The Great Wheel

The Great Wheel by Robert Lawson

I am so excited to reintroduce a book to the collection. Decatur Public Library no longer owned The Great Wheel, a 1950s Newbery Honor book. I had to order it from another library. I was surprised to receive a brand new edition. It had been republished as a part of Walker and Company’s Newbery Honor Roll! What a grand idea!

After I finished it yesterday, I couldn’t help but book talk it to my boss. After my gush, (I really wasn’t trying to sell it,) she ordered new ones for our collection! Sometimes, it really is word of mouth that reenergizes a book’s shelf life.

I’m definitely looking for boys, (and girls,) who love building, designing, inventing. Our architects and engineers in training. Our dreamers of the dream. And the laboring hands that make those dreams come true! It takes the team to make great things happen! The investors, planners, forgers, riggers, diggers – everyone!

The time? The late 1800s. The place? Chicago, Illinois. The event? The World’s Columbian Exposition. The machine? The first Ferris wheel! Our character? Cornelius Terrence Kilroy, “Conn”, an Irishman fresh off the boat and ready to make his fortune in America!

When Conn was twelve years old, his Aunt Honora read his fortune in his tea leaves. It said, “Your fortune lies to the west. Keep your face to the sunset and follow the evening star, and one day you’ll ride the greatest wheel in all the world.”

It wasn’t until Conn was almost eighteen that his family received a letter from Conn’s Uncle Michael in New York. Uncle Michael invited young Conn to join him in the business of building sewers and even provided the money for ship’s passage. Remembering his fortune, Conn unhesitatingly leaves his family for his future.

Conn works hard and earns not only his keep but also his Uncle’s pride and support. Uncle Michael intends to make a partner out of him. But Conn’s Uncle Patrick has another idea in mind. Uncle Patrick thinks Uncle Michael will citify Conn and make him wealthy and soft. Uncle Patrick offers Conn a man’s job building engineering marvels. When Conn shares his full fortune with Uncle Patrick, Uncle Patrick must spill the beans – a great wheel is to be built and Conn is offered a chance to join in.

Again, Conn sets off after his fortune without pause.

If you ever wanted to know how a giant Ferris wheel was built and operated from below the ground on up, here you go. And Lawson makes it interesting. Boys might be shocked to find that Conn’s fortune sees him settled with a lovely German girl making cheese in Wisconsin, but that’s what clinched the book for this librarian! You cannot fault one chapter out of 16!

Nightbirds on Nantucket

Nightbirds on Nantucket by Joan Aiken

This is book three in the Wolves Chronicles, but I think that the Chronicles are a series of books that are loosely related. In the first book, we met Bonnie and Sylvia who were aided by a secondary character, Simon, the goose boy, in rural England. In book two, we followed Simon to London where he made new friends like bratty little Dido Twite and also discovered he was more than a goose boy. Now we pick up again with Dido Twite who is on board a whaling ship somewhere near Alaska. And she’s just woken up from a ten month nap!

These are simple and simply delightful books. I’m thinking 4^th through 6^th grade girls will be more apt to take a chance with them. Their covers are dated. They are not on any notable American book lists that I have found. But I did find the first on an Accelerated Reader quiz list and the Book Adventure website and that’s promising.

As I said before, Dido was a bit of a homely brat in the second book. She was like a pesky sister that you were required to pay attention to especially because your parents didn’t want to. But Dido was loyal and came through for Simon at his most desperate hour. Her no-nonsense, tomboy-like ways as well as her feisty defiance come in handy on the ship and later on a farm on Nantucket Island.

We are introduced to several more curious characters this time around, as well as reacquainted with some old villains from our first ride. The Captain is a fatherly Quaker who is smitten with a pink whale. He forced his men to follow “Rosie” out of their whaling waters and all the way around the Cape. Along the way, his wife died leaving his young daughter, Dutiful Penitence, locked in her closet-sized cabin with only plum jelly to eat. Her prison is self-imposed. She is afraid that she will fall overboard if she sets foot on deck. When Dido awakens, her first job is to coax the daughter out of her jail cell. After all, the Captain pulled her from the frigid waters off the coast of England and Dido now owes him this favor.

After many more months at sea, the ship finally arrives back home on Nantucket. The Captain hopes to leave Dido with Dutiful in the care of his sister, Aunt Tribulation, so that he can chase after Rosie. Dutiful, “Pen” as Dido calls her, is as frightened of Aunt Trib as she is of nearly everything else except baking, embroidering and nursing. Dido yields to the idea that she’ll have to break Pen of her fears before she is finally able to book a ship and sail home to England.

Aunt Tribulation gives orders from her sick bed and leaves the two girls to milk the cows, make the butter, cook the food, pasture the sheep and hoe the potatoes. Despite the heavy workload, the girls are still able to uncover a plot to kill King James on his throne. There are horrid Hanoverians hiding in the Hidden Forest and they have a foreign genius who has designed an enormous cannon big enough to shoot the King from Nantucket. Unfortunately, the recoil will send Nantucket into New York Harbor and we cannot have that can we?

Hilarious really.

Torn

Torn by Margaret Peterson Haddix

I will start by saying that Margaret Peterson Haddix has earned her place in my list of favorite children’s authors. She has won over a wide audience with her magnificent writing. I regularly recommend her well-known series called The Shadow Children. Among the Hidden was probably one of the first children’s novels to introduce me to Dystopian Literature. And it wasn’t a Young Adult novel that the children clamored for either. It belonged in Children’s from the get go.

I was beyond excited when she announced a new seven-book series to be called The Missing. I have reviewed the first three books, Found, Sent, and Sabotaged and if you have read my reviews, then you know that I had mixed feelings already.

I was telling a friend who shares my love of children’s books that I had requested book 4 and was hoping to be blown away – in a good way – and the series would be redeemed for me. She pointed out that after this book, I’d be more than halfway done with the series. Oh my. I cringed. I’m halfway through and I have not been “captured”. I have wanted to love this series in the worst way.

Well, the author’s 20 page Author’s Note was fascinating. The author’s historical accuracy was appreciated. I am grateful that it was shorter than the previous titles. But, not only did I not love it, I didn’t even really like it. It was confusing, certainly. And the missing child… was missing – twice. This deprived us of an additional, possibly likeable character. JB was missing for most of it. Second was present… maybe. And history was actually CHANGED… I think.

I checked some reviews to see if I’ve just been brain dead. The kids (5^th to 8^th, boys & girls) still seem to crave it. They are impatiently waiting for their copies and the last three books. The adults, on the other hand, have grown out of their awe. So, while I won’t be recommending this new series – yet – the kids will still flock to it.

So why do I keep reading? Simple. I want to know who Jonah is. Who he is not? John Hudson, the son of Captain Henry Hudson. Jonah and Katherine time travel to 1611 onboard the Discovery. Captain Hudson is still searching for a Northwest Passage. But John is missing… and missing. Jonah must fill in for him complete with costume, wig, mask, and voice-over. Poor Katherine only has to be invisible the entire time. And while the missing child and his tracer are both missing, the Northwest Passage is amazingly present. And this means that life as we know it may well be finished.

Bearstone & Beardance

Bearstone and Beardance by Will Hobbs

Will Hobbs is an author that I will frequently recommend to boys, boys who have already discovered the character Brian from Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet. If they’ve already read every Paulsen novel on the shelf, Hobbs is an excellent direction to take. And Hobbs is a prolific writer himself. These authors’ books pit boys against themselves and nature – survival is the name of the game. These books are excellent for the 4^th and 5^th graders and work well for the older reluctant readers. I think Hobbs should be recommended reading for every Boy Scout. Bearstone, a Caudill Nominee, and its sequel, Beardance, easily met my expectations for real life action and adventure.

In Bearstone, we meet young Cloyd Atcitty, a Native American from the Ute tribe. His mother died giving birth to him, his father didn’t stick around afterwards, and so Cloyd and his sister were raised by their grandmother. Cloyd grew up shepherding his grandmother’s goats until the tribe decided to send him and his sister away to boarding school. Cloyd misses his grandmother, his sister and his home at White Mesa. When he isn’t deliberately failing school, he is running away from the family house towards home.

Cloyd’s social worker attempts to redeem him one last time by sending him to live on a ranch over summer vacation. This is where the book begins. Walter Landis is a farmer, an elderly man who has let his ranch go over the last year while mourning the death of his beloved wife. The social worker brings Cloyd to help Walter with the farm chores. There is a bit of Divine Guidance involved. Walter understands the boy and his Ute upbringing. Walter knows when to ask questions and when not to pry. He gains the boy’s confidence and loyalty quietly. Cloyd desires to help and prove his worth to this tiny, frail old man.

The book does an excellent job of showing how miscommunication and lack of communication can destroy a good thing. Silence can go too far and mistakes are made. Cloyd, out of anger, destroys not only his own hard work, but also Walter’s prize peach trees. Fortunately, Walter understands the boy and more importantly forgiveness. Their friendship is restored when Walter invites Cloyd into the Colorado Mountains. Walter has his mind set on gold and Cloyd has his mind set on Grizzlies. Here, the true adventure begins.

Now, I enjoyed Bearstone, but Beardance is better. If it weren’t for the fact that Bearstone establishes the characters so very well, I’d say skip to the sequel. In Beardance, Cloyd and Walter are headed back into the mountains the following summer – a year has transpired. Walter still has gold in his mind and metal detector in his pack. Cloyd still has grizzlies on his mind and is given good reason to believe that a mother and her three cubs are roaming the mountainsides.

With the help of a Native American wildlife biologist who calls herself Ursa, Cloyd not only discovers the grizzly family, but is able to track them. The two watch in horror as the mother and one of her cubs is killed by an avalanche. Cloyd makes it his job to see that the two remaining cubs survive the winter in the hopes that the government will send more grizzlies to help repopulate the species in Colorado. You see, a grizzly hasn’t been seen in Colorado since the 1950s. And Cloyd’s been dreaming of bears. He feels he is connected to them in a special way. By saving them, he will be forgiving himself.

The Land

The Land by Mildred Taylor

When I first became a children’s librarian I looked to the Newbery and Caudill Awards to get a quick immersion into the world of Children’s Literature. I knew my knowledge at the time was slim, but I had no idea what worlds were going to be opened to me. And that is how I discovered Mildred D. Taylor.

Taylor won the 1977 Newbery award for her novel, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry and went on to write the two sequels, Let the Circle Be Unbroken, and The Road to Memphis. There is a novella, Song of the Trees that precedes Roll of Thunder. (I cannot figure out if I read it or didn’t know it existed. I wish I had kept better records back then.) I read the former three titles all in a row and was captivated. Taylor’s language is gorgeous in its southern, black dialect, even when harsh. Then she published the BIG prequel, The Land, and I knew I would have to read it especially after it won the Coretta Scott King Award in 2002. So after a decade… it is finished!

Here’s the thing. What kind of title is The Land? I’m sure my long wait had more to do with its abrupt title than anything else. It sounds… boring… like it will be full of long, meandering descriptions of … well, land. I don’t take landscape pictures for instance. I like characters. And here this book was looking like the character was the Land. Uh, huh. Thrilled as you can see.

But the central theme, (oh, dear, I’m going to sound like a literature major or a teacher,) that connects all of these novels about the Logan Family, is Land and the importance of having and owning your own land. And for a black family, living in Depression-Era Mississippi, having land makes them unique and rich and – dangerous? They don’t fit in with the other black families; they’re too uppity for the sharecroppers, both black and white. And the Logans make the white land-owners nervous to say the least.

As indifferent as I felt in picking The Land up, it is surprising just how easily I was thoroughly absorbed into the story. The story tells of how the Logan children’s grandfather acquired their land. Their grandfather, Paul-Edward Logan is the son of a white plantation owner and a former slave to that plantation. Paul’s mother, Deborah, upon being freed from slavery, chose to remain on the plantation with her two children and continues to serve the plantation family. Paul’s father, Edward Logan, treats all of his children like his own regardless of if their mother is his white wife or his former slave.

Poor Paul favors his father and could pass for white in a place where not everyone knows his family. He has three older white brothers and one who is his same age who is his also best friend. He has an older sister by the same mother. Paul’s father always insisted on teaching his colored children to read, write and figure. And his white sons were expected to pass on their education to their colored siblings. While this seemed normal to the kids, it was still not acceptable to society. It is a difficult lesson to learn when Paul finds that he is equal to his brothers at home, but he is a colored boy or worse elsewhere. Paul has to leave the comforts of home in order to discover his place in the world as well as how to survive as a colored man without the help of his white daddy.

I highly recommend these books to junior high, senior high and adults, male and female alike. They are rich in information from the time period, but they make you FEEL the heartache rather than just hear about it. I daresay they would be welcome fiction to supplement any study of the Depression and life before the Civil Rights Movement. Very simply, the books are written so well, that this white woman could “get it.” I finally GOT the inequality and the effects that are felt even to this day. And I “got it” through an author and her art – storytelling. Taylor shared the stories that she grew up on. Priceless.

Divergent

Divergent by Veronica Roth

For those of you looking for a book like Hunger Games, look no further. I’ve got it.

One of my favorite “paying” jobs is ordering new books. And my favorite Book List or School Library Journal to order from is the one stamped sci-fi/fantasy edition!! I read the youth section from front to back including the Young Adult reviews. And sometimes, the review can hook me and I KNOW that this is the book for me. In this case, I requested the novel immediately. How spontaneous of me!

Decatur Public Library does not own Divergent yet. It is too new and we’re still behind in ordering. At this point, I won’t be able to get copies for Children’s either. I can agree that like Hunger Games, it really does belong in YA. However, like Hunger Games, if it gains a cult following or ends up on the Rebecca Caudill list, we’ll almost surely have to have it in Children’s to keep up with its circulation. And I’ll argue, like I did for Hunger Games that I wouldn’t have a problem recommending it for the right children - children who remind me of myself at the age (6th - 8th). I recommend this novel to advanced readers with a passion for good books, especially sci-fi/fantasy.

Sometime in the future, people decide that world peace can only be achieved by overcoming humankind’s inclination toward evil. Some people blame the aggressive character of humans; some people argue against ignorance; others point to the deceitful nature of human character; and finally two groups stand against either selfishness or cowardice for that evil. The Great Peace is eventually achieved when five factions form, each pursuing the virtue they hold dear. Members of Amity strive for Peace. Members of Candor aim for Truth. Members of Erudite thirst for Knowledge. Members of Dauntless pledge to Bravery. And Members of Abnegation, like our young heroine, Beatrice, deny themselves to seek Selflessness.

For the first sixteen years of her life, Beatrice sought to be selfless. There are no mirrors in her home. She and her family always wear gray and baggy clothing. They eat plain food. They deny themselves luxuries, but give to the factionless. Everything is austere and simple and yet beautiful in the eyes of those who live in the Abnegation section of town. (The town? Chicago by the way. Extra super cool!!)

When a child reaches the age of sixteen, they take an aptitude test to determine their areas of strength and weakness. Usually the test merely confirms that a child is in the faction that fits their beliefs and tendencies. Occasionally the test will determine that a child’s true character would be better served elsewhere. Rarely, a Divergent will surface, but everything is done to hide such a result for a Divergent is a danger to society and thus the Divergent is in danger herself.

A Divergent is a person that excels in more than one area. In Beatrice’s case, she may be selfless in her thinking, but she is also uncharacteristically brave as well as knowledgeable. Beatrice, like other Divergents is very strong-willed and hard to force into a pre-determined mold. Beatrice is warned not to share the aptitude test’s finding with ANYONE which makes choosing her faction for her adult life anxiety-inducing.

She doesn’t feel like she has ever been selfless enough to please her parents and yet she doesn’t want to be a traitor to her current faction. The new world’s motto is “Faction before Blood”. Choosing Abnegation feels like a prison sentence. She would never choose Erudite because their factions tend to be against each other and more so now than ever before. And that leaves Dauntless. Can plain Beatrice become a black-wearing, train-jumping, adrenaline pumping, piercing and tattoo-sporting defender of the world? She will have to try or face the worst of consequences – becoming factionless herself.

I will be recommending this book far and wide! It rocks! I read 300 pages in one night. It is pretty amazing for a first time author to impress me. Welcome Veronica Roth to the ranks of the published. Impatiently awaiting a sequel.