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The Windeby Puzzle by Lois Lowry

Mar31

In The Windeby Puzzle, Newbery Award-winning author Lois Lowry gives readers two short stories with archaeology and history lessons interspersed before, between, and after the fiction. The stories are Lowry’s attempt to imagine the life of the Windeby Child, a young teenager whose body was found in the Windeby peat bog in northern Germany in 1952. The body was determined to be that of a girl or a boy about thirteen years of age who lived during the Iron Age, first century A.D.

Since we don’t have all that much information about the lives of the Germanic people of that time, Lowry was able to let her imagination run wild. And the two stories in the book spin a yarn of two possible backstories for the Windeby Child and how he or she managed to die at such a young age in a peat bog. It’s a bit hard to maintain interest and suspense when both you and your readers know how the story ends. In both tales, the main character dies–young. And in both stories the lives of all of the characters are portrayed as “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short” (Thomas Hobbs).

In the first story, a girl named Estrild is a sort of proto-feminist who resents her female life and longs to avenge her uncle, killed in battle, by becoming a warrior herself. The boy protagonist, Varik, in the second story had to be a victim, too, since he dies at the end, so Lowry made him disabled and suicidal. Maybe first century northern European lives were just this grim and ugly, but I could have done with a bit of romanticism and hope in the story.

Half fiction, half history lesson, this book is at least different from your average middle grade fiction book. It was not my cup of tea, but maybe a youngster interested in archaeology or ancient history or finding things preserved in peat bogs might like it. Be careful, though, if you’re exploring any peat bogs. According to Varick, “If you go too deep in, the bog sucks at your feet.” Yuck!

The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh

Mar29

The Lost Year: A Survival Story of the Ukrainian Famine by Katherine Marsh. Roaring Brook Press, 2023.

Not having read the subtitle before beginning the book, I thought this was going to be another of the many, many books yet to come about the Covid year(s). And it was, to some extent. Matthew is a thirteen year old boy who’s been spending most of his time playing Zelda and other video games since the Covid virus made him homebound with his mother and great-grandmother. Matthew’s father, a journalist, is stuck in France, also because of the virus. The first few chapters are a little slow with Matthew acting spoiled and entitled, but the action picks up as the story switches focus to tell about the childhood experiences of Matthew’s great-grandmother, Nadiya.

But when Matthew finds a tattered black-and-white photo in his great-grandmother’s belongings, he discovers a clue to a hidden chapter of her past, one that will lead to a life-shattering family secret. Set in alternating timelines that connect the present-day to the 1930s and the US to the USSR, Katherine Marsh’s latest novel sheds fresh light on the Holodomor – the horrific famine that killed millions of Ukrainians, and which the Soviet government covered up for decades.

I figured out the “family secret” a couple of chapters before the revelation, but the story was told in such a way that the revelation was foreshadowed but not obvious and very satisfying to read about. Matthew got better as a character, and in his character, as he came to be interested in someone besides himself, namely his 100 year old great-grandmother. And the historical event, the Holodomor, that the book illumines is one that is too little known. Knowing about the Holodomor can help to explain some of the historical animosity that is being played out in war now in 2023.

Recommended for ages 12 and up. Starvation and disease are obviously a key aspect of this novel, although readers are mercifully spared the most graphic and horrific details.

The Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler by William L. Shirer

Feb14

What would lead a person to read an entire book, even a children’s middle grade nonfiction book, that takes the reader inside the life and mind of Adolf Hitler, the arch-villain of the twentieth century? Well, there’s something rather fascinating about trying to understand how Hitler became Hitler, synonymous with the most evil, murderous, racist, anti-Semitic dictator and warmonger ever. William L. Shirer, author of the 1000+ page tome, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (for adults), was in a position to study this question and come to some kind of conclusions, if anyone from the Allied side of the war was. As an American correspondent in Berlin, Shirer actually met Hitler, listened to many of his spell-binding speeches, and observed him over the course of several years before and during World War II. The result of Shirer’s observations and his journalist’s eye for character and for a story is this book, written for children in the Landmark history series, but suited to readers of all ages.

Shirer begins his book with eleven year old Adolf, showing an independent streak even at that young age in aspiring to become an artist instead of the civil servant his father wanted him to be. I learned a lot about Hitler that I never knew before from this book, and I was reminded of a few “home truths” along the way. After his art career bombed because the art school wouldn’t let him in, said he had no talent, Herr Hitler became a tramp without a real job for several years, but a very well read tramp. He read and studied all the time while working very little. First lesson: readers may become leaders, but they may also become very bad leaders.

Chapter 7 of the book is called “Hitler Falls in Love,” and it tells a story I never knew or else had forgotten. In this chapter of the book and of Hitler’s life, he falls hard for his half-niece, the daughter of his half-sister. Her name was Gell Raubal, and Hitler declared after her death that she was the only woman he ever truly loved. You can read the story in Shirer’s book and decide for yourself whether or not “loved” is the right word to describe Hitler’s controlling obsession with a girl half his age. (The story of their brief “romance” is tastefully told, appropriate for middle grade and older children who will read the book, but icky nonetheless.)

After this personal interlude, the book moves on to Hitler’s political actions and aspirations and quickly into the war years. As he becomes more and more successful, in politics and in war, and gains more and more power, Hitler becomes more and more deranged. Shirer calls him “beyond any question a dangerous, irresponsible megalomaniac.” And yet (next paragraph) Hitler is able to maintain power, and be “so cool and cunning in his calculations and so bold in carrying them out that few could doubt that he well might be the military genius that he claimed to be.” This lead me to another unpleasant truth: a mentally ill egomaniacal murderer can act in a very lucid and intelligent manner for a long time. It is possible to be cunning, bold, and crazy.

Of course, this book chronicles the rise and fall of Hitler, so the craziness does come to an end. Shirer is to be commended for his ability to tell the story in a way that is appropriate for older children, but also truthful and candid in its presentation of Hitler’s horribly destructive life and actions. The book doesn’t completely explain the quandary of why the German people were so enamored of Herr Hitler or how he was able to fool so many people for so long into believing in his “genius”, but it does document in a very readable and engaging style, the rise and fall of a man who was “a power-drunk tyrant whom absolute power had corrupted absolutely.”

I recommend Shirer’s book for its insight and as a cautionary tale for those who would place their faith in any political leader. Hitler is dead, but it is still quite possible to be fooled by a seemingly lucid and benign leader who is actually a wolf in disguise.

Download a list of the entire Landmark history series in chronological order.

Children’s Books from 100 Years Ago

Jan10

Here’s a list of children’s books published in 1923. See if one of these catches your fancy, and if so, let me know what you thought. (I have not read most of these books, but I do plan to read and review some of them this year.)

The Arabian Nights: Tales of Wonder and Magnificence by Padraic Colum. A selection of stories from the Arabian Nights, using the direct translation by Arabic scholar Edward William Lane. Colum selected and abridged some of the tales to make up his own version of the timeless stories of Shahrazad.

The Dark Frigate by Charles Boardman Hawes. 1924 Newbery Award book. This novel is a tale of adventure and piracy in a seventeenth century sailing frigate, The Rose of Devon. Semicolon review here. Free to read online at Internet Archive.

A Boy of the Lost Crusade by Agnes D. Hewes. Free to read online at Internet Archive, with illustrations by Gustaf Tengren. A story of The Children’s Crusade.

The Burgess Flower Book for Children by Thornton Burgess. Stories about common wildflowers as they appear in the spring. Free to read online at Internet Archive.

Buster Bear’s Twins by Thornton Burgess. The adventures of bear twins, Boxer and Woof-Woof. Free to read online at Internet Archive. Listen at Librivox.

Doctor Dolittle’s Post Office by Hugh Lofting. The third of Lofting’s Doctor Dolittle books. Listen at LIbrivox. Free to read online at Internet Archive.

Elizabeth Ann at Maple Spring by Josephine Lawrence. The sequel to The Adventures of Elizabeth Ann. In this second book seven year old Elizabeth Ann, who is visiting her three aunts in turn while her parents are in Japan, goes to stay with Great Aunt Hester. Free to read online at Internet Archive.

Emily of New Moon by Lucy Maud Montgomery. The first in a trilogy of books about Emily Byrd Starr. Listen at Librivox. Free to read online at Internet Archive. I read these books a long, long time ago. Maybe I’ll reread in honor of 100 years.

The Filipino Twins by Lucy Fitch Perkins. The story of Filipino twins, Ramon and Rita, who live in Manila, Philippines. Free to read online at Internet Archive.

Flower Fairies of the Spring by Cicely Mary Barker. Free to read online at Internet Archive.

Honey Bunch: Just a Little Girl by Helen Louise Thorndyke (Josephine Lawrence).

Honey Bunch: Her First Days on the Farm by Helen Louise Thorndyke (Josephine Lawrence).

Honey Bunch: Her First Visit to the City by Helen Louise Thorndyke (Josephine Lawrence).

Land and Sea Tales for Scouts and Guides by Rudyard Kipling. A collection of adventure tales and poems. Free to read online at Internet Archive.

A Little Singing Bird by Lucy M. Blanchard. Out of print.

Mary Jane at School by Clara Ingram Judson. An autumn story about Mary Jane’s third grade school year. (She gets to skip second grade to join her friends in third.) This book is part of a multi-volume series about Mary Jane.

The Perilous Seat by Caroline Snedeker. Set in ancient Greece, the main character is a high priestess at the temple of Apollo in Delphi.

The Pony Express Goes Through by Howard R. Driggs. Based on interviews conducted with boys who actually served as couriers for the Pony Express.

The Rose of Santa Fe by Edwin L. Sabin.

The Rover Boys at Big Bear Lake by Arthur M. Winfield.

The Six Who Were Left in a Shoe by Padraic Colum. The Story of “what happened to the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe.” Illustrated by Dugald Stewart Walker. Free to read on Internet archive.

The Story of a Woolly Dog by Laura Lee Hope. A storybook by the author of the Bobbsey Twins series. Librivox audiobook.

Sunny Boy and His Games by Ramy Allison White.

Tarzan and the Golden Lion by Edgar R. Burroughs. Free to read at Internet Archive.

Tom Swift and His Flying Boat by Victor Appleton. Free to read at Internet Archive.

William Again by Richmal Crompton. Very popular in England in its day. Available for checkout from Meriadoc Homeschool Library. Free to read at Internet Archive.

A Yankee Girl at Antietam by Helen Turner Curtis. Free to read at Internet Archive.

Little Vic by Doris Gates

Jan1

Pony Rivers is an orphan boy about 15 years old who loves horses. He is especially interested in working around racehorses, and even more especially, one particular horse, Victory, son of the famous racehorse, Man o’War. So, after the death of his mother, Pony goes to Kentucky in search of the stables where Victory lives. And he gets there just in time to witness the birth of one of Victory’s many offspring, a colt that Pony names Little Vic.

This story is the tale of a boy and the horse he grows to love. Pony is rather obsessed with Little Vic. I grew up around lots of “horse lovers”, and I never did really understand the fascination. However, I can enjoy a good horse book, and Little Vic is that, with a little something extra.

Pony follows Little Vic from owner to owner, believing that Little Vic has the makings of a winning racehorse. Pony works as a stablehand at first, but later when he is separated from Little Vic, who is shipped to a horse farm in Arizona, Pony decides to pursue a career as a jockey so that someday he will be qualified to ride Little Vic in races.

Only on page 107 of a 160 page story do we readers find out something about Pony Rivers that makes this novel more than just another horse and his boy story. I have to believe that the author, Doris Gates, intended the information about Pony not to be revealed until two-thirds of the way through the story, so I won’t spoil the surprise. But such an insightful and beautifully written story, published in 1951, was indeed a surprise.

Another surprise is that the importance of prayer and of knowing the Bible are both woven into the story in a lovely way, and the entire narrative leads to the uprooting of prejudice in one character and to kindness and reconciliation between two of the characters in the book. Little Vic is a good horse story, but it goes deeper than that to show how faith and perseverance and humility can win out in the end.

“The way I see it, Mr. Baker, everybody has got to have some trouble in this world. I just got the feeling I would rather have the kind of trouble Little Vic will pick out for me than any other trouble I can think of. And you know something?” Pony moved so that he could look into the colt’s eyes. ” The way I see it, as long as I can be with Little Vic, nobody can hand me any trouble anyway.”

She decided to begin with the Book of Job. “He had a lot of things to put up with, too,” she told Pony, “and his faith in the goodness of God gave him the strength to bear with every one of them. People like us need a lot of faith to bear some of the things we got too.” She fixed him with her eye. “And faith in something besides horses,” she added as she pushed a pair of glasses onto her broad nose.

A book for horse lovers and for those who just love a good story, Little Vic also has the advantage of being illustrated by Kate Seredy. Little Vic is a winner.

Content considerations: At one point in the story, Pony decks a jockey who mistreats Little Vic. The story also has characters who exhibit racial prejudice, condemned in the story, not condoned, and the African American characters in the book are designated as “colored people”, a commonly accepted term in the 1940’s.

Mystery at Plum Nelly by Christine Noble Govan and Emmy West

Dec29

I read and enjoyed many of the books in this series of mystery books many, many years ago when I was an avid consumer of all things Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden and the Boxcar Children and Helen Fuller Orton. The books feature a group, actually two groups, of children who form two clubs: The Cherokees and later, The Lookouts. The children, who live in southern Tennessee near Lookout Mountain, are first called The Cherokees, but when the older members of the club “became less active because Mickey, Bitsy, Ted, and Buzz had new teenage interests, Jimmy, the youngest member, began a new club, the Lookouts.”

In this particular mystery, Mystery at Plum Nelly, the Lookouts and the Cherokees are all helping with the annual arts and crafts exhibit that is hosted at art teacher Miss Manning’s mountain cabin called Plum Nelly. “When people would ask how to get to her house the mountaineers would say, ‘It’s down the road a piece–it’s plum nearly out of Tennessee and plum nearly out of Georgia.’ Only they say ‘plum nelly’–so the place just got to be called Plum Nelly.” The book is full of dialect, mountain talk, and quaint sayings and aphorisms, but it’s not enough to overwhelm or confuse readers, even young readers. The mystery involves kidnapping, spies, government secrets, and midnight disturbances. It’s great, published originally in 1959, and very fifties in tone, characters, and setting.

This series of books would appeal to fans of the Boxcar Children original series (I don’t recommend the modern Boxcar Children mysteries which were written and published more recently.). However, Cherokee/Lookout series of mysteries is out of print, hard to find, and very pricey when you can find them used. If your library has them or if you happen to find them in the wild at a reasonable price, I highly recommend you check them out. None of these books are to be found in my huge, big-city library system. I have not re-read all of these mysteries for content considerations, but the only thing I found that might be objectionable in Mystery at Plum Nelly is a little bit of good-natured teasing of one of the Lookouts, Billy, who calls himself “fat” and loves to eat.

The entire series consists of sixteen books:

The Mystery At Shingle Rock (1955) 
The Mystery At the Mountain Face (1956) 
The Mystery At the Shuttered Hotel (1956) 
The Mystery At Moccasin Bend (1957) 
The Mystery At the Indian Hide-out (1957) 
The Mystery At the Deserted Mill (1958) 
The Mystery of the Vanishing Stamp (1958) 
The Mystery At Plum Nelly (1959) 
The Mystery At the Haunted House (1959) 
The Mystery At Fearsome Lake (1960) 
Mystery At Rock City (1960) 
The Mystery At the Snowed-in Cabin (1961) 
The Mystery of the Dancing Skeleton (1962) 
The Mystery At Ghost Lodge (1963) 
The Mystery At the Weird Ruins (1964) 
The Mystery At the Echoing Cave (1965) 

The Christmas Anna Angel by Ruth Sawyer

Dec6

The Christmas Anna Angel by Ruth Sawyer, illustrated by Kate Seredy. Viking Press, 1944. (Christmas in Hungary, c.1918)

“Here is one of those heart-warming tales that never grow old but take their place on the Christmas shelf to become year after year a part of the family Christmas. Ruth Sawyer heard the story from a friend named Anna, whose little girlhood was spent on a Hungarian farm where her own Christmas Anna Angel came to her. Miss Sawyer’s text and Kate Seredy’s lovely drawings retell the tale with a feather-light touch that would not brush away the loveliness of a dream or of a little child’s belief in Christmas.

~New York TImes

This book is absolutely beautiful. The story is great, but the text combined with the illustrations make the book a children’s masterpiece. Miklos and his older sister Anna are growing up on a farm during the later years of World War I. The book begins on St. Nicholas Eve, “the day that begins the Christmas time,” and ends on Christmas Day. In between, Anna tells Miklos about Christmases past, before the war, when there was plenty of flour and honey and eggs and fuel for the baking of Christmas cakes to hang on the Christmas tree. And as the children welcome St. Nicholas on his day, celebrate St. Lucy’s Day, and wonder at the marvels of the Christmas Eve celebration, Anna maintains her faith that the angels in heaven, especially her own Christmas Anna Angel, will see to the baking of Christmas cakes in spite of the war conditions and privations.

This story is Hungarian Catholic in its culture and setting; Protestant readers may have to explain about talking and praying to saints and going to Mass on Christmas Eve. However, it’s also a very Christian book, with an emphasis on the true wonder and meaning of Christmas and the coming of the Christ Child while holding onto a child’s ability to imagine and embroider even in wartime. I wish I could send a copy of this story to every child in Ukraine this Christmas, along with a copy of the gospel of Luke, to give them hope and imagination and joy in their time of war.

Whatever war or harshness is in your life this Christmas, I wish for you, too, some hope and joy and Christmas cakes. If you get a chance to read The Christmas Anna Angel this Christmas and you like it, I recommend Kate Seredy’s books, The Good Master and The Singing Tree, both also set before and during World War I in Hungary and quite reminiscent of Ruth Sawyer’s Christmas story.

The Christmas Pony by Helen McCully and Dorothy Crayder

Dec3

The Christmas Pony by Helen McCully and Dorothy Crayder, illustrated by Robert J. Lee. Bobbs-Merrill, 1967. (Christmas in Nova Scotia, Canada, 1912)

Catching the apple, Helen had been tempted to smile, but since the best way to enjoy the marsh was to be unhappy, she was determined to remain so.

The McCullys and the cats coexisted with the understanding that people were people and cats were cats and it was neither possible nor desirable for it to be otherwise. This understanding made for mutual enjoyment.

Mrs. McCully did not believe in her children’s being sick and consequently they very rarely were. And when they were, they were never allowed to be very sick. Being sick was for people who had nothing better to do.

Every year, two days before Christmas the doors to the Big Rooms and the dining room were closed tight and were not to be opened until Christmas morning. To the children, it was always as if a stage were being set behind those closed doors and when at last they were opened, the play would begin.

The children now began a two-day siege compounded of excitement, fidgets, and the need to be on their best behavior or Santa Claus might have some second thoughts. Deep down in their hearts, the children believed that Santa Claus was a loyal, generous friend who accepted the good with the bad, but they were leery of making a test case of it.

Helen McCully, one of the authors of this brief Christmas novelette (101 pages), is also one of the three children who celebrate a Christmas to remember in this story set in Amherst, Nova Scotia, Canada. The tone and writing of the story, which is sampled in the quotes above, reminded me of old-fashioned magazine story writing from the 1950’s and 60’s, and indeed Ms. McCully and Ms. Crayder both had experience writing for women’s magazines as well as radio plays and television. The Christmas Pony tells about Helen, her brother Robert, and her little sister Nora and the surprise gift that they received one Christmas.

This book would make a wonderful read aloud story sometime during the Christmas season, but there is a rather big risk. The book begins with the statement, “Every child should have a pony.” If you think you can read the story and remain indifferent to the desire for a real, live pony of your own, or if you think your children can contain themselves, then this book is a delight.

The Pink Motel by Carol Ryrie Brink

Dec1

The Pink Motel by Carol Ryrie Brink. Illustrated by Sheila Greenwald. (Christmas in Florida, c. 1959)

People in Minnesota do not paint their buildings pink. So when the Mellen family–Father, Mother, Kirby, and his little sister Bitsy—head for Florida to claim the motel that their mother’s great-uncle Hiram has left to them in his will, they are surprised by the unusual color of the seven little cottages that make up Uncle Hiram’s legacy, The Pink Motel. “The inheritance was really like a Christmas present, for it arrived just before the beginning of Christmas vacation.” The plan is for the Mellens to use the children’s Christmas vacation to “fly down to Florida, put the motel in running order, and sell it before time for the children to go back to school.”

Kirby and Bitsy wear their pinkest accessories to go to Florida, but even they are astounded at just how pink the The Pink Motel really is. “It was pinker than Kirby’s necktie or Bitsy’s hair ribbon. It was pink, pink, PINK. On the small square of lawn in front of the motel two life-sized plaster flamingos were standing, and they were pink, too.” And more than just very pink, the motel turns out to be a locus for mystery and adventure. The guests are eccentric. The weather vanes on top of each cottage are all different and artistically rendered. The office is pleasantly untidy, like a pack rat’s hoard. The palm trees sway, and the coconuts are abundant.

There really isn’t much reference to Christmas in this story, but it does all take place during the Christmas season. Bitsy and Kirby make two new friends, and the four children along with various adult motel guests have adventures involving a live alligator, a magician, two gangsters, an abstract modern artist, coconuts, and all of the secrets Uncle Hiram has left behind. It’s a slightly unbelievable, even wacky, story about resolving differences, leaning into adventure, and creating community in unlikely spaces. I was at first intrigued and then delighted by Kirby and Bitsy and Big and Sandra Brown and all the adventures they have together and the mysteries they solve as they explore the Pink Motel and its surroundings.

This book, first published in 1959, has been out of print for quite some time, but it was recently republished by Echo Point Books and Media in Battleboro, Vermont. I am so grateful that I was able to purchase and read this classic story of Floridian adventures. If you’re from Florida, you should certainly grab a copy, and if you’re not, you’ll still enjoy the humor and the joie de vivre of this pink Christmas book.

Content considerations: Big, the children’s first friend in Florida, is described as “a little colored boy” who helps out at the motel, running errands, sweeping, and carrying bags. The children and the adults treat Big just as they treat each other, with no reference to race or racial tension or differences. “Colored” would have been one of the preferred terms in Florida at the time for a black child, and I don’t see that it’s that different from “person of color”, the term that some people use nowadays. Just FYI.

Alone on a Wide Wide Sea by Michael Morpurgo

Aug19

This middle grade or young adult novel, by the author of War Horse and Private Peaceful and many other excellent titles, takes place in Australia—and on the ocean. Part 1 of the book is The Story of Arthur Hobhouse, a British orphan who at the tender age of six years old is sent to Australia to live with foster parents in an orphanage in Cooper’s Station. Arthur’s story has its ups and downs, some of it quite harrowing. There’s child abuse, and outback survival, and the sad death of one of the main characters, which is why maybe the book is more for older teens and adults. But it’s a good and ultimately hopeful story, and I liked the fact that almost none of the characters in the book is all good or all bad. They are a mixture for the most part (except for the main villain with an appropriate name, Piggy Bacon).

Part 2 is The Voyage of the Kitty Four, the story of how Arthur’s daughter Allie takes the boat her father built for her and sails from Australia to England, alone. It’s an ocean adventure, reminiscent of one of my favorite true life adventure stories, The Boy Who Sailed ‘Round the World Alone (aka Dove) by Robin Graham. Allie’s story also has ups and downs, not just on waves, but also in her emotional state as she faces the dangers of sea by herself and learns to rely on her own resources.

There’s some hostility to religion and Christianity in the book since Arthur’s first experiences of “Christianity” are horrifying and anything but Christlike. There’s also a bit of superstition—because if you can’t rely on God then you might tend to look for signs and wonders, right? But these things all made the book more rich and understandable for me. People do have bad experiences with abusive, religious people, and sometimes an albatross could be a sign of God’s love and protection. Allie and Arthur both have a deep love for Colerige’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, so that’s a thread throughout both stories.

Good book by a very good author. I’ve enjoyed all of the books by Michael Morpurgo that I’ve read.