures, that best left undisturbed. The narrator had to defend himself, especially when he was accidentally bringing one evil creature into his world. He had to fight as hard as he could if he didn’t want the creature to finish him and use him as the door between two worlds.

The only people who can help him was three women who lived in the farmhouse at the end of the lane. The oldest women, Mrs. Hempstock, was really old, she even remembered when the world was created. Her daughter, Ginny Hempstock was a wonderful cook who liked to feed our narrator very delicious food. And Ginny’s daughter, Lettie Hempstock who was 11 years old, was the bravest girl the narrator’s ever known. Those three women claimed that the pond in their yard was actually an ocean. And that it could help them, even though there was a big sacrifice that must be given.

Neil Gaiman.

One of the greatest writers in our time. I can imagine 60 years from now his books became classics and talk of the world, just like what CS Lewis had done with his Narnia, or Tolkien with his Lord of The Rings. From children books to high fantasy to fable for adults, Neil Gaiman is like a magician who can turn everything he wrote into golden charm.

I admit that I don’t always like everything he wrote, sometimes they were too absurd, too pretentious and too hard to be grasped. But this one, this one actually fulfilled my expectation. A fable for adults wrapped in a fairy tale kind of story, with evil creatures, gory scenes and tense moments.

First I thought this book was kinda like a children book. But when the evil took form as a beautiful woman who could seduce everyone including the narrator’s dad, wow. It made this book seemed more than just an ordinary fairy tale. Many scenes in this book referred to the bad side of being an adult, even the evil itself came into the world as an adult woman, who wanted to “give what humans want”, including money, desire to have something better even though they already had good things in their life.

It did not matter, at that moment, that she was every monster, every witch, every nightmare made flesh. She was also an adult, and when adults fight children, adults always win. (p116)

Grown ups don’t look like grown ups on the inside. Outside, they’re big and thoughtless and they always know what they’re doing. Inside, they just look like they always have. Like they did when they were your age. The truth is, there aren’t any grown ups. Not one, in the whole wide world. (p152)

Neil can mix a beautiful storyline, mesmerizing characters, horror scenes, and dark atmosphere in a packed book that will make you think and think about the loose creatures from beyond our world. About the horror stories that maybe not pure fantasies at all. About losing your childhood and facing the unavoidable adulthood. And about believing in everything, including the most improbable things.

Prepare to have all your nightmares from childhood came alive in this book!

Trivias:

-This book cover reminds me of the old Nirvana album called Nevermind.

-Neil wrote this book for his wife, Amanda Palmer, when they were far away from each other and he missed her so much. How romantic.

-Please do read the acknowledgment part, it’s written as beautifully as the story itself 🙂

The Time Keeper

Tags

english, fable, fiction, gift, inspirational

Love the cover!

Title: The Time Keeper

Writer: Mitch Albom

Publisher: Sphere (2012)

Pages: 222p

Gift from: @sah_grace

“There is a reason God limits our days. To make each one precious”

The Time Keeper is a beautiful fable about Father Time, and how time was measured by human for the first time. Dor was an ordinary boy who loved to play with his friends, Alli and Nim. But he also loved to measure things, created tools from sticks and bowls to understand the difference between days and nights. Dor didn’t want to believe in the battle between the gods of light and dark.

That’s why he dedicated all his time to learn about time, but without realizing it, he didn’t have any time left to spend with his loved ones. One day Dor had lost everything, and he was punished to spend his eternity to listen to people begging about time. He was becoming the Father Time. The only thing he could do to free himself was to find two souls on Earth who made time as their enemy, and try to save them from their sad fates.

Victor Delamonte fears time will running out soon, the doctor said his cancer is incurable and he only has short time to spend in the world. But as a very rich man, he will try everything to find a way to stay. Sarah Lemon feels time means little to her. She doesn’t want to be a part of it, she has unworthy life with no friends, fat body, nerdy brains and a guy who she likes a lot but doesn’t have the same feeling. She wants to end her life, as soon as possible. Dor has found them and now he is trying to save – teach them about the meaning of time, and free himself from his exile.

I fell in love with Mitch Albom since Tuesdays with Morrie, my survival kit when I had a very rough time about ten years ago. Since then I always followed Albom’s works, although not always impressed by them. The Time Keeper is not as strong as Morrie, or as touching as For One More Day, but it has Albom’s quality all over it. It has been written beautifully, as a reminder for us about Time, our best and worst companion in life. Sometimes we thought too much about time that we tend to forget what it really means. How many times a day we look at our watch, count the hours until our next appointment? How many times a day we thought that time flies and 24 hours would never be enough, or at certain moments, that time moving so slowly?

Although the ending of this book has too much Disney-movie feels for my taste- well, I actually quite enjoy this book, and recommend this for people who don’t want to waste their time for bad books 🙂

From Wikipedia:

Father Time is the anthropomorphized depiction of time. He is usually depicted as an elderly bearded man, dressed in a robe and carrying a scythe and an hourglass or other timekeeping device (which represents time’s constant one-way movement, and more generally and abstractly, entropy). This image derives from several sources, including the Grim Reaper and Chronos: Greek God of Time.

Father Time, picture from here