Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

Feb9

I can’t count this one for my North Africa Challenge, but the geography and culture of this fantasy world sort of felt like North Africa–or the American southwest: desert winds, adobe houses, camels, cowls and robes, a language related to Spanish or Portuguese.

The story itself reminded me of Dune, not just the desert setting but also the political intrigue and war strategy. Dune is, if you’ve read it, a bit more sophisticated than this book, but then again while author Frank Herbert (Dune, Dune Messiah, and many sequels) overdid the philosophical and political complications to the point of farce, the world of Girl of Fire and Thorns feels more believable and down to earth, if one can use that term in reference to a work of fantasy.

Our protagonist, Princess Elisa, second daughter of King Hitzedar de Riqueza of Orovalle, feels fat, useless and unloved. Then, when she is rushed into an arranged marriage with King Alejandro of the neighboring country of Joya d’Arena, she feels even more disregarded and unappreciated. Alejandro won’t even announce their wedding in his own kingdom for some reason, and the marriage remains unconsummated. Elisa carries the Godstone, the special gifting that only comes into the world once in a generation, but her special gift doesn’t mean anything when she doesn’t know what her service is supposed to be or how to find out.

Religion plays a big part in this story, another aspect reminiscent of Dune. Elisa prays and receives answers to her prayers, assurance of God’s presence through the Godstone which turns warm in the midst of prayer and praise and icy cold in the face of danger. The religious practices and tenets in the world that Ms. Carson has created for her debut novel are not really like any one religion that exists in this world, although the “Sancta Scriptura” that is quoted sounds a lot like the Hebrew psalms in English translation. Anyway, it’s good to see religious practice integrated into a fantasy novel instead of its being jettisoned in favor of a modern, evolved consciousness or vague spirituality.

The moral dilemmas and the coming of age of the main character are all a part of the novel, too, making it a classic fantasy with the usual themes. But Girl of Fire and Thorns is fresh and compelling. Without its becoming a feminist tract, the novel has a strong female protagonist who deals with her own weaknesses without becoming dependent on a man for her salvation and her growth as a character. Elisa is a well-rounded character, sometimes weak and self-indulgent, but finally reaching within herself and looking to God to find the strength she needs to carry out the task assigned to her for the sake of the people of her country and of her world.

The final plus for this novel is that it’s self-contained. It has a perfectly adequate ending, and although I see the wiggle space for the sequels in a planned trilogy, I didn’t feel cheated or teased by a cliffhanger ending. I appreciate that kind of respect shown by the author for her readers, and I will reciprocate by reading the next two books in the series, if they’re anywhere near as good as this one.

100 Valentine Celebration Ideas at Semicolon.

1961: Events and Inventions

Feb8

January 3, 1961. President Dwight Eisenhower announces the severing of diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba.

January 17, 1961. Imprisoned former prime minister Patrice Lumumba of Republic of Congo is executed by firing squad. The CIA, the Belgian authorities in Congo, and the president of Congo, President Tshombe, may all have been involved in Lumumba’s death. “We are not Communists, Catholics, Socialists. We are African nationalists.” ~Patrice Lumumba.

January 31, 1961. The United States sends a monkey named Ham 150 miles into space in a Mercury capsule. Ham safely splashes down and receives an apple as a reward for his performance as the first monkey astronaut.

April 12, 1961. Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbits the earth and becomes the first human in space.

April 19, 1961. The United States sponsors and funds 1500 Cuban exiles in an invasion of Cuba at The Bay of Pigs. The invasion fails, and President Kennedy and Soviet premier Krushchev warn one another not to interfere in the internal affairs of Cuba.

June 16, 1961. The United Kingdom ends its protectorate over the tiny sheikdom of Kuwait, and Iraq claims the territory as part of Iraq. Kuwait successfully resists Iraq and remains independent.

August 13-31, 1961. East German authorities build a huge wall of concrete blocks and electric fences and barbed wire separating East and West Berlin. Since the post World War II partition of Germany, more than two million Germans have fled East Germany into the West.

September 28, 1961. A military coup in Damascus, Syria effectively ends the United Arab Republic, the union between Egypt and Syria.

October 1, 1961. The formerly British Southern Cameroons unites with French Cameroun to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon.

November 18, 1961. U.S. President John F. Kennedy sends 18,000 military advisors to South Vietnam.

December 9, 1961. Tanganyika gains independence and declares itself a republic, with Julius Nyerere as its first President.

Love Twelve Miles Long by Glenda Armand

Feb8

How long is a mother’s love for her son? Twelve miles long. Frederick’s mama must walk twelve long miles to visit her son who lives in slavery in the master’s Big House while his mother toils far way in the fields. Mama measures her journey in twelve miles of forgetting, remembering, listening, looking up, praying, singing, smiling, dancing, giving thanks, hoping, dreaming, and loving. And she tells Frederick the story of her twelve miles so that he will know who he is and how much she loves him.

Love Twelve Miles Long is illustrated with the beautiful paintings of artist Colin Bootman. In fact, here’s a link to a couple of desktop background illustrations from Love Twelve Miles Long. The story is based on stories from the 1820’s childhood of abolitionist, escaped slave, writer and public speaker Frederick Douglass. In his autobiography Douglass wrote that his mother taught him that he was not “only a child but somebody’s child.”

The love and encouragement of a parent, mother or father, can give a child confidence to rise above difficult circumstances and become more than his background would indicate that he can achieve. I can picture a mother and child reading this book together and using that reading as an expression of love and support.

Four brave employees from LEE & LOW BOOKS set out to see what it is like to walk twelve miles through the streets of New York City from Zuccotti Park to Frederick Douglass Circle in Harlem to the New York Public Library:

Mama had told him that there were things he could not count or measure: there were too many stars, the ocean was too wide, and the mountains of corn were too high. But there was one thing he could measure. Frederick knew with all his heart that his mama’s love was twelve miles long.

Unit studies and curriculum uses for Love Twelve Miles Long: Biography, Black History Month, Frederick Douglass, Family Traditions, Heroism, Mothers, Christian Heritage, Slavery, United States History.

100 Valentine Celebration Ideas at Semicolon.

1960: Events and Inventions

Feb7

January 1, 1960. French Cameroon becomes an independent country.

January 9, 1960. President Nasser lays the foundation stone of the Aswan High Dam as work begins on the engineering marvel on the Nile River in Egypt.

March 21, 1960. In the black township of Sharpeville in Transvaal, South Africa, local white police officers open fire on demonstrators who are protesting apartheid laws in South Africa. Sixty-nine people are killed and 186 are left wounded. Police Commander D.H. Pienaar is quoted: “If the natives do these things, they must learn their lesson the hard way.”

April 19, 1960. Labor and student groups overthrow the autocratic First Republic of South Korea under Syngman Rhee. This revolution leads to the peaceful resignation of Rhee and the transition to the Second Republic.

April 21, 1960. The planned futuristic city of Brasilia becomes the capital of Brazil. The picture above is central Brasilia in 1986.

April 27, 1960. Togo gains independence from France.

May 1, 1960. Several Soviet surface-to-air missiles shoot down an American Lockheed U-2 spy plane. Its pilot, CIA agent Francis Gary Powers, is captured.

May 11, 1960. In Buenos Aires, four Israeli Mossad agents abduct the fugitive Nazi war criminal, Adolf Eichmann, in order that he could be taken to Israel and put on trial. Eichmann is later convicted and executed.

July 1, 1960. The UK- and Italian-ruled territories of Somaliland gain their independence and unite to form the nation of Somalia.

October 1, 1960. Nigeria declares their independence from the United Kingdom and becomes a member of the British Commonwealth.

1959: Events and Inventions

Feb7

January 2, 1959. President Fulgencio Batista of Cuba flees the country to take refuge in the Dominican Republic, as rebels take over the government of Cuba in a coup. The new president of Cuba is Dr. manuel Urrutia, but rebel leader Fidel Castro holds the power in the new government in his position as premier.

January 3, 1959. Alaska becomes the 49th and largest state in the United States.

April 19, 1959. The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader, finds refuge in India after fleeing Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. Chinese troops have put down a rebellion in Tibet that was an attempt to wrest Tibetan independence from the Chinese Communist government in Beijing. The Dalia Lama left Tibet secretly in March and traveled over the mountains by yak into India.

June 3, 1959. Singapore becomes a self-governing crown colony of Britain with Lee Kuan Yew as Prime Minister.

July, 1959. The Australian airline Quantas makes its first flight across the Pacific from Sydney to the U.S.

August 21, 1959. Hawaii becomes the 50th state in the United States.

September 25, 1959. The prime minister of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Simon Bandaranaike, dies from his wounds after being shot by a Buddhist monk.

October 7, 1959. A Soviet space probe sends back the first-ever photographs of the dark side of the moon.

December 1, 1959. Twelve countries, including the United States and the Soviet Union, sign an agreement not to claim any part of Antarctica for themselves. Military bases and the dumping of nuclear waste in Antarctica are banned by the treaty. However, scientists of all nationalities will be allowed free access to the continent to conduct experiments and research in the areas climate, geology, wildlife, and other subjects.

December, 1959. Archbishop Markarios, leader of the Greek Orthodox Church, becomes the first president of the new republic of Cyprus. Cyprus gained its independence from the United Kingdom in August, 1959.

Happy 200th Birthday to the Inimitable Boz

Feb7

Happy Birthday, Mr. Dickens!

Born on this date in 1812, Mr. Dickens has been delighting readers for over 150 years.

Dickens Novels Iâ€™ve Read: David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, A Tale of Two Cities, A Christmas Carol, Pickwick Papers, Great Expectations, Our Mutual Friend

DIckens Novels I Have Yet to Enjoy: Hard Times, Dombey and Son, Bleak House, The Old Curiosity Shop, Barnaby Rudge, Martin Chuzzlewit, Little Dorrit, The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

Favorite Dickens Hero: Pip, Great Expectations

Favorite Dickens Villain(ess): Madame Defarge, Tale of Two Cities

Favorite Tragic Scene: Mr. Peggotty searching for Littel Emâ€™ly (Is that a scene or an episode?)

Favorite Comic Character: Mr. Micawber, David Copperfield

Favorite Comic Scene: Miss Betsy Trotter chasing the donkeys out of her yard, David Copperfield

Strangest Dickens Christmas Story Weâ€™ve Read: â€œThe Poor Relationâ€™s Storyâ€

Best Dickens Novel Iâ€™ve Read: A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield is a close second.

Dickens-related posts at Semicolon:

LOST Reading Project: Our Mutual Friend by Charles DIckens.

Scrooge Goes to Church

Dickens Pro and Con on his Birthday.

Quotes and Links

Born February 7th

Charles Dickens by Jane Smiley

A Little More Dickens

Other DIckens-related links:
Mere Comments on Dickens’ Christianity.

A DIckens Filmography at Internet Film Database.

George Orwell: Essay on Charles DIckens.

Edgar Allan Poe Meets Charles Dickens.

An entire blog devoted to Mr. Dickens and his work: DIckensblog by Gina Dalfonzo.

And finally, here’s a re-post of my own Dickens Quiz. Can you match the quotation with the Dickens novel that it comes from?

1. â€œAnnual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.â€

2. â€œIt is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known.â€

3. â€œI would rather, I declare, have been a pig-faced lady, than be exposed to such a life as this!â€

4. â€œItâ€™s over and canâ€™t be helped, and thatâ€™s one consolation as they always says in Turkey, ven they cuts the wrong manâ€™s head off.â€

5. â€œIf the law supposes that,â€™ said Mr. Bumble, squeezing his hat emphatically in both hands, â€œthe law is a assâ€“a idiot. If thatâ€™s the eye of the law, the law is a bachelor; and the worst I wish the law is, that his eye may be opened by experienceâ€“by experience.â€

6. â€œI am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a school-boy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to every-body! A happy New Year to all the world! Hallo here! Whoop! Hallo!â€

7. â€œWe spent as much money as we could, and got as little for it as people could make up their minds to give us. We were always more or less miserable, and most of our acquaintance were in the same condition. There was a gay fiction among us that we were constantly enjoying ourselves, and a skeleton truth that we never did. To the best of my belief, our case was in the last aspect a rather common one.â€

8. “It is a sensation not experienced by many mortals,” said he, “to be looking into a churchyard on a wild windy night, and to feel that I no more hold a place among the living than these dead do, and even to know that I lie buried somewhere else, as they lie buried here. Nothing uses me to it. A spirit that was once a man could hardly feel stranger or lonelier, going unrecognized among mankind, than I feel.”

(HINT: these come from the eight Dickens novels that I have read. Which is from which?)

1958: Events and Inventions

Feb6

January 31, 1958. The first successful American satellite, Explorer 1, is launched into orbit from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

February 1, 1958. Egypt and Syria unite to form the United Arab Republic. Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser will be president of the U.A.R. until Syria secedes in 1961.

May, 1958. In Algeria, 40,000 French settlers riot in protest against the French government’s agreement to give Algeria its independence.

June 16, 1958. Two years after the Hungarian uprising against Soviet control of their country, former Hungarian Prime Minister Imre Nagy, who sympathized with the rebels, is hanged for treason. Hungarians are angry but powerless to resist the Soviet-influenced Communists who control the country.

July 14, 1958. King Faisal of Iraq and Jordan, his son the crown prince and the prime minister of Iraq are all murdered n a military coup, and a republic is established.

July 29, 1958. The U.S. Congress formally creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

October, 1958. The USSR agrees to loan money to Egypt to build the Aswan High Dam across the Nile River in Aswan, Egypt.

November 28, 1958. Chad, the Republic of the Congo, and Gabon become autonomous republics within the French Community.

December 21, 1958. General Charles de Gaulle is elected president of France for a term of seven years. The major issue facing his government is whether or not to grant Algerian independence. French settlers in Algeria want the colony to remain under French rule, but Algerian nationalists are fighting for independence.

December 29, 1958. Rebel troops under Che Guevara begin to invade Santa Clara, Cuba. President Fulgencio Batista resigns two days later, on the night of the 31st.

1957: Events and Inventions

Feb6

January 3, 1957. Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.

January 20, 1957. Israel withdraws from the Sinai Peninsula (captured from Egypt on October 29, 1956).

March 14, 1957. President Sukarno declares martial law in Indonesia. Sukarno continues to consolidate his power in Indonesia until he is made President for Life in 1963.

March 25, 1957. Six nations—France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg–set up the European Common Market or European Economic Community.

July 25, 1957. Tunisia becomes a republic, with Habib Bourguiba its first president.

August, 1957. Malaya receives its independence from the United Kingdom and elects its first president, Abdul Rahman.

September 22, 1957. Dr. FranÃ§ois Duvalier (Papa Doc) comes to power in an election in Haiti. He later declares himself president for life, and rules until his death in 1971.

October 4, 1957. The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth.

November 3, 1957. The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2, with a dog called Laika on board, the first animal sent into orbit.

December 20, 1957. The Boeing 707 airliner flies for the first time.

Warning: Political Rant

Feb6

I have made what is for me a momentous political decision. I will be voting for neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney in November.

My reasons for rejecting Barack Obama are multitudinous: Obamacare, forcing Catholics to pay for birth control, cap-and-trade, the U.S. budget deficit, our huge and growing national debt, my higher personal taxes, the ridiculous unemployment rate, increased government regulation of almost everything, hubristic ideas of what government is responsible to do, etc. I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

However, and the powers that be in the Republican party need to hear this from a profusion of voices, as much as I want to have a new president in 2013, I refuse to vote for Bob Dole, John McCain, George H.W. Bush, etc. again. Hey, I like G.W. Bush, as a person and as a president, but even he was a compromise candidate who turned out better than I thought he would. I’ve done it over and over: voted for the Republican candidate because he was “better than the alternative.”

This time I refuse. If Mitt Romney wins the Republican nomination, I will not vote for him. I will stay home or vote for a third-party candidate, and I will encourage my friends and family to do the same. I know all the arguments against such a course of action; I’ve used all the arguments to drum up support and convince myself and others to vote for, most recently, John McCain. “If you vote third-party or don’t vote, you’re just giving the election to Obama.” “This country can’t afford four more years of Obama.” “Anyone is better than President Obama.”

All I know is that as long as we sheep are willing to keep voting for McCain in a different suit, the media and the moneymen and the coastal Rhinos will keep giving us candidates who differ from the Democrat liberals only in degree, and not much of that. Romney only wants the state governments to take over our health care system, piece by piece, state by state. Romny only wants keep to the status quo as far as abortion is concerned, instead of imposing payment for abortion costs on taxpayers who don’t believe it’s morally just as Obama will do if he can. Romney only wants “regional” cap-and-trade programs. Romeny wants to “streamline processes” and “consolidate programs”, but I don’t see anywhere that he wants to eliminate anything that government is already doing. Romney wants to reduce taxes and cut some regulations here and there. At least, he says he does. But when he gets to Washington, I think he’ll compromise with Democrats and big government Republicans who pressure him to “do something” just as he says he compromised when he was governor of Massachusetts.

I live in Texas. By the time we have a primary, if we ever get a firm date for that event, I believe the nominee will already be chosen. Listen to me now: I will not vote for Mitt Romney. I have been here too long and seen this same scenario play out too many times. If you want a moderate Democrat-in-disguise to become president, you’ll have to find someone else to elect him. It won’t be me this time.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Desert Elephants by Helen Cowcher

Feb6

“In Mali, West Africa, the last remaining desert elephants follow the longest migration route of any elephant in the world. THeir largest circular route is 300 miles long across harsh land just south of Sahara desert. When the dry season begins, they start their journey for water. Their lives depend on it.”

This 2011 nonfiction picture book tells the story of the desert elephants of the Sahel. These elephants live in a area called the Gourma in central Mali. The tribes that live in this same area are the Dogon, Fulani, and Tuareg peoples. The book tells how the elephants migrate to find water during the dry season and during the rainy season, and it also tells about the tribal peoples’ efforts to live in harmony with the elephants and to not disturb them.

The illustrations are lovely, showing the beauty of the elephants and of the people that live near them. the vibrant colors in the people’s clothing and environment will help to dispel the image of desert Africa as a land of sand-colored tents and fabrics and not much more. In an author’s note at the end of the book, Ms. Cowcher says, “These dramatic textiles are another way of communicating. Designs can include popular goods like fans, phones, stoves, or water pumps or more traditional symbols like hands, fingers, or eyes.”

The book also shows the importance of radio communication in the parts of the world where many of the people are illiterate and are spread out over miles of territory. “The radio tells people about how to protect the land they share with the elephants, gives them advice on health and education, and broadcasts programs about women’s issues. . . Radios also play soap operas and music.”

Curriculum and unit study uses for Desert Elephants: deserts, elephants, mammals, Africa, North Africa, West Africa, the Sahel, the Sahara, Tuareg, Dogon, Fulani, Black History Month, environments, conservation, water.

Nonfiction Monday, a round-up of reviews of children’s nonfiction books is hosted to day at Capstone Connect.