Nonfiction Monday Book Review: Tom Thumb: The Remarkable True Story of a Man in Miniature, by George Sullivan (Clarion Books, 2011) ISBN 978-0-547-18203-2

Recommended for ages 10 and up.

After reading Candace Fleming's Barnum biography earlier this year,  I was happy to have the opportunity to learn more about Tom Thumb, "discovered" and made famous by Barnum himself.  This very accessible biography by George Sullivan, who has written more than 100 non-fiction books for young people, is a fascinating book for children or adults.

Tom Thumb and P.T. Barnum

Charles Stratton was born in 1838, and was actually over 9 pounds at birth.  But before his first birthday, Charley seemed to have stopped growing.  The doctors were perplexed, since Charley was healthy in all other ways and perfectly proportioned.  Because of his small size and winning personality, Barnum offered to show him at his museum in New York.  Although his mother was initially against the plan, Charley's parents agreed to try it out for a sum of $3 a week.  Not yet five years old, Charley's show business career had begun as General Tom Thumb, a name Barnum chose from English folklore.

Because Tom Thumb and Barnum's lives were so intimiately entwined, the book provides plenty of anecdotes and background about Barnum's life as well as the "freaks" at his museum.  With the extensive archival photographs and original documents, such as the text of one of Tom Thumb's scripts, we are able to easily imagine his shows, in which, among other antics, he sang, danced, and sold kisses to the ladies.  Tom's popularity grew quickly, and before long his salary went up to a princely $25 per week.

Although Tom's exhibition as entertainment may seem distasteful to our twenty-first century sensibilities about people who are "different," the author is careful to put Tom's career in the perspective of the time.  No conventional careers would have been open to Charley other than entertainment, and under Barnum's tutelage he because very wealthy and traveled the world, even performing for Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and their children.  Background is also provided on dwarves throughout history, explaining how dwarves had a long tradition of serving as entertainers at royal courts and elsewhere. 

Tom Thumb's Wedding in 1863

Readers of this book will see how Barnum fanned the cult of celebrity to maximize his--and Tom Thumb's--profits.  When Tom Thumb married his miniature sweetheart, Lavinia (she was 32 inches tall, and like Tom, perfectly proportioned), it was a huge nationally covered celebrity event.  During the dark days of the Civil War in 1863, The Fairy Wedding, as it was called by the press, rivaled the war for newspaper inches, and police had to put up barricades to handle the crowds waiting to see the bride and groom arrive at the church in New York.  The couple and bridal party were photographed by no less than Matthew Brady, photographer to President Lincoln, and copies of the prints were mass produced as wedding souvenirs.  Tom Thumb, as the author points out, was a true celebrity in a time when there were few, as well as a person who earned respect as an entertainer, not just a curiosity.

This book contains plenty of information for children looking for a biography to read either for pleasure or for a school assignment and would be a great addition to both public and school library collections.  A bibliography, index, and author's notes are included. 

Book Review: The Grave Robber's Secret, by Anna Myers (Walker Books for Young Readers, 2011)

Recommended for ages 10 and up.


Release date:  February 15,  2011

Author Anna Myers' newest historical novel for children is a dark tale indeed, opening with a creepy graveyard scene in which young Robby and his Da steal a corpse from a freshly made grave.  The theft is described in great detail, as poor Robby has to get into the grave with the corpse in order to help his father remove the body.  As long as they leave the clothes and any valuables, no crime was considered to have been committed.  The body, that of a young girl, is then sold to the medical school, where Robby meets Dr. Bell, the head surgeon. Robby is disgusted by this work, but his father insists Robby help him, threatening otherwise to take Robby's mother along.  
 
Robby's mother runs a boarding house in 19th century Philadelphia, with only one lodger, the kind but very elderly Miss Stone.   But it appears their luck might be changing when an important-looking man, William Burke, shows up with his young daughter Martha to rent rooms.  Robby's intuition tells him that something about Burke is sinister, and when he follows him to see what he's up to, he discovers Burke is a professional gambler.  But there's more to Burke than gambling, and soon he gets Robby's Da involved in his schemes.  Now Robby doesn't have to go robbing graves during the night anymore, and indeed he gets a small job working for Dr. Bell at the medical school.  But there's a truly evil project going on right under Robby's nose:  one that results in several murders carried out right in the boarding house!  Can Robby expose Burke's evil-doing without leading his own father straight to the executioner? 

An author's note explains how this book was partly inspired by the infamous case of Burke and Hare, who committed a series of gruesome murders in a Scotland boarding house in order to sell the bodies to medical schools.  The publicity about this case led to a law passed in Great Britain making it a crime to take bodies and at the same time providing that unclaimed bodies be given for medical school use.  Grave robbing was prevalent in the United States as well.

Although the publisher recommends this book for ages 8-12,  I would suggest the book for middle schoolers (10-14) because of the very dark nature of the content.  The story itself is well paced and exciting, and could be a good choice for reluctant readers looking for a historical title, particularly those who like "scary stories."  Robby is an appealing character who tries to do what's right, even at the expense of his own family.  The book does play to the stereotype of the long-suffering Irish mother and the drunk, abusive Irish father.  Robby's mother makes excuses for the father's behavior, telling Robby not to hate his father, but rather to feel sorry for him and to pray for him.  She tells her son that she can't leave his father, but Robby can when he's old enough. While this may offend out 21st century sensibilities, many women indeed were trapped in unhappy marriages during this time, with no feasible way out, especially since their husband controlled all the property.




Disclosure:  Review copy provided by publisher.

Book Review: In Trouble, by Ellen Levine (Carolrhoda Lab, 2011)

Recommended for ages 14 and up.


Abortion is a topic few YA authors dare to broach in their books, and this reality alone would be enough reason for me to applaud award-winning author Ellen Levine's 2011 young adult novel In Trouble.  But the book has plenty of merit as an unsentimental look at the hard choices (or lack thereof) teens confronted when they became pregnant in the 1950's.

The film noir style cover, portraying a lonely teenaged girl waiting late at night on a deserted street, sets the stage for this dark novel set in 1956 New York, when choices for young girls who got themselves "in trouble" were limited indeed.  The author tells the story of best friends Jamie and Elaine, who both find themselves with unwanted pregnancies while in high school.  However, the pregnancies are ultimately dealt with in very different ways, with a sensitive portrayal of how two different families dealt with this difficult situation.

Note:  some spoilers....


Elaine has a steady boyfriend already in college, and is sure that he will marry her when she tells him about the pregnancy.  Jamie's circumstances, on the other hand, are slowly unveiled by the author through a series of nightmares as the reader realizes that she was date-raped by a friend of her sophisticated Manhattan cousin.  Jamie's family is already under plenty of stress, since her dad has just been released from prison, having been convicted for refusing to answer questions during the McCarthy hearings.  But when they discover her circumstances, her family steps up, even helping her find a doctor who will do an abortion, despite abortions being illegal at the time.  Elaine, on the other hand, is sent to a home for unwed Catholic girls, where she is pressured to give up her baby for adoption despite her wishes.

In Trouble is based on dozens of interviews Levine conducted, and although the characters are fictional, each event in the book actually happened to someone.  In an author's note, Levine explains why she felt compelled to tell Elaine and Jamie's stories.  "If we don't know what has happened, we can't appreciate our choices today and what we might lose if laws are changed," she writes.  She explains that although we might think things are totally different today, with the availability of legal abortion, in 87% of U.S. counties you can't get a legal abortion, because there's no doctor who will do it.

I believe this is an important novel for young people, particularly girls to read; unfortunately, I'm not sure it will be widely purchased by school and public libraries.  Despite the fact that Levine has won many awards for her work, including a Caldecott Honor for Henry's Freedom Box, few of the library systems in my area (Southern California) have purchased it, although the novel came out in September.  Whether this is because of the controversial subject matter or limited budgets, I can't say, but I hope librarians will not be reluctant to add this to their collections because the book deals with abortion.  It is a gripping story that deserves to be on the shelves.

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.

Book Review: Fallen Grace, by Mary Hooper (Bloomsbury, 2011)

Recommended for ages 12 and up.

Release date:  February 1, 2011


British young adult novelist Mary Hooper channels Charles Dickens in her newest historical novel for teens, Fallen Grace.  A spellbinding gothic mystery set in Victorian London complete with orphans, tragedy, and evil villains, Fallen Grace tells the story of orphans Grace Parkes and her simple sister Lily, who come from a respectable family but are now barely managing to stay alive on the cruel streets of London by selling bunches of watercress.  As the novel opens, the unwed Grace delivers a stillborn illegitimate baby.

Through her attempt to find somewhere suitable to bury her baby, Grace meets two individuals who will change her life; one, James Solent, is a handsome young lawyer's clerk who is attending his sister's funeral, and the other, the odious Mrs. Emmeline Unwin, is the wife of the owner of the largest firm of undertakers in London, a very profitable enterprise indeed.  Mrs. Unwin thinks the beautiful Grace would make a wonderful mute, a young girl paid to be a silent mourner at a funeral, and wishes to employ her.  Grace shudders at the thought, but when she and her sister find themselves evicted from their lodgings not too long after, she finds herself with nowhere else to turn.

Little does Grace know that barristers have placed an ad in a London newspaper looking for her sister, since it turns out they are the recipients of a valuable inheritance.  But the evil Unwins want to claim the inheritance for themselves, and are willing to lie and cheat and even get rid of poor Lily and Grace if they have to!  Will Grace be able to somehow outwit the evil Unwins, and claim what is rightly hers?

I couldn't put down this novel, as I became engrossed in the story of Grace and Lily, the terrible wrongs done them by the charities of the time, and the difficulties of their lives as they try to survive on the street in London.  Victoria and her beloved husband Albert appear briefly in the story, as does the most popular novelist of the times, Charles Dickens.  Most fascinating of all to me were the details of the London funeral trade and the Victorian cult of mourning, which includes the niceties of mourning dress and behavior, fanned by Queen Victoria's early mourning for her husband.  A special railway even existed to take mourners, separated by class, of course, to a vast cemetery built outside of London.

This is a terrific book to recommend to teens who like orphan tales, Victoriana, suspense and romance combined, and an excellent purchase for school or public libraries.  It makes a great contemporary read-along for a number of Dickens novels typically read in high school, such as Great Expectations.  Even if Dickens himself didn't appear briefly in the story, we can't help but think of Dickens' novels when reading Falling Grace, with its honest, noble, kind, and beautiful heroine in desperate circumstances, the money-hungry villains who take advantage of innocent children, and the requisite happy ending.

The book includes historical notes from the author.


Fallen Grace is one of 60 (wow!) nominees for the Carnegie Award 2011, the British equivalent of the Newbery.  For a complete list of nominees, click here.

Here's the very atmospheric book trailer:



The book was released last year in the UK; other reviews can be found on Goodreads as well as many UK blogs, including:

Wondrous Reads; Chicklish; Rhiana Reads; Heaven, Hell & Purgatory; The Bookbag; Scribble; and Lovely Treez Reads.

Hooper's next novel, Velvet, will also be set in the Victorian era; according to the author's website, it looks at fraudulent spiritualism, and is also a love story.  I look forward to reading it!

Disclosure:  Review copy provided by publisher.

VELVET. It’s a look at Victorian spiritualism - fraudulent Victorian spiritualism, and also a love story.

Bloggiesta Finish Line--Ole!

It's Sunday night and I'm done with my blogging weekend.  I didn't participate in as many of the mini-challenges as I would have liked, but I hope to go back to them in the next few weeks and explore them.  I did manage to create an About Me page, add an alphabetical by author index, clean up my labels so there are way fewer of them, hopefully rendering them more useful, write seven reviews, which still didn't get me completely caught up, and read two historical fiction novels to be reviewed on my blog.  We had such a picture-perfect gorgeous, warm weekend in Southern California I couldn't quite spend all my time indoors blogging!

Tomorrow I am off to a two-day Infopeople seminar sponsored by the California State Library on "Leading from any Position."  I'm looking forward to gaining all kinds of new insights and meeting some interesting new library-world colleagues.

Bloggiesta Update!

Day I of Bloggiesta is over, and I worked for about five hours redoing my About Me page and creating an index of reviews that are listed alphabetical by author, as well as tweaking my alphabetical by title list.  Day II I'm going to work on redoing my labels so there are far fewer of them, hopefully making them more useful.  Day III--catch up on reviews!

How are you doing with your Bloggiesta goals if you are participating?