An Old Book Republished: The Secret River

  Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (1896-1953), the author of The Yearling, wrote only one book that was not intended for adult readers. That book was The Secret River, which was originally published posthumously in 1956. It has been republished with new and striking illustrations by Leo and Dianne Dillon, two-time Caldecott Medal winners.



Although The Yearling is read by many youngsters, fewer of them were ever introduced to a little girl named Calpurnia--a budding poet--and her little dog, Buggy-horse.

The Secret River is a tale--not quite a fairy tale, but with magical and surprising elements. Hard times have fallen on the forest, and her father can catch no fish to sell at his fish market. Calpurnia decides to find some fish to catch to help her father, and seeks out the help of Mother Albirtha, the wisest person in the forest. Mother Albirtha tells Calpurnia about the Secret River, and that the only way to find it is to follow your nose.

Calpurnia thinks Mother Albirtha's directions are silly, but does as she is told. As forest creatures catch her eye, she turns her head and finds a new direction to follow. Before long, she emerges from the forest onto the banks of a river she had never seen. Calpurnia and Buggy-horse catch so many fish--especially catfish--that they are almost unable to carry them home.

It is dark when Calpurnia and her dog head for home, and they meet several hungry creatures along the way. Calpurnia gives each a catfish or two, and then realizes they are lost. Once again, she decides to follow her nose. Soon she finds herself at Mother Albirtha's place, gives her a fish, and makes her way home, still carrying enough fish for her father's market.

Some time later, Calpurnia once more seeks out the Secret River, following her nose but never reaching its banks. When she tells Mother Albirtha, the old woman explains that the river allows itself to be found only when there is a need. However, the river exists in her mind and Calpurnia can see it any time she wants simply by closing her eyes and picturing it.


The publisher recommends this book for children aged 4 to 8 years, but it is a lovely story for older children to read aloud to younger siblings or just for their personal enjoyment, especially of the beautiful illustrations. This is a book that is certain to become a favorite.
















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Effa Manley Loved Baseball

She Loved Baseball: The Effa Manley Story is beautifully written by Audrey Vernick and illustrated by Don Tate. The book tells several stories: the Negro baseball leagues and their contributions to major league baseball, a woman brave enough to organize boycotts of white-owned businesses in New York's Harlem that employed no people of color, and the first woman to be honored by the National Baseball Hall of Fame for her contributions and hard work to have great players from the Negro baseball leagues honored.

Intended for the 5- to 10-year-old age range, this is a brief biography that could easily interest older readers and motivate them to learn more about Effa Manley and her work--not only in baseball, but in civil rights movements as well. Although Effa serves as a great role model for girls, it is more a story about how one person can help change the way many people think. Effa made people question what is right rather than drift along with the status quo. Don Tate's illustrations complement the prose, and add emotional charge to Vernick's words.

Whether for Black History Month or just for fun, She Loved Baseball is a great little book that concentrates on a woman involved with America's national sport. However, in just a few pages, it also covers a lifetime of achievement by one woman. Everyone can enjoy this book.
















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Chains: A Book about Slavery in the Northern Colonies

Most books about slavery seem to deal with slavery in the southern colonies/states. Thus, many people believe that slavery was not an issue in the northern states around the time of the American Revolution. Chains, by Laurie Halse Anderson, is told from the point of view of Isabel, a young Negro 'tween, and gives 'tweens and teens a personalized trip into the life of a girl who experienced slavery under kindly owners and under more abusive owners in the North.  It is a book that deals with separation from family in Rhode Island and life as a slave in New York City.  It deals with the death of a mother, and the sale of a sister.  It also deals with the politics of the time--especially how both the rebels and the British military used American slaves to further their own aims.  Even Isabel became embroiled in the politics, despite a vow to stay away from them.  But Chains is also a story of caring, which sometimes came from unlikely sources.

Chains, aside from being an interesting fictionalized historical journal, is narrated by Isabel in the language of the times.  The story spans about eight months of the revolutionary period, from May of 1776 through January of 1777.  During this period, British soldiers in New York took over homes of wealthier colonial rebels after reestablishing British control, and allowed less affluent Tories (British sympathizers) to do the same.  This period was a time of heavy American losses in the fight for freedom--but freedom can mean more than political separation from a country far across the seas.

In Chains, each chapter is introduced with an important quotation from patriots, newspaper items, and the Declaration of Independence, or an excerpt from actual letters found in historical archives.  These sources range from familiar names such as Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and King George, to unknown British and American soldiers, Tories, and unknown Londoners.  Despite the colloquialisms of the time, the language is easy to understand.  Many readers will be interested in how American English has both changed and endured.

Of particular interest to me was the descriptions of life in revolutionary New York City.  Some of the sites mentioned by Isabel exist today only as plaques, but the names of neighborhoods in lower Manhattan remain the same.  It is difficult for modern New Yorkers and visitors to imagine parts of Manhattan--especially upper Manhattan--s wilderness, but large cities during this period were not what large cities are today, and the author reminds us of this.

Chains is an excellent book for readers 10 and older, and is good enough to hold the interest of adults. Whether Chains is read during Black History Month or another part of the year, it is an great read.  But adults should be warned--you might learn something new!
















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Even Children Lead: A Story about Ruby Bridges

Ruby Bridges Goes to School: My True Story

The year is 1961.  Ruby Bridges attended the school for black children as a kindergartener.  Today she is starting first grade in a school much closer to home, one that used to be only for white children. For months, it was only Ruby and her teacher, Mrs. Henry, were the only ones in the school because white parents would not let their children attend a school that had been integrated. Finally, some students began coming back to the school, and Ruby had children to play with.

Ruby Bridges Goes to School: My True Story, by Ruby Bridges, is a wonderful little biography written for children aged 4 to 8 years. With beautiful photograph collages, the short book takes on a world of meaning that shows how one brave little girl could change the attitudes of an entire neighborhood during the racial tensions of the early 1960s.

Unavoidable Delays in Posting

Originally, I meant to post on 3 books per week during Black History Month, 1 book at each of 3 age levels. I had surgery scheduled in early February, but I didn't think that would interfere much with my plans. Unfortunately, some complications kept me in the hospital longer than I expected, and left me weaker than anticipated. So... although several posts will be too late for this year's Black History Month, I will continue reviewing on the 12 planned books, as these are all books that can be read at any time. They are simply a focus during February.

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A Teen Book for African American Heritage Month

Mare and her two granddaughters, Octavia (Tave) and Talitha (Tali), left me in Alabama as they continued driving east.  Weeks earlier, we all left California, headed for Mare's family reunion in Alabama.  I finished reading the book only an hour ago and already feel homesick for their company.  Octavia tells the travel story and shares the postcards she sends home to friends, while Mare spins tales of growing up in Alabama and gaining her own kind of independence in the Women's Army Corps (WAC) in the European theater during the 1940s.

Mare's War, by Tanita S. Davis, is the story of two wars--a psychological mother-daughter war, and a physical war in Europe.  In addition, there was a type of war at home in Alabama that kept colored and white people separated by neighborhood boundaries, old "traditions," and job possibilities.

Marey Lee Boylen was seventeen when she forged her mother's signature to the enlistment permission form and joined the WACs.  After her father died, she had to quit school to help her mother out with the farm he had purchased and the house he had built and the mortgage he had left.  She worked two jobs--as a house girl for Mrs. Ida Payne, and as kitchen help for Young's Diner.  Since her mother was constantly taking up with unsuitable men and hiding in her bottle of whiskey, Mare was also left to care for her younger sister, Feen.  Then her mother stopped talking to her after Mare used an ax to fend off an attack on her sister from "Uncle" Toby.  Feen was shipped off to live with her aunt in Philadelphia, and Mare's purpose in life--to take care of her sister--was taken away.

In the Army, Mare met colored women who grew up in other parts of the United States and had finished high school.  One in particular, Peach, immediately befriended her and began teaching her skills she could not afford to learn at home--including how to speak standard English.  All the girls in her unit became a family, watched each other's backs, and helped each other out.  Together, they made it through basic training, escaped an attack by a Nazi submarine as they were deployed to England, survived air raids over England, and endured both squalor in northern France and luxury accommodations in Paris.  Still they managed to squeeze in a bit of site-seeing and partying.

Finally, World War II's western battles were ended, American personnel left the clean-up of Axis force prisoners-of-war and unexploded mines to their European Allied forces, and Mare was sent home--but not before Peach told her that she was going on to San Francisco, where there were more job opportunities for colored women.  Mare considered the possibility of moving to San Francisco, too, and taking Feen along with her.  After all, her mother had remarried (although Mare learned this from a neighbor) and Feen was back home in Alabama.  Mare was determined that Feen would finish school and have more opportunities than being household help.  First, she had to settle things with her mother.

The chapters of Mare's story are broken up with Octavia's perception of the trip and the postcards she sends back to her friends.  Although two years younger than her sister Tali, Octavia seems the more mature of the two.  Or maybe she is just more timid.  Through Octavia's chapters, we learn that Mare knows them better than they thought she did, and that the sisters knew each other better than the other knew.  They stay in hotels and motels along the route, take some side trips (since Mare is the only one who knows where they are going, even when she lets Tali drive her car on Interstate 10), and learn about their grandmother as she tells the girls about just a few years of her life.  In fact, although they start out being unhappy about the road trip, the girls find themselves more and more interested about their grandmother's stories and their journey.

Mare's War is a story of bridging a generation gap as much as about life for African American women during the 1940's.  It helps modern teens understand that, although much progress had been made in American society between the Civil War and World War II in some parts of the country, other areas still had--and continue to have--a distance to go.
















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One Crazy Summer

Here is another book to consider reading during Black History Month.  Written primarily for the nine- through twelve-year-old reader, One Crazy Summer presents a different perspective of the San Francisco Bay area of the late 1960's.  Hippies are barely mentioned, as author Rita Williams-Gracia weaves her story through an African American neighborhood in Oakland, California, the city which birthed the Black Panther Party.

Peaceful resistance was not the only movement that brought civil rights issues to the forefront during the 1960's.  One such movement, mainly associated with militancy and armaments, was the Black Panther Party, which called for revolutionary action and armed militia to protect citizens of African American communities from brutal encounters with police.  But the Black Panthers did more than just throw Molotov cocktails into police buildings and provide armed protection for its communities.  It was also an organization that provided meals and other services to the poor--a point that rarely makes its way into history books--probably because it is not part of the group's "manifesto."

In her book, One Crazy Summer, author Rita Williams-Garcia does not write about the Black Panther movement, but uses it as a background feature that contributed to changes in the lives of three young girls who were sent by their father to Oakland, California.  The purpose of the trip from Brooklyn, New York, was for Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern to meet and get to know their mother, who had abandoned them when the eldest was not yet five years old and the youngest was only a few days old.  They overheard their father, who raised the girls with help from his younger brother and Big Ma, his Alabama-born mother, "They need to know her, and she needs to know them....That's final" (p. 43).

The year is 1968.  It is the summer immediately following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the summer after the race riots that crippled cities throughout the United States.  Eleven-year-old Delphine, the eldest of the three and the one "in charge" of her younger sisters, tells the story.  The four-week visit starts out unwelcoming.  Cecile, their mother, barely steps forward to claim them at the airport.  She clearly sees them as an intrusion into her self-imposed exile as a struggling poet.

The girls are told the location of their room inside their mother's almost barren house, and told they are never allowed in the kitchen.  Within the first twelve hours of meeting their mother, the girls are sent to Ming's for take-out and to the People's Center for free breakfast, where the girls stay on for the summer camp program, sponsored by the local Black Panthers.  After all, Delphine is supposed to keep herself and her sisters out of the house for as long as possible.  At least the camp program will use up some of the time.

One Crazy Summer is not about the Black Panthers.  Rather, it is about learning to view from different perspectives.  It is about a summer of growth, of reinterpretation of Big Ma's description of their mother, of change, and of understanding.  Although meant for pre-teens, the book grips the adult reader so that the book is hard to put down.  For those adults who remember the late 1960's, the book serves as a reminder of the changes American society has undergone during the past 50 years.  For those too young to have experienced the civil rights struggles of the 1960's, it serves as an example of an era that bridged the gap between Negroes and Blacks (or African Americans).  For all, it's a great read.

















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Biography of MLK for the Youngest Readers

To begin my reviews of children's and young adult's books related to Black History Month (February), I have chosen a book for the youngest readers--not because it is short and easy to review, but because it carries so much power in so few words.  This book is also unique because it is one of the few biographies written--perhaps I should say well-written--for the four- through eight-year-old age range.


Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by Doreen Rappaport, is not a new book.  It received plenty of honors in 2001, when it was first introduced.  Awards included the Coretta Scott King Award honor status, and the Best Illustrated Children's Book category of the New York Times Book Review.  Also, it was a Caldecott Honor Book during the same year.


Martin's Big Words continues to be among the best biographies written expressly for very young readers and pre-readers.  It is wonderfully written, using quotations from Dr. King's speeches and writings to move the story along.  That so much information can be relayed by such a short story, brilliantly enhanced with stunning illustrations by Bryan Collier, is a tribute to the writing style and artistic interpretation of a prize-winning author-illustrator team of Rappaport and Collier.

Children who know little or nothing about Dr. King will be as enchanted by Martin's Big Words as those who are familiar with the status that Dr. King has in modern American society.  Even the youngest reader can learn how the honesty, integrity, and perseverance of one person can help change a nation for the better.

Needless to say, I love this book.


















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Black History Month Books

February is Black History Month in the United States.  Although there are many great books out there, some "click" with kids better than others, or come highly recommended from editors/sellers of children's books.

Watch for my reviews throughout the month.

Here are some recommendations, by age group.

Ages 4-8:
   

























Ages 9-12:

   
























Teens (most available as Kindle editions):

    

























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Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi, 2010.
NY: Little, Brown and Company/Hachette Book Group.

The author of the Eragon series has given tweens and teens another great book.  This one has a science fiction theme in that it takes place in the not-too-distant future, after global warming has taken its toll on the Earth.  It gives us a glimpse of the impending poverty that runs rampant, rule by multinational corporations, and a chasm between the rich and the rest of humanity.  But mostly it is a story of how a young teen is able to remain true to principles of human goodness that dominate the choices he makes even when the easier course of action would keep him safer or more comfortable.

The world in which Nailer lives is brutal and almost feudal.  He lives somewhere along the new coast line of the Gulf of Mexico, and works by scavenging copper wiring, other desirable metals, and pockets of trapped petroleum from the remains of old oil tankers that have been abandoned and left to float along the Gulf shores.  Nailer knows he may soon grow too big to continue this job, as it requires smallness, agility, strength and a certain degree of contortionist qualities.  It is dangerous work, with little or no safety equipment.  Workers rely on each other to meet quotas and, often, to stay alive.  This results in a code among work teams; those who break the code suffer grave consequences.

Nailer has another problem: a tough-as-nails hard-drinking, drug-using father whose moods are as difficult to predict as the formation and quickness of city-destroying storms that are part of the changed Earth: "Sober, the man was scary.  Drunk, he was a demon."  Pima, Nailer's best friend, and her mother, however, are stabilizing influences in his life, and because of them--and his relationship to his notoriously brutal and quick-tempered father--he has gained a reputation for integrity with the local population.

Then one day, after a particularly brutal storm that stopped work for several days and leveled the shanty town to the ground, Nailer and Pima make a discovery: a modern clipper ship has been smashed by the storm, just off the coast of a small island that is only accessible by a land bridge during low tide.  They decide to try to scavenge as much as they can before a boss claims the ship as his or her own salvage site.  Just as they are about to leave with what bounty they could carry, Nailer discovers that a girl in her fancy stateroom is still alive.  Pima urges him to leave the "swank" and let her die, but Nailer's moral code does not allow him to do so.  Between the two of them, the girl is saved.

The morning after saving "Lucky Girl," however, Nailer's father and his crew discover the ship and board it to claim everything that is valuable, including the salvage Nailer and Pima intended to hide.  To make matters worse, merchant representatives have been asking after the swank girl, offering a huge reward for information leading to her apprehension.  One thing leads to another, resulting in Nailer and Lucky Girl running for their lives with help from an unlikely source.

This is a good read, even for adults.  Because it predicts occurrences and inventions in the future, it is "hard" science fiction--the kind that is based on scientific facts and predictions, not the kind that deals with invasions by alien life forms.  It deals with issues of environment and the effects on the human condition without lecturing on either.  Like much modern good writing for young adults, issues of life, death, survival, choices and morality are not repressed or glossed over.  Ship Breaker may be a stand-alone book at this time, but I would love to see it broadened into a saga--or at least a trilogy!!

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