Elisabeth and Marsh Mystery by Felice Holman

Jul18

If you are looking for a book to encourage your students (or yourself) to take an interest in nature study, Elisabeth and the Marsh Mystery is the book. It’s only about 50 pages long, but this short little nature mystery is engaging and well-written, with an ecological message that is not heavy-handed or overemphasized.

Summary: Elisabeth hears a strange sound coming from the marsh. It is definitely NOT Stewart Peebles playing the bugle, although it sounds a little bit like that. And then Mrs. Munch next door sees a monster with huge wings, flying (or walking?) over her flower bed. What can it be? Elisabeth and her father begin to investigate, and the results of that investigation are amazing, even exotic.

SPOILER: The mysterious monster with the loud call is actually a sandhill crane. Learn more about sandhill cranes. Have you ever seen one?

“The Sandhill Crane’s call is a loud, rolling, trumpeting sound whose unique tone is a product of anatomy: Sandhill Cranes have long tracheas (windpipes) that coil into the sternum and help the sound develop a lower pitch and harmonics that add richness.”

I absolutely loved this book, and I’m planning to recommend it far and wide. It is unfortunately out of print, but if you come across a copy, grab it. The illustrations and the map by Erik Blegvad, and especially the cover illustration, are just lovely. I want to enlarge the map and put it on my wall, next to my Narnia map.

The Superteacher Project by Gordon Korman

Jul17

What makes a good teacher? A great middle school teacher? A super-teacher? Well, a teacher should first of all know the subject matter that he’s teaching. Mr. Aidact, the new teacher at Brightling Middle School, has that covered. In fact, Mr. Aidact seems to know just about everything. His encyclopedic knowledge of algebra American history, French, song lyrics, trivia, and even field hockey (which he is assigned to coach) is amazing.

But to be a Superteacher requires more than knowledge. A teacher has to have the ability to impart that knowledge to students and to inspire or engage those students in learning for themselves. The jury is still out as to whether Mr. Aidact is capable of being that kind of teacher—and whether or not he can keep up with Oliver and Nathan, the resident pranksters at Brightling Middle School. And when Oliver becomes convinced that there is something fishy about Mr. Aidact, he’s determined to find out just who—or what–this new Superteacher really is.

The Superteacher Project is science fiction about the near-future and is therefore very up-to-date, dealing with current events, and that is both a positive and a negative. It’s probably going to be about as popular in the short term as Mr. Aidact because it deals with something that is the topic of the day, artificial intelligence. But it will just as quickly become dated as events progress. The characters in the books make references to Elon Musk, Motor Trend, and Jeopardy!, among other pop culture allusions. How long will those be known and understood cultural touchstones?

Nevertheless, it was a humorous and light-hearted read, with some thoughtful moments. I recommend it for the sake of entertainment and maybe as a way to open a conversation about AI and the implications it has for the future.

You Are Not Your Own by Alan Noble

Jul15

You Are Not Your Own: Belonging to God in an Inhuman World by O. Alan Noble.

This is one of those books I wish I could get everyone to read, especially my adult children. But it has “God” in the subtitle (and in the content), so it’s not likely that all of them will read it. At any rate, You Are Not Your Own has enriched and informed my thoughts and ideas, and I’m sure it will be among the best of all of the books I read this year–or ever.

In the first half of the book, Mr. Noble presents the problem: we live in a world that is inhuman, a world that is not set up for human flourishing. He uses the analogy of a lion caged in a “natural habitat” at the zoo. “Zoochosis is the common term for that thing that lions do at the zoo when they obsessively pace back and forth in their cages.” Noble argues that we experience our own form of zoochosis as we vainly attempt to adapt ourselves to the world that we have made for ourselves in our ambition to be the little gods of our own lives. He gives examples of the inhuman conditions in which we find ourselves: the way we understand sex and love; the way we treat parents, children, and work; the ways we live together; the ways we buy, sell, and consume. Meaninglessness plagues us, so we try to create our own meaning. We’re not sure who we are or where we belong, so we try to create our own identities and our own little tribal groups.

This problem presentation takes up four chapters in a seven chapter book, but the last three chapters don’t exactly give a neat solution. Jesus said, “In this world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.” Or as Mr. Noble quotes from the Heidelberg Catechism, “What is your only comfort in life and death? That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ.” This affirmation is not a solution. It doesn’t magically clear away all of the inhuman conditions (tribulations) of this world, but it does save me from having to find or be my own comfort, from having to make up my own identity out of bits and scraps of humane (Or sometimes inhumane) ideas and systems that I happen upon here and there. And the catechism, based on Scripture, goes on to promise me a solution that is now and will come: “Therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for him.”

If I’ve whetted your appetite, if you have questions about your own identity and about how we can know our identity in Christ, if you just want to read a well thought out and argued book, Christian or not, read You Are Not Your Own. And find comfort.

Jim Grey of Moonbah by Reginald Ottley

Jul14

I happen to be reading Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson right now, and the connections between Stevenson’s tale of a orphaned young man out seeking his fortune and getting into trouble and Ottley’s story of young Jim Grey are inescapable. Jim Grey and David Balfour are two innocents, one Australian and one Scottish, who are drawn into danger and crime through the evil machinations of a trusted mentor, yes, but also each as a result of his own foolishness and ambition.

Let’s concentrate on Jim Grey in this review. (I’ll write about Mr. Balfour in another review, when I’ve actually finished the book.) Fifteen year old Jim Grey is not an orphan, but his father has recently died, and Jim is feeling somewhat adrift. He has the advantage of a strong and loving mother and a sheep station (ranch), Moonbah, to call home. Yet Jim is restless, missing his father and wondering for the first time in his life what it would be like to travel and see the world. The adolescent Jim is easy prey for Russ Medway, a stranger who shows up at Moonbah on his way to . . . somewhere better. Russ is friendly, personable, and eager to help Jim and his mother with tasks that need to be done on the sheep station–for a little while before he moves on to greener pastures.

It’s easy for the reader to see that Jim is looking for a father figure, or at least an older brother figure, to replace his dad. Jim even tries to convince himself at one point that Russ reminds him of his father. But he has to admit to himself after only a minute’s thought, “I’m mad to think they’re alike. . . But there you are. It’s just in odd ways that Russ reminds me of Dad, I suppose. Or maybe I’m seeing’ things. Things that ain’t really there.” Indeed, in classic Eve-like innocence, Jim is drawn into listening to and following a liar and a crook instead of remembering his dad and choosing good.

The Australian setting for this story is fascinating, and the slang is not too thick for a non-Aussie to penetrate. Reginald Ottley was born in London and ran away to sea when he was fourteen, so it seems likely that some of what Jim experiences and learns comes from Ottley’s own personal experience. Ottley also worked on a cattle station in Australia, so he knew the country and its people.

This book would be such a good cautionary and adventure tale for adolescent boys. Jim, too, wants adventure and feels the pull of home duties and responsibilities against the lure of freedom and wanderlust. The story is never explicitly didactic, but it does indeed teach lessons. “Not all that glitters is gold.” “A wise son listens to his father’s advice.” “The best journey takes you home.”

Farmer Giles of Ham by JRR Tolkien

Jul13

“Farmer Giles of Ham, like Roverandom, was invented by J.R.R. Tolkien to entertain his children, and was originally an oral tale. . . . Tolkien’s eldest son, John, has recalled that the tale was first told when the family was caught in a rainstorm after a picnic and took shelter under a bridge.” (Introduction to Farmer Giles of Ham by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond)

“Farmer Giles had a dog. The dog’s name was Garm. . . . Neither of them gave much thought to the Wide World outside their fields, the village and the nearest market.” The story of how Farmer Giles gets drawn into the affairs of the wide world, to the extent of dealing with a marauding giant and fighting a dragon, parallels that of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, the hobbits who become entangled in world affairs, too, somewhat against their will. But Farmer Giles is not a hobbit, although he may be something of a proto-hobbit, with a hobbit’s desire for both comfort and adventure and a hobbit’s knack for blundering his way into and out of trouble.

Giles accidentally scares off the giant with his blunderbuss, and “all seemed set fair–until the dragon came.” The dragon, Chrysophylax Dives, is not quite so easy to deter as the giant had been, but the people of the village think that since Giles was able to deal with the giant, surely he can get rid of a dragon, too. And Giles does have a secret weapon, an old sword, Tailbiter, that the king of that land gave him. So the story continues through the interactions between Giles and Chrysophylax and Garm and the village people and the King, as the dragon is hounded and harried and blackmailed and eventually tamed.

As a bedtime (or picnic-time) story, I would recommend Farmer Giles of Ham for any family looking for a read aloud for all ages. Tolkien said that the published version was not a story for children, although children might enjoy it, but it did start out as a tale told to amuse the children. And it retains that childlike, fairy tale feel. So, read it as an amusing fairy tale, or like Farmer Giles himself, dig in to find the deeper treasures, but do read it, if you’re a Tolkien fan. And why would you be here, reading this blog post. if you were not?

A Sky Full of Song by Susan Lynn Meyer

Jun29

Susan Lynn Meyer is the Jewish author of two previous books, Black Radishes and Skating With the Statue of Liberty, both of which I read and enjoyed. In fact, I have Skating With the Statue of Liberty in my library, and I would love to have Ms. Meyer’s other two books in the library, too. I’m fairly picky these days about what I include in my library (running out of shelf space), so that’s a high recommendation.

A Sky Full of Song is set in the early twentieth century, beginning in 1905, and it’s a sort of Little House on the Prairie with Jewish immigrants from Ukraine. Persecution and pogroms have driven Shoshana and her family out of their home in a Ukrainian village, and they are leaving to join Shoshana’s father and older brother in “Nordakota”. Shoshana is sad to leave her cat, Ganef, behind, but Mama says it’s too difficult to take a cat across the ocean on a boat. “More difficult, that I don’t need.” Mama already has four daughters to take care of on the long journey to Nordakota, and that’s enough. (I agree with Mama.)

Anyway, the family finally gets to North Dakota and homestead that Papa has been preparing for them, but all is not roses and joy on the prairie. There is loneliness, and prejudice, and the struggle to make a new beginning while hanging on to old customs and identity, here in a new country. Shoshana gets used to the beauty of the wide plains that make up her new home, and she loves school and learning and making new American friends. However, she is somewhat ashamed of the language (Yiddish) and cultural habits that make her and her family different from those who live around them.

Shoshana’s family seems to be deeply Jewish in identity and culture, but not so religious. There’s little or no mention of God or prayer or scripture in this book, but much emphasis on Jewish traditions and holidays and the Yiddish language. Shoshana knows that her family wouldn’t want her to be celebrating Christmas at school by making Christmas decorations and singing Christmas carols, but she doesn’t seem to know why her family would eschew such things, other than the fact that Jewish people don’t do Christmas. For the setting of this story, the idea of finding one’s identity in one’s own family and cultural heritage, without examining the underlying meaning of that heritage too deeply, makes sense.

“But the lights of the menorah, all together on this last night of th holiday, burned strong. They stood for the way the Jews carried on.

For the way, wherever we went, we held onto who we were.”

The blurb for the book begins with the words: “An untold American Frontier story . . . ” And indeed the thought of a Jewish family proving a homestead on the North Dakota prairie was new to me. I think of Jewish immigrants coming to New York City like the All-of-a-Kind Family and like the family in Skating With the Statue of Liberty, not farming on the prairie. But immigration happened in all shapes and sizes, from all countries, and to all sorts of different places. A Sky Full of Song tells one story of Jewish immigration and assimilation as well as strength and heritage.

Content considerations: Persecution and violence both in Ukraine and in the U.S., name-calling. Shoshana’s older sister gets her first menstrual period and is ridiculed and harassed.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Alice Tonks by Emily Kenny

Jun28

“Alice Tonks would love to make friends at boarding school. Being autistic, she really hopes people will accept for who she is. But after a rather strange encounter with a talking seagull on her first day, she faces a new challenge. Animals are going missing, and Alice can’t solve the mystery alone. With new friends behind her, can she harness her magic powers and become the hero she never imagined?”

From the back cover

This novel is a British import, and as such, there may be some cultural nuance I’m missing. It was never clear to me why Alice is going to boarding school, since her guardian seems worried about her going away to school, and Alice herself isn’t at all sure she wants to be there. Also, there’s a family heritage of magic, shape-shifting, that no one tells Alice about until three quarters of the way through the story. Why not? Maybe it’s a British reticence thing.

Nevertheless, Alice Tonks is a decent story, in the Harry Potter tradition. Alice does manage to “harness her magic powers” and save the day, along with her new friends. Some erstwhile enemies become friends along the way, while some seeming friends turn out to be villains. The autism that Alice experiences is almost certainly high-functioning autism, and it doesn’t seem to hold her back or interfere with her life too much. (The author herself “is autistic and wanted to write her debut novel about an autistic child protagonist.”)

The last paragraph of the book reads, “As Constance (the cat) nestled in her arms, Alice knew her life at Pebbles (the school) was going to be all right. Better still, it was going to be an adventure!” So, we’re all set for a series of books about Shapeshifter Alice Tonks and her life at Pebbles Boarding School. I’m not sure there’s enough depth in this first book to sustain a series, but I suppose we’ll see.

Why Marry?

Jun27

We live in a utilitarian age. If you can’t show me a practical use for any given practice or cultural institution, I’m free to throw it out, take it or leave it, make my own traditions, fashions, and rules. With this modern attitude, what is the use of marriage? Why go to the expense and worry of a wedding, why get a marriage license, why marry?

And many couples do not. They live together, engage in a sexual relationship, combine finances, make joint decisions, and even have children, forming families, without ever troubling themselves to obtain that pesky little piece of paper that legalizes and solemnizes their liaison. Some of these “partners” move from one relationship to the next, never settling, and never committing themselves to one person. But others are seemingly committed, seemingly married in everything but name, but just don’t see the use of getting actually, legally, really truly married.

So why marry? If you ask me to give you a utilitarian reason for legal marriage, I can’t really do it. Is it better for a society if the majority of couples who are forming families and educating the coming generation are legally married? Yes, I believe so. Is it better for children if their parents are formally and publicly committed to one another in marriage? Again, yes. Better how? Well, marriage implies and calls a couple to a stable and lasting relationship, a foundation that is important, even vital for the mental and spiritual health of children in a family. But you can answer that as individuals we are committed. We plan to stay together till death does us part. What difference does it make whether or not we have a marriage certificate or have had a wedding ceremony?

And in strictly utilitarian terms, I cannot give an adequate or convincing answer. The real reason for marriage, as I have come to understand after much thought, is not utilitarian at all. It is transcendent in nature–for Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Hindus and other religious people, certainly. We all believe that marriage is a solemn vow of union before God. But even for many nonreligious people who still believe in marriage and who continue to marry one another, marriage is something more than “a piece of paper” or a legal contract or a meaningless ritual. When we get married, we are doing something real, initiating a relationship, that has meaning beyond the words we say or the papers we sign. We are making a commitment before God (whether you believe in Him or not, He is there) and our community to cleave to this one husband or wife and to no one else for the rest of our natural lives. We are initiating a new family relationship, husband and wife, a relationship that will exact responsibilities from us and give privileges to us and that will shape us for the rest of our lives, even if the marriage itself someday ends in divorce or in the death of one of the couple.

What I’m trying to say is that marriage has a transcendent meaning, and we marry because of that meaning. Yes, marriage is a picture of Christ and His church. That’s a part of the reason and meaning for marriage. And marriage was instituted by God in the beginning when Adam and Eve were joined by God and told to cleave to one another and be fruitful and multiply. That’s another piece of the meaning of marriage. Furthermore, marriage is an invisible bond and contract between two people in the presence of family and community to love and care for each other, both physically and spiritually. It’s an announcement that says, “Hey, world, we are not just interested in exploring or exploiting each other physically and sexually. We are a married couple. We are spiritually, mystically committed to each other in all senses, physically, emotionally, intellectually, and even supernaturally.”

If the man and woman involved in a physical relationship are not willing to make that announcement loudly, proudly and publicly in an actual ceremony of some kind and a legal binding contract, then there is something wrong with the relationship itself. The partnership that is not willing to be a marriage may be practical, sensible, and even lasting, but it is ultimately soulless. And that’s why we marry: for the sake of our mutual souls and for the creation of a one flesh spiritual union together.

Clarice Bean, Scram by Lauren Child

Jun22

I have met Clarice Bean before in other books, and I like her. At least one of my children liked her, too, and wrote about about her here and here. Some of you who are parents are not going to like Clarice Bean. Clarice is something of a menace. She’s not a delightful little girl who just needs love and attention to become The Perfect Young Lady. And she’s not really a brat, although she does have her moments. Clarice is normal. And normal kids think and act in ways that sometimes get them into trouble, or cause trouble for others. And normal parents might even get tired and annoyed enough to tell their normal child to “scram!” So if any of that, plus a bit of deception (taking in and hiding a stray dog) and some name-calling (“Little big mouth” and “creep”) are dealbreakers for you, then this book will not be for you.

I think Ramona Quimby and Clementine and Clarice Bean are funny. I enjoyed reading about how Clarice desperately tries to stay out of trouble and keep her parents and older sister and younger brother happy and amuse herself, but utterly fails. Until she finds a dog that no one seems to own or want. Then, Clarice becomes the proud caretaker of a dog named Clement (or Cement), and her only problem is how to break the news to her parents and to her granddad whose bird may or may not be averse to dogs and cats and other four-legged animals.

Other books about Clarice Bean by Lauren Child:

Short Takes on 2023 Middle Grade Fiction

Jun20

Rare Birds by Jeff Miller. Eleven year old Graham Dodds feels if his whole life is spent in one big waiting room in his mind as he waits with his mom in hospital after hospital for her heart to get fixed. And now they are waiting for a heart transplant, and Graham and his new friend Lou are waiting to find the rarest of Florida birds, the endangered Snail Kite. As they wait and watch, Graham keeps trying to believe what his mother always says, “It all happens for a reason.” Although it has lots of heart (no pun intended), the plot was a little jerky, and the intimations of reincarnation and an afterlife as a bird were not for me.

Leeva at Last by Sara Pennypacker. I like Sara Pennypacker’s books, generally speaking, especially the Clementine series for beginning chapter book readers. But Leeva is over-the-top ridiculous, and I’m not sure what to think about it. Leeva Spayce Thornblossom has been trapped inside her house in the tiny town of Nutsmore for all of her eight or nine years of life, captive to the whims and neglect of her parents, the mayor and town treasurer of Nutsmore. Since her parents have taught her nothing and allowed her little or no contact with the outside world, Leeva is not sure how to answer the question, “What are people for?” So she decides to leave her home to find out. As I said, it’s really ridiculous, and the parents are comically evil, but again the story has a good heart.

The Infinite Questions of Dottie Bing by Mollie Burnham. Dottie is a ten year old spoiled kid, and her best friend Sam had to inform the teacher in first grade or kindergarten that she/he was a boy, not a girl. Enough said.

Not an Easy Win by Chrystal Giles. “Nothing’s gone right for Lawrence since he had to move from Charlotte to Larenville, North Carolina, to live with his granny. When Lawrence ends up in one too many fights at his new school, he gets expelled. The fight wasn’t his fault, but since his pop’s been gone, it feels like no one listens to what Lawrence has to say.” Chess is the game that saves Lawrence when he learns to play at the local community center. OK, but not great.

Wild Bird by Diane Zahler. The book began as a dark but readable historical fiction story set in medieval Europe during the black plague years, fourteenth century. It progressed into sexual innuendo and bawdy songs and hinted-at sexual assault. Then, it went on to describe full-fledged child abuse, sexual abuse, and homosexual liaison between an older man and a much younger boy–all in the midst of what is supposed to be a middle grade novel for ages eight to fourteen. Not recommended for any age.

Bea and the New Deal Horse by L.M. Elliott. A well written horse story set during the Great Depression. It’s a bit too horsey for me with detailed descriptions of horse training and horse racing, but your opinion may be different if you’re into horses. And there’s some unnecessary cursing sprinkled here and there throughout the book. Otherwise, it’s a good story, recommended for those who love Black Beauty and all of the books about horses that came after.