Book Review: The Invention of Wings, by Sue Monk Kidd (Viking, 2014)

Recommended for ages 14 and up.

I first learned about the Grimke sisters of South Carolina through the Kidlit Celebrates Women's History Month blog, as they were one of the Civil War era women profiled on storyteller Jim Weiss' CD Women in Blue or Gray:  True Stories from Both Sides of the Civil War.   I again heard their story in a PBS American Experience documentary aired in 2013, The Abolitionists.  But neither captured my imagination as completely as Sue Monk Kidd's fascinating new novel, The Invention of Wings, which focuses on the elder of the Grimke sisters, Sarah, and her slave, Handful.

The Grimke sisters, separated in age by 12 years, were born into a wealthy Charleston slave-owning family, and, like other young Southern women of their class, were expected to study French, drawing and other lady-like pursuits, then make a good match and raise a family.  As Kidd tells Sarah's story in the first person, beginning with her girlhood, she never fit into the hole society carved for her.

With her keen intellect, she yearned to become a lawyer like her brother, but her dreams of pursuing a career were ridiculed and then squashed by her family.  When presented with a slave on her 11th birthday, she tried to free the young girl, called Handful, but when her father ripped up the manumission papers she soon decided to teach the girl to read--the only sort of freedom she could offer her.  When her family found out, she was severely punished--all books were denied her--and so was the slave girl.  She takes comfort in the birth of her youngest sister, Angelina, and persuades her mother to make her the child's godmother, and thus begins a close relationship that went considerably beyond sisterly bonds.  Angelina, too, develops a horror of slavery, and we discover through the diary-like narrative that the Grimke sisters' destiny does not lay in Charleston, but rather in the North, where they become Quakers and become the first female soldiers for the abolitionist cause.  This, we must remember, at a time when the idea of women speaking in public places was unheard of.  At the same time, they were among the first to champion women's rights, even more shocking than taking up the cause of slaves.  Their scandalous behavior for the time made them famous around the United States.  Indeed, their anti-slavery pamphlets, addressed to Southern women, were best-sellers in their time, and were inspirational to Harriet Beecher Stowe in her writing of Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Sarah Grimke

In alternating sections, we follow the life of Handful, the slave given to Sarah on her birthday.  Handful is a house slave, schooled in sewing like her mother, and becomes indispensable to the household.  While her life may have been better than a field slave, she craves for freedom, and pays a cruel price for her longing.  Her story is given equal weight to that of the Grimkes, and in an afterword the author describes how while Handful is fictional, she is based loosely on the actual slave that was given to Sarah Grimke on her birthday (although that individual died a few years later).  While the Grimkes' house slaves may be fictional, they are well developed characters, and their story is interwoven with a planned slave revolt orchestrated by Denmark Vesey, a free black historical figure who plays a substantial role in the novel.

While this is an adult novel, I would recommend it highly for high school and even middle school students who are interested in US history and women's history.  It is extremely well written and provides great insight into life at that time, as well as portraying two amazing sisters who were infamous in their time (described in the novel as the most famous women in the country) but who are sadly practically unknown today.  Their inspiring story would also be an excellent choice for a book club.

There are several books for children on the Grimkes, including Sisters Against Slavery:  A Story about Sarah and Angelina Grimke (Stephanie McPherson, 1999)  but no picture books.  Authors:  we need an outstanding new resource on these amazing women!

Greetings from Somewhere: a new series of easy chapter books

Author Harper Paris and Little Simon have recently released a new beginning chapter book series, Greetings from Somewhere, which is perfect for those who are graduating from beginning readers like Henry & Mudge or Dr. Seuss and are ready for something a little longer, but not particularly more difficult.  The first book weighs in at 118 pages, with very large font and appealing black and white illustrations on every page.  These appear to be at an easier reading level than a series like Magic Treehouse, and are well suited to children from 7-9, or even younger, if the child is already reading.

The series starts with The Mystery of the Gold Coin.  It revolves around eight-year old twins Ethan and Ella, who when the series opens are less than thrilled when they discover they are about to leave on what their parents are billing as the adventure of a lifetime--traveling around the world with their mother, a travel writer, and their father, who will be home-schooling the twins during their travels.  The twins are more concerned about missing their friends and soccer games.  But just before they're supposed to leave, a special gold coin that was a present from their grandpa disappears--leaving the twins to solve the mystery before they have to leave for the airport.

In the second volume, The Mystery of the Mosaic, the twins and their parents have arrived in Venice, where they can't help but be enchanted by the magical city.  But soon they are faced with another mystery, a missing gondola.  In true kid detective fashion, Ethan and Ella solve another case--no great surprise there!

This is a gentle yet appealing mystery series with no violence, a chance to learn about some exotic locations (future volumes take place in Paris, Beijing, and Africa) and a little foreign vocabulary (a glossary of foreign words is included).  Although I was a bit skeptical of the way the 8-year old twins took off on their own (no parents in the way) in Venice to solve a mystery, I don't think that will bother the young readers who are the target audience for these books.

An excerpt from the series can be found at http://pages.simonandschuster.com/greetings-from-somewhere, as can related games and activities and information on upcoming releases in the series.

Disclosure:  Review copies provided by publisher.

Family Storytime honoring Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr.

Every Tuesday evening I am responsible for a family storytime for about 50-60 people, ranging from babies and toddlers to school-age children to parents.  It's a valuable opportunity not only to entertain and encourage a love of reading, but also to (hopefully) teach something to the audience.

This year I had my second annual Martin Luther King storytime.  Dr. King's life and legacy do not lend themselves easily to a crowd of this diversity of ages, but fortunately there are many wonderful books on Dr. King out there to choose from, and more are published each year.

These are the books I shared at this year's storytime:

My Daddy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Martin Luther King III is a recent (2013) release from Harper Collins and a welcome addition to the King bibliography.  Only 10 when his father was killed, "Marty" tells about what it was like to grow up with the famous Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as your father, in a way that's immediately relatable to children. For example, he and his siblings were begging to go to Funtown, a local amusement park, but Dad never would take them.  We then learn that Funtown was open only to whites. His dad was often away, but when he was home he liked to play airplane with Marty, even lifting him on top of the refrigerator (parents, don't try this at home).  We see King as a warm, caring man who loved his family.  But it wasn't easy to be the son of this great man, and sometimes Marty was afraid to tell kids at school his name, because he knew that his father was hated by many people, even though he never hurt anyone or committed violent acts.  At Christmas he and his brother were given toy guns as a gift (we aren't told by whom) but they are made to burn them in a bonfire since guns, even toys, were not permitted in their house.  The book ends on a hopeful note with Marty and his sister helping to integrate a local school.  An afterword tells of Dr. King's death and speaks briefly of his legacy.

We Shall Overcome:  the Story of a Song, by Debbie Levy (Jump at the Sun, 2013) is another new release which fits perfectly with Dr. King's birthday.  This is not the first children's book devoted to this song, but is the one best suited to be read aloud to young audiences.  Unfortunately the book doesn't come with a CD, so I used one of Pete Seeger's versions to play for the audience.  The version I used is from Pete Seeger's Greatest Hits, and was recorded live in concert with a huge crowd singing with him in the background.  The book traces the history of the song from slavery days to the present, including how the song was instrumental in the civil rights movement.  We see Pete Seeger singing the song for Dr. King, we see President Johnson quoting the words from the song in a television address, how the song spread to different countries fighting for freedom such as South Africa and China, and how the song was sung at the inauguration of our first black president.  The book presents a message of hope combined with colorful illustrations which enhance the message of the book.

Dr. Martin Luther King is well known for preaching a message of nonviolence and peace, but peace is not an easy concept to explain to young children.  I chose to also share beloved children's author and illustrator Todd Parr's book on the subject:  The Peace Book (Little Brown, 2009).  Each spread offers a different definition of peace, from hugging a friend to keeping the streets clean.  The book ends with a celebration of diversity:  Peace is being who you are, with Todd Parr's signature children depicted in various primary colors.  

Did you know that Dr. King's favorite dessert was pecan pie?  And I bet you didn't know that two 11" pies can serve 50+ people--just dish spoonfuls of the delicious mixture into cupcake holders, top with a dollop of whipped cream (or Cool Whip), and voila, you can stretch two pies an amazing distance!  Everyone (except a few with nut allergies) relished the delicious treat.  After explaining that the dove was a symbol of peace, we concluded with an art activity in which we had prepared a white template of a dove, pre-glued it on blue paper, and provided do-a-dot paints for the children to use to decorate the bird.

Have you done storytimes on Dr. King?  Please share your favorites in comments below!

Nelson Mandela--for young people

As people all over the world mourn the death of Nelson Mandela, it's a great time to take a look at some of the outstanding books to introduce children and teens to this iconic figure.

But first, I can't resist passing on my favorite of the many tributes to Mandela in the past days, from The Onion:

"JONANNESBURG--Following the death of former South African president and civil rights leader Nelson Mandela today at the age of 95, sources confirmed that the revered humanitarian has become the first politician in recorded history to actually be missed." (Note:  I can so imagine Mandela chuckling at this one!)

Please consider sharing one or more of these books on one of history's great men with your family or classroom:

Nelson Mandela (Kadir Nelson)

Kadir Nelson.  Nelson Mandela ( Katherine Tegen Books, 2013).  Kadir Nelson's moving text and monumental illustrations are a perfect introduction to Mandela for all ages.  This spare picture book presents a brief introduction to the outlines of Mandela's life.

Nelson Mandela:  Long Walk to Freedom, Chris Van Wyk, editor.  (Flash Point, 2009).  A picture book adaptation of Mandela's own autobiography.  More information than Kadir Nelson's book, but still suitable for elementary school children.

Floyd Cooper.  Mandela:  From the Life of the South African Statesman (Puffin, 2000).  Beautifully illustrated picture book for upper elementary school students.

Meg Belviso, Pamela Pollack.  Who Was Nelson Mandela? (Grosset & Dunlap, 2014) A new addition to the highly popular Who Was series, this comes out next June (undoubtedly it will be quickly updated with his passing).    This series of brief "chapter book" biographies is great for 3rd grade and up.

Yona Zelda McDonough.  Peaceful Protest:  The Life of Nelson Mandela (Walker Children's, 2006).  Reviews call this picture book biography "easy to read but engaging."

Barry Denenberg.  Nelson Mandela:  No Easy Walk to Freedom (Scholastic, 2014).  An updated version of an earlier biography of Mandela, this will go up to his recent passing.  Aimed at grades 5-8, this is an in-depth view of Mandela's life for young people.

In addition to these, there are several graphic novels on Mandela, including:  Nelson Mandela:  The Authorized Comic Book (2009) from the Nelson Mandela Foundation; Nelson Mandela:  The Unconquerable Soul, by Lewis Helfand, and manga-style Nelson Mandela (Great Figures in History series) from Y-Kids.

For middle school and high school students, as well as adults, I recommend:

Mandela:  An Illustrated Autobiography (Little Brown, 1996), an abundantly illustrated, abridged version (at a very manageable 200 pages) of Mandela's famous autobiography Long Walk to Freedom.

On a lighter note, families will enjoy sharing Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folktales, personally selected by Mandela.  The stories come from all over Africa and are handsomely illustrated by a variety of artists.

I was fortunate enough to visit the beautiful country of South Africa two years ago and join all Mandela's countrymen in remembering and celebrating a great human being.  Rest in peace, Madiba.

Book Review: The Crane Wife, by Patrick Ness (Penguin, 2014)

Recommended for adults.

Release date:  January 23, 2014

Are you a a fan of Patrick Ness' fantastic Chaos Walking YA trilogy, or his more recent children's novel, A Monster Calls?  I am, and therefore was excited to have a chance to preview his new adult novel, The Crane Wife (published in Great Britain in 2013, but due to be published here in 2014).  The novel is loosely based on a Japanese folk tale of the same title, (and is also a title of an album by indie band The Decembrists) but Ness' novel weaves its own unforgettable and unique spell of magic, yearning, love, and loss on the reader.

The main character, George Duncan, is a lonely, divorced middle-aged American living in the London suburbs.  He finds his life transformed when he is awoken one night to a mysterious keening noise--a noise like nothing he's ever heard before.  To his amazement he discovers in his back yard an injured enormous white crane, with an arrow shot through her wing.  Somehow George manages to free the arrow, and the crane flies away into the night.

The next day in his printing store, the mystery continues when a beautiful young foreign woman, Kumiko, comes into his shop, seeking help with her artwork, enigmatic cuttings that seem to be made from pieces of white feathers.  George falls hopelessly in love with her, and wants nothing more than to devote his entire self to her, but she remains an enigma, refusing to share with George the details about where she comes from and why she has come into his life.  Will she disappear from his life just as suddenly as she entered it?

In order not to spoil the magic of this story, I won't go further into the details of the plot.  Suffice it to say that the book mixes fantasy and reality in a bittersweet way.  Where the two intersect is up to you--what is real and what is make believe?  What is love?  Read this magical novel to find out more!

Guest Post by author Helen Sedwick

The Inspiration Behind Ro, my Heroic Coyote

Guest Post by Helen Sedwick

Author Helen Sedwick

You might think a dog inspired me to create a coyote character, but actually it was a cat.

When I was writing COYOTE WINDS, a stray or feral kitten moved into our yard. About four months old, he darted past my window several times a day with a vole dangling from its mouth. He was thin, skittish and scruffy. 

I put out cat food, and the kitten hid in the bushes until I stepped away. Then he raced to the bowl and ate as fast as he could. Every day, I stood closer to the bowl until finally the kitten had to let me touch him before he could eat. To my surprise, and probably to his, the kitten was as hungry for touch as he was for kibble. Within days, he was pressing hard against my hand, rolling his head so I could scratch his favorite spots, purring deeply. Reminded that even animals want to be loved, I was inspired to create Ro, the coyote of COYOTE WINDS.  

At the opening of the novel, Ro, as a young pup, is caught outside in a dust storm. When thirteen-year old Myles finds him hours later, the pup is half-buried and limp from dehydration. So much grit has worked its way under one eyelid, it is swollen shut. Myles nurses the pup back to health, and they form the strong bond that so often connects a boy and his dog, or in this case, his coyote. 

When I wrote the chapters in Ro’s perspective, I tried to observe the world simply and without judgment, as I imaged an animal would do. His motivations are immediate--hunger, fear and the need to belong.  I wanted to capture the canine’s sense of play as Ro befriends the hog Spark Plug and “flies” in the back of the pickup truck. 

But Ro, like any interesting character, struggles with conflicts. He straddles the worlds of nature and man, accepted by neither. As much as he loves Myles, when he hears the wild coyotes Ro’s heart aches for the physical romp of the pack--shouldering his brothers in fake battles and sleeping in bundles of fur. But wild coyotes see him as a rival and attack him. When Ro skirts the farms of men, he hears bullets hiss through the grass around him.  

Mid-way through the novel, Myles drives Ro away because he fears the settled land has become too dangerous for the coyote. But Ro has nowhere else to go. He hovers nearby, watching as machines, fences, and dust take the place of grasses, mesquite and sage. He wants to warn the boy of a danger he senses, but doesn’t understand. Ro’s perspective gave me a way to observe the changing world without the overlay of human ambition to control it.  

COYOTE WINDS is set on the western prairie in the years leading up to the Dust Bowl. Many people do not know that the Dust Bowl was one of the worse man-made environmental disasters in history. Believing in the modern technology of the tractor and fertilizers, farmers plowed up dry, marginal land the size of Ohio in the 1920s. When drought hit in the 1930s, those vast acres of turned soil were lifted by the prairie winds, and the Dust Bowl was born. Ro provide me a way to describe that history through different eyes.

The longer I worked on COYOTE WINDS, the more I fell in love with Ro. He embodies my themes about loyalty to a person, a family, and a dream, and whether loyalty has limits.

By the way, coyotes have been successfully tamed in real life. Shreve Stockton, a writer and photographer in Wyoming, has a wonderful website about Charlie, her coyote which she adopted when he was ten days old.  

Tomas

About that little kitten in our yard.  He has grown into a Budda-bellied, lushly-coated lap-lover who tolerates our dog’s overly enthusiastic affection and sleeps inside on cold nights. And he reciprocates our love by leaving slightly munched voles on the front steps. His name is Tomas.

Helen, thanks so much for contributing a guest post to The Fourth Musketeer.  I will think of Ro every time I see a coyote roaming around our Southern California neighborhood!

Book Review Coyote Winds, by Helen Sedwick (Ten Gallon Press, 2013)

Recommended for ages 10 and up.

I live in a very urban area of Southern California, but one with a healthy population of coyotes.  It's not at all uncommon to see one loping down the street while you're out walking your dog, no matter what the time of day or evening.  And in the early evening, you can hear them calling to each other if you're in the right place at the right time.  Although coyotes are common enough throughout the United States, there aren't many children's books about them.  So I was intrigued to read Coyote Winds, which combines two of my favorite genres, animal stories and historical fiction.

Helen Sedwick's novel alternates between the stories of two boys, Andy, a suburban kid in Evanston, Illinois, and his grandfather Myles, who grew up during the Dust Bowl on the Colorado prairies.  Andy has grown up with grandpa's stories about growing up on a farm during the Depression, as well as his corny jokes; now that his grandpa has recently died, Andy wants to discover his grandpa's world.  First he does so through a box of mementos and writings from his grandfather, and later first-hand by traveling to the old homestead.

Through Myles' story, Sedwick skillfully recreates the Colorado prairies, where farmers believed that with enough hard work and modern farming methods, they could realize the American dream of prosperity for themselves and their families.  Or is the prairie the farmer's enemy, trying to take back what belongs to it?   Myles' story starts in 1930, when as a thirteen-year old, he rescues a half-blind coyote pup who's lost in a dust storm, taking the coyote home to raise.  Coyotes were the enemies of the farmers, who shot them if they caught them near their livestock.  Nonetheless, Myles is determined to raise and tame the pup, much like his father is trying to tame the wild prairie landscape.  Sedgwick occasionally switches gears to narrate the action from the point of view of the coyote, who she is careful not to treat as a human character, but instead as an animal who remains half-wild.

Sedwick's novel succeeds in capturing the imagination of the reader with appealing characters, the spirit of adventure in the West, and the adversity of life during the Dust Bowl.  We see this through the eyes of Andy, Myles' grandson, who stands in for the young reader.  It's a novel I had a hard time putting down.

Helen Sedwick's novel was inspired by her father's stories of growing up on the prairie in the 1930's.  An excerpt from the novel can be found at her website.  

from The Daily Coyote (dailycoyote.net)

For a novel offering a completely different take on a coyote's story, you might want to check out adult novelist Elmore Leonard's very funny children's novel, A Coyote in the House, in which a coyote wants to trade places with a pampered German Shepherd movie star.