Women's History Month Book Review: Dare the Wind: The Record-Breaking Voyage of Eleanor Prentiss and the Flying Cloud, by Tracey Fern (Margaret Ferguson Books, 2014)

Recommended for ages 7-12.

In this picture book for older readers. Tracey Fern tells the little-known story of Eleanor Prentiss, an extraordinary woman who not only navigated a clipper ship but also set a record for the fastest time from New York to San Francisco, navigating around Cape Horn in a record-breaking 89 days, 21 hours.

If you're an avid movie-goer like I am, you may have seen the two major films this year set at sea, Captain Phillips and All is Lost.  Such movies always make me think about the "olden days," when sailors navigated by the stars and a sextant.  Doesn't it seem incredible?  Even more incredible (but true) is the life of Eleanor Prentiss, born the daughter of a sea captain in 1814 and taught everything about ships, including navigation, by her father, perhaps because he had no sons.  Certainly this education was highly unusual for a 19th century girl. The sea was in Ellen's blood, and, not surprisingly, she married a sea captain, who took her along on his merchant ships as her navigator.

When Ellen's husband was given command of a new, super-fast clipper ship, Ellen seized the opportunity to get as quickly as possible from New York to the tip of South America to San Francisco and the Gold Rush.  Speed was of the essence for those looking for riches in the gold fields of California.  The book portrays the considerable dangers of the voyage, including a period when the ship was becalmed (no wind, no movement!) and also the perilous stormy waters of the Cape. Fern does a terrific job of capturing the excitement of the journey, and Ellen's triumph when she sets a world record for the fastest time for this 15,000 mile voyage.  The book is greatly enhanced by the beautiful water-color paintings of Caldecott-winning artist Emily Arnold McCully.  The seascapes, and particularly the scenes of storms, are particularly effective.  Back matter includes an author's note with further historical information, and suggestions for further reading, both books and websites, a glossary, and end pages which show a map of the Flying Cloud's 1851 Voyage.

Highly recommended for Women's History Month and for those looking for stories of strong, heroic women and girls!

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.

Book Review: Enemy Territory, by Sharon E. McKay (Annick Press, 2012)

Recommended for ages 9-14.

Given the complexity of the topic, it's perhaps not surprising that there's not a plethora of novels for young people on the Israeli-Palistinian conflict.  It's a topic that ignites fires of passion on both sides, and what a challenge for a novelist to try to present a balanced point of view in a book for young people.

I was very impressed with Sharon McKay's take on this topic.  She presents us with two teenaged boys, one Jewish Israeli and one Palestinian, who are thrown together as roommates in a Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem.  Both have suffered grievous injuries; Sam, our Israeli teen, has a seriously injured leg and may face amputation, and Yusef, our Palestinian, has lost an eye and may lose his other eye as well.  Both have their own extreme prejudices, indeed, we could say hatred, of the other side.  But when they decide to escape from the hospital to go on an innocent errand--a trip to a famous candy shop in Old Jerusalem, they get lost and are quickly in more trouble--and danger--than they could have imagined.  Can they work together to find their way back?

McKay does an admirable job of using Yusef and Sam as spokespeople for each side of the conflict, and we see through these two boys the misperceptions and fear each side has of the other. Their frustration with the other's point of view even makes them come to blows at one point in the novel.  McKay takes no particular point of view, but tries to show the commonalities between the two groups as well as the differences.  While the "happy" ending may be a bit pat, I would recommend this novel to young people who want to get a better understanding of the emotions behind the long-ranging Middle East conflict.  Back matter includes notes which define certain terms which are used in the novel.  

This novel has received numerous awards, including the 2013 Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Book Award.

Book Review: The Adventures of a South Pole Pig: A novel of snow and courage, by Chris Kurtz (Harcourt Children's Books, 2013)

Recommended for ages 8-12.

Children's books are filled with memorable pig characters.  Classics such as Freddie the Detective, Charlotte's friend Wilbur, and Babe the sheep-pig have been joined in more recent years by characters such as Poppleton, Mercy Watson, and Nanny Piggins.  To those wonderful porcines we must add a new member:  Flora the sled-pig.

What animal lover, young or old, could resist a book with the unlikely title:  The Adventures of a South Pole Pig?  How on earth would a pig wind up in the Antarctic, we wonder?  Well, readers, never fear, author Chris Kurtz weaves indomitable piglet Flora into a charming South Pole adventure story filled with slops, friendship, danger, and humor.

Flora, a piglet on a farm that raises sled dogs, wants nothing more than to explore beyond the limits of the pigpen she shares with her mother and siblings.  When she briefly escapes and has a chance to meet the dogs training at pulling sleds, she wants to join their pack, and soon is on the way to the South Pole with a bunch of dogs.  While she thinks she has a special mission to help the sled dogs, the reader quickly suspects that the cook has other plans for her (bacon, anyone?).  But when an iceberg hits their ship in the South Pole, it's the courageous Flora who saves the Captain's life.  Few of her shipmates survive, and soon it's Flora who has the chance of a lifetime to prove her mettle as a brave and irreplaceable member of the pack.  Will she succeed in helping to rescue her shipmates?

This story would make a terrific read-aloud for a classroom or family, as well as a novel that children 8-12 could read easily on their own.  The novel has many appealing characters, among them a somewhat haughty cat, Sophia, who needs Flora's help to catch rats, a wise lead dog, Oscar, and a courageous young cabin boy, Aleric.  The novel is enhanced with adorable black and white illustrations by Jennifer Black Reinhardt.  Highly recommended!

Book Review: Promise the Night, by Michaela Maccoll (Chronicle Books, 2011)

Recommended for ages 8-12.


Release date:  January 4, 2012

This new historical fiction title is inspired by the life of aviatrix Beryl Markham, the first woman pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic from East to West (considered more challenging than flying East because of prevailing winds).  Novelist Michaela Maccoll intersperses the story of Beryl's historic 1936 voyage with Beryl's life as a ten-year old growing up in what is now Kenya, where she lived with her English father on a horse ranch, her mother having abandoned them years before.  Her life as a child is filled with endless adventures--attacks by leopards, forbidden treks into the forest with a boy from the local tribe, Kibbi, who becomes her friend and teaches her to wrestle and track and hunt animals.  Indeed, she is virtually adopted by the native tribe who take her in as one of their own, allowing her to train to be a "warrior" despite her sex and accepting her as an honorary member of the Nandi tribe.

The novel jumps back and forth between the youthful Beryl's adventures both at home and later in boarding school and a variety of diary entries, fictitious press articles and interviews about her cross-Atlantic flight.  I found the parts in Africa much more engaging and vivid than the snippets about her flight; the two themes don't really seem to be tied together, since we don't learn about the beginnings of her interests in flight in the sections in which Beryl is a child.  However, Maccoll paints an appealing picture of an adventurous spirit who can't resist a dare, a girl who is more comfortable in boys' clothing and who longs to be a hunter of lions rather than a proper young English lady.  It's a good choice for those looking for a colorful adventure story that could appeal to girls as well as boys.

Those interested in learning more about the real Beryl can check out her memoir, West With the Night (North Point Press, 1982), which was praised by none other than Ernest Hemingway, who remarked about Markham's writing, "she can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves as writers,"
or the young adult biography Beryl Markham:  Never Turn Back, by Catherine Gourley (Red Wheel, 1997).

In addition, Maccoll includes an author's note providing further details on the real Beryl's life as well as additional suggestions for further reading.

Beryl Markham

Disclosure:  Review copy provided by publisher.

Book Review: The Crossing, by Donna Jo Napoli (Atheneum Books, 2011)

Recommended for ages 5-10.


This stunning new picture book, written by Donna Jo Napoli and majestically illustrated by Jim Madsen, tells the story of the Lewis and Clark expedition from the point of view of its youngest participant, baby Jean Baptiste, son of Sacagawea.  Strapped onto his mother's back in a cradle board, the baby comments on the various sights and sounds of the expedition.  The narrative is written in free verse. Here is an example from the book's opening:

"Rolled in rabbit hide/I am tucked snug/in a cradle pack/in the whipping cold/of new spring./Roar, roar!  Grizzlies stand tall in my dreams."

The vibrantly colored two page illustrations effectively capture the grandeur of the American wilderness that is all around the expedition's participants.  Jean Baptiste observes eagles, cougars, grizzlies, salmon, elk, birds, and other wildlife that were abundant at the time, as the group makes its way to the Pacific and then back to their home.

An author's note provides some historical context on the journey tiny Jean Baptiste and Sacagawea embarked upon from Fort Mandan, North Dakota to the Pacific and back again.  While this book does not give young readers a complete picture of the Lewis and Clark expedition, it would make an excellent class read-aloud or supplement for home schoolers studying Lewis and Clark, allowing students to imagine the journey from an unusual point of view.  The illustrations are also wonderfully evocative of another time and place in American history, a time when the frontier was vast and the country ripe for exploration.

For another point of view on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, elementary students might try my favorite book about the expedition, New Found Land by Allan Wolf (Candlewick, 2004), which tells then story from the point of view of 13 different participants, including Lewis' dog, Seaman.  Other historical novels worth consideration are The Captain's Dog:  My Journey with the Lewis & Clark Tribe, by Roland Smith (Sandpiper, 2008); Kathryn Lasky's The Journal of Augustus Pelletier:  The Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804 (My Name is America) (Scholastic, 2000),

Book Review: The Dagger Quick, by Brian Eames (Paula Wiseman Books/Simon & Schuster, 2011)

Recommended for ages 10 and up.

Looking for a rip-roaring adventure story for summer fun, reminiscent of classic pirate yarns like Treasure Island (but without the challenging vocabulary)?  Make sure to keep an eye out for The Dagger Quick, a page-turning tale from debut author (and long-time teacher) Brian Eames.  

Eames spins the story of 12-year old Christopher Quick, known as Kitto, who lives in 17th century Cornwall and is apprenticed to his father to be a cooper, or barrel-maker.  Kitto longs for a life of adventure at sea, but with his club foot, thinks he is doomed to a boring life in his village.


However, Kitto’s circumstances change dramatically when his long-lost uncle, the notorious Caribbean pirate captain William Quick, shows up at their home.  When Kitto’s father is cruelly murdered, Kitto feels he has no option but to go to sea with his uncle, whom he’s just met.  And soon he finds out that his step-mother and little brother have been kidnapped by the evil pirate John Morris, who is following Quick in order to find Quick’s long-hidden booty--not gold in this case, but spices that were just as valuable in the 17th century as precious metals.  On top of all this, there’s a traitor on Captain Quick’s crew.  We discover who it is, but not Kitto.  Eames’ colorful characters are not just black and white; he paints a sympathetic portrait of the “Judas,” since we learn why he desperately needs the bag of silver he collects to betray his comrades.  Will the courageous Kitto be able to survive, let alone rescue his family? There’s a cliff-hanger of an ending, and a sequel clearly on the way.  


This book would make a terrific read-aloud, although the author doesn’t shirk from a realistic portrayal of the harsh conditions for pirates and sailors in general.  Quick’s ship makes a stop in Cape Verde, an island off the coast of Africa, described as a “depot for human cargo, where people are traded for gold.”  One of Kitto’s mates has worked in a slave ship, and describes in vivid detail the horrible smells, sounds, and sights of a slaver.  The yarn is full of colorful characters, including not a parrot, but a mischievous monkey who lives aboard the ship.  My personal favorite is the hideous Captain Morris, with his horribly disfigured face--two scars which creep up from either side of his mouth “form a leering grin,” and he also sports what’s left of a nose--two symmetrical ovals, “like those of a skull,” a nose that “leaks fluid constantly.”   


This is a great pick for reluctant readers or anyone looking for a page-turning adventure story.  My only beef with the book is the ending, which while it leaves the reader at a logical stopping point, also seems to leave us right in the middle of the story.  


Back matter includes a brief pirate glossary.  


For those looking for another great sea story, check out L. E. Meyer’s Bloody Jack series, featuring one of my favorite heroines in children’s/YA lit, the indomitable Jacky Faber. 

Book Review: In the Shadow of the Lamp, by Susanne Dunlap (Bloomsbury, 2011)

Recommended for ages 12 and up.  
Release date:  April 12, 2011

Susanne Dunlap is fast becoming one of my favorite YA historical fiction authors; her third novel for teens, In the Shadow of the Lamp, follows the adventures of 16-year Molly Fraser, as she joins the nurses traveling with Florence Nightingale to the far-off Crimean war. As the novel opens, Molly loses her job as a chambermaid in one of London's aristocratic mansions when she is unjustly accused of stealing.  With no letter of reference, there are few respectable options open to her for employment.  Although she is too young and inexperienced to gain employment as one of Miss Nightingale's corps of nurses, by her wits she manages to sneak aboard their ship.  When she is found out, the very imposing and strict Miss Nightingale is impressed by Molly's determination to redeem herself and decides to give her a chance to be trained on the job.  She warns her that at the first sign of familiarity with any man, she'll be sent packing! 

But somehow we know romance will be in Molly's future (this is a YA novel, after all).  And not only one handsome young man is after her, but two:  Will with the kind eyes, the valet who follows Molly by enlisting in the British army; and Dr. Maclean, a Scottish doctor at the hospital who Molly is intensely attracted to.   And Molly finds friendship, too, with another young nurse, Emma.  Molly begins to earn the respect of the other nurses when she helps take care of all the ones suffering from seasickness during the ocean voyage to Turkey.  Soon they land, and she is amazed by the sights, sounds, and smells of Scutari, where they arrive shortly after the famous charge of the Light Brigade has produced hundreds of casualties, soon to arrive by ship.  But when the nurses arrive at the hospital, it's Molly's cleaning and mending experience that comes in handy--the place is filthy, filled with giant rats and lice,with overflowing latrines and piles of mending and washing to be done.

Dunlap makes sure to share some of Nightingale's philosophy of nursing, which was not just to do with giving medicine and bandages.  As strange as it seems to us now, her message was revolutionary at the time:  provide the sick and wounded with fresh air, warmth, and food, so that their bodies would heal.  She soon whips the hospital in Scutari into shape, securing supplies such as beds, fresh straw for mattresses, linens, even curtains to shield the patients from each other when the doctors were performing surgeries.  We see her through Molly's eyes, visiting the wards at night with her famous lamp, making sure the men were safe. 

Can Molly make something of herself as a nurse?  Will she be able to handle the hard work, the horrible sights and smells of the hospital, and Miss Nightingale's strict rules of behavior?

Once again Susanne Dunlap has created an incredibly sympathetic character as her protagonist.  Young Molly is far from perfect but is the type of young woman you'd want on your side in a difficult situation--like being at a battlefield hospital far from home.  This book combines romance, adventure, and history with an appealing plot and characters with teen appeal.  A great pick for public or school libraries!

In conjunction with reading this book, it might be fun to rent the 1985 TV miniseries biopic on Florence Nightingale, released on DVD in 2009, and starring former Charlie's Angel Jaclyn Smith and Timothy Dalton (available from Amazon, Netflix, and possibly your local library). 

Disclosure:  Review copy provided by publisher.

Book Review: Murder Afloat, by Jane Leslie Conly (Hyperion Books for Children, 2010)

Recommended for ages 10 and up.


Benjamin has a happy life in 19th century Baltimore in his affluent family, with his own pony, and no worries other than planning a picnic with his pretty neighbor Jane.  That is, until he is grabbed with a group of German immigrants and forced to work as part of the crew on the Ella Dawn, a decrepit oyster boat.  The Captain, who rarely surfaces, is a cruel drunk, and the first mate, Plum, runs the ship with a heavy hand.  They dub Ben "Little Gentleman" and laugh when he tells them his father is a wealthy lawyer.

Little did Ben know that the delicious oysters he and his family enjoyed at the holidays were likely to have been caught by a half-starved man or boy coerced into working on the oyster barges.  The work was considered so awful that no one would do it for wages, so the men are locked into the hold each night until the oyster season is over.  Although on the barge Ben no longer goes to school, he gets an education in life that he could never have imagined at home in Baltimore.

Conly writes in detail about the hard life the men on the barges faced, with long hours of backbreaking work and constant hunger.  Yet in spite of the hard work and awful conditions, Ben develops a love of the sea, and his family and luxurious lifestyle seem only a distant memory.  Will he be able to escape his bondage and return to his family?  Or does he no longer want the conventional life of a lawyer that his family had planned for him?

Fans of adventure stories like Avi's The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle are sure to enjoy this fast-paced, exciting tale of murder and adventure on the high seas.  It's also a coming-of-age tale as Ben struggles to understand what his path in life should be.  At 164 pages, this is a quick read that should appeal to reluctant readers as well as any young people looking for an action-filled adventure story.