Christmas on board the Susan Constant, Thames River, England, 1607

Dec1

Young David Warren, an orphan, is sailing before the mast on His Majesty’s Ship, the Susan Constant, bound for Virginia to start a new colony, Jamestown:

“Christmas Eve, they were still wind-bound in the Thames, but David had found his sea-legs. When the cook asked for his help, he swaggered to the galley.
‘Hungry, lad?’ the cook asked.
‘Yes!’ David declared. ‘And I can eat anything that holds still!’
The cook was roasting a pig for the gentlemen aft. Even the fo’c’s’le would have baked hash and steamed pudding with raisins.
From some hiding place the crews brought out holly and evergreens to decorate the ships. That night battle lanterns flared in the riggings and fiddlers played. The men on the Discovery began to sing ‘God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen.’ David heard Jem’s voice rise, high and clear. The others stopped singing, and Jem finished the song alone.
Captain Newport lifted his trumpet and hailed the pinnace. ‘Have that man sing again!’
Jem’s voice, with a more piercing sweetness than David had ever heard before, began ‘The Coventry Carol.’
‘Lul-lay, Thou little tiny Child . . .’
Blindly, David turned and edged his way aft to a place of hiding in the shadow of the high poop. He crouched there, shuddering. All the Christmas Eves he had ever known, all his memories of his father, tore at his throat. He heard footsteps, and fought to stifle his sobs. He bit his hand until he tasted blood.”

from This Dear-Bought Land by Jean Latham.

Christmas in Repulse Bay, Canada, 1955

Nov29

Baseball Bats for Christmas by Michael Arvaarluk Kusugak, illustrated by Vladyana Krykorka.

Arvaarluk, the narrator of this story, is a seven year old Inuit boy who lived in 1955 in the far north, “way up at the north end of Hudson Bay—smack dab on the Arctic Circle,” where there are no “standing-ups”, commonly known as trees. And then one day the supply helicopter brought something rather strange just in time for Christmas.

“But there were the things he had brought, sitting on the snowbank in front of Arvaaluk’s hut. They were green and had spindly branches all over.
‘What are they?’ Jack asked.
‘Standing-ups,’ Peter said, confidently. ‘I have seen them in books at the church. Father Didier showed them to us.’
‘What are they for?’ Yvo asked.
Peter shrugged his shoulders and replied, ‘I don’t know.’
They did not have too long to wonder about them, of course. Christmas was coming. There were things to be done.There was church to go to at midnight.”

I love this true (?) story from author Michael Arvaarluk Kusugak’s Canadian childhood memories of Christmas in the north of Canada. It gives children a way to see that not everyone celebrates Christmas in exactly the same way and that not everyone sees even the simple things we use and enjoy every day in exactly the same way. Creativity and thinking outside the box are valuable aspects of what we get from the stories we read. In fact, this one reminds me of the family stories of Patricia Polacco and Cynthia Rylant, except this one is set in a place that is entirely foreign to most American and even Canadian children.

Christmas in Mexico, 1960

Nov28

The Year of the Christmas Dragon by Ruth Sawyer.

At first glance, this Christmas story seems to be set in the mountains of China, home of many dragons, including the King Dragons. In fact, the story does begin with a boy named Chin Li in China:

“He could see dragons everywhere: immense, ancient dragons; lazy, fat dragons; small scrawny dragons. Except for size they all looked alike. They had shining green scales covering their bodies and tails. They had black spots here and there, and their noses and claws were black. The splendid part of them was their wings; these were a bright red, and when they spread their wings Chin Li could see they were lined with gold.”

However, Chin Li and a certain dragon with whom he becomes friendly are infected with wanderlust, and they travel together across the ocean to a new land, Mexico. And there the dragon falls asleep and sleeps for a very long time, only to awaken to another friendship with a Mexican boy named Pepe. And as Christmas approaches, Pepe tells the dragon about the wonderful true story of Christmas:

“For a number of days Pepe came to the barranca shouting with the joy of the Christmas. Many things had to be explained to the dragon. Angels, for instance. Pepe told about the shining light about their heads, about their wings, white as a dove’s, about the heavenly music they could make. Pepe’s eyes shone with some of the light as he told, and his voice caught some of the heavenly music. He had to tell about the star that shone the first Christmas Eve. No one had ever told him how large and bright it had been. ‘It must have been brighter than the moon,’ Pepe explained. ‘And truly it must have been larger than the largest rocket ever sent into the sky.'”

How Pepe’s dragon becomes the Christmas Dragon and how the year of the dragon’s wakening becomes The Year of the Christmas Dragon complete this tale that dragon lovers will find enchanting. The reading level and interest level of the story is about on par with other dragon tales such as My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett or The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame.

For Christmas giving, pair this book with a stuffed dragon toy or a dragon costume, and you will delight any dragon fan below the age of 10.

Christmas in the Dollhouse, 1947

Nov27

Big Susan by Elizabeth Orton Jones.

There are lots of doll books that could accompany a Christmas gift of a new doll or a new dollhouse, but not all of them are set at Christmastime as this one is. By the Caldecott-winning author of Prayer for a Child, Big Susan tells the story of the Doll family—Mr. and Mrs. Doll, Freddie Doll and the other five Doll children, Cook, and Nurse—and what happened to them in their dollhouse on Christmas Eve.

They were used to Susan’s hands reaching in to help them. They knew whenever they spoke it was really Susan speaking for them. They understood this was a part of being who they were. And they didn’t mind a bit, for they loved Susan.

There was, of course, one short night in every year when they needed no help from Susan—the Night between twelve o’clock of Christmas Eve and the dawn of Christmas Morning—that Wonderful Night when all dolls come alive and can speak. But once a year is not very often.

The rest of the time they depended on Susan.

This book is slow-paced and imaginative, a perfect read aloud for preschoolers and a fun independent read for emergent readers. There is very little drama or adventure in the story, just minor disappointments and surprises for a peaceful and pleasant Christmas story that some children, at least, will want to read over and over again. For the thoughtful, meditative child who enjoys his or her own dolls and doll-play.

A reprint edition of this timeless story is available from Purple House Press. If you visit their website, you’ll want to check out some of the other classic children’s books that Purple House has made available for a new generation of readers.

Christmas in Fontainbleau, France, c.1955(?)

Nov26

Natalie Savage Carlson, author of The Family Under the Bridge, another story set at Christmas time, wrote five books in the Orpheline series about a family of French orphans who live in a castle south of Paris. A Grandmother for the Orphelines is the fifth and final book in the series, and as noted, it takes place during the Christmas season. The twenty little girls called collectively the Orphelines have already gained a home, three mothers, thirty-one brothers, and multiple pets in the other books, and now they are longing for a grandmother, “one with a big soft lap and an apron that smells like gingerbread.”

These French orphans are both mischievous and delightful as they wheedle and eavesdrop and discuss and connive to get themselves a real grandmere who can tell them stories about the past and hold them in her capacious lap. And intertwined with the story are details about a traditional French Christmas and the French customs and stories to entertain and captivate readers everywhere. This book would make a great Christmas read aloud for primary age children and a good introduction to the series, even though it’s the last one. The series doesn’t have to be read in order, and I can see reading this one to introduce children to the orphelines and then giving a set of this one plus the other four books as a Christmas present if this one appeals.

“Kelig was not to be outdone. After supper, she gathered the orphelines around her.

‘Madame told you the donkey’s name,’ she said, ‘but not about the wonderful thing that happens on Christmas Eve. At midnight the beasts in the stable talk together in human tongues. They were given this power because they shared the stable with the Little Jesus. And the oxen warmed Him with their breath.’

Josine was entranced.

‘I wish they would talk every day,’ she said. ‘I wish they’d talk to me.’

She could hardly wait for morning to find out if they could be drawn into conversation before Christmas Eve. While the girls were in school, she climbed the stile over the stone wall. She went to the barnyard where the oxen and the donkey were awaiting their day’s work.”

Can Josine entice the animals to talk to her? Where can the orphelines find a real grandmother who will agree to be grandmother to twenty little girls, not to mention thirty-one little boys? And what will Father Noel bring the orphelines for Christmas?

The Orpheline books are all available for checkout at Meriadoc Homeschool Library:

The Happy Orpheline
A Brother for the Orphelines
A Pet for the Orphelines
The Orphelines in the Enchanted Castle
A Grandmother for the Orphelines

Evangeline of the Bayou by Jan Eldredge

Nov15

Twelve-year-old Evangeline and her grandmother are haunt huntresses, healers and charmers who pursue and vanquish monsters, ghouls, banshees and other haunting creatures in the bayous of Louisiana where they live. Well, Evangeline is almost a full-fledged haunt huntress. As soon as she gets her animal familiar and proves to the council that she has heart, Evangeline will be following in the footsteps of her illustrious haunt huntress ancestors.

But when Evangeline and Gran are called to New Orleans to take on a special and dangerous case, Evangeline begins to see that there is more to being a true haunt huntress than just a few charms and spells. Maybe she didn’t inherit her dead mother’s haunt huntress skills and powers after all. Maybe she’s just a middling, with no powers, no inheritance, and no identity.

This story definitely has a Disney-esque moral. Gran says to Evangeline: “Power comes from belief. If you don’t believe you have it, then you don’t. But if you believe in yourself, amazing things will happen.” Evangeline and her Gran have a sort of pseudo-religious heritage. They burn candles and sprinkle holy water to get rid of some haunts. And Evangeline actually prays–for help, for her Gran’s health. But it all feels very superstitious and well, power-less. And the very powerful rougarou that Evangeline finally defeats in the story is semi-vanquished by the power of love and self-assurance, not by the power of God.

There are several bright spots in the book. The Louisiana setting is well-drawn. Evangeline and her frenemy Julian are both vivid and sometimes humorous characters. The monsters and magical haunting creatures are plentiful and plenty scary, without being too horrible for a children’s book. Gran also tells Evangeline: “When you see others in need, you help them, even if it means a risk to yourself.” That’s a moral I can stand behind. And it is Love that wins the day. I wouldn’t give this one to my library patrons (Christian homeschool private library), but you may have different ideas about superstition and about the efficacy of fighting evil with belief in one’s self.

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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.

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?

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.