Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster by Jonathan Auxier

Nov14

I’m really rather fond of Jonathan Auxier’s books, especially this most recent one, Sweep. Nan used to travel from chimney-sweeping job to job with her Sweep, “a thin man with a long broom over one shoulder, the end bobbing up and down with every step.” Nan was a little girl who shared her Sweep’s life and adventures, his work in the chimneys and the majestic view at the top of a long, dirty chimney.

But one day her Sweep disappeared. Now Nan works for Wilkie Crudd, who calls himself The Clean Sweep, but who is really the dirtiest kidnapper and exploiter of young children that can be found in all of London. Nan has worked for Crudd for so long, doing such dangerous work cleaning chimneys all by herself, that she has almost given up hope of the return of her Sweep. All she has left of her early life is a small clump of soot that she keeps in her pocket and calls “her char”.

Then, one day Nan gets stuck in a chimney and almost dies, but she awakens to find herself no longer in captivity to Crudd and no longer alone. Something or someone has saved her life, and now Nan is responsible for the creature that saved her.

Such good story-telling is rare. Sweep is Mr. Auxier’s fifth published book, if my count is right, and it’s the best so far, in my humble opinion. Set in Dickensian London, Sweep portrays the plight of children forced by poverty and virtual enslavement into the job of a chimney sweep, one of the dirtiest and most dangerous jobs ever visited upon anyone. Although the lessons found in Sweep, about child labor and the exploitation of the week and defenseless, could be applied to many people and situations in our own time and place, the book is never didactic or overbearing in its message. In spite of Nan’s plight and the stunning self-sacrifice that is required to bring the story to a happy ending, the entire story sparkles with hope and friendship and appreciation for the gifts of sunrise and snowfall that are free to everyone, even chimney sweeps and monsters.

Mr. Auxier suggests a few books for further reading, two more or less about chimney sweeps and another couple about the golem (a creature of folklore that does come into the story):

The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley is the book that introduced Auxier to the history of “climbing boys.” I’ve not read Kingsley’s classic myself, but I’m told it’s a rather odd and Darwinian fantasy about a chimney boy who escapes from a chimney fire into a fantastical underwater world.

Chimney Sweeps: Yesterday and Today by James Cross Giblin tells all about the history of the chimney sweeping profession. Hint: it’s not all Mary and Bert dancing about on the rooftops of London.

The Golem by Isaac Bashevis Singer. A retelling of a Jewish tale about a creature made of clay that is given life by a rabbi so that the golem can save the Jews of Prague.

Golem by David Wisniewski. A Caldecott Medal winning book about a magical creature, based on the same Jewish legend.

Another suggestion for those who go on a chimney sweep rabbit trail after reading this book: The Chimney Sweep’s Ransom by Dave and Neta Jackson. Ned tries to find and ransom his little brother, Pip, who has been sold to a sweep as a chimney climbing boy. Can the preacher John Wesley help Ned save Pip?

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This book may be nominated for a Cybils Award, but the views expressed here are strictly my own and do not reflect or determine the judging panel’s opinions.

The Boy, the Boat, and the Beast by Samantha M. Clark

Nov13

“Struggling to his knees, the boy cautiously pried his eyes fully open, spying on his surroundings through gaps between his fingers.
He was on a beach of golden sand stretched out against the edge of a never-ending blue ocean. Curious waves crept up to him, then retreated, returning seconds later. The beach was cut off to his right by trees so large they hung over the water. . . .
The boy dropped his hands, the brightness no longer stabbing his eyes.
Where am I?
The question echoed in his brain and was joined by another.
How did I get here? . . .
The biggest question of all screamed in his mind.
Who am I?“

And essentially, the remainder of the book is about the who, where, and how of the boy on the beach. At first I found the story a bit annoying. The boy kept seeing and hearing things that weren’t really there, and then maybe they were real, and I couldn’t tell what was real and what wasn’t. Then, I began to be intrigued by this amnesiac alone on a beach. He’s having to figure out life and survival and his own goals and abilities from scratch, which is thing all of us can identify with. Finally, as the story came together at the very end, I felt sympathetic and enriched by this story of a boy who finds a boat and fights a beast.

It’s a story about fear and overcoming fear. It’s also about protection and over-protection and who saves and protects and cares for whom. The boy is stranded, alone, and helpless, or is he? Maybe he’s crazy. He does hallucinate and hear voices. The island he’s on is called Duppy Island, and duppies are Caribbean ghosts or spirits. So, maybe he’s a haunted boy, or maybe . . .

I really can’t write much more without giving everything away, but I did enjoy this story much more than I thought I would at first. For children who are philosophically inclined. Or someone who might like a survival story with a twist. The author is a Texan and a Narnia-fan, so her debut novel must have a lot going for it.

Reading Through World War I: The 100th Anniversary of the Armistice

Nov12

Since it’s Veteran’s Day and the 100th anniversary of the World War I armistice was yesterday, I thought I’d do a repost and update of this list of World War I reading suggestions.

Nonfiction for children and young adults:
The Donkey of Gallipoli: A True Story of Courage in World War I by Mark Greenwood
Truce: The Day the Soldiers Stopped Fighting by Jim Murphy. World War I and the Christmas Eve, 1914 spontaneous cease-fire. Reviewed by Betsy at Fuse #8.
The War to End All Wars: World War I by Russell Freedman. Reviewed at Bookish Blather.
Primary Source Accounts of World War I by Glenn Sherer and Marty Fletcher. From a series on various American wars published by MyReportLinks.com (Enslow Publishers).
Remember the Lusitania! by Diana Preston. A children’s/young adult version of the adult nonfiction title by the same author. The books includes lots of personal anecdotes about individuals who survived the sinking of the Lusitania and stories of some of the people who did not. It’s a solid, brief (89 pages with pictures) introduction to the subject, but it felt a little rushed. I hardly had time to get to know the characters that the author spotlighted before the entire episode was over and done with.
Unraveling Freedom: The Battle for Democracy on the Home Front During World War I by Ann Bausum. Reviewed by Betsy at Fuse #8.
Flying Aces of World War I by Gene Gurney. A World Landmark book.
America’s First World War: General Pershing and the Yanks by Henry Castor. Another Landmark book.
The Story of the First World War by Red Reeder.
Stubby the War Dog: The True Story of World War I’s Bravest Dog by Ann Bausum.
Nathan Hale’s hazardous tales : treaties, trenches, mud, and blood (a World War I tale) by Nathan Hale. A graphic novel or nonfiction graphic story of the war.
Ace of the Argonne by Charles Ira Coombs. An American flier becomes a World War I Ace in France.

Adult nonfiction:
The Proud Tower: A portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914 by Barbara W. Tuchman. I’m working on this one–about halfway through. The author spent about 200 pages on the Dreyfus affair in France, and if nothing else, I feel as if I know a lot more about French modern history than I did before. Reviewed at Resolute Reader.
The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman. I started this book once but didn’t finish. I think after I get through with The Proud Tower, I’ll be ready for guns. The Guns of August won Ms. Tuchman a Pulitzer Prize for history. Reviewed at Resolute Reader.
The Zimmerman Telegram by Barbara Tuchman.
Nicholas and Alexandra: The Classic Account of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty by Robert K. Massie. I read this classic biography/tragedy back when I was in high school or college, and I remember it as fascinating. It’s since been updated with new discoveries made about the bodies that were found and from information found in Soviet archives.
Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea by Robert K. Massie.
Dreadnought by Robert K. Massie.
To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918 by Adam Hochschild. Semicolon review here.
The Great Silence: Britain from the Shadow of the First World War to the Dawn of the Jazz Age by Juliet Nicolson. Semicolon review here.
Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy by Diana Preston.

Children’s and young adult fiction:
Fly, Cher Ami, Fly!: The Pigeon Who Saved the Lost Battalion by Robert Burleigh. Based on a true story about carrier pigeons used by the U.S. Army during World War I.
War Game: Village Green to No-Man’s Land by Michael Foreman. A longer picture book story of a soccer game during the Christmas truce of 1914.
Winnie’s War by Jenny Moss. Semicolon review here.
I Don’t Know How the Story Ends by J. B. Cheaney. Hollywood, 1918. Isobel Ransom’s surgeon father, Robert Ransom, is faraway in Europe at war, but mother is taking the family to Hollywood.
The Best Bad Luck I Ever had by Kristin Levine. Semicolon review here.
Lord of the Nutcracker Men by Iain Lawrence. The world is at war, and Johnny’s toy soldiers look just like the German Kaiser’s army that is now storming through Belgium. And Johnny asks his father, “Can you make me some Frenchmen? Can you make me some Tommies” (British soldiers)? So Johnny’s dad makes him a little French soldier with a blue coat. But when Johnny’s father goes to war, the fighting becomes more than just a game of toy soldiers.
Biggles Learns to Fly by W.E. Johns. There is an entire series of books about this British flier who goes all over the world in his many adventures. James Bigglesworth, aka Biggles, starts out as a World War I flying ace. W. E. Johns wrote 102 Biggles titles before his death in 1968.
When Christmas Comes Again: The World War I Diary of Simone Spencer, New York City to the Western Front, 1917 by Beth Seidel Levine.
Rilla of Ingleside by L.M Montgomery.
Betsy and the Great World by Maud Hart Lovelace. Betsy travels through Europe instead of going immediately to college after high school, and she sees the arms build-up and the beginning of World War I. Reviewed at Library Hospital.
Betsy’s Wedding by Maud Hart Lovelace. Reviewed at Reading on a Rainy Day.
Kipling’s Choice by Geert Spillebeen. I read this book a couple of years ago, but never got around to reviewing it. It’s a fictional account of the death of John Kipling, son of Rudyard Kipling, near Loos, France in 1915. Here it is reviewed at Chasing Ray.
War Horse by Michael Morpurgo. Joey, the farm horse, is sold to the army and sent to the Western front. Reviewed at Another Cookie Crumbles.
Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo. Excellent book that focuses on the plight of British soldiers who were summarily tried, condemned and executed on the battlefield for cowardice or desertion during World War I.
Without Warning: Ellen’s Story, 1914-1918 by Dennis Hamley. Ellen Wilkins becomes a nurse to follow her brother to war.
A Time of Angels by Karen Hesse. In 1918 Boston, Hannah Gold must face her own wartime suffering as the influenza epidemic sweeps through her family and town.
Eyes Like Willy’s by Juanita Havill. A French brother and sister, Guy and Sarah Masson, and their Austrian friend Willy are separated by the war.
After the Dancing Days by Margaret Rostkowski. We read this YA novel for my English/History class at homeschool co-op last year. Annie is a thirteen year old girl living in a small town in Kansas at the end of World War I. As she begins to visit the returning soldiers at the veterans’ hospital where her father works as a doctor, Annie is at first repulsed and frightened by the severely injured men. However, she comes to be friends with them, one in particular, even though her mother is opposed to Annie’s hospital visits and wants her to forget about the war and its consequences.
My Brother’s Shadow by Monica Schroder. This YA novel is about a German boy, Moritz, towards the end of the war in 1918 and how he comes to see the war and its results differently as he grows up in its aftermath. Moritz’s brother comes home severely wounded from the front, and Moritz must choose between his loyalty to his brother and his mother’s new socialist way of seeing politics and the world. I thought the story was good, but the fact that entire book is written in present tense distracted me. I suppose the intent is a “you are there” feel, but I would have preferred the distance and objectivity of past tense.

Adult fiction:
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque.
To the Last Man: A Novel of the First World War by Jeff Shaara.
No Graves As Yet by Anne Perry is the first in her World War I mystery/suspense series. I don’t like her writing in these books as much as I did the Victorian Charlotte Pitt mysteries, but if you’re interested in the time period, they’re worth a try.

Of course, there are many, many more books about and set during World War I, but these are the ones with which I have some familiarity.

The Darkdeep by Allie Condie and Brendan Reichs

Nov10

The Darkdeep by Allie Condie and Brendan Reichs feels and reads like a Stranger Things/LOST wannabe for middle grade readers, but that’s not an insult to the book, just information, m’am. In fact, YA author Melissa de la Cruz says essentially the same thing in her blurb on the back cover of the book: “Move over, Stranger Things . . . The Darkdeep will pull you into an irresistably eerie world beyond your wildest dreams—and nightmares.”

Nico Holland is another outcast, alienated boy protagonist, but he does have a couple of friends—Emma and Tyler. The rest of the inhabitants of Timbers mostly look on Nico with disdain or even hatred because his father, a park service ranger, tried to save the habitat of an endangered owl species at the expense of a lot of jobs in the town. Now Nico is paying the price of his father’s unpopular opinions. When Nico and his friends encounter some bullies near the scary and legendarily haunted area called Still Cove, Tyler, Emma, Nico, and another possible friend, Opal, fumble their way into a place that is beyond spooky. An old houseboat and an ancient tunnel are only the beginning of the mysteries that they find; underneath is something that none of them can begin to fathom, something that they decide to call The Darkdeep.

This one obviously, eventually comes with a sequel. The ending is satisfying, but the final scene is a set-up for the next book. The characters are a bit flat, except for Nico. I couldn’t really tell you much about Tyler or Emma or even Opal or Logan, the town rich boy and bully. Tyler is always the one who’s more cautious; Emma is the adventurous one. Emma likes movies. Opal wants to be part of the group. That’s about it for characterization.

Nevertheless, the story is compelling and mysterious. It’s horror, but horror that I can handle. And I’m a wimp. Aside from a few scenes (a giant, possibly exploding, cockroach!), there’s nothing too gross or nightmare-inducing. And it’s clean, no cursing or trash talk, and not occultist, no demons or devils or satanic nastiness. The horror is mostly nightmares coming alive and monsters invading the town, which sounds sort of tame, but the writing was believable enough for me and horrific enough, too.

I recommend The Darkdeep for 9-12 year olds who want a taste of Stranger Things but aren’t quite ready for watching monsters and things in living color. Or maybe it would even satisfy those who are already fans of the genre and want something a little different.

Born on This Day: Helen Fuller Orton, 1872-1955

Nov1

Born on November 1, 1872, Helen Fuller Orton lived most of her life in New York state. She was homeschooled until she was almost eight years old, and after that, she attended country and small town schools in upstate New York until her high school graduation. Helen’s parents were schoolteachers, and she became a schoolteacher herself for a couple of years until she met and married Jesse Orson, a lawyer and economics instructor. Helen Fuller Orson began writing at the age of forty-eight, after her children were grown, and she incorporated her love of history into the mystery and adventure books that she wrote for children.

I have recommended Ms. Orton’s books before. Similar in style and reading level to The Boxcar Children series, the mysteries by Helen Fuller Orton are more intriguing and more varied in characters and plot than The Boxcar Children mysteries.

Mystery in the Pirate Oak by Helen Fuller Orton tells the story of Chad and Ellie Turner and their search for a missing silver box hidden long ago in the old oak tree in the nearby meadow. Grandmother Hale is hopeful that if the box could be found it might have something in it that would provide enough cash to fix her leaking roof and have the old house painted. Can Chad and Ellie find the sixty year old silver box before someone else does and before summer vacation is over?

Other books by Helen Fuller Orton, worth searching for if you have or know any young mystery fans:
Mystery of the Hidden Book.
Secret of the Rosewood Box.
Mystery of the Secret Drawer.
Mystery of the Lost Letter.
Mystery in the Apple Orchard.
Mystery Up the Winding Stair.
Mystery at the Little Red School-House.
Mystery in the Old Red Barn.
Mystery over the Brick Wall.

U.S. Presidents Reading Project: 2018 Update

Oct31

Today seems like a good day for updating my U.S. Presidents Reading Project. I’ve been slowly working on this reading project for a few years now. My last update was on President’s Day in 2016. I had a goal of reading one biography of a president per month, but that was a little ambitious. I think I’ve averaged more like one biography every six months, or two per year.

Here’s a list of some of the biographies I either have read or plan to read for this project. If you have any suggestions for the presidents whose names have no biography listed, or if you think I should choose another book other than the one I have listed, please leave any and all suggestions in the comments.

1. George Washington, 1789-97. Washington: The Indispensable Man by James Thomas Flexner, READ: Semicolon review here.
Other suggestions: George Washington and the Founding of a Nation by Albert Marrin.

2. John Adams, 1797-1801 (Federalist) John Adams by David McCullough. READ: Semicolon review here. I also watched the mini-series based on this book.

3. Thomas Jefferson, 1801-9 (Democratic-Republican) I’ve taken a dislike to Jefferson after the Washington biography and the John Adams one. So I’m not sure which Jefferson bio to choose, one that’s flattering to restore my faith in this rather contradictory and enigmatic president, or one that’s iconoclastic to reinforce my antipathy.
Beth Fish reviews Twilight at Monticello by Alan Pell Crawford.
Actually, I really want to read the Leonard Wibberley series of four books about Jefferson: Young Man From Piedmont, A Dawn in the Trees, The Gales of Spring, The Time of the Harvest. I’m not sure how fictionalized these are, but Wibberley is a great writer. So, I’m sure to enjoy these, fiction or not.

4. James Madison, 1809-17 (Democratic-Republican) The Great Little Madison by Jean Fritz. (Read, but not reviewed.) Yes, this one is a children’s book. I plan to read children’s books for some of these presidents because sometimes they’re better than the adult tomes. And reading a children’s biography may tell me whether or not I want to read more about a particular president.
I also read and wrote about A Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation by Catherine Allgor.

5. James Monroe, 1817-25 (Democratic-Republican) James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity by Harry Ammon.
The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation’s Call to Greatness by Harlow Giles Unger.

6. John Quincy Adams, 1825-29 (Democratic-Republican) The Life and Times of Congressman John Quincy Adams by Leonard L. Richards.
John Quincy Adams: American Visionary by Harlow Giles Unger.
Or maybe, Mrs. Adams in Winter: A Journey in the Last Days of Napoleon by Michael O’Brien.
I read Cannibals of the Heart: A Personal Biography of Louisa Catherine and John Quincy Adams by Jim Shepherd.

7. Andrew Jackson, 1829-37 (Democrat) American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham. I have a copy of this one, and I started it, but never got very far.
Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times by H.W. Brands.
I might read Old Hickory: Andrew Jackson and the American People by Albert Marrin instead.

8. Martin Van Buren, 1837-41 (Democrat) Martin Van Buren and the American Political System by Donald Cole.
Martin Van Buren by Ted Widmer.

9. William Henry Harrison, 1841 (Whig) Mr. Jefferson’s Hammer: William Henry Harrison and the Origins of American Indian Policy by Robert M. Owens.
READ: Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too by Stanley Young. (Landmark history book for middle grade readers)

10. John Tyler, 1841-45 (Whig) John Tyler, the Accidental President by Edward P. Crapol.
John Tyler by Gary May.

11. James Knox Polk, 1845-49 (Democrat) Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America by Walter R. Borneman.
I actually read a book I had on my shelves already, James Knox Polk by Edwin P. Hoyt.

12. Zachary Taylor, 1849-50 (Whig) Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest by K. Jack Bauer.

13. Millard Fillmore, 1850-53 (Whig) Biography of a President by Robert J. Rayback

14. Franklin Pierce, 1853-57 (Democrat) Young Hickory of the Granite Hills by Roy Franklin Nichols.
Franklin Pierce: New Hampshire’s Favorite Son and Franklin Pierce: Martyr for the Union by Peter A. Wallner.

15. James Buchanan, 1857-61 (Democrat) President James Buchanan by Philip Shriver Klein.

16. Abraham Lincoln, 1861-65 (Republican) Whereas with several of preceding presidents there is a dearth of good biographies to choose from, for Abraham Lincoln, it’s more like an embarrassment of riches. Which biography of Lincoln should I read?
Maybe, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin.
Lincoln and Douglas: The Years of Decision by Regina Z. Kelly. (Landmark history book for middle grade readers)
Abe Lincoln Grows Up by Carl Sandburg.
I did read Lincoln’s Grave Robbers by Steve Sheinkin, not a biography but rather an entertaining glimpse of the times about 10 or 12 years after the death of Lincoln.

17. Andrew Johnson, 1865-69 (Democrat/National Union) The Avenger Takes His Place: Andrew Johnson and the 45 Days That Changed the Nation by Howard Means.
Impeached: The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln’s Legacy (2009) by David Stewart.

18. Ulysses Simpson Grant, 1869-77 (Republican) Grant: A Biography by William McFeely.
The Story of Ulysses S. Grant by Jeanette Covert Nolan. Another juvenile biography.
OR Unconditional Surrender: U. S. Grant and the Civil War by Albert Marrin
OR Ron Chernow’s new biography of Grant, called Grant.

19. Rutherford Birchard Hayes, 1877-81 (Republican) Fraud of the Century: Rutherford B. Hayes, Samuel Tilden, and the Stolen Election of 1876 by Roy Morris Jr. READ, but not reviewed. I have some notes from this book, and I could write a review, even though I read it about a year ago. It was good, but not great.
Rutherford B. Hayes: Warrior and President by Ari Hoogenboom.

20. James Abram Garfield, 1881 (Republican) Dark Horse: The Surprise Election and Political Murder of President James A. Garfield by Kenneth D. Ackerman.
I actually read Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard.

21. Chester Alan Arthur, 1881-85 (Republican) Gentleman Boss: The Life of Chester Alan Arthur by Thomas C. Reeves.

22. Grover Cleveland, 1885-89 (Democrat) To the Loss of the Presidency (Grover Cleveland a Study in Courage, Vol. 1) by Allan Nevins.
The Forgotten Conservative: Rediscovering Grover Cleveland by John Pafford.

23. Benjamin Harrison, 1889-93 (Republican) Benjamin Harrison by Charles W. Calhoun.

24. Grover Cleveland, 1893-97 (Democrat) Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage by Allan Nevin. (2 volumes)
Grover Cleveland: A Study in Character (2000) by Alyn Brodsky.

25. William McKinley, 1897-1901 (Republican) In the Days of McKinley by Margaret Leech.
The President and the Assassin: McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century by Scott Miller.

26. Theodore Roosevelt, 1901-9 (Republican) I read Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt by David McCullough, River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard, and Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris.
Also recommended: The Great Adventure: Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of Modern America by Albert Marrin.

27. William Howard Taft, 1909-13 (Republican) 1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft and Debs: The Election That Changed the Country by James Chase.
The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

28. Woodrow Wilson, 1913-21 (Democrat) Woodrow Wilson: Princeton to the Presidency by W. Barksdale Maynard.
Wilson by A. Scott Berg.
Woodrow Wilson: A Biography (1991) by August Heckscher.

29. Warren Gamaliel Harding, 1921-23 (Republican) Florence Harding: The First Lady, The Jazz Age, And The Death Of America’s Most Scandalous President by Carl Sferrazza Anthony. I read most of this one last January/February (2015), but didn’t quite finish it. It’s a really long and discouraging biography of First Lady Florence Harding. The book itself and the writing are fine; it’s the people and events that the book chronicles that are discouraging and sad. I can’t believe that anyone could be as sexually promiscuous and dishonorable as President Harding and still live with himself, much less become president of the United States. No wonder the twenties were roaring.
The Strange Death of President Harding by Gaston B. Means and May Dixon Thacker.
1920: The Year of Six Presidents by David Pietrusza.

30. Calvin Coolidge, 1923-29 (Republican) A Puritan in Babylon: The Story of Calvin Coolidge by William Allen White OR The Autobiography Of Calvin Coolidge by Calvin Coolidge. (After Harding, they needed a “Puritan”—or at least a gentleman.)
Coolidge by Amity Shlaes.

31. Herbert Clark Hoover, 1929-33 (Republican) Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times by Kenneth Whyte.
Herbert Hoover in the White House: The Ordeal of the Presidency by Charles Rappleye.

32. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933-45 (Democrat) Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship by Jon Meacham. I really like Churchill, FDR not so much, so this one sounds like something I could enjoy and learn from.
I read FDR and the American Crisis by Albert Marrin and enjoyed it very much, since it was neither hagiographic nor a a disparaging of FDR and his presidency.

33. Harry S. Truman, 1945-53 (Democrat) Truman by David McCullough. 1993 Pulitzer Prize winner.

34. Dwight David Eisenhower, 1953-61 (Republican) Ike: An American Hero by Michael Korda.
My Three Years with Eisenhower by Captain Harry Butcher.
Crusade in Europe by Dwight Eisenhower.

35. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 1961-63 (Democrat) I might just re-read Profiles in Courage in lieu of a biography of this overrated (IMHO) president.
I read and wrote about The President Has Been Shot!The Assassination of John F. Kennedy by James L. Swanson, a YA nonfiction account of Kennedy’s assassination.

36. Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1963-69 (Democrat) The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Master of the Senate, Volume 3 (2003 Pulitzer Prize for biography) by Robert Caro.

37. Richard Milhous Nixon, 1969-74 (Republican)

38. Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr , 1974-77 (Republican) Gerald R. Ford: An Honorable Life by James Cannon and Scott Cannon.

39. James Earl Carter, 1977-81 (Democrat) An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood by Jimmy Carter

40. Ronald Wilson Reagan, 1981-89 (Republican) Ronald Reagan: How an Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader by Dinesh D’Souza.
I am reading Reagan: The Life by HW Brands—slowly. It’s good, but exhaustive.

41. George Herbert Walker Bush, 1989-1993 (Republican) Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush by Jon Meacham.

42. William Jefferson Clinton, 1993-2001 (Democrat)

43. George W. Bush, 2001-2009 (Republican) Decision Points by George W. Bush.

44. Barack Hussein Obama, 2009- (Democrat) Dreams from my Father by Barack Obama.

More presidential biography suggestions: The Best Presidential Biographies at Early Bird Books.
My Journey Through the Best Presidential Biographies.

Grump by Liesl Shurtliff

Oct29

Grump: The (Fairly) True Tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves by Liesl Shurtliff.

Ms. Shurtliff has already published three other fractured fairy tale novels for middle grade readers: Rump: The (Fairly) True Tale of Rumpelstiltskin, Jack: The (Fairly) True Tale of Jack and the Beanstalk, and Red: The (Fairly) True Tale of Red Riding Hood. However, I think she’s fully hit her stride with Grump, the story of a grumpy, misfit, surface-loving dwarf who accidentally becomes both Snow White’s nemesis and her savior.

The fairy tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (or Dwarfs) has been the inspiration for several books and movies:

Black as Night by Regina Doman.
Fairest by Gail Carson Levine.
The Fairest Beauty by Melanie Dickerson.
Snow in Summer by Jane Yolen.
1937 Disney film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
The 2011 TV series Once Upon A Time features Snow White, Prince Charming, and the Evil Queen as the main characters.

I think I like this one, Grump, the best of all the ones that I have read or seen. It’s funny. Grump and the other dwarves are endearing without being too twee. They’re portrayed as underground dwelling creatures who hate and fear humans and who feast on jewels, rocks, and other minerals. They are especially fond of rubies. Snow White is spunky and good at the same time, not so feminist that she can’t use a little help from the dwarves and from her prince, but also not so helpless that she can’t learn and grow and find ways to take care of herself when necessary.

If you like Shurtlieff’s other fairy tale take-offs, then you’ll probably enjoy this one. Also, I would recommend it to fans of Christopher Healy’s Hero’s Guide books and perhaps to readers of Gail Carson Levine’s books, too. Oh, and it breaks the mold of this year’s trend to have outcast, friendless, bullied girls as main characters. In this book, the protagonist Grump is an outcast, misfit, friendless, bullied male dwarf.

More fairy tale books, both fractured and straight.

Documentaries: Take 2

Oct25

A member of a Facebook group that I’m in asked people to comment about their favorite documentary films. From all the comments that were posted, I made a list of documentaries that I would like to watch. And I’ve been watching some of them this past weeks. So far, I have watched eight films, and I have definitely thought that all eight were worth the time and worth recommending. Here’s where I wrote about the first four films in my documentary watching project. If you have any such films to recommend, please comment and let me know about your favorite documentaries.

The Mystical World of George MacDonald. (2009, watched on youtube)
If you are a MacDonald fan, either via C.S. Lewis’s recommendation or directly through such stories as The Princess and Curdie or At the Back of the North Wind, this film is for you. It’s a lovely overview of MacDonald’s life and work, with emphasis on the adult fantasies Phantastes and Lilith, and also with some meanders and tangential material that seems to fit the subject. I would have liked more about MacDOnald’s family and friends and family life, but you can’t have everything. Not mind-blowing, but serviceable.

The Thin Blue Line. (2008, rented from Amazon)
This movie is the film that helped release a wrongfully convicted man from prison. Dallas policeman Robert Wood was shot during a routine traffic stop in 1976, aged 27. Randall Dale Adams was accused convicted for the crime. The only witness, initially, was 16year old David Harris, a car thief and a braggart who told friends in Vidor that he killed the cop in Dallas. But when he was arrested David Harris told another story, a story that implicated Randall Adams and made him responsible for the shooting. The Dallas police, the Dallas district attorney, and later a jury decided that David Harris was telling the truth. This film examines the evidence and the witnesses and leads to a different conclusion. Randall Dale Adams died in 2010, aged 61; David Ray Harris died in 2004 aged 43.

Searching for Sugar Man. (2012, watched on Netflix)
The person who recommended this documentary about the life story of a 60’s musician named Jesus Rodriguez said to just watch it, not to read about it beforehand. And that’s what I did and what I recommend to you. Surprisingly thoughtful and touching, this movie brought up interesting questions about success and art that I am still pondering days after watching it.

Many Beautiful Things. (2016, rented from Amazon)
“Many Beautiful Things is the untold story of one of the world’s greatest women artists and why her name was nearly lost to history. Plunge into the complex age of Victorian England to meet Lilias Trotter, a daring young woman who defied all norms by winning the favor of England’s top art critic, John Ruskin.” An amazing and, yes, beautiful story of the impact of one life spent in service to God and man. I am inspired to remain faithful to the calling that God has placed upon my life, my library and my writing, prayer and study. It’s difficult to persevere when the results are hidden and unrealized, but most, if not all, of us are called to do just that.

These last two documentaries were especially thought-provoking and rich. I would recommend both Searching for Sugar Man and Many Beautiful Things for those artists and ministers and servants who are discouraged in their pursuit of a life that is authentic and fruitful. The truth embodied in both of these stories is that I am called to be faithful, and I may never know what God will do with my life or my art or my work. He is the Gardener, and the Vine; I am simply a small branch.

Outcast and Cursed

Oct23

Dragonfly Song by Wendy Orr.
Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend.
Thisby Thestoop and the the Black Mountain by Zac Gorman.
The Turnaway Girls by Haley Chewin.

In Dragonfly Song, Aissa is “the cursed child who called the Bull King’s ship to the island.” Her fellow servants and townspeople say of her, “Spit the bad luck away when you see her; pinch or slap her to make her understand.” She’s called No Name because she’s mute, and no one even cares to know her real name.

In Nevermoor, Morrigan Crow is a cursed child, born on Eventide, blamed for all of the misfortunes and tragedies that occur anywhere in her neighborhood, and doomed to die on her eleventh birthday. She’s sure that she has no gift, no talent to set her apart, and no place or reason to hope for anything, especially not a place in the magical Wundrous Society.

Thisby Thestoop’s parents “traded her (at birth) for a bag of mostly unspoiled turnips”, and the wandering salesman to whom she was traded “dumped the baby at the foot of the Black Mountain.” She has no real name; the name Thisby Thestoop comes from the text of a note written by a minotaur with sloppy penmanship. “She wasn’t born particularly clever or brave. She couldn’t move like a shadow or shoot an arrow through the eye of a needle. And she most definitely wasn’t predestined to greatness through some divine prophecy or ‘Chosen One” hooey. No, Thisby Thestoop was astoundingly average.” Thisby is a friendless outcast and the lowliest of servants, a gamekeeper for monsters beneath the Black Mountain.

Delphernia in The Turnaway Girls is different, perhaps special in that she has a voice to sing, but also a friendless outcast, unable to make the golden shimmer that the othergirls can make. And she must hide her voice because turnaway girls are not allowed to make music. She says of herself, “I’m not a maker of anything. I am a worthless creature. A turnaway girl who cannot make shimmer. Mudworms do not envy me. I have riots in my heart each morning.”

I’m sensing a pattern here. All of these middle grade fantasies feature protagonists who are outcasts, cursed, the lowliest of the low. And all of the novels’ heroes are girls. These are almost Cinderella stories in which the lowly servant girl, mocked and cursed, turns out to be a brave and beautiful princess; except the girls in these stories never do completely come to self-actualization or a sense of belonging, not wholly. Perhaps Thisby comes the closest; by the end of the novel she knows her place and her work and is beginning to see her own strength and believe in her own future. She still doesn’t have parents or a real name, but she has made her own name, Thisby, known and admired by the end of the book.

Morrigan Crow learns that she is not a curse, but rather a blessing and gift by the end of the first volume in her story. Still, she isn’t sure that her gift itself isn’t a curse that will harm more than it will help. The resolution of that story is left for the sequel to The Trials of Morrigan Crow.

Aissa claims her own name, finds her voice, becomes a bull jumper, snake singer, and savior of her island. But by the end of her book, she’s still filled with anger for the mother who rejected her and jealousy for the sister who took her place, and fear of becoming once again the no-name girl, enslaved and cursed. She “now is ready to face her life”, but there’s enough doubt in the final poem at the end of the story to make the reader wonder if Aissa can keep all that she has gained.

Delphernia also finds her voice and her mother and freedom. She does become a sort of a princess by the end of the story, but her transformation, too, is not without its doubtfulness and difficult memories. Delphernia carries scars and in her head the voices of those who told her that she was worthless and doomed and outside the pale.

And so it goes. All of these cursed girls become Real Girls by the power of their own voices, developing their own identities and their own names. And if those identities, names and voices are a bit shaky and untested by the end of the book, maybe there’s another volume yet to come in which these formerly voiceless and nameless heroines can become even more self-assured and fearless. And that’s the message of these and other similar stories: you, too, reader, may feel outcast and alone and powerless, but you can be more. You can, even without having any special giftedness or any unique place or name or birthright, make yourself and create your own identity.

These books indicate that this self-actualization happens partly as a result of one or more other people believing in the seemingly powerless and cursed girl. I do think that’s a partial answer to the Cinderella problem. How does the outcast rise from the ashes? The Velveteen Rabbit became real because he was loved. But is the love of another imperfect human being enough to transform a cursed girl into a strong, courageous princess, or does the growth and change require some other kind of magic? Is my identity and my strength, my “girl power” there, simply waiting to be discovered, or does it derive from a source outside myself?

Interesting questions. One last thought: how many other books of middle grade fantasy that I read this year will feature this same theme of an outcast rising up and finding her voice?

More outcast, cursed, and bullied female protagonists:
A Problematic Paradox by Eliot Sappingfield. Sardonic misfit genius Nikola Kross is bullied in regular middle school and has trouble acclimating in a school for brilliant scientists like herself. Can Nikola actually make friends and at the same time find out who she truly is?

Peasprout Chen, Future Legend of Skate and Sword by Henry Lien. Peasprout Chen comes to the Pearl Famous Academy of Skate and Sword from the foreign and hated land of Shin. She is looked down upon, disrespected, and friendless as she competes to become the top-ranking wu liu champion. Can Peasproout find her place at the Academy and in the land of Pearl?

Shadow Weaver by Marcy Kate Connolly. Emmeline, born with the magic of shadow weaving, is suspected, feared, and even hated by her family and by their servants. She has only one friend, her shadow Dar, who is herself a lost soul and a dark trickster shadow. Emmeline’s shadow weaving magic is her identity, but is it also her curse?

The Wizards of Once: Twice Magic by Cressida Cowell. Princess Wish is a poor Warrior girl, a bad speller, and she has magic, a capital offense among the Warriors. She’s banished to a cupboard by her scary mother, and her only friends are her cautious bodyguard and a spoon she accidentally brought to life. Cursed or gifted with iron magic, Wish is definitely one of the misfit girls of 2018. (Her fellow protagonist, Xar, is also a misfit among the Wizards. He has no magic, unlike all the other Wizards, but he does have friends.)

The Marvelous Adventures of Gwendolyn Gray by B.A. Williamson. Gwendolyn Gray is a dreamer with wild red hair in a city full of conformists and identical grey buildings and clouds. She’s cursed with an imagination, and again no friends, in a world of people who want her to be gray and dull and obedient.

R Is for Rebel by J. Anderson Coats. Mallianne Pirine Vinnio Aurelia Hesperus is a member of an outcast group of people, the Mileans, but even among her own people, imprisoned, Malley is different because of her rebellious, untamed spirit. She will not be reformed or reeducated or domesticated, and even the girls who are her fellow prisoners fear the trouble that Malley brings in her rebellious wake.

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These books may be nominated for a Cybils Award, but the views expressed here are strictly my own and do not reflect or determine the judging panel’s opinions.

Saturday Review of Books: October 20, 2018

Oct19

“Reading is one form of escape. Running for your life is another.” ~Lemony Snicket

Welcome to the Saturday Review of Books at Semicolon. Here’s how it usually works. Find a book review on your blog posted sometime during the previous week. The review doesn’t have to be a formal sort of thing. You can link to your thoughts on a particular book, a few ideas inspired by reading the book, your evaluation, quotations, whatever.

Then on Friday night/Saturday, you post a link here at Semicolon in Mr. Linky to the specific post where you’ve written your book review. Don’t link to your main blog page because this kind of link makes it hard to find the book review, especially when people drop in later after you’ve added new content to your blog. In parentheses after your name, add the title of the book you’re reviewing. This addition will help people to find the reviews they’re most interested in reading.

After linking to your own reviews, you can spend as long as you want reading the reviews of other bloggers for the week and adding to your wishlist of books to read.

Saturday Review of Books Participants

1. Michele Morin–(Even Better than Eden by Nancy Guthrie)
2. Barbara H. (My Hands Came Away Red)
3. Barbara H. (The Lost Castle)
4. Barbara H. (Borders of the Heart)

5. Hope (100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Learn by Heart)
6. Glynn (Blue Murder)
7. Glynn (Once We Were Strangers)
8. Glynn (A Staged Murder)

9. Beckie@ByTheBook (Lady of A Thousand Treasures)
10. Beckie@ByTheBook (Crime And Poetry)
11. Beckie@ByTheBook (Surrounded by Darkness)

Learn more about Saturday Review of Books here.