Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Oct20

Unbroken: An Olympian’s Journey from Airman to Castaway to Captive, Adapted for Young Adults by Laura Hillenbrand.

I first read Unbroken, the life history of Olympic runner and prisoner of war in Japan, Louis Zamperini, in 2011, about four years ago. I was astounded and moved by this man’s story then, and as I’ve read more about him since then, I continue to be an admirer of and and an advocate for Hillenbrand’s book, Unbroken.

So, I read the young adult adaptation of one of my favorite books with both a desire to see it succeed and with some trepidation. It helps that this version of Unbroken was in capable hands, the hands of the original author Laura Hillenbrand herself. And honestly, although I could tell that the book had been shortened and that the text had been somewhat simplified, I couldn’t pinpoint anything that was left out. That makes for an excellent adaptation.

It also means that if you were looking for a book that leaves out all the violence and cruelty and general horror of Louis Zamperini’s stay in various Japanese prisoner of war camps, this book doesn’t do that. The book also doesn’t leave out Louis’s struggle with PTSD and his healing after the war as the movie version did. So, if your young adult, age twelve and above, wants a less intimidating version, i.e. fewer pages and no footnotes at the end, that still tells the whole story, this book will do the job. If your child is not ready for an introduction to the horrors of man’s inhumanity and cruelty, this book definitely won’t be a good choice.

Two of my own children read Unbroken (the adult version) while they were still in high school, and they found it accessible and absorbing. However, if your teen struggles with reading long books or just is in a time crunch, this young adult adaptation is well written and perfectly adequate. It’s not dumbed down, and the writing is still beautiful, detailed, and vivid.

I recommend Unbroken, either version, to just about anyone who’s interested in history or war or survival or World War 2 in particular or inspiring biography or the aftermath of war and the possibility of forgiveness. I’ll be looking for a copy of this young adult version to place in my library for younger teen readers.

We Never Stood Alone by Bob DeGray

Oct19

If you like both World War II fiction and Christian fiction, We Never Stood Alone should be your next read, for sure. My pastor wrote the book, so maybe I’m prejudiced, but I found it absorbing, impeccably researched, and also full of spiritual and practical truth. I certainly can’t say all three of those things about many books that I read.

The novel is set in the fictional village of Stokely on the Thames River in south central England in 1939 as war clouds loom on the horizon. Free Church pastor Lloyd Robins, worrying over the continual drumbeat of bad news from the continent and the ringing in his bad ear, is trying to remain faithful to the Lord he came to know in the last war and hopeful in the face of the coming storm. His wife, Annie, is his support, but she has her own struggles and storms to walk through. Both Lloyd and Annie, as well as the other members of Stokely Free Church, must learn to sense the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as they necessarily depend on Him in a time of profound danger and uncertainty.

Yes, there are those many, many other members of Stokely Free Church and other inhabitants of the village of Stokely. You almost need a list of characters to keep them all straight, and obliging author that he is, Mr. DeGray has provided just such a list on his blog, World War 2 Christian Fiction. Consult the list when you read, as needed.

When I read good books, I am usually reminded of other good books or movies or even TV series. We Never Stood Alone reminded me both of Downton Abbey and of Jan Karon’s Mitford/Father Tim books. The Downton Abbey connection is, of course, found in the sheer British-ness of the setting and characters as well as the intertwined stories of all the village people in community. Community is a central theme of the book as is the daily efficacy of prayer and Scripture, two Christian disciplines which also intertwine to keep us in community and in Christ’s presence. In this theme of Christian community among broken and average people, the village and people of Stokely in We Never Stood Alone most resemble Jan Karon’s Mitford community of normal, everyday people in the process of being transformed by a loving and immanent God.

To learn more about the book or the author or both, visit the author’s website, ww2christianfiction.com.

To purchase your copy, either as an ebook or in print, try Amazon.

FDR and the American Crisis by Albert Marrin

Oct18

History professor Albert Marrin has been writing nonfiction narrative history for quite a while: his first book for young adults was Overlord: D Day and the Invasion of Europe, which was published in 1982. He has written more than thirty history narratives for children and young adults, including Flesh and Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy, a National Book Award finalist.

In his latest book, Marrin returns to the World War II era and to the Great Depression and to the president who shepherded America through both of those crises, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. FDR was a complicated character, and Mr. Marrin presents him—warts, strengths, and all—in the context of the events and attitudes of his time. FDR and The American Crisis is, above all, a comprehensive and balanced vision of Roosevelt, what he did for the United States and what he did to change the country, for better and for worse.

In addition to my appreciation for its even-handedness, I was most impressed with the personal tone of Mr. Marrin’s very detailed, yet broad, narrative. Mr. Marrin is 79 years old. Born in 1936, he actually remembers some of the events of Roosevelt’s presidency and of the second World War. And he’s not afraid to gently insert himself into the narrative with an “I remember” or a “we all wonder if” statement. In addition, Marrin isn’t reluctant to share his own informed opinion when it’s appropriate:

“Critics branded Hoover a ‘do-nothing’ president who let Americans suffer due to his commitment to old-fashioned ideas. It is untrue.”

“The media developed a teenager’s crush on the Red Army.”

“Convinced of his own virtue and wisdom, he (FDR) thought too highly of his personal charm and powers of persuasion. He misjudged the murderous Stalin.”

“Those who praised him (FDR) as a saintly miracle worker are as wrong as those who bitterly cursed him as a monster.”

Bottom line, I learned a lot from reading FDR and the American Crisis—and I learned it in a throughly pleasant and absorbing read. Mr. Marrin once said in an interview, “Kids are very bright. I’m not going to write down. If anything, I’ll have them read up to me.” This book is not dumbed down, nor is it a breezy hagiography of a famous president. Any high school, or even college, student looking for both an in-depth and readable introduction to FDR and his presidency could not do better than to read Mr. Marrin’s book first.

Book Advisory

Oct17

I’ve been having fun recommending books to people who ask for specific recommendations in the Read Aloud Revival Facebook group and the Ambleside Online Facebook group as well as on my Facebook feed. I thought I’d share some of the requests and recommendations here, just for fun.

Request: Favorite living books about seeds, trees and/or early botany for children ages 7, 5 and 2.

Suggestions:
More Potatoes by Millicent Selsam.
A Tree Is a Plant by Clyde Robert Bulla.
Mighty Tree by Dick Gackenbach.
Seeds and More Seeds by Millicent Selsam.
How a Seed Grows by Helene J. Jordan.
From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons.
The Reason for a Flower by Ruth Heller.
Plants That Never Ever Bloom by Ruth Heller.
A Tree Is Nice by Janice May Udry.
The Plant Sitter by Gene Zion.
A Seed Is Sleepy by Diana Aston.
The Tree Lady: The True Story of How One Tree-Loving Woman Changed a City Forever by H. Joseph Hopkins.
The Poppy Seeds by Clyde Robert Bulla.

Request: LONG picture books or beginning chapter books for a three year old who will sit and listen for an hour at a time.

Suggestions:
Obadiah the Bold by Brinton Turkle.
Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel.
Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik.
Billy and Blaze by C.W. Anderson.
Yonie Wondernose by Marguerite deAngeli.
Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey.
Mother West Wind’s Children by Thornton Burgess.
All of these books, except for the one by de Angeli, have sequels, so if you like the first one there are more.

Request: Books for a five year old girl in first grade, but reading at about a second grade level.

Suggestions:
Amanda Pig books by Jean Van Leeuwen.
Mr. Putter and Tabby books by Cynthia Rylant.
Thimbleberry Stories by Cynthia Rylant.
The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner.
The Secret of the Rosewood Box and other mysteries by Helen Fuller Orton.
The Great Cake Mystery: Precious Ramotswe’s Very First Case by Alexander McCall Smith.
26 Fairmount Avenue by Tomie de Paola.
In Aunt Lucy’s Kitchen (Cobblestone Cousins) by Cynthia Rylant.
Those last three were suggested by Heidi Dunbar Scovel who blogs at Mt. Hope Chronicles, a wonderful resource for good book suggestions.

Request: Good books for young (8 and 9 year old) Harry Potter fans.

Suggestions:
The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson.
100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson.
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Stewart.
Redwall series by Brian Jacques.
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Juster.
The Return of the Twelves by Pauline Clarke.
Tom’s Midnight Garden by Phillippa Pearce.
The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner.
The False Prince by Jennifer Neilsen.

Do you have any reader’s advisory requests, for adults or children? Bring it on. I really enjoy suggesting and pushing books.

Saturday Review of Books: October 17, 2015

Oct16

“Don Quixote, perceiving that he was not able to stir, resolv’d to have recourse to his usual Remedy which was to bethink himself what Passage in his Books might afford him some Comfort.” ~Miguel Saavedra de Cervantes

SatReviewbutton

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.

You can go to this post for over 100 links to book lists for the end of 2014/beginning of 2015. Feel free to add a link to your own list.

If you enjoy the Saturday Review of Books at Semicolon, please invite your friends to stop by and check out the review links here each Saturday.

The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma

Oct16

Really, really weird. I read the whole book, and then I re-read the ending—twice. But I’m still not sure what happened at the end. I’ll give you the Amazon summary since I don’t think I could summarize this story accurately or write a teaser:

On the outside, there’s Violet, an eighteen-year-old dancer days away from the life of her dreams when something threatens to expose the shocking truth of her achievement.
On the inside, within the walls of the Aurora Hills juvenile detention center, there’s Amber, locked up for so long she can’t imagine freedom.
Tying their two worlds together is Orianna, who holds the key to unlocking all the girls’ darkest mysteries . . .
What really happened on the night Orianna stepped between Violet and her tormentors? What really happened on two strange nights at Aurora Hills? Will Amber and Violet and Orianna ever get the justice they deserve—–in this life or in another one?
In prose that sings from line to line, Nova Ren Suma tells a supernatural tale of guilt and of innocence, and of what happens when one is mistaken for the other.

I want to say that this is a book inspired by the popularity of Orange Is the New Black, but I don’t have any idea whether that is true or not. And I’ve never seen the TV show, so I may be totally off on that comparison. A lot of the story does take place in a juvenile detention center for teenage girls.

I found the book confusing and creepy, not necessarily in a good way. I couldn’t tell who was dead or who was alive or when the events in the story were taking place or what the chronology was or even whether good triumphs or evil wins. It seemed as if everybody died—the guilty, the innocent, and everybody in between. But maybe the innocent character that died haunted the guilty party until she died, too? Or maybe the innocent one came alive and took the guilty murderer’s place? I don’t know, but if you like creepy, Edgar Allan Poe-ish, but YA and set in modern times, you could try it.

Not my cuppa, but I did read it to the bitter end.

Ruby on the Outside by Nora Raleigh Baskin

Oct15

I picked this book up because I really liked Ms. Baskin’s book Anything But Typical, about a boy with autism. Ruby on the Outside sounded as if it had a good premise: “Eleven year old Ruby Danes is about to start middle school, yet no one in her life, other than her aunt, knows her deepest, darkest secret—her mother is in prison.” (inside cover blurb)

But, big but, the story itself is rather slight. Lots of emotions are packed into the book’s 163 pages, but not much actually happens. Ruby goes to visit her mom at the prison. Ruby remembers visiting her mom at the prison. Ruby makes a new friend, Margalit. Ruby is afraid Margalit will find out that Ruby’s mom is in prison. Ruby and Margalit write a story and draw pictures together.

If that had been the only problem with the book, I might have just given it an “E” for effort and gone on to the next book. But I’m about to go on a campaign, a picky little “Bring Back the Copyeditors” campaign. This book is the third one I’ve read in the past month, all published by major publishers for Pete’s sake, with multiple misprints and errors. If I were Ms. Baskin, I’d be angry and upset. Isn’t it the publisher’s responsibility to hire a decent copyeditor and make sure the book goes to press as error-free as possible? I stumbled over several places in this novel where a word had obviously been omitted or repeated erroneously. These are common mistakes that will be found in any manuscript, but the novel should never, never be published with the mistakes and typos uncorrected. Are the copyeditors on strike? Is is considered sufficient these days just to spell check a manuscript with the computer and then publish it?

If someone in publishing can tell me why I am finding so many children’s books lately with multiple printing errors, I would appreciate being educated. Can the publishers not afford to hire copyeditors? In the meantime, if you are a children’s author, I would suggest that you hire your own copyeditor before even a major publisher publishes your book. It’s a shame, but someone needs to do the job.

Black Dove White Raven by Elizabeth Wein

Oct14

Emilia and Teo have always lived unorthodox lives in a free-spirited and unconventional family. Emilia’s Momma is a pilot and a barnstorming performer, as is Teo’s mom, Delia. The two pilots travel the country and perform together as the Black Dove and the White Raven, since Momma Rhoda Menotti is white while Delia is black. Papa Menotti is an Italian aviator, but Emilia and her mom haven’t seen him since Em was a baby. Theo’s father is Ethiopian, and he died in France when the two children were infants. So, Teo and Em have grown up together as brother and sister.

Delia’s dream is for all of them to move to Ethiopia where Teo can grow up without the prejudice and racism that is prevalent in the U.S. in the 1930’s. When tragedy strikes, derailing the dream, the little family is more determined than ever to fly away to Ethiopia, even though things in Africa aren’t all good. Slavery is still legal, although restricted, in Ethiopia, and the European powers of France, Britain, and Italy are squabbling over who will influence and exercise power in the kingdom ruled by Emperor Haile Selassie.

This historical novel, by the author of Code Name Verity and Rose Under Fire, was riveting. It’s mostly set in a place I know very little about, Ethiopia, and chronicles events that I knew nothing about. Mussolini’s troops used mustard gas in 1936 on Ethiopian soldiers armed with only spears and on civilians? Emperor Haile Selassie himself fought the Italians, shooting at their planes from the ground? Eight black American aviators tried to go to Ethiopia as military support for the Ethiopians during the Italian invasion, but the U.S. would not approve their passports? There’s lots of other history embedded in the story, but aside from that, it’s just a fine tale of adventure and friendship and war and flying and growing up.

Some of the religious and political ideas of the main characters are debatable, to say the least. But that display of odd and varying opinions and beliefs just made me want to meet the characters in the book and talk to them and really understand their beliefs and attitudes, especially in regard to Christianity, better. Momma Rhoda Menotti grew up in a Quaker family, and her attitude toward marriage and religion is liberal and far from orthodox. Teo finds meaning in the liturgy and practices of the Ethiopian Coptic Church as he watches it in Ethiopia, but he realizes that the Ethiopian church is not his church, since he is really an American despite his having an Ethiopian father. Em is not very religious at all, but she has the best lines in the book in regard to religion, telling Teo when he is having a superstitious moment of blaming himself and God for bad things that happen, “God works through us. Through people doing the right thing. Through you. Through Momma giving you her gas mask and covering you up.” She’s acquired sort of a Quaker/Inner Light attitude toward God and religion.

Anyway, it’s a good book with much fodder for discussion. It’s billed as a YA fiction, but I think it’s essentially an adult book, aside from the fact that the two narrators and protagonists are in their late teens. Certainly, adults, both young and old, can enjoy this between-the-wars story of friendship and resilience.

A Handful of Stars by Cynthia Lord

Oct13

I thought it was another dog book, and I’m not much of a dog book fan. But it was Cynthia Lord, whose book Rules is a wonderful story of a girl and her autistic brother, so I thought I’d give a try. It’s only 184 pages of large bold print with double spacing that will draw in reluctant and timid readers.

And, yes, the story does feature a girl and her blind dog, Lily (aka Tigerlily) and Lucky. But it’s really about the friendship that develops between Lily and the Hispanic migrant girl, Salma, who saves Lucky’s life when he runs away through the blueberry filed where Salma is raking blueberries. The story takes place in Maine, and there’s a lot of information about blueberries in the book, too. Lily is a fully developed character with a cautious personality, suspicious of change. And Salma is an artist, bold and full of ideas, but she’s still human enough and young enough to get scared when she thinks she’s gotten herself in too deep by entering the local Downeast Blueberry Queen contest.

Perfect for third and fourth graders, A Handful of Stars stands out among all the series books and fantasy tomes and problem novels as a simple story about a dog, and friendship, and figuring out how to allow some things to change while holding on to what’s good about life as it is. There are problems, of course, as Lily feels she is losing her old friend, Hannah, even as she’s not sure she understands her new friend, Salma. And it’s hard to earn enough money to pay for the operation that Lily wants to restore Lucky’s sight. But everything comes out right in the end, and Lily grows a little and so do Salma and even Hannah.

Highly recommended, and I would like to see a book like this one win the Newbery award. Books for younger readers have been slighted and overlooked in the Newbery Award ever since Sarah Plain and Tall (1986) and The Whipping Boy (1987), although a few have won Newbery Honors.

This Strange Wilderness by Nancy Plain

Oct12

This Strange Wilderness: The Life and Art of John James Audubon by Nancy Plain.

I wanted to compare this biography to a few others that I would like to have in my library, but the truth is that I don’t have them. And my public library doesn’t have the following biographies of artist and ornithologist John James Audubon for children/young adults either:

Audubon by Constance Rourke. Harcourt, 1936. This book won a Newbery honor in 1937, the same year that Roller Skates by Ruth Sawyer won the Newbery Award. Ms. Rourke wrote another biography, Davy Crockett, that won a Newbery Honor in 1935. I do have the latter book in my library, and it is quite engaging and readable.

John James Audubon by Margaret and John Kieran. This biography is No. 48 in the Landmark series of history books, and I would very much like to have a copy of it. John Kieran was a sportswriter, radio personality, and an avid bird watcher. He wrote this biography of Audubon with his wife, Margaret, also a journalist and an editor for the Boston Globe newspaper.

My public library does have the following books about Audubon for children:

The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon (Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12) by Jacqueline Davies and Melissa Sweet. HMH, 2004. I like Melissa Sweet, but I haven’t seen this particular book.

Audubon: Painter of Birds in the Wild Frontier by Jennifer Armstrong and Jos. A. Smith. Abrams, 2003. A picture book biography. It looks very nice with full color illustrations, some of them copied from Audubon’s paintings.

Into the Woods: John James Audubon Lives His Dream by Robert Burleigh. Another picture book that focuses on Audubon’s failure as a shop-keeper and his decision to become an artist and wilderness explorer.

So, with all those options, why do we need another biography of john James Audubon for children or young adults?

Well, the first two titles are great and most likely well-written, but they were published quite a few years back, and they probably don’t have many examples of the art for which Mr. Audubon was most famous. This Strange Wilderness has many, many full color images of Audubon’s birds and other paintings, along with text that illuminates the man and his work.

On the other hand, the three picture books that are readily available are just that, picture books, not really adequate for older readers in middle school and high school who want to find out more about John James Audubon and his legacy. At 90 pages with lots of full page and half page illustrations, this bio is anything but exhaustive; however, it’s much more informative than the picture books referenced above. Any budding ornithologist would enjoy This Strange Wilderness along with Gary Schmidt’s Okay for Now, a fiction title in which Audubon’s masterpiece, The Birds of America, plays a large role. Then, of course, a real bird-lover would need his or her very own copy of The Birds of America, available from Amazon in small (about $10.00), medium (about $30.00) and large sizes (over $100.00). Or the most famous of the paintings are reproduced in Ms. Plain’s book, so most readers might be content with it.

This Strange Wilderness is only available as a paperback or an ebook, but the paperback is a quality book, with a heavy cover and bound in signatures so that the pages fold back easily to allow one to see the full reproductions of the paintings.