All Aboard for Freedom! by Marie McSwigan

Aug11

The author of this book, Marie McSwigan, also wrote the popular World War 2 story, Snow Treasure, which is based on a true story of children outwitting the Nazis to rescue the country’s gold reserves. All Aboard for Freedom! is also based on a true story of a group of children outwitting oppressive authorities, this time in Czechoslovakia in 1951. And the oppressors are not Nazis but rather their own countrymen who have bought into the Communist regime aided by the Russians.

Ludmila Novak is foster mother to five children, orphaned by the war. The oldest, age thirteen, is Franta Kristufek. When the Communist authorities threaten to separate the children and their beloved foster mother from each other and send the children to state run institutions, Fran comes up with a plan to keep them all together. However, the plan involves a train, the help of adults, and a very dangerous, time-critical strategy for escape. Who can Fran trust to help him escape Czechoslovakia to freedom in Germany? How can he keep his plan a secret with four other children involved, the youngest only four years old? What if “they” (the Communists) come for the children before they can put their plan into action?

This book, published in 1954, is very 1950’s, very anti-communist and pro-American, and very exciting. The children, especially Fran, are believable but also intrepid and imaginative. The story reminds me of one of Helen MacInnes’ Cold War spy novels, but it’s written for children, not adults. And it pictures characters, a time, and a situation that we in the West are in danger of forgetting—the people of Czechoslovakia who suffered under communist rule and yearned for the freedom we now take for granted. One more plus to this book: Fran stops to pray for God’s guidance and protection several times during the story. And that resort to prayer seems quite believable and wise, too.

All Aboard for Freedom is a book for train lovers, patriots, and adventurers. Pair it with Snow Treasure for a double dose of good reading.

The Dot & the Line by Norton Juster

Aug10

The Dot and the Line, A Romance in Lower Mathematics by Norton Juster, author of The Phantom Tollbooth.

Once upon a time there was a sensible straight line who was hopelessly in love . . . with a dot.

Is it geometry or is it a love story? Or both? Or is it a philosophical tale about the line between freedom and anarchy and which is more attractive? Norton Juster’s little book, The Dot & the Line tells the story of a love triangle in which the Dot is torn between the sensible Line and the free-spirited Squiggle. Which suitor will win out may be foreshadowed in the title of the book, but how the Line wins the Dot’s heart is an engaging tale of adventure and imagination.

Fans of the extended wordplay in The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster’s most famous children’s book, will delight in the wordplay and “mathplay” in this little book. And the Dot comes up with one of the best insults I’ve ever read: “You are as meaningless as a melon. . . . Undisciplined, unkempt and unaccountable, insignificant, indeterminate, and inadvertent, out of shape, our of order, out of place and out of luck.”

It’s a bit of a parable or a fable, even with a moral tacked onto to the end. But I think readers will find this book to be quite “clever, mysterious, dazzling, complex, erudite, profound, eloquent, versatile, enigmatic, and compelling.” Just like a line and the geometry it encompasses.

About the author:

“Norton Juster is a dedicated mathematician whose efforts have been focused primarily on the verification of supermarket register receipts and the calculation of restaurant gratuities in a number of foreign currencies. He has also done pioneering work on the psychological effect of mathematical melancholia. . . . The author lives with his wife in western Massachusetts, where he conducts a support group for negative numbers.”

Based on the book by Norton Juster from 1963, this 1965 short film won the Academy Award for Animated Short Film.

The White Isle by Caroline Snedeker

Aug2

The White Isle is the island of Britain. And Lavinia’s family is traveling there because her father, Favonius, has fallen out of favor with the Emperor Hadrian. Hadrian sends Favonius and his family to far off Britain where Favonius is to become legatus iuridicus, a judicial legate or trained lawyer for the Roman government there. But thirteen year old Lavinia is to be married to the son of a family friend and stay in Rome to try to recover the family’s fortunes there.

What happens next is unexpected, both for Lavinia and for the reader, and the novel has even more surprises in store. The book paints a fascinating picture of second century Roman life and customs, and the story is compelling and lovely. I don’t want to spoil anything by telling what happens, but I agree with the blurb on the back of the book:

“The White Isle was one of the first books to bring young people a spirited picture of Roman Life in Gaul and Britain and is one of Caroline Dale Snedeker’s finest books.”

I would recommend this book for middle school and high school readers–and adults. There is romance and danger, but it’s quite chaste, in accordance with Roman standards of the time. The book acknowledges slavery as a common part of life in the Roman Empire and in patrician households, but it shows how that slavery was not only taken for granted and accepted but also degrading and brutal for both slave and master.

The story also shows how a young girl, Lavinia, who is “plain-featured” and something of an adventurous tomboy, pushes against the strictures of her society and its expectations but also learns to find her place as a young woman in that society. The Roman culture in this book is a true patriarchy, unlike the fake patriarchy that some people think they are living in today, but Lavinia is able to be true to herself and also live up to her family’s expectations, maybe partly because they are in wild Britain where the rules are not quite so strict.

Finally, there is a Christian conversion story. I won’t tell you whose conversion it is, but I am always a sucker for a good conversion story. The White Isle is just a great novel for teens age 13 and up.

Elf Dog and Owl Head by M.T. Anderson

Jul31

M.T. Anderson took his dreams and his nightmares mixed with a goodly helping of imagination and fairy tales and wrote this story about a twelve year old boy named Clay who finds a mysterious dog in the woods. Clay also makes a friend, Amos the Owl-Head Boy, and he and Amos and Elphinore the Elf Dog have an exciting and perilous adventure.

This story is weird, so if you’re not into weird imaginings, it won’t be the best choice for you. But if you can go with the story and let your imagination run wild, so to speak, you just might enjoy this sometimes meandering, sometimes fast and furious, tale of boy and his dog. I had to tell myself to let go of my expectations and just enjoy the story for what it is: a fun romp about how reality and faery might meet and become intertwined.

The only negative thing I have to say about this middle grade fiction book is that the children–Clay has two sisters, one older and one younger–in the story are very much the nasty and insulting siblings that many expect siblings to be. Clay’s older teenage sister, DiRossi, is a brat whose stereotypical adolescent anger and ugliness is exacerbated by the “worldwide sickness” that has trapped Clay’s family at home together for weeks. Clay’s younger sister Juniper is better, but Clay and DIRossi treat Juniper with disdain and unpleasantness. I wish Mr. Anderson had left out the insulting banter and the teen angst.

I still would recommend this story if you think you can overlook the sibling infighting. The children do come together in the end, and all’s well that ends well. But it’s only after Clay has learned about friendship and adventures and the price that must be paid to make wishes come true.

“Amos and Clay stared out into the heart of an underground palace. The castle towers were so high that several went right into the roof of the cavern. The whole cavern was lit softly by some kind of artificial sun–a gemstone stuck in the ceiling. . . . Clay felt weird, being so far beneath Mount Norumbega. He had been living all his life above this secret city. His little house and his quiet, boring days all went on like normal, and own here, there were miracles.”

Napoleon and the Battle of Waterloo by Frances Winwar

Jul21

I read the Landmark book about Adolf Hitler earlier this year, and I couldn’t help comparing as I read this Landmark book about another would-be conqueror, Napoleon. The author of Napoleon and the Battle of Waterloo has the advantage, and the disadvantage, of distance from her subject. Maybe the havoc and death that resulted from Napoleon’s ambition over two hundred years ago just doesn’t feel as bad as Hitler’s evil deeds that are only seventy-five or so years in the past. Or maybe Napoleon, unlike Hitler, did have his good side.

Anyway, Winwar tells the story of Napoleon well, and with the semblance of objectivity. She goes through the events of his life from his birth in 1769 to a Corsican rebel lieutenant and his wife to his defeat at Waterloo and his exile and death on another island, St. Helena. Napoleon’s father was a rebel against the French occupation of the island of Corsica, and Napoleon himself became the personification of French identity and patriotism. I learned some facts about Napoleon and his empire, built and lost. And Winwar’s summary at the end of her book seems fair:

“Napoleon, however, left behind him a legend and a moral lesson. He showed what a man can accomplish through strength of purpose, courage, and imagination. He destroyed the last remnants of feudalism in Europe and abolished the Inquisition in Spain. He helped to build the modern code of laws. He encouraged art and science and education.

But once he gained power he paired it with his colossal ambition. The two, like fiery steeds driven recklessly for his own glory, plunged him and his empire to destruction. So great was his fall at Waterloo that since then all defeat has been known by its name.”

I can’t quite imagine a similar recitation of Hitler’s legendary feats and his fall. And yet Napoleon’s ambition and egomania was responsible for a great deal of suffering and death for the French people and for the other peoples of Europe. His colossal ambition was just as disproportionate and damaging as Hitler’s was, but without the tanks, sophisticated and deadly weaponry, and death camps. I wonder if the people of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries who were closer to the results of Napoleon’s reign would have given him credit for “strength of purpose, courage and imagination.” Distance in time can give us perspective, but is it an accurate and truthful perspective?

Growing Up Dakota by Charles Alexander Eastman

Jul19

Growing Up Dakota by Charles Alexander Eastman, edited and illustrated by Charlene Notgrass. From Indian Child Life and Indian Boyhood, both by Charles Alexander Eastman.

Charles Eastman was an amazing Native American voice and man. After reading about him in the linked article, I am surprised that I had never heard of him before now. With all of the emphasis on “own voices” and the authentic Native American experience these days, Mr. Eastman’s writing and perspective would seem to be particularly valuable to children who are learning about American history and about Native American life. And yet, only one of his many books is available in print from my large city library system, and none of his work is available in an edition meant for children, even though much of Mr. Eastman’s original writing was intended for children and young adults.

Growing Up Dakota its an edited version of two of Eastman’s books, Indian Child Life and Indian Boyhood, a sort of “youth edition” of Eastman’s stories. Charlene Notgrass, the editor, summarizes some parts of Eastman’s text with her own words in italics. But she writes in her foreword, “All of the words in Growing Up Dakota are the original words of Charles Eastman, except when you see lines typed like this: the italicized words between the lines are mine. . . . I have not changed the words that Eastman chose because I want you to be able to read this story in the words of the real Dakota man who wrote them.”

Mr. Eastman tells his story in roughly chronological order, but it’s also a rambling sort of story that reminds one of an old man reciting his memories of his boyhood, stories that others told to him, and other anecdotal accounts as they occur to him. The author begins with the story that was told to him of his birth and his name, “Hakadah” meaning Pitiful Last. He was given this name because he was the last of five children, and his mother died soon after he was born. Hakadah, who later received the more pleasant name Ohiyesa, which means Winner, was raised by his grandmother and his uncle. Ohiyesa’s father was presumed dead when the family was separated during the Dakota Wars of 1862.

The book ends with Ohiyesa’s father reappearance when Ohiyesa was fifteen years old. His father had been imprisoned, then released, and had to search to find Ohiyesa and the rest of his tribe and family. Ohiyesa’s father, Jacob Eastman, had in the interim become a Christian, and he took Ohiyesa to live “like the white men” on a homestead in South Dakota. That’s when Ohiyesa took a “Christian name,” Charles Alexander Eastman. He went to school, graduated from Dartmouth College, and Boston University’s medical school, and became a doctor and an author.

In between are the memories of Ohiyesa/Eastman’s Indian boyhood: the customs and celebrations, hunts and courting rituals, feasts and training for manhood. All that the author remembers is described vividly and with respect for the Dakota (Sioux) way of life. This book would be fascinating for children to listen to if read aloud in brief pieces, Charlotte Mason-style, and would provide much food for discussion. Boys and girls who are interested in learning more about Native American culture should definitely be introduced to Ohiyesa’s story.

Growing Up Dakota is available for purchase from Notgrass History, a homeschool curriculum publisher and distributor.

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.”