A String in the Harp by Nancy Bond

A String in the Harp was a Newbery Honor book in 1977. (Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry was the Newbery Award winner in 1977.) A String in the Harp is a long book, with lots of descriptive passages that evoke a sense of setting in the Welsh countryside. Mrs. Bond, an American, wrote her novel after spending two years going to library school in Wales. In fact, Wales itself, its scenery and its history, is almost the central character in the book. One critic said, “Without the traditional Welsh materials, A String in the Harp would be just another adolescent problem novel.” Well, without the entire setting in Wales, there would actually be no novel at all. It made me want to visit Wales, in spite of the cold and the incessant rain that are emphasized in the book.

The story is about the Morgan family: an American professor and his three children, Jennifer, Peter, and Becky. The story is written in third person, but mostly told from the point of view of Jennifer, age 15, and Peter, age 12. The Morgan family has moved to Aberstwyth, Wales for a year for Professor Morgan to teach and pursue research at a university there, leaving Jennifer behind with her aunt so that she can continue high school. As the story opens, Jennifer is coming to join her family in Wales for the winter/Christmas holidays.

There are, of course, problems to be overcome. Peter hates Wales and everything about it. Becky, age 10, just wants the family to be happy. Professor Morgan is distant and impatient with Peter’s inability to adjust to living in Wales. Jennifer is unsure of what her new role in the family is since they are all trying desperately to learn to be a family without their mother who died in a car accident just before the Morgans moved to Wales. All of the problems in the novel have a lot to do with the grief process that each of the Morgans is going through, but the mother is only mentioned a few times in the course of this long novel. We never get to know her, really, and you get the sense that grief is about forgetting and moving on somehow.

Into all of this rather chaotic family emotion and misunderstanding comes a magic artifact, a harp key. Peter finds the key and becomes attached to it, wearing it around his neck on a string as a sort of talisman. He believes that the key is showing him, even taking him into, the past and the life of the sixth century bard and poet, Taliesin. The novel borrows from C.S. Lewis’s with the children, especially Peter, moving into and out of another time and place. At one point a Welsh professor friend is talking to Jen and Becky about whether or not Peter has imagined all of his stories about Taliesin, and he says to them, “What do they teach in your American schools?” The entire conversation is quite reminiscent of the Professor and the children, Peter, Susan, and Edmund, when the professor asks, “Why don’t they teach logic at these schools?” and later, “I wonder what they do teach them in these schools.” Only the Welsh professor is asking more, “Why don’t they teach wonder or magic at these (American) schools?”

There are a couple of minor elements to the story that didn’t bother me, but someone else may find them problematic. The characters curse sometimes, even the children, mild curses, mostly damn and hell. I wouldn’t have expected to find cursing in a children’s book published in 1976, but there it is. And Jen at about the halfway point in the novel offers to stay on in Wales and take charge of the household, cooking and cleaning and mothering her siblings. It’s taken for granted that someone (some female?) has to be at least a parttime caretaker and homemaker for the Morgans, and for the first semester of the school year they’ve had a local woman paid to clean house and cook meals for them. One critic called this minor plot element “sexist.”

There’s usually a place in any good book where I “fall into” the story, so to speak. I am immersed and intrigued to find out how the story will play out and how it will end and what truths and affinities I will find along the way. For A String in the Harp, it took a while for me to fall in, but eventually, I did. I suppose it’s a matter of wanting to know how the story and the relationships of the various characters will finally be resolved. I think this story of family disorder turning to order, and coming of age, and magical occurrences without clear boundaries or explanations, would be a hard sell to twenty-first century readers who are used to more action and less atmosphere. But anyone who loves Narnia or Tolkien or Welsh mythology or Arthurian legend might really appreciate this small gem of a book.

Angus and the Cat by Marjorie Flack

Apr4

Marjorie Flack, author of many classic picture books including Boats on the River, Ask Mr. Bear, William and His Kitten, and The Story About Ping, also wrote a series of four books about Angus, a small, inquisitive, and adventurous black Scottish terrier. The four books are: Angus Lost, Angus and the Ducks, Angus and the Cat, and Angus and Wag-Tail Bess. The first two of those are listed in my Picture Book Preschool guide, and I now own the first three Angus books. Angus and the Cat is NOT listed in Picture Book Preschool, but only because I hadn’t read it until now and I didn’t have room for any more Angus books in the curriculum guide.

Nevertheless, I can now say that Angus and the Cat is just as delightful as the other Angus books, and you should definitely add it to your list of books to read aloud with your preschooler. In this simple story, Angus, who is very curious about cats but has never actually met one up close, finds a new pet, a cat, lying on the sofa in his own home. Angus and the cat become adversaries as the cat boxes Angus’ ears and sits in his favorite patch of sunshine. Angus, of course, chases the cat. But then, something happens to turn enmity to at least mutual respect and toleration, maybe even a near-friendship.

The story is “told and pictured by Marjorie Flack.” The illustrations in the book alternate pages of black and white pen and ink with simple two or three color drawings, and Ms. Flack’s pictures are vivid and engaging. One of the illustrations shows the cat behind a wall where Angus can’t see him, but preschoolers who are listening to the book read aloud will be happy to point out where the cat is hiding.

The first three Angus books, and probably the one I haven’t seen yet, Angus and Wag-tail Bess, are all worth pursuing from the library or the bookstore (used or new) or online at Internet Archive. Fortunately, copies of all of the Angus books are not too difficult to find, which makes for a winning read aloud series for a new generation of preschoolers who love to read about curious little dogs and their adventures.

Picture Book Preschool is a preschool/kindergarten curriculum which consists of a list of picture books to read aloud for each week of the year and a character trait, a memory verse, and activities, all tied to the theme for the week. You can purchase a downloadable version (pdf file) of Picture Book Preschool by Sherry Early at Biblioguides.

When the Sky Falls by Phil Earle

Mar31

2022 Middle Grade Fiction: When the Sky Falls by Phil Earle.

I received a review copy of this book, originally published in Great Britain in 2021, and scheduled for publication in April of 2022 in the U.S. The tagline on the front of my ARC says, “Friendship can come from unexpected places,” and that line does summarize at least one of the themes of this story. In 1940, with his parents unavailable and his grandmother unable to control him, twelve year old Joseph Palmer isn’t to London (instead of being evacuated out of the city) to live with his grandmother’s old friend, Mrs. F.

Joseph is filled with anger, rebellious and quick to take offense from the hurts he has sustained in his short life. When he finds out that Mrs. F. is the sole proprietor of a run-down, war torn zoo in the heart of the city, with most of the animals either sent away or barely surviving, Joseph is even more confused and angry with his grandmother for sending him away, with his father for leaving to go to war, with Mrs. F. for her unyielding personality, with the whole world and the war and “Herr Hitler” and just about everything else, including the silver back gorilla called Adonis.

Joseph continues throughout most of the book to be a prickly and rage-filled character, although we do learn some of the underlying reasons for Joseph’s anger and inability to trust. And just as Adonis is not a tame gorilla (there is no such thing), Joseph is not so much tamed as educated, learning that his impulsive anger and rage do not really serve him well as he navigates the city and the zoo during a war that takes and takes and takes away all that is good and hopeful. Mrs. F. says, at one point in the story, “I hate this war. All of it. All it does is take.”

The story is good. Joseph does grow and learn over the course of the book, in a believable story arc that ultimately ends in both tragedy and hope. But . . . the writing and the details felt a little off in some way. Rough. There’s some language, using God’s name in vain and a few curses sprinkled through, but that wasn’t the real problem. Joseph nurses his rage and anger over and over, and I just couldn’t see where it went, what it really was that redeemed him or relieved him of his fear and hatred. Mrs. F. says more than once that there’s something good deep down inside Joseph. Joseph and Adonis do form a connection, or perhaps even a friendship. And the friendship and loyalty of Mrs. F. and others with whom Joseph lives and works become important to him.

Nevertheless, even with a “four years later” epilogue chapter at the end, the story felt unresolved. I think it would be absolutely traumatizing for animal lovers in the younger end of the middle grades. Joseph’s age, twelve, is a good minimum age for reading this harrowing, but somewhat hopeful, tale. It is a war story, and maybe it would be helpful for middle grade and young adult readers who are having to deal with the horrors of war, at least in the news, again, in Ukraine and elsewhere.

I’m ambivalent. It’s certainly not James Herriot and All Creatures Great and Small, but it might resonate with readers who need something a bit more grim and gritty, but still with a glimmer of hope.

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

Mar30

I didn’t know that Kazuo Ishiguro won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017. I must have been busy the day that was announced. At any rate, I’m fairly sure he deserves the honor. There are layers of meaning in his latest novel, Klara and the Sun, and I’m not at all sure I got all or even most of them.

I don’t want to write too much about the plot of the novel because half of the fun is figuring out as you read what exactly is going on, who Klara is, what her abilities are, what this society and culture she lives in is like. We do know from the beginning of the story that Klara is an AF, and Artificial Friend, and what that means for Klara and for the teenager for whom she becomes an AF, is played out over the course of the novel.

The book asks some important questions about life and death: is death something to be avoided at all costs? What would you sacrifice to avoid dying? What would you sacrifice to keep someone you love alive?

Also there are questions about life and love: what is the essence of a human being? What is it you love when you say that you love someone? Is human love eternal, lifelong, and if it’s not, is it really love at all? Is the essence of love self sacrifice or imitation or something else? Is love letting go or holding close or both?

And finally, the questions are about technology and our relationship to it: is technology good or bad? Is it killing us or replacing us or enhancing our humanity? Can we become, through technological means, gene therapy or some other futuristic tinkering with our bodies and brains and genetics, something superhuman, better than human? Or are we losing something precious, our very humanity, when we try to create (super)man in the image of a god instead of living as a created being, under the authority of God, imago Dei?

My reviews of other books by Sir Ishiguro:

I look forward to reading more books by Kashuo Ishiguro, and I will be thinking about the implications of the story of Klara and the Sun for a good while. (Fell free to discuss details and spoilers in the comments. I’d love to hear your thoughts if you’ve read the book.)

Over in the Meadow by John Langstaff

Mar28

Over in the Meadow by John Langstaff, illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky.

Over in the meadow 
In the sand in the sun  
Lived an old mother turtle and her little turtle one. 
"Dig," said the mother, 
"I dig," said the one; 
So he dug and was glad in the sand in the sun.

John Meredith Langstaff was a musician and music educator who wrote children’s picture books, produced music education videos for the BBC, and published songbooks, music, and texts, all emphasizing traditional and folk songs and music. He started something called The Christmas Revels in New York City in 1957, and later in Cambridge, Massachusetts. These amateur performances involved singing, dancing, recitals, theatrics, and usually some audience participation, all appropriate to the holiday season. Langstaff died in 2005, but his Revels still go on in select cities across the United States at Christmas time.

Langstaff, of course, didn’t originate the lyrics for the song, Over in the Meadow, but neither did Olive A. Wadsworth, aka Katherine Floyd Dana, who is credited with writing the poem, Over in the Meadow, in several places online. Katherine Floyd Dana (under the pen name Olive A. Wadsworth) wrote down the words to the song that she heard possibly in Appalachia or the Ozarks, and Mabel Wood Hill notated the music. The words and music together were published in the book Kit, Fan, Tot, and the Rest of Them by the American Tract Society in 1870. Langstaff’s version of the lyrics is much different from Wadsworth’s, using different animals, and different actions, and different descriptions. It’s an old counting rhyme that may trace back to the 16th century, and there are many different versions.

There are also several picture book versions of the song available, including one illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats, another by Anna Vojtech, and yet another illustrated by one of my favorite picture book artists, Paul Galdone. Still, my favorite for this song is this Langstaff/Rojandovsky partnership version. I like Langstaff’s lyrics, and Rojankovsky’s illustrations are delightful, just busy enough without overwhelming, with lots of endearing animal detail. The beavers build; the spiders spin; the owls wink; and the chipmunks play—all the way up to ten rabbits who hop.

If you’re looking for more folk songs in picture book form, I would suggest:

Old MacDonald Had a Farm, illustrated by Lorinda Bryan Cauley. Putnam, 1989.
Hush, Little Baby, illustrated by Margot Zemach. Dutton, 1976.
Frog Went A’Courtin’ by John Langstaff, illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky. Harcourt, 1967.
Mary Wore Her Red Dress, and Henry Wore His Green Sneakers, adapted and illustrated by Merle Peek. Clarion, 1985.
Fox Went out on a Chilly Night, illustrated by Peter Spier. Doubleday, 1961.

All of these folk song picture books are listed in my Picture Book Preschool curriculum guide. Picture Book Preschool is a preschool/kindergarten curriculum which consists of a list of picture books to read aloud for each week of the year and a character trait, a memory verse, and activities, all tied to the theme for the week. You can purchase a downloadable version (pdf file) of Picture Book Preschool by Sherry Early at Biblioguides.

O. Henry by Jeanette Covert Nolan

Mar18

O. Henry: The Story of William Sydney Porter by Jeanette Covert Nolan.

O. Henry, aka William Sydney Porter, led a colorful life, but he was a retiring and secretive man. As his biographer says, “his autobiography, if set down, would probably have been scorned as a travesty on truth by the instructors of proper college writing classes.” Born and raised in North Carolina, he moved to Texas as a young man, married an Austin girl from a wealthy family, fathered a daughter, became a journalist, owned a newspaper for a short while, worked in a bank, was accused of embezzlement, fled the country, returned to be with his dying wife, and was convicted of a felony and imprisoned in Ohio. All this happened while he was still a young man, in his thirties, and before he began to make his reputation as a writer of exquisitely crafted short stories that became both popular with common readers and respected in literary circles.

Ms. Nolan’s biography of O. Henry/Porter, written for young adults, is obviously sympathetic to Porter, portraying him as wrongly convicted of embezzlement and mostly confused and mistaken in his decision to flee justice, deserting his wife and child for a brief time. His wife, Athol, seems unnaturally supportive, saying in her letters only that she believed in his innocence but that they would have to remain apart as long as he was a fugitive since she was too ill to join him in Honduras where he fled. And Nolan glosses over Porter’s alcoholism–he died of cirrhosis of the liver and other ailments—and says only that he drank heavily but was always a perfect gentleman. Porter comes across as a lonely and tragic figure, shrouded in mystery, but likable, jovial, and humorous with all who knew him in his after-prison days.

This approach to telling the story of Porter’s life makes the biography a gentle story, somewhat melancholy, but ultimately hopeful. Nolan describes Porter as a “rather stout and mild-mannered man, timidly smiling, respectably dressed–dark suit, blue tie, yellow gloves in his right hand, and maybe a malacca cane, too; and the buttonhole of his coat the little Cecil Brunner rosebud which he had bought that very morning at the flower-stand one the corner of Madison Square.” The entire book inclines one to think of Porter fondly, much as his short stories portray most of their characters, mistaken at times but “more sinned against.”

However, Ms. Nolan makes a strategic error when she includes in her story references to the Ku Klux Klan, apparently active in Porter’s boyhood hometown of Greensboro, North Carolina. I’m not sure why Ms. Nolan even felt it necessary to mention the Klan, but she does. And when she does, while she has Porter’s father argue that the “Klan is as hateful in theory as in practice,” she also has him say that “the average Negro is still an inarticulate creature, not far removed from the primitive; he doesn’t know what he’s doing or why.” In these first few chapters of the book about William Porter’s boyhood there’s a whole thread of apology for the Klan and for the hatred of Southerners for Reconstruction and the Northern interlopers it bought to the South. And the fear, pity, and contempt of Southerners for their formerly enslaved Black neighbors is quite evident and articulated plainly. It made me wonder: if Nolan could sympathize with the underlying fears and prejudices that gave rise to the Klan, what other dark episodes and secrets would she spin in a positive way? (And Nolan was Indiana born and bred, so it’s not as if she was a Southerner herself.)

At any rate, I still enjoyed reading this biography of William Sydney Porter, and it made me want to pull out some of his short stories and re-read them. Book does lead on to book in a never-ending chain.

Interesting side-note: William Porter made friends in New York City during the latter half of his life, mostly in the publishing world. One of those friends was Gelett Burgess, author of Goops and How To Be Them and its sequels, and also the famous ditty, “I Never Saw a Purple Cow.”

I never saw a Purple Cow,
I never hope to see one;
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I’d rather see than be one.

Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell

Mar14

She braved the opprobrium of her husband’s Unitarian congregation, in part for her depiction of prostitution and illegitimacy, particularly in her novel Ruth, and also for her challenge to the traditional view of women’s role in society.
Elizabeth Gaskell biography: The Gaskell Society

Various critics and biographers describe Mrs. Gaskell’s writings as “old-fashioned”, “warm hearted”, “melodramatic”, and even “over-wrought”. Some of the feminists have taken her up as a “proto-feminist”, although her portrayal of female characters seems to me to be most conservative and traditional. Ruth, Mrs. Gaskell’s story about a “fallen woman”, portrays the title character as woman bound to lifelong penance and disgrace, with maybe a possible inkling of a chance to become a saint at last.

I tend to think of sin “but lightly”. Sin is something to be repented, forsaken, and forgotten. Modern psychology and evangelical Christianity would say that this is a healthy way to think about the wrongs that we do to one another. In fact, moderns would go a step further, reclassifying many of the sins that horrified the Victorians and those who came before them as human foibles and minor eccentricities. Adultery, fornication, all the sexual sins as well as greed, jealousy, envy, and conceit are not really SIN, but just a difference of opinion or the way a certain person deals with life.

In Ruth, characters are crushed by their own sin and horrified and judgmental about the sin of others. Not just Ruth herself, but other people in the book judge themselves or others harshly when they perceive that their actions have broken God’s law or the social code of Victorian society. Mrs. Gaskell shows in Ruth how this judgmental and unforgiving attitude is unfair and limiting, often pushing sinners back into the sin they would choose to leave, if permitted. Ruth in the book is allowed to repent and to live a reformed life, but the weight of her sin is ever present, and the consequences of her youthful actions are visited on her illegitimate son as he is called upon to suffer for Ruth’s sin.

Maybe there’s a balance somewhere in there. I don’t believe we need to live with guilt and shame weighing us down so much that we become like Ruth, some kind of shadow people, who never feel worthy or whole enough to live in the light of God’s forgiveness and grace. Ruth is self-abnegating to the point of being nearly suicidal. But . . .

If you think of sin but lightly
nor suppose the evil great,
here may view its nature rightly,
here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the sacrifice appointed,
see who bears the awful load;
’tis the Word, the Lord’s anointed,
Son of Man and Son of God.

Our sin is great, but God’s mercy is greater. I suppose that’s the balance we need to strike. And if Mrs. Gaskell’s sometimes melodramatic and devastating portrayal of sin and its consequences can swing the pendulum back toward a truer vision of our need for repentance, then it’s not a bad antidote for a society bent on denying that sin is sin or need have any negative consequences at all.

I thought Ruth gave a good picture of Victorian England and its view of sexual sin and its consequences. It’s a compassionate book, and even if the male characters, whose sin is just as great or greater than Ruth’s, get off lightly in terms of earthly consequences, Ruth is clearly the heroine of the story whose life and reputation “shine like the brightness of the heavens, and . . . lead many to righteousness, like the stars.” (Daniel 12:3)

Picture Book Preschool–Come and Get It

Mar13

I’m excited because, beginning today, you can purchase a pdf copy of my preschool curriculum book, Picture Book Preschool, from the book website, Biblioguides. Picture Book Preschool is a preschool curriculum based on picture books I have been reading to my children, and now grandchildren, for the past twenty years. Each week of the year is built around a theme, and includes a suggested character trait to work on, a Bible verse, a supporting activity, and seven suggested picture books to read to your children. Now you can find all of the Picture Book Preschool recommendations on Biblioguides and purchase a PDF of the curriculum which includes all of the supporting resources and schedule.And while you’re at it, check out Biblioguides, a great resource for finding books and book information to enrich your own education and that of your children.

If you would prefer a print copy of Picture Book Preschool, you can email me at sherryDOTpray4youATgmailDOTcom.

Preparing for the Preparation Days of Lent

Feb22

Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, is Wednesday, March 2nd, this year. Easter Sunday falls on April 17th. One good thing to do for the Lenten days of fasting and preparation leading up to Resurrection Sunday is to choose a book (or two) to read, one that prepares your heart and leads you into repentance and celebration.

Julie at Happy Catholic has a list of fiction books that would help to form your heart and mind during this time of year.

Observing Lent, a Semicolon list. Not a book list, this post just gives some ideas for observing Lent as a family. It makes me nostalgic for the days when I had children at home with whom to observe these activities and reminders.

Inspirational Classics. This link goes to a set of posts that I set out to write in 2011. It was supposed to be 40 Inspirational Classics for Lent, but I only managed to write about 15 or so books. Still, the ones I did write about are some of the greats.

What are you reading for Lent? I’m continuing with my Cultivating Beauty and Truth study, re-reading The Hobbit and reading Hearts of Fire, a book of stories of modern day persecuted Christian women who are amazing in the courage they demonstrate. Only God.

The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Jan30

I am working through a reading project, a Century of Reading —reading one book published in each year from 1851-1950. My choice for a book published in 1852 was Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Blithedale Romance. It’s not a long novel, a little over 200 pages, but it took me the entire month of January, reading a couple of chapters at a time, to finish it. And then, I was confused.

Questions (with spoilers): What was the relationship between Zenobia and Westervelt? Why was Priscilla so docile and weak-willed? Was Coverdale actually in love with one of the two women in the story? What was the meaning of the masquerade scene at the end? How did Zenobia lose her money? Why does Zenobia commit suicide? What kind of person is Coverdale really? Is he a reliable narrator or an unreliable one? What do the personal love lives of these four main characters have to do with the experimental farm called Blithedale? Is the failure of such a utopian community inevitable? Why?

I already knew about the connection between Hawthorne’s experiences at Brook Farm, the failed Transcendentalist experiment in communal living, and this novel written many years later. I read the Introduction by John Updike in my Modern Library edition and found not much to illuminate or answer my questions. I read the Wikipedia article, and a few other pieces, mostly feminist musings on the character of Zenobia, and still no answers. Then, I found this article, Love Conquers All, at an online journal called The New Atlantis. Although it didn’t answer all of my questions, it certainly was helpful, giving me some perspective on the novel.

I think, whether he knew it or not, Hawthorne was writing in part about the dangers of idol worship. Each of the main characters in the novel is looking for someone or something to worship, someone or something to give his or her life meaning and purpose. And God, for the most part, is ignored or given short shrift. Hollingsworth is completely wrapped up in his scheme of reforming criminals. Zenobia worships Hollingsworth and accommodates even her most cherished views to his overpowering sermons. Priscilla silently worships Zenobia and Hollingsworth, but her high god is shown to be Hollingsworth. Coverdale flits from one god to another: the community and its high purpose, his own poetry, his own individuality, the beauty he finds in Zenobia and in nature itself, maybe Priscilla. Coverdale can never commit to anything or anyone, and that is his tragedy.

The great tragedy for all of the characters in this novel is that they try to create heaven without God, and they all end up without any meaning or purpose at all. They give lip service to a Creator, but like all of us, their foolish hearts try to find Him in the worship of the things and people He has created. I recently heard a story about a Bible study group that was studying the book of Romans, and one of the members asked incredulously, “You mean good people who try to do everything right are not righteous in God’s sight? A good person will not necessarily go to heaven?” This novel (and the book of Romans) show how being good, having good intentions, trying to worship good things, is never enough. We are more deceived, even as we look into our own hearts, than we can know.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became foolsand exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. . . . But you see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 1:21-23; 5:6-8

And yet there is hope. Here’s what Hawthorne wrote about Zenobia’s body, recovered from the stream after her suicide.

“One hope I had; and that, too, was mingled half with fear. She knelt, as if in prayer. With the last, choking consciousness, her soul, bubbling out through her lips as it may be, had given itself up to the Father, reconciled and penitent. . . . The flitting moment, after Zenobia sank into the dark pool–when her breath was gone, and her soul at her lips–was as long, in its capacity of God’s infinite forgiveness, as the lifetime of the world.”
p.213, The Blithedale Romance