The Minuteman Library Network was invaluable, the main Cambridge branch in particular stocked almost all the books.
The Higher Power of Lucky, Susan Patron (2007) Lucky is a young girl whose mother was electrocuted after a storm downed power lines, and her father (divorced) calls on his first wife to take care of his daughter, in a small town out in the Mojave desert. Lucky's trying to find her higher power, to make her French stepmother stay. Lucky's friends with two boys, a five year old who begs for cookies and asks her to read his book (his mother is also out of the picture), and a champion knot tyer who's her age. She also wants to be a scientist, and always carries a survival gear stuffed backpack. The story's a bit sad overall, as she tries to understand her world and make her mark upon it. The infamous snake biting a dog's scrotum is in the first chapter, and really incidental to the whole story.
Criss cross, Lynne Rae Perkins. (2006) This was a more contemplative novel, following a group of friends who are around 14 years old. It sort of focuses on childhood crushes, but in a really sweet way. Debbie's necklace gets lost and moves from pocket to pocket, falls on the street and is found and eventually returns to her, but I felt that could have been left out, the ties between the characters were strong enough emotionally to not need a physical token passed between them. It felt much like a memoire rather than wish fulfillment, the pairs that I thought would get together passed each other. The geeky/nerdy boy grows up, Debbie learns to let go, and I was almost sad to get to the last pages. Not a lot happens externally, but the internal growth is captivating.
Kira-Kira, Cynthia Kadohata. (2005) Jumping to mid century America (I think), this one follows a young Japanese-American girl from the midwest to the south, and shows how she deals with the move and her sister's illness. Deals matter of factly with how the kids react to the parents having to work more and more to cover medical bills and mortgages. Illustrates a sense of community and family pulling together through tough times. I liked this one, but it wasn't very cheery.
The tale of Despereaux : being the story of a mouse, a princess, some soup, and a spool of thread, Kate DiCamillo. (2004) This one was targeted at a younger audience than I'm used to, the chapters were mega short, and someone had underlined all the big words in the library's copy (which I always find very distracting, it's why I was always really picky about getting clean used textbooks in school). The story starts with a mouse who falls in love with a princess, the rat who hates the princess, and the serving girl that gets drafted into a plot of revenge. The author often addresses the reader directly, it felt similar in tone to the Series of Unfortunate Events, but with less definitions (we're told to go look things up in the dictionary, perfidy especially...). The author also doesn't shy away from featuring less than intelligent characters and showing how they can be manipulated, I think as a warning to kids to not just go along with whatever someone tells you. It's a nice mix of fantasy and fairy tale, but even though the rodents talk, it stops short of magical transformations or cross species marriages. :)
Crispin : the cross of lead, Avi. (2003) Set in 1300's England, it's heavy on the religion (ie everyone's concerned with their immortal soul). Really good depiction of how a villein would react to going outside the boundaries of his tiny village for the first time, as well as an oppressive sense of forces arrayed against a young orphan as he tries to solve the mystery of his name and origins. The religious stuff calmed down a bit as the story went on, and I enjoyed it, though not as much as The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.
A single shard, Linda Sue Park. (2002) I liked this one a lot. It follows a Korean orphan in the 1100's, who is living under a bridge with a kind man with one good leg. The boy, Tree-ear, apprentices himself to an irascible potter, in the hopes of learning how to make a vase. A year of chopping and hauling wood, cutting and sifting clay and other menial tasks doesn't do it, but he earns food for himself and Crane-man. Then the chance of a royal commission comes along for the potters of the tiny village...
A year down yonder, Richard Peck. (2001) A 15 year old girl from Chicago is sent by her parents to live with her Grandma in rural Illinois during the depression. Grandma is a mean and crafty old coot, and teaches the girl a few tricks. A quick, fun read.
Bud, not Buddy, Christopher Paul Curtis. (2000) Another Depression era book, about an orphan who runs away from a foster home and the Home that put him there, to find his father. He managed to get from Flint to Grand Rapids and finds the band that features on the flyers that his mother left him. The band leader is a cranky old goat but the members take him under their wing and start teaching him how to play on a recorder and a sax. The boy learns a lot and grows up quickly at 11 years old or so.
Holes,
screenplay by Louis Sacher (1999). I heard about this on
a list of movies for kids, and I figured I might as well watch the
movie version since I've read the book. It was well worth it, it was a
good adaptation, and all the actors were spot on. The only two quibbles I
have are that Stanley didn't start out chubby (they explained the
difficulty in the extras), and they glossed over the pig stealing part of
his no good dirty pig stealing great great grandpa (he got a pig from a
witch, and forgot to pay her back so the family was cursed). Henry Winkler
and Eartha Kitt have supporting roles, and Sigourney Weaver and Jon Voight
are great as the wardens of Camp Greenlake, where the kids are digging the
holes. I'd heard Shia LaBouef's name a few times recently, and he does
really well as Stanley. Khleo Thomas though, he stole the show. The kid
can say volumes with his eyes, and he's got the sweetest smile. Anyway,
yes, recommended, esp. to show to boys in the 8-12 year range.
Out of the dust, Karen Hesse (1998) This is the first book
about the Dust Bowl that I've read, it's in the form of a 14 year old
girl's diary covering 1934-1935, each short entry marked with a month and
a year. The descriptions of living with the omnipresent dust, the storms,
the watching for rain, and the interpersonal relationships highlighted by
the girl wanting to play piano all bring the time and trials to life.
The view from Saturday, E.L. Konigsburg. (1997) This book
engaged me from the beginning, as it covers an Academic Bowl team of 6th
graders as they're brought together and compete at the NY state level. I
did School Reach in high school and won us a match due to having travelled
to the place that a key question was about, exactly as one of the kids
did. :) Each section starts with a question being posed and the expected
(by the teacher) child ringing in to answer. Then their back story is
illustrated, showing how they learned that specific answer. Two of the
kids have grandparents that married, another was best man at that wedding,
and the fourth invites them all over to his house for tea, by hiding the
invitation in a series of clues that each guest has to figure out first.
The kids are all smart, in different ways, and they come together to
support their teacher (who's come back to teaching after a crippling car
accident), and their community comes together to support them as well.
The midwife's apprentice, Karen Cushman. (1996) Set in I
think the 1200's, yet another orphan apprentices herself to a harsh
master. She plays a few tricks on the village people who tormented her
when she was homeless and after she got a job. She learns how to be a
midwife despite her mistress trying to keep secrets, but is scared to
stand up for herself or acknowledge her learning. She runs away and comes
back once she's found her confidence. I didn't really find Alyce
sympathetic, but the moral is well illustrated.
Walk two moons, Sharon Creech. (1995) This book is
structured around the young heroine telling a story to her grandparents as
they drive across country to visit her mother. The story of her friend's
mother who disappears, her story about dealing with her own mother's
absence, and the story about the road trip wind together, illuminating the
events in turn. The inner lives of the children involved are exposed but
secrets that are hidden from them are gradually revealed. I liked all the
characterisations in this book, and the story brought tears to my eyes at
points.
The giver, Lois Lowry. (1994) A young adult science
fiction story, about a boy on the cusp of manhood, being selected to be
the Receiver of the communities memories. His training exposes him to
everything that the community has off loaded onto the Giver because they
don't want to know about it (the Giver advises the community) - things
like war and pain and cold and sunshine and love and colours. As the
scales fall from his eyes, he sees his town turn from a polite utopia to a
falsehood driven prison. The ending is ambiguous, I'd like to take the
positive interpretation, but the build up is against it. Reminded me a lot
of Devil on My Back, but with the forces of change coming from
inside the community rather than rebels living outside the walls.
Missing May, Cynthia Rylant. (1993) A young girl is taken
in by her aunt and uncle after her parents die. The story starts after May
has died, and she and her uncle deal with the hole in their lives. Her
uncle is threatening to wind down, but one of Summer's school friends is
fairly quirky and comes to visit often, engaging Ob with the idea of a
road trip to visit a phsychic to contact May (he's thought that he's felt
her presence in the garden). The trip doesn't quite go as planned, but is
healing in the end.
Shiloh, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. (1992) This one is geared
to younger readers, it's about a boy who finds a dog belonging to his
neighbour. The dog loves the boy and is scared of his former owner, and
the boy decides to hide the dog to save him from mistreatment. Lies ensue
as he builds a pen on the hill and sneaks food and tries to collect cans
for recycling to pay for more food for the dog. The boy's basically a good
kid, and he wrestles with his moral dilemmas, finally offering to work for
the dog's owner to buy Shiloh. The owner tries to cheat the boy but they
come to an understanding of each other's ethics before the end. It's a
fairly sweet book, and illustrates the consequences of lying and then how
to stand up for your beliefs in a better way.
Maniac Magee, Jerry Spinelli (1991). This was a fun book.
An orphaned boy lives homeless and with various families and friendly
people and animals, creating a legend in the town of Bridgeport, CT. He
takes on bullies, does the impossible, helps out little kids, and tries to
find a place for himself. Quite upbeat, but deals with some serious issues
(grief, racism) as well.
Number the Stars, Lois Lowry. (1990) Second book by her
encountered on the list, totally different from The Giver. This
one is set in Denmark during the 1940's, told from the point of view
of a young teen as her city is occupied by the Nazi's. Her best friend
is Jewish and at first they're both insulated from what the
"relocations" mean, but eventually their parents have to tell them
what's going on. Some encounters with the Germain soldiers keep
the tension dialed up, and the young girls grow up as they learn about
the Resistance and get split up.
Lincoln : a photobiography, Russell Freedman.
(1988) I didn't know a lot about Abraham Lincoln before reading
this, and it gave me a good quick high level introduction to the man
and the president. It covers his childhood, his coming of age and
lawyering years, his entry into politics and his time as president.
Lots of focus on the civil war and emancipation, but it felt like it
was skimping on motivations for the changes in his life.
The Whipping Boy Sid Fleischman. (1987) Another take on the
Prince and the Pauper story, the whipping boy goes with the prince as
the latter runs away. The commoner keeps the prince safe and both
learn a bit about the other's point of view. Prince Brat is barely
sympathetic, and the whipping boy's punishments aren't portrayed as
being as traumatic as they probably were (he doesn't make a
peep). Geared to younger readers, but the sense of being pursued by
highwaymen that wish to ransom the Prince (which is he? the whipping
boy keeps them confused) introduced an element of danger beyond
starving to death in the country side. The dancing bear was totally
superflouous, it felt like the author wanted to throw in random dark
ages references.
Sarah, plain and tall, Patricia MacLachlan. (1986) This
is a story about a young girl and her brother and how they react to
their father's new wife. It's based on a prairie farm but Sarah comes
as a mail order bride from the coast of Maine. She's always talking
about the sea and the kids are worried that she misses it so much that
she'll leave. It's a sweet story, the adult's interactions are
described subtly and the antics of Caleb are endearing and
believable.
The Hero and the Crown, Robin McKinley (1985) This is one
of the first books that I bought myself, from the Scholastic Book Club
when I was living in BC. I've read it so many times I could almost recite
the words before I read them, but it was neat doing a re-read in the
context of the Newbery winners. Aerin doesn't fit in at court, her
Northern mother having a taint of witchery about her and believed to have
bespelled the King into marrying her. Aerin's cousins Galanna and Perlith
torment her, jealous of her rank, but Tor befriends her and teaches her
how to weild a sword. Aerin learns how to make a dragonfire proof ointment
and starts to hunt small dragons, which are getting more frequent as the
kingdom is stirred up by Northern mischief. The kingdom doesn't really
appreciate her help but she loves her land and her people to sacrifice
anything for them. This is one of the more adult books, following Aerin
from around 14 to 20, and there's some strongly implied nookie at one
point. :) Ms. McKinley is one of my favourite authors and since I read
this book first it's always been my favourite of hers. I love The Blue
Sword as well, set well after Aerin's time in Damar, but I really
really really wish I could get more about Aerin, she's a wonderful
heroine.
Dear Mr. Henshaw, by Beverly Cleary, illustrated by Paul O.
Zelinsky. (1984) The book is presented in the format of letters
that a boy is writing to his favourite author, as well as diary
entries that he starts making after a response from Mr. Henshaw. The
boy has just moved with his mother to a new town, after she's divorced
his trucker father. The father got to keep the family dog, Bandit, for
company on his long hauls. The boy wants to become a writer and his
letters and diary entries become more fluid as time passes. He writes
about missing his dad and his dog, and about how he tries to catch the
person who's stealing the good stuff from his lunch bag. I liked this
one quite a bit, it showed the boy learning new skills, maturing
emotionally, making friends.
Dicey's Song, Cynthia Voigt (1983) This book had me in
tears three times, I loved it. It's the second book in Dicey's story,
taking up after she gets her brothers and sister to their grandmother's
house after their mother wanders off and leaves them. Their mother was
found and committed to an asylum in Boston, the kids settle in with their
grandmother. Dicey's only 14 or so, but she gets a job working at the
grocery store to bring in some money, helps her grandmother with welfare
and adoption paper work, and tries to keep taking care of her siblings.
School is a bit of a trial for her, she has a hard time letting down her
defensive walls, but two people eventually make it past them. One brother
is the smart one, one is the fighter, and her sister needs some help
keeping up with school - they all pull together to figure out what she
needs in order to learn her lessons. The grandmother is a bit stiff and
quiet at first, but they learn to read each other soon enough. I liked how
the author showed that learning process, it felt like I was learning along
with Dicey. I want to find the first book, Homecoming, and see if
there's another in the series as well.
A visit to William Blake's inn : poems for innocent and experienced
travelers by Nancy Willard. (1982) This is more of a picture
book than anything, the poems aren't that great. I'm not that familiar
with Blake's work, so I probably didn't get as much out of it as I could.
The illustrations reminded me a bit of the world of "Jasper Morello",
though.
Jacob Have I Loved, Katherine Paterson (1981). This one is
about a young girl living on an island in Chesapeake Bay. Her father is a
crab fisherman, her twin sister is a musical prodigy. She and her friend
take her skiff out to fish for various things so that she can supplement
the family income. A stranger moves into a creepy old house and they
befriend him. She deals with jealousy over the attention that her sister
receives. The setting is neat, but the story takes a right turn near the
end, speeding up as people leave the island, and the conclusion is a bit
forced.
A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-1832 by
Joan W. Blos (1980) Another diary based novel, using the conceit
that a womangives her diary to her great-granddaughter. Unfortunately the
cover letter gives away a major event in the story and reduces it's impact
- well, the author isn't skilled enough to evoke emotions once the event
happens in the course of the 2 years. Granted, it's using the stilted
formality of a young girl writing in the early 1800's, so that counts
against emotionality. The underground railroad is touched upon, living
through New Hampshire winters is well illustrated, a new wife appears for
her father, her friends flirt, but no real romantic interest for the young
girl, nor does it feel like she's really grown up all that much. An
interesting window onto the time, though. Bonus point for the use of the
word "abecedarian".
Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson (1978) A re-read
from my library, second time through it still brought tears to my eyes,
even knowing what was coming. Jessie and Leslie form an unlikely
friendship when Leslie moves in next door, and they take refuge from the
plagues of the 5th grade in their fort in the imaginary kingdom of
Terabithia. Still haven't seen the movie, but I enjoyed the book again.
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred D. Taylor (1977) This
novel focuses on a young girl and her family living in the south as she
learns about discrimination. She'd been sheltered by her independent
family as they owned their own land, but there's an alliance of whites who
are terrorizing the black community and their family is targeted due to
their land being coveted by the richest of the whites. The sense of danger
and the inadvertent worsening of their situation by the kids as they
stumble into situations they don't quite understand, kept the tension
high. The parents tried to explain racism to the kids, but in a way to
keep them fighting. It's not a comfortable book, bad things happen in it,
but the author is skilled and keeps the story moving and light enough that
it shouldn't traumatise young kids too much to learn about burnings and
threats of death. Other important lessons are illustrated, about fighting
back, about thinking for yourself.
The Grey King, Susan Cooper. (1976) Finally read my way up
to the one on the Newbery awards list. This one returns to Will's story,
as he takes on his first quest alone. The antagonist this time is very
powerful, and the consequences of failure are great. He was very ill and
is sent to his cousin's farm in Wales to recover, where he meets the
Albino boy Bran, and the crazy mean Caradog Pritchard. People seem to know
more about the Old Ones here, and he has some help along the way as he
quests for the harp and then must wake the Sleepers. The influences of
Arthurian legend on the series becomes crystal clear now. Will has to make
some hard choices, and the enemy is waiting to pounce when mistakes are
made. I liked books 1 and 3 better than this one, but it was neat to see
some of the mystery illuminated. I'll probably track down the 5th book to
find out what happens next, though.
M. C. Higgins the Great, Virginia Hamilton. (1975) This one
is set in the hills of Ohio (though I had to confirm that, it reads more
like regions further south to me). A young man lives on the side of a
mountain with his family, and coal mining has left a spoil heap on the
slope above them, poisoning their water and threatening to slide down and
bury the house if it absorbs more rain. A man comes through, looking for
singing voices to record, and collects the mother's voice, engendering
hope that she might get called to Nashville to make records so the family
can escape danger. But the father doesn't see the danger, and is set on
staying. A teenaged girl had given the man with the tape recorder a drive,
and she wanders around the tracks of the hills, camping by the lake where
the family swims. MC develops a crush on her, but it's clear that they
come from totally different worlds. MC's friend Ben is marked as witchy by
his red hair and 6 fingers (whole family has them), and fear marks
most interactions between the two families. MC is described as very
physically talented, a great swimmer, climber, tracker, hunter, but his
social skills seem rudimentary. He scares the girl he likes by hunting
her, almost kills her taking her through a dangerous underwater tunnel,
plays with his friend but won't let him touch him to avoid "witchiness"
rubbing off. He wants to save his family but he's not sure how, to stay or
to go. It's not a comfortable book to read, but it's interesting.
The Slave Dancer, Paula Fox (1974) A young boy is kidnapped
on his way to do an errand for his mother, and bundled on board a ship
with his pipe. He's forced to sail with them to Africa where they pick up
a cargo hold full of slaves, and then he's responsible for piping for them
so that they dance and get exercise and not waste away. He's outraged at
his kidnapping and more outraged at the slavery, but the crew keeps him
under control through threats and low rations and hard work. Again, not a
comfortable book, the captives are dehumanised by the rest of the crew
while the young boy tries to befriend them, and lashings and drownings and
starvation and sickness make it a horrible journey.
Julie of the wolves, Jean Craighead George (1973). I took a
bit of a break reading the non list stuff, and skipped to this one as it's
the thinnest on the to-read pile right now. A 13 year old Eskimo girl runs
away from her young husband in Alaska and gets lost on the tundra. She
learns how to communicate with a pack of wolves and they help each other
out as she makes her way back to the coast. Lessons on living in the far
north are interwoven with her reactions to the whites settling in and
reshaping the communities. Her pen pal wants her to come live in SF with
her family, but Julie/Miyax sees the good and the bad of civilised living
and has to make her own choice about how to live her life. I liked this
one a lot, but I was addicted to Jack London stories when I was young and
any tale where the temperature drops to lower than -40C is usually one
that I'll like. :)
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, Robert C. O'Brien (1972) (aka
The Secret of NIMH) Another one of my early book purchases,
I'd brought this book back from BC with me when I started to transport my
library back to my own apartment. Mrs. Frisby is a field mouse whose son
Timothy is recovering from pneumonia and can't be moved without a serious
relapse. But the plow is soon going to go through the garden where they've
lived for the winter and break up their home, killing them all if they
don't move to their summer home. She overcomes her fears and asks a crow,
an owl (!) and the rats who live under the rosebush for help. The leader
of the rats, Nicodemus, tells her their story, from living in a city sewer
near a market to being experimental lab rats, to escaping and learning how
to live without stealing. But their plans are also under threat, as NIMH
may have found them again. The captain of the rat guards, Justin, was a
favourite when I was younger, it was interesing to see how the author
encouraged that attitude. Mrs. Frisby is really brave, risking everything
to help others, not just her children. The rats want to build a
civilisation where they can live without depending on nor being threatened
by humans, after being genetically modified by the doctor at NIMH. Big
themes are slipped into the story, and I'm glad that I had an excuse to
re-read this one. I should try to see the animated movie at some time as
well.
Summer of the Swans, Betsy Byars (1971)
This was an interesting historical perspective on learning
disabilities. The pre-teen's younger brother is probably
autistic but that term is never used. The brother wanders
away one night, trying to find the swans that the two had
seen the day before, and the sister has to examine her
reactions to her brother, and figure out how to tone down her
protectiveness as it caused a rift between her and a kid in
her class over a misunderstanding about her brother's missing
watch. The brother's thought processes are heard, and it doesn't seem
nearly as realistic as say The Curious Incident of the Dog in the
Night Time or The Speed of Dark. It's interesting
encountering an out of date element in a kid's story, like when I read
science fiction stories from the 1950's or earlier.
Sounder, William H. Armstrong (1970) Told from
the perspective of an eldest son, this story is only
peripherally about the family coon dog Sounder. The boy's
father comes home one night with extra food that they didn't
expect to see on a share cropper's wages, and the
consequences when the overseer finds the leftovers are dire.
The father is beaten and chained up and taken to jail. The
boy walks to town with a cake from his mother to his father,
and the warden destroys it looking for a file. He doesn't
see his father again after he's sentenced, but the boy walks
and walks and walks, visiting work camps over the years,
trying to find his father. He grows up over those years, and
Sounder heals from being shot as the dog tried to prevent the
father from being taken. This book isn't as scary in showing
the threats to which blacks were subjected as Roll of
Thunder, Hear My Cry was, but it shows the aftermath of
being deprived of a father over the course of at least 5
years.
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E.L.
Konigsburg (1968) I'm pretty sure that I read this
when I was young, the running away to the Met in NYC was
really familiar. It stands up well to an adult view reread,
though their search for facts about the mysterious Angel
sculpture seemed to go a lot faster this time around. :) I
liked the asides from Mrs. B. E. F. that were sprinkled
through the text. The kids were engaging, the older sister
very detail oriented, the young brother keeping track of the
money.
Up a road slowly, Irene Hunt (1967) A young girl goes a bit
hysterical after her mother dies, and is sent to live with her aunt, an
older school mistress, and her uncle, a pathological liar and alcoholic
who lives in a cabin on the property and pretends to write. Julie
understands that her uncle is lying, but he's entertaining so she lets
herself play along. The house is well out of town, and Julie feels quite
isolated at first, but she comes to love and understand her aunt, and find
out more about the family history as well. It's a coming of age story,
interesting, but didn't engage me as much as I hoped.
I, Juan de Pareja, Elizabeth Borton de Treviño. (1966)
This is a historical novel about the slave of a Portuguese
painter, Deigo Velazquez. It's not as dire in it's portrayal of the
circumstances around slavery, Juan's master loves him, and Juan has a love
of painting that he practices in secret (it's against the law for slaves
to do any arts). Velazquez becomes the court painter and they travel to
Italy a couple of times on buying trips and to meet other artists - Rubens
is one. It's an interesting look at that time in history, from a neat
perspective. The historical detail is present but not overwhelming to the
story.
Shadow of a bull, Maia Wojciechowska, drawings by Alvin Smith.
(1965) This one played on my heart strings - a young boy, son of
a famous bull fighter, is being shaped by the whole town to become a bull
fighter himself. But he's scared stiff. All he knows of his father is what
he finds in the museum devoted to his life. Six of the bull fight fans
teach him everything they can, but refuse to let him practice until his
first fight. Manolo practices secretly at night in his room, and sneaks
into a bull pen with is friend to practice as well, all the while
stressing out about being forced to face a real live bull. Lots of details
are given about bull fighting, and Manolo is vividly drawn. It's set in
current at the time of writing Spain, but every time they mention a car it
feels like an anachronism, as the whole town is caught up in a traditional
lifestyle.
It's like this, Cat, Emily Neville. Pictures by Emil Weiss. (1964)
This was a cute story - a teenaged boy adopts a cat, much to the
disgust of his dog loving father. He's very much a 50's/60's boy in New
York City, shy around girls, but finding a connection with one that he
meets on Coney Island. He out grows one friend and makes a new one,
innocently visiting Tom and trying to help him out of the bind that a dare
that led to a theft put him in. My only complaint with the book is that it
ends with a significant milestone for Tom, rather than Dave, the main
character.
A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle. (1963) I really hope
that my copy is still in BC, I can't find it on my shelves. It was fun to
revisit Mrs. Who, Whatsit, and Which and get to know Meg and Charles
Wallace again. I'd forgotten that Calvin had come along with them, he
still seemed out of place, not essential to the story line, almost as if
Meg couldn't deal with things on her own. They tesser off to the other
side of the Dark to try and rescue Mr. Murry, and I still clearly
remembered the unfortunate stop on the 2D world. :)
The Bronze Bow, Elizabeth George Speare (1962). This was an
interesting one, about a fugitive Zealot hanging about on the edges of
Jesus's crowds. The young boy ran away into the hills and joined up with a
radical gang working to bring back the Kingdom for the Jews. He runs into
a set of young twins and befriends them, and is then ordered to cultivate
the boy as he's the son of a powerful man in town. The three kids use the
sign of a bronze bow to mark their secret communications, and a strong
friendship grows up between them all. The encounters with Jesus are
powerful, yet not over the top.
Island of the Blue Dolphins, Scott O'Dell (1961). It's a
good thing that I didn't read this book when I was 8, or I'd have been
trying to build a canoe out of driftwood to run away to an island and live
by myself. This is a great story about a girl who opts to stay with her
brother when he's left behind as they're being evacuated after their
village is decimated by invading Aleuts from Russia. A pack of wild dogs
threatens them, and she has to learn to make men's weapons for defense.
The language is simple but the story is powerful. She lives very closely
to the land, yet is never portrayed as simple.
Onion John, Joseph Krumgold (1960). This is the story of an
odd friendship between a quintessential and practical mid century boy and
an Eastern European man prone to belief in spirits and rituals. Onion John
becomes the town project, and the boy has to translate for him as he's the
only one that can piece out what Onion John is saying. Their adventures
are a mix of the whimsical and the serious, as the boy learns how to
figure out what motivates people as well as himself.
Rifles for Watie, Harold Keith (1958). This was a very well
researched book, coming out of academic work by the author who studied the
American Civil War battles that took place in Kansas, Oklahoma, and
Arkansas. He actually interviewed quite a few veterans of the conflict,
and there are many vignettes that I'm sure came direct from their
memories. The Union hero, Jeff, is a very considerate boy who makes
friends with people and animals wherever he goes. He's gung ho to join up
at first, but until his first battle 18 months later, he doesn't really
understand what war really means. He falls for a Rebel girl, and has to
deal with a sadistic seargent, scouting behind enemy lines, and coming
down with malaria. Very much a boys book, but a good primer on that era
(there's a note saying how much was changed from history, it's not much,
mostly to give the plot a twist.).
Miracles on Maple Hill, Virginia Sorensen (1957) I've read
back now to the point in time where veterans of the second world war
(actually, it may be the Korean war, it's never made explicit) are
featuring in kids novels. Marley's father is "cross and tired" and can't
stand arguments, so the family takes a break and goes to Marley's
grandmother's house in the country, in the middle of maple syrup
production time. We get to read about all the steps in the process as the
family pitches in to help their neighbour with his harvest. At first, M's
father stays at the house to fix it up while the kids and mom go back to
Philly for school, but the family makes the move to the country when they
see how much it's helping. Marley's brother is set on exploring
everything, and Mr. Chris teaches Marley a lot about plants and
animals.It's reminiscent of A Gathering of Days in that even though
it's set in the 1950's, their life becomes simplified by their new
circumstances.
Carry on, Mr. Bowditch, Jean Lee Latham, illustrated by John O'Hara
Cosgrave, II. (1956) Yay for scientist-heroes! :)
Nat Bowditch is a bit too small to go for a regular sailor, and is
indentured as a clerk in Salem. He's very gifted mathematically, though,
and his mentors provide him with books and guidance for his independent
study (he had to give up on going to Harvard). His studies pay off when
he's taken along on a voyage as the ship's clerk, and over time works his
way up to super-cargo. He learns a lot about navigation and teaches the
crews, and also finds numerous mistakes in the current maritime guide. He
ends up writing his own guide that becomes the new standard. It's based on
a true story, and we get to travel with him on his voyages around the
world.
My only quibble is that the romantic aspects (he does marry) are short
changed - it would have almost been better to leave them out all
together.
The Wheel on the School, Meindert DeJong (1955) Set in
Friesland, a group of young students take on the task of finding a wagon
wheel to put on top of their school, in order to give storks a place to
nest again. The kids have all sorts of misadventures looking for wheels,
and a vivid picture is painted of life in a village by the dike. The
language was very simple, it took me a while to get past that, but the
characters are engaging. Lots of life lessons in this one. :)
... and now Miguel, Joseph Krumgold, illustrated by Jean Charlot.
(1954) Miguel wants with all his heart to join his father,
brothers, and uncles when they take the sheep herd up into the Sangre de
Cristo mountains. He takes on extra tasks to prove that he can do them,
and wishes to the town's patron saint. Things don't always turn out the
way he wants, though. I had a bit of a hard time getting through this one,
as Miguel has a very peculiar way of thinking about things, so it took a
while to unravel some of the chapters.
Secret of the Andes, Ann Nolan Clark (1953). I may need to
look on these earlier books as products of their times, as this one felt
like it was exoticising the Peruvian Incans. The language of the story is
quite simple, the lessons of obedience and loyalty are driven home. The
boy is raised by an old man who doesn't tell him anything about his
ancestry, but eventually sends him off to Lima to learn on his own. Their
interactions with the llamas are sweet though.
Ginger Pye, Eleanor Estes (1952). Again, simple language,
seemed dumbed down even for the 9-12 year old protagonists. Lots of
digressions, and a paper thin mystery. A boy and his sister earn money to
buy a dog, dog disappears, they showcase their town searching for the dog.
I didn't really like this one, but the characters were well drawn, the
author gave us a glimpse of what kids say versus what adults understand
that was pretty well done.
Amos Fortune, Free Man, Elizabeth Yates (1951) Based on the
life of a real man who was taken as a slave in Africa and sold in Boston,
and worked his way free over the course of 30 years. Very simplistic
re-telling of his life, and the racism that Amos accepts cuts a bit too
deep into the author's voice for comfort. Not a fun read, though an
educational glimpse into life in 18th century New England, and highlights
the differences in approaching the subject matter over time.
The Door in the Wall, by Marguerite de Angeli (1950) It's
on my bookshelf, but I forgot to pull it off and put it into the to-read
pile, will fill this in this weekend. [Updated:] Boy, monks sure do pray a
lot. :) Robin is stricken with a disease that costs him the use of his
legs at the same time that his household servants are decimated by plague.
He's taken in by a monk and a message sent to his father (off fighting the
Scots, it's set during the reign of King Edward III). Robin is slowly
tranformed from a spoiled noble to a skilled artisan, and proves that even
without useful legs, he can be a contributing member of society. In my
memory, the story stretched out a lot, but even though it covers quite a
few months, the described action is packed into three or four days.
The twenty-one balloons, written and illustrated by William Pène
Du Bois. (1948) I loved this one, it's not often that I'll call a
book 'delightful' but this one fits in that category. It starts off with a
teacher-balloonist found in the Atlantic on the remains of a platform with
20 balloons floating around him in the sea. He's started off from SF,
heading over the Pacific, and soon the whole country is agog to hear his
story. He'll only tell it to his explorer's club in SF, so he's rushed
across the country on the Presidential train and set up in a bed to tell
the tale on stage. It's set in the late 1800's, and has a definite steam
punk feel to it. The Restaurant Government he encounters appeals to the
foodie in me, and the inventions that are mentioned apparently come from a
search of old patent files. There's a bit of colonialism inherent in his
attitudes, but only one really jarring remark that made me blink.
Miss Hickory, by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, with lithographs by Ruth
Gannett. (1947) Another charming story, I'm pretty sure based on a
tale that the author told to her daughter about a doll left behind in NH
when they went a bit further south to winter. The doll, Miss Hickory is
made of an apple wood twig and has a hickory nut for a head. Her corn cob
house gets taken over by a chipmunk and she has to find another place to
live for the winter. A crow helps her out by finding a robin's nest that's
vacant, and she rallies and makes new clothes from the leaves and moss
available in the woods. I could see myself making a similar doll if I'd
read this when I was living on a quarter acre of woods in BC. :) The
ending isn't fully sweetness and light, but makes sense in the grand
scheme of things.
Strawberry girl, written and illustrated by Lois Lenski. (1946)
This one I didn't like so much. Possibly due to the Cracker
dialect that was used, and the meanness of one of the characters. The main
family lives on a small farm in Florida, and are trying to get their
strawberry patch going so they can sell the berries. Their neighbours
don't believe in fences, and have a bit of a vendetta against them,
ruining their crops on a regular basis. The young girl tries to befriend
one of the boys, but he flip flops between sympathetic and
antagonistic.
Rabbit Hill, Robert Lawson. (1945) New family moves into
the house near where the rabbits and other animals live. The animals can
understand the humans, and all the humans have full names. Kind of an odd
mix. It's a pleasant book, but didn't really grab me, Miss Hickory
dealt with a similar story line, and this didn't quite measure up to
it.
Johnny Tremain, Esther Forbes (1944). The protagonist
pushed my arrogant young man buttons, I didn't like him very much.
Granted, there is some character development, from skilled and bullying
silversmith to injured casual labourer, to someone tied up in the
rebellion fermenting in Boston in the 1770's. The supporting characters
were more sympathetic to me, Rab the young printer, Cilla the daughter of
the silver smith, and Ms. Lyte, his rich "cousin" (borderline sympathetic
in her case, she's got a fairly big sense of entitlement). It was neat
reading about the city that I work in as it stood 200+ years ago, and
learning how long it took to get to say Lexington or Concord, as well as
being reminded that a lot of place names were once people-names (Revere,
Adams, Quincy).
Adam of the Road, Elizabeth Janet Gray ; illustrated by Robert
Lawson. (1943) This one was strongly reminiscent of The Door in
the Wall as it's set in a similar time, and the protagonist is trying
to find his father. Adam starts off as a bit of an annoying boy, but grows
up as he strikes off on his own and has to support himself on the roads
for months as a minstrel. I liked this one. The illustrations were
markedly different from the ones he did for Rabbit Hill.
The matchlock gun, Walter D. Edmonds ; illustrated by Paul Lantz.
(1942) Really short retelling of a true story, neat illustrations,
but ends on a bit of a disturbing note. Mother and her two children are
left on a farm with an old matchlock gun in case of indian attack. They
attack, and the young boy has to use the gun. The mother is hit with an
axe in the shoulder and the house is set on fire, the two kids drag their
mom free and sit with her unconscious body and the dead indians until
their dad comes back in the morning. Hello, scarred for life...
Call It Courage, Armstrong Sperry (1941) I skipped ahead a
bit to read this one after
Daniel Boone, James Daugherty. (1940) The author did the
illustrations, and they're kind of disturbing, like he was really wanting
to do naked people but had to put clothes on them because it's a kids
book. The book follows Daniel Boone from childhood to death, but it's ...
souless. It reads like a series of "and then he did this" episodes.
Motivations aren't really explored, random cameos are made by famous
figures of the day (best one was Abraham Lincoln, as it reminded me of the
Lincoln book also on the Newbery list, and which was much better done than
this one), and Boone's relationship with the natives flip flop between
"great Indian fighter" and "great Indian friend".
The White Stag, Kate Seredy (1938). I was a bit
surprised to encounter a kid's book about Atilla the Hun, but the
front flap advertised it as for "mature minds". :) It follows the
story of the Magyars and the Huns from Atilla's great grandfather's
day, as he passes on power to his sons, Magyar and Hunor. The tribe is
searching for a homeland, and wanders far, first in peace, then
thundering down upon other lands with swords swinging from horseback.
The book glosses over the scale of the depredations, but once we get
to Atilla's foretold birth, it covers how he's taught to be self
sufficient, to ride before he can walk, and how he's carried into
battle as a talisman when still a babe in arms. The illustrations are
powerful and bring the story to life.
Roller Skates, Ruth Sawyer (1937). Lucinda is a 10 year old
girl living in New York City in the 1890's. Her parents went to Italy for
a year, and she's a pretend orphan living with a teacher and the teacher's
sister. Her family really didn't know how to deal with her, she's full of
energy, prone to tantrums when she's boxed in, and makes friends at all
levels of society (much to her society maven Aunt Emily's horror). The
year living as she wishes (she just has to write down where she'll be on a
piece of paper for the Misses Peters to find), lets her spirit embrace
life, and she makes the most of NYC. She befriends (and often helps out) a
hansom cab driver (and family), a fruit stand boy (and family), a rag
picker (and mule), the poor family upstairs, a Chinese "princess", an
Irish beat cop, a reporter, and basically charms everyone that she crosses
paths with. Except for Aunt Emily, who requires that she come for sewing
lessons, on her best behaviour, once a week. Her uncle finally rescues her
from the sewing by reading her plays in his library, and she embraces the
theatre with her whole heart. It's not all sunshine, a couple of tragedies
mark the year, but it's a wonderful slice of life through the eyes of an
enthusiastic child (who roller skates everywhere that she can get away
with doing so).
Caddie Woodlawn, Carol Ryrie Brink (1936). It's 1864 in the
semi-wilds of Wisconsin, and Caddie Woodlawn is an eleven year old red
headed tomboy. She forms a trio with her two brothers and they ford the
river to visit the native village on the other side, they raft on the
lake, pick berries, plow the field, churn butter, got to the one room
school house when the shared teacher is there. Her uncle "borrows" her dog
to train him for hunting, but Indian John gives her his dog to care for
over the summer. Caddie kicks against being made into a proper young lady,
aided and abetted by her father who believes that she needs to run around
outside to keep her health. The stories were told to the author by her
grandmother, but are ably interpreted by the younger woman who brings the
farm and it's characters to life. I liked this one better than some of the
other stories I've read with similar settings, this was a more enjoyable
read than A Gathering of Days.
Dobry, Monica Shannon (1935). This book taught me quite a
bit about Bulgaria, and interesting companion to The White Stag.
Dobry is a young boy living a peasant life in a fairly isolated mountain
village. He's not a typical peasant though, his grandfather is a master
story teller (we get to hear a few of them inset in the text), his father
died in the war, and his mother is bringing him up alone. His best friend
is the daughter of the shoe maker, who's lost her mother. Dobry is filled
with joy and interest in everything that he sees. There's a definite line
that you can draw through the book, in the first part he's growing up and
running around, in the second he realises that he wants to be an artist,
and tends the village cows to afford materials, and is always drawing and
carving and working in clay to capture the beauty around him. The pace of
life in a working village is well illustrated, but seeing it all through
Dobry's eyes give it a magical tinge.
Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women,
Cornelia Meigs (1934). Another book that encompasses the Civil
War, spanning most of the 1800's, this book is a lovely biography of
Louisa May Alcott. I hadn't realised that she lived in and around Boston
for most of her life, though the geography is only mentioned as it touches
on the life of her family (the farm that they tried to start esp.). It
felt as if the author immersed herself in Alcott's books and then wrote in
a similar style. It's kind of scary to read about how people dealt with
illness in the 1800's, Alcott's time as a nurse in Washington during the
Civil War left her ill for months afterward. It was heartwarming to get to
the end of the book and see her financial struggles finally end.
Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze, Elizabeth Lewis
(1933).
Yay! An historical book that doesn't mention the American
Civil War! :) It's set in Chungking, China, around 1900 (I think), and
follows Fu Yuin-fah from the moment he and his widowed mother move to
the city from a farm and he takes up his apprenticeship to a
coppersmith, Tang. The supporting characters are well drawn, and we
see Young Fu mature as the years pass and he takes over providing for
his mother, and his quickness earns him praise from his master. But
he's also tempered by the scholar upstairs, who teaches him to read
and write, by the soldiers of the various warlords that take turns
controlling the city, by his master forcing him to learn *all* the
skills including the boring ones, by the bandits that attack on the
river, and by the river itself. There are some really sweet moments
where he finds ways to get out of the trouble that his curiosity and
impetuousness gets him into (like selling snow as dragon's breath),
and it's a vivid picture of life in a Chinese city. There's a section
of notes at the end comparing how life changed after Mao took power
after when the story was set, which is interesting to read from the
perspective of the post-Mao world. It felt like I learned a bit, but
it didn't feel forced down my throat.
Waterless Mountain, Laura Adams Armer (1932). The book
starts off with an introduction written by a cowboy who encounters the
author, and is told that she convinced a Navaho medicine man to allow
outsiders to view a sand painting. They see the painting and befriend
the author. Then the novel kicks in, about a young boy who is destined
to become a medicine man. He sees the beauty in everything, and is
guided by his feelings and his visions. At one point he rides off into
the west to reach the sea, and eventually gets there with the help of
the trader who's befriended him, as well as his family. The story
mostly stays focused on Navaho life, but also shows the impact that
the whites have made - cars, reservoirs, trading posts, and one man
driven by alcohol to theft and arson. The trader's sister is a less
sympathetic character, but appears infrequently. It was neat seeing
some things through new eyes (ghosts on the screen instead of a film
showing a relative who died after his home was flooded). It's a quiet,
contemplative book.
The Cat Who Went to Heaven, Elizabeth Coatsworth, illustrated
by Lynd Ward (1931) This is almost a picture book, short
sections of text interspersed with beautiful ink paintings (made on
rice paper and then copied into the book), as well as some short
songs/poems. A cat is bought by the housekeeper of a Japanese artist,
and the next day the temple commissions the artist to make a painting
showing the death of the Buddha. The cat oversees the painting but
protests (in a dignified and cat-like way) about there not being a cat
in the line up of animals that came to receive a blessing. It was
interesting reading about the artist meditating on Prince Siddhartha
after having listened to the audio book version of "Siddhartha" by
Hesse, the narrators voice was still strong in my memory. The title of
the book is a bit misleading, but I guess "The Cat Who Went to
Nirvana" wouldn't have sold as well in the West. :)
Hitty, Her First Hundred Years, Rachel Field (1930).
This title had caught at my eye most every time I checked the
list for my next book. It turns out that it's the story of a doll,
carved from a small piece of mountain ash wood in Maine during a
winter in the early 1800's. She's writing her memoirs in an antique
shop in the early 1900's, and she's lived a more interesting life than
most of the people who owned her. She trades hands via mischance,
theft, shipwreck, crow-napping, being abandoned in a mail office's
lost packages pile, being stuffed in the corner of a sofa that goes
into the attic for years, and more. The conceit wears a bit thin in
places (she can't really move but she implies that she could) but
she's so charming about it and happy each time someone gets her who
will appreciate her and refurbish her. She spends time as an artist
model, a South Pacific island idol, a dress model, and both a
treasured and a barely tolerated child's toy. It's interesting
watching along with her as technology and social mores change over the
course of a century.
Gay-Neck: The Story of a Pigeon, Dhan Gopal Mukerji,
illustrated by Boris Artzybasheff (1928). This title has
jumped out at me from the list as well, as I wondered how a story
about a domesticated bird could be engaging. It turns out that
Gay-Neck was bred and hatched in India, by a teenaged pigeon fancier.
The language definitely harkens back to an older time, and there are
some conversational flourishes that are charming to read. The novel
covers Gay-Neck from birth to training to mating to being a courier
pigeon during the war in Europe, and his recovery from the traumas
that he went through there. The young man's friend, a great hunter,
and a monastery full of holy men, aid in Gay-Neck's rehabilitation.
The illustrations were beautiful, strong black and white silhouettes
of birds, animals and planes, often edged with geometric designs.
Smoky the Cow Horse, Will James (1927) It took me a while
to get into this one, as it's written in cowboy speak, but I finally
picked up the rhythm and it's flowed along well. It's a story about the
horse, but the cowboy who first breaks him and trains him to be a cow
horse gives tons of details about working on a cattle ranch. Smoky gets
stolen and sold to a rodeo as a bucking bronco, and conditions deteriorate
from there. It's not really sentimentalised at all, it reads like an ode
to real working horses. The only thing that really marks it as a book for
kids is that all of a sudden they start referring to Smoky as a gelding,
without any mention of how he got that way. :)
Shen of the Sea, Arthur Bowie Chrisman (1926) The subtitle
on this one is "Chinese Stories for Children", and they're utterly
charming. Shen isn't a boy who runs to sea, they're the demons that
threaten to flood a plain and drown a capital city, but the king outsmarts
them and traps them in a jade bottle (lots of beautiful imagery in this
one). They remind me of just-so stories, the book includes tales of how
printing, chopsticks, kites, writing and other things came to be. There's
lots of vocabulary (though no pronunciation guide), and it reminded me of
the stories that
Young Fu might
have heard
Tales from Silver Lands, Charles Finger (1925) Stories from
South America, some framed by "I was prospecting for gold/hiking across
the Andes/over nighted in a town", some just told straight up. It felt
like an original source for the [colour] Fairy Books, very enjoyable and
quick read. Some of the stories felt similar to others I've read (evil
monster type thing pursuing fleeing couple who throw up magical barriers)
and some were totally unique.
The Dark Frigate, Charles Hawes (1924) Sort of like
"Treasure Island" but oddly enough not so dark. Don't read the summary or
the subtitle or the intro if you want to approach the story with fresh
eyes, everything's given away. The sailing terminology was confusing - I
swear he was just making some of it up, or stringing together random words
that sounded nautical. The hero is an easy going sailor that falls in with
pirates, it doesn't really feel like he's the master of his own fate. I
didn't like this one as much as I thought I would.
The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle, Hugh Lofting (1923) Very
quick read, and oddly enough, they got the sailing terminology right. :)
The intro also gave much of it away (I think assuming that everyone's read
it already), but I have to agree with the text of it: Lofting really gets
into the mind of a child and a child's logic prevails in the story. There
are a couple of places where it's jarring, but it makes "sense" after a
bit. I had a bit of a hard time keeping the names straight for all the
animals, but overall enjoyed the book.
The Story of Mankind, Hendrik Willem van Loon (1922) Wow,
from cro-magnum's to the WWW in less than 600 pages. Information overload,
but a decent summary of the major events in humanity's time line. Some
things got half a sentence, others got tons of space - WWI was skimpy as
it was written just after the war ended, but WWII had copious details
added in a later update. Reading the first part was interesting as it was
firmly grounded in the sensibilities of the 1920's, and the later updates
were a bit jarring. It was neat reading the chapter on Napoleon and the
extensive dips into French history after having just been in Paris. It
also put tons of stuff into context in a this came before that, and then
this other thing happened over here, and then they collided here. Nothing
on the tea trade, which was a bit disappointing, just a mention of how
steam ships cut the ocean crossing times dramatically. Made me recall
tours I've taken of famous landmarks, and historical fiction that I've
read. Absolutely no references for anything, which annoyed me in the
chapter with two Roman letters talking about Paul and Joshua/Jesus, but
the book would have been twice as large with them. The illustrated
chronology was good for a chuckle at the Dark Ages sketch. :)
1990's
Holes, Louis Sachar. (1999) Set in Texas, a young boy is
falsely accused of stealing a baseball star's shoes from a shelter and
gets sent to a juvie camp where the boys have to dig holes in a dried up
lake. The warden paints her fingernails with venom that enflames skin when
she hits people. One supervisor shorts the boy on water when he witnesses
the warden hit the super. The past is interwoven with the present, the
family curse and an outlaw that robbed the family of their fortune come
together when the boy saves another boy as they escape from the hardships
of camp. The story is quite convoluted and things happen and are explained
by past events, it's amusing but a bit too contrived for my tastes.
It's set in rural West Virginia and it's not until fairly late in the book
that the "modern" world is introduced, when the boy goes over to his
friend's house in town. The story doesn't need a lot of context, it's
about a boy and a dog in the country, and the town scene seemed almost
jarring.1980's
Joyful noise : poems for two voices, by Paul Fleischman ;
illustrated by Eric Beddows. (1989) This one's neat: the short
poems about insects are written to be read with someone else,
sometimes alternating lines, sometimes saying them together. The
cadence is reminiscent of the bugs themselves, and the illustrations
are detailed without being too squicky. :) Lots of scientific
information is tucked into the poems as well, and I'd recommend this
one for anyone with a young child who's able read on their
own.1970's
The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin (1979) This was a bit of an
odd book. A group of people are lured into renting apartments in a
building next to the Westing house, and then called together for the
reading of Mr. Westing's will. They have to solve a puzzle in order to win
the $200M inheritance, but by working together in teams of 2. A bratty
young girl is paired with a seamstress, her beautiful sister with an
attention seeking secretary who fakes an injury and paints her crutches. A
wheelchair bound young boy is paired with the sister's intern fiance, and
the boy's brother with the son of the Chinese restauranteur. The groups
spy on each other, try to convince others to cooperate, try to figure out
how everyone was related to Mr. Westing, and try to figure out the answer
to the puzzle. There's a bit of a twist at the end to make it more
interesting, but I didn't find myself getting invested in the characters,
the story seemed to skim across the tops of their lives. 1960's
The High King, Lloyd Alexander (1969) I'd only
read The Black Cauldron from this series, but the
introduction to this book assured me that I didn't need to
track down the intervening books to understand this one. That
was the case, enough facts were given to round out the
character encounters that I never felt lost. I did feel like
it would have made it a richer experience if I'd read
Taran Wanderer though. Taran, thank the gods, grew up
a lot since he went questing after the Black Cauldron, and
wasn't annoying in that young boy sort of way. The story
moves along quickly, but seems to wrap up way too fast at the
end. Echos of Tolkein abound, as well as reminding me of the
Dark is Rising books, but they're all harking back to
common source material.1950's
The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Elizabeth George Speare (1959).
This was very close to being a historical romance, saved by the
practicality of the young girl at it's centre. She took passage from
Barbados to Connecticut after her grandfather died, turning up on her
aunt's doorstep, but willing to work for her keep, once she understood
that there were no slaves to do things for them. She runs afoul of the
Puritan townsfolk a few times, as she learns to reign in her impulses.
She'd met a young sailor on the trip north, and through him befriends an
old woman the town considers to be a witch. In the process, though, the
young girl becomes suspected of being a witch herself and stands trial. It
reminded me quite a bit of the Outlander books, reimagined for younger
people. The interactions between the girl and the sailor are subtle, their
growing friendship is spread out over time as he comes back up the river
to trade.
Learned lots about sheep herding though!1940's
King of the Wind, by Marguerite Henry, illus. by Wesley Dennis.
(1949) One of the few Henry horse books that I didn't read as I
child, I think. :) This one tells the story of the Godolphin Arabian, from
foaling to burial, with a focus on the young Moroccan boy who's his
keeper. They're sent to the King of France as a gift, and rejected, get
split up and reunited a few times, have good times and bad, and finally
end up in England, where the boy helps the stallion sire a foal that shows
his good lines. A charming story, and makes me wonder of Black
Beauty was partially based on this bit of thoroughbred
history.
The author has written other books set in small communities around
America, they might be interesting to check out.
As the boy fends for himself, we get to learn about making dugouts and how
to fish and make shelters.
It's a much shorter book than the other one, and told from a boy's point
of view instead of a girl's, plus it feels like the author has exoticised
the islanders. An interesting read, but definitely a product of its time.
1930's
Thimble Summer, Elizabeth Enright (1939). This was a sweet
book, filled with summer adventures. A 10 year old farm girl finds a
thimble and that night the rains come to end a drought. Her adventures
throughout the summer are detailed, making me remember those long warm
afternoons just playing and having adventures, wandering off without
telling anyone and finding my way back when I was ready for food. :)
1920's
The Trumpeter of Krakow, Eric P. Kelly (1929). The book
starts off with the history of the heynal, the trumpeter's song that
is blown from a church tower in Krakow, once to each cardinal
direction, on the hour every hour. It's currently played with the last
few notes cut short, to honour the memory of the young trumpeter who
stayed at his post unto death, shot with a Tartar arrow as he neared
the end of the song in 1241. The main story starts up in 1461, with a
man coming from the Ukraine with a treasure hidden in a pumpkin shell,
fleeing the destruction of farm and finding new work as the trumpeter
of Krakow. His son is trained to play the broken song as well, and
it's used as warning when thieves follow the family and try to regain
the treasure. The family is living underneath an alchemist who falls
under the hypnotic sway of an evil apprentice, and ends up doing deeds
that drive him a little mad. The research is top notch, the author
describes clothing of the 15th century with great detail, and gives a
good sense of urban life at the time. The focus is a tiny bit
scattered, the son that I was expecting to be the main viewpoint is
only given the narrating voice every so often. It's a neat historical
window into Poland though, and an enjoyable read.
In an odd coincidence, the next book that I started is
set in 13th century Poland, but it involves a time
traveler trying to get the country ready to resist the
Mongol hordes. :)