Lost and Found: Oliver Jeffers

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Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review. It has not influenced my opinions. Taste wise I really love books with an uplifting message. And I hate rationalization in book characters, especially when its the protagonist. This has the dual one-two punch of not being uplifting to me and also having a character who rationalizes their choices instead of giving me the raw inside look of what it means to regret and choose now instead. The Library of Lost and Found is about Martha Storm, a volunteer librarian who loves books. But she is also a people-pleaser who always puts everyone else first, before herself. That is just how she rolls. The fact is that she loves to help others but goes to an extreme as all the projects she takes on for them fills up her house. The boy was delighted when they first arrived at the South Pole… Think of synonyms for ‘delighted’. The penguin was lonely… Discuss what is means to be lonely and how we can help others when they ar feeling lonely. What can we do when we feel lonely ourselves?

The story doesn’t have any direct speech. Can you think of speech for the characters at each point in the story? We follow Martha on her quest to find about the book, her grandmother, and how all of this could be possible.Cute story, and it had some touching moments but I think I'm going to put it in the decent but not amazing read category. The crux of the story is a search for self — Martha is essentially lost and ultimately finds herself. At the same time, she also comes to care about herself first and foremost. It is a story about Family — the ties that bind us as well as the ties that choke us.

Martha comes from a dysfunctional family in which there were secrets that are finally revealed to her. Martha used to write stories as a child and loved to share them with her grandmother Zelda. These stories are interspersed throughout the book and i found them to be an added bonus to an already entertaining read. But her grandmother passed away while Martha was still young and it’s as Zelda took Martha’s imagination with her because she has completely lost the desire to write. The penguin looks sad when it first arrives at the boy’s house… Try to find words (synonyms) that mean the same as ‘sad’. Inside the book is a clue Zelda may be alive, and Martha is on a mission to find her. Of course, as she searches, she uncovers good things and something very dark, a secret about her family.Into this chaos, a book surfaces that contains stories, some she made up and told her grandmother and others her grandmother made up with her. The curious thing? The book has a note in it from her grandmother, advising Martha it is for her in the hopes it will be of benefit, but the note is dated three years after Martha’s grandmother was said to have died. A deeply moving, richly illuminating exploration of loss and bliss. Schulz is never anything but the very best company, speaking nuanced truths from and about the deepest reaches of the heart.” — LESLIE JAMISON, AUTHOR OF THE EMPATHY EXAMS For me it was really depressing. I won't reveal why, but I really dislike it when characters rationalize their poor mistakes. Your parents deceived you!! They USED you!! And the two loved ones who should have rectified that were TOO SELFISH to do so. Their lives mattered more than you (and all it would have taken them was a visit and the truth)!! I get it... Why waste your elderly years on anger. Move on. See your past as idealistic so that you don't dwell on what you don't have. Sigh. It's not an uplifting book to me.

I'm satisfied that at least Martha found a sort of happiness now. The Library of Lost and Found helped her to let go of being the perfect daughter. It's not for me, but if you have a lot of regrets in your life Martha's journey will be one you can relate to and learn from. The Library of Lost and Found is a charming, sweet read. I enjoyed the mystery at its heart, and Martha was a character I simply adored. She comes of age in a way. She also comes into her own, and it’s a beautiful self-discovery. Zelda was also written fantastically well. I wished she were in my family.It was just so. Kinda confusing. Resolves were clunky, characters stilted. I wanted to keep the main character propped up. . . When Martha thought to herself (and there was LOTS of instances of her thinking to herself) she kept thinking all she did was take care of others. Well, to my thinking all she really did was think about herself - very egocentric. There were lots of honorable mentions by other characters about Martha's care for others. . .hearsay, I say! Overall I was mildly irritated with a primary character as soppy, spineless and all about the ways she'd been done wrong by every single thing in the world. I did like all the book mentions, the library environment as a healing place, but these were not enough to get me out of my cranky pants as it related to Martha. After Zelda comes on board I thought it might change. Nope. Not a bit. In fact it gets a little odder with the family crisis in the past.

This is the most generic of titles and covers. The library actually had zero to do with Martha's lost and found journey. I expected a lot more interaction within the library and yeah, it wasn't even a big part of the setting. A bookshop got more time. The cover serves its purpose I suppose. It draws the eye of readers who love reading about bookworms, librarians and readers. You know right away what kind of book it will be due to the style... I totally understand why it was chosen. I assumed the plot had something to do with the library and books, and though it does in a small way, the storyline was dull and nothing new. I neither rooted for Martha nor cared about her journey, and I found parts of the novel incredibly slow. It is easy to dislike Martha in the beginning because she lets others walk all over her but her transformation is fascinating to witness. You will want to root for Martha and cheer her on during her journey of self-discovery. Her transformation, albeit slow but steady, will leave you smiling and wanting more.After hearing so many good things about The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper, I simply had to read The Library of Lost and Found. The Library of Lost and Found is a very sweet read. At first I struggled with Martha as a character because she was such a pushover, she didn’t like to let people down and so she put her own life on hold for others including her parents who she looked after until their death, her boss who kept overlooking her for a full-time job at the library and her younger sister. I felt like screaming at her to tell them to do their own laundry or fix their own child’s school trouser, etc. The Library of Lost and Found is a charming and uplifting story about a woman who always took time for everybody's needs, but never for herself. It's about family secrets and regrets. It's about finding your inner strength in yourself and allowing others into your life. Make a poster to tell people that you have found a penguin, in case anyone has lost it (see Resources below). I’m having a crustacean section next week.” “A cesarean?” … “The baby is lying in a beach position.” “Do you mean breach?”