You Mean Women Won Rights? News to Me.

If You Lived When Women Won Their Rights by Anne Kamma. Scholastic, 2006.
Now here is a compelling and well-told story! Kamma never loses her narrative thread, she includes quotes and details, and she keeps the details to those that ground the story or move it forward. She, in short, finds a plot and develops it. Aside: This is exactly what I want to do with my project.

Anyway, the language is simple and straightforward, yet it doesn’t sacrifice artfulness for a sterile informative tone (like some hideous books on sea turtles I read first semester), rather the tone is engaging, the voice consistent. An important book!

Another Reason My Yard is Full of Holes

How to Dig a Hole to the Other Side of the World by Faith McNulty. 1970.

Second person, a how-to booklet on digging to the center of the earth and beyond. Fact meets fun. The fantasy element combined with scientific detail make this a favorite and true classic. But hey, my copy didn't come with a CD!

That aside, my kids frequently dig holes around the yard, and they truly are trying to break through to the earth's core. So far we've gotten not much beyond two feet. But hey, when you're only four feet high, that's not bad!

On a Tightrope

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein. Roaring Brook, 2003.

I love Mordicai Gerstein. I have since I got his book on Noah for my children. His art, his prose, his creativity—delicious. This story is likewise gripping and written in the same tender tone. Gerstein keeps the story moving forward with a clear dramatic arc. Philippe had a goal, obstacles to that goal, and a plan to achieve it. Well done to Philippe and Gerstein!

Jesus and Baseball

Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki. 1993.

Triumphant!

Easy to read text that can be read independently by most first/second graders and Mochizuki's is an important voice in a history that has seldom been captured. Both elements combine for an important book.

On craft: the voice is rather bland, but it’s also not laden with “cultural identity” which in this case makes the boy sound like every other American child. Important to the story, I think, because his "every-kid-ness" highlights the injustice of his interment.

Classics of Moles and Rats

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. 1908.

So Pooh-like with that quaint voice and silly words and lots of happy adverbs (see, sometimes adverbs can be good!). Mole meanders aimlessly and is bewitched, entranced, fascinated by a bubbling, gurgling, chuckling river. What wonderful words! Never mind that Moles are blind; I could eat it up.

I was more than a little shocked to read Rat’s line, “Stop it, you silly ass!” on page 17, however.

Despite the lovely turns of phrase and the appeal of classic literature, I don’t favor talking animal stories. I’ve started and stopped this one every few months since entering the program (not to mention the times I’ve tried to read it in previous years). I’m just not a child at heart, I suppose. I did glimpse an interesting parallel to some of these characters and Tolkien’s Hobbits—maybe this was a source of inspiration for Tolkien, or just a similarity because of the tone, but the homey little Mole is rather Hobbit-like, and his crusty friends reminiscent of Frodo’s mishmash of companions.

A Book to Cry Over

Morning Girl by Michael Dorris. Hyperion, 1992.

Dorris hooks the reader with voice and woos her with lovely prose: personification like “the day welcomed me, brushed my hair with its breeze, greeted me with its songs” (5). The alternating POV chapters are interesting and risky for this age group. Yet I found the voice of each chapter distinct.

On pg. 27 Star Boy (brother to Morning Girl) is hiding after losing his father’s canoe. He thinks, “I closed my eyes and concentrated on being a rock. I sank so deep into the ground that no digging stick could roll me from my hole. I became so hard that no tree or bush could take root on my surface.” It’s vivid, clear, yet develops setting and character beautifully. He goes on to describe things he can feel as a rock that he can’t as a boy, like shadows moving over him.

And Morning Girl wanting to see her face, and finding “two pretty girls” in her father’s eyes made me cry.

• This is a book to dissect for theme. Names, self-knowing, understanding. 
• The epilogue from Columbus is chilling to my very soul. Ugh. It went from tender family story to horror novel in that final, masterful page.