December Book Reviews - Part 2

KID'S BOOK REVIEWS
In order to reach my goal of 200 books read in 2011, I had to read some short books. These came from the children's library:

LIVES OF THE ARTISTS - Kathleen Krull (93)
©1995 Subtitle: MASTERPIECES, MESSES (and What the Neighbors Thought)
I really liked this book of art history for young people. Nineteen popular artists from Da Vinci to Warhol are introduced, with colorful and charming stylistic portraits (big heads on small bodies) of each by Kathryn Hewitt.
I took art history in college and have done a lot of reading about famous artists and their work, but I learned a lot from this book which is full of amusing anecdotes. I especially liked the story of Diego and Frida.

THE BOYHOOD DIARY OF CHARLES LINDBERGH - Megan O’Hara, editor (31)
©2001 I like the Diaries, Letters, and Memoirs series for young people, which introduces real children from the past through their journals and diaries.
Charles Lindbergh, the first person to fly an airplane non-stop, solo, across the Atlantic from New York to Paris in 1927, kept a diary from age 11 to 14. As a boy growing up on a Minnesota farm, young Charles was keenly interested in the outdoors, hunting, fishing, and camping. He kept a journal of a boating expedition he and his father made of the far northern end of the Mississippi River when he was 13.
He also detailed the trips he and his mother made by train to Washington DC to be with his father who was a Representative from Minnesota. He learned to drive the family’s Model T when he was 11, and when he was 14, he drove his father all over Minnesota as the elder Lindbergh campaigned for the Senate, which Charles also recorded in his diary.
The writings of the boy Lindbergh were interesting in themselves, and the sidebars were educational. One told about what it was like to travel on a passenger train as he and his mother did, and another described what the first automobiles were like. One gave a simple explanation of the U.S. Congress, and still another described Itasca State Park at the headwaters of the Mississippi River. There was a page on how to track wildlife, another outdoor activity that the boy enjoyed, as well as a page urging young readers to start a diary of their own. There’s a lot of interesting information packed into these 31 pages.

THE HEDGEHOG - H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) (77)
©1936; reissued 1988 by the author’s daughter.
The book jacket description says, ”A story to delight the most discerning child, THE HEDGEHOG will charm and impress adult readers.” I don’t know any “discerning” children, myself, and this book failed to delight, charm, or impress me.
It’s a rather simple story about a young Anglo-American girl, growing up in Switzerland after losing her father in WW1, who wants a hedgehog because there are snakes in her garden. The convoluted and repetitious writing, which included conversations peppered with French and German phrases and references to Greek mythology, irritated me. But basically, I was just plain bored to distraction.

WORDS WEST: Voices of Young Pioneers - Ginger Wadsworth (175)
©2003 Over 40,000 children accompanied their families on the wagon trains heading West during the 1800s. Life on the Oregon Trail, or any one of the others that led into the new frontier, is described in detail through the letters these boys and girls sent to their folks back home, as well as journals some of them kept during their journey.
The book is packed with old photos and illustrations of the pioneers and their nomadic way of life. This book is a great resource for children studying the Westward Expansion period of American history.

EYE ON THE WILD - Julie Dunlap (62)
©1995 The boy Ansel Adams (1902-1984) received his first camera when he was 14, and grew up to be a very famous nature photographer and environmentalist. This is his story, with captivating illustrations by Kerry Maguire. He had a very interesting childhood and became known for his stunning black and white photographs of the American West, especially Yosemite National Park. This little book left me wanting to know more about the man and his work. 

SACAGAWEA: Westward with Lewis and Clark - Alana J. White (114)
©1997 This was a short but comprehensive biography of the young Shoshone woman who was such a help to Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their expedition of discovery across western America to the Pacific coast and back in 1804-1806. Accompanied by her husband, a French fur trader, and her infant son, she served as a guide and interpreter during this epic adventure. There was also a lot of information about the expedition itself, which made it a great introduction to the early exploration of the West.

THROUGH MY EYES - Ruby Bridges (61)
©1999 This is the story of the little 6-year-old black girl who was at the center of the struggle for integration of schools in Louisiana back in 1960, as told by the adult Ruby looking back. There are lots of news photos and excerpts of newspaper articles about the event, as little Ruby entered formerly all-white William Frantz Public School as its only student that fall. Eventually white parents started letting their children return, but Ruby was still taught separately by a compassionate white teacher from Boston. You can’t help feel the hatred and shamefulness of those who protested so passionately and venomously against black and white children attending the same schools.
Last year I read The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles, a biography for younger readers. I didn’t realize at the time that he had been the child psychiatrist who had helped Ruby through her stressful ordeal. Her story is both heartbreaking and inspiring, even after so many decades.

STRANDED AT PLIMOUTH PLANTATION - Gary Bowen (81)
©1994 This is the journal of a 13-year-old orphan boy whose ship, bound for Jamestown, Virginia in 1626, is shipwrecked off the New England coast. Christopher Sears must remain at Plimouth Plantation until another ship arrives which can take him and the 25 other castaways on to Jamestown. While he’s there, Christopher learns to make woodcuts, with which he illustrates his journal. I assume this is historical fiction, as the author also made the gorgeous hand-colored woodcuts that add so much interest to a book rich with early colonial customs, superstitions and way of life.

THE SEARCH AFTER HAPINESS - Charlotte Bronte (48)
©1969 (but written in 1829) This short novella was written by 13-year-old Charlotte Bronte who grew up to be a famous English novelist and poet, most renowned for her book Jane Eyre. It’s a simple tale about a man who leaves those he loves behind to search for happiness.
Despite the misspelling (as seen in the title and elsewhere throughout the book), improper punctuation , and run-on sentences, the writing was surprisingly mature and poetic. This might be because the Bronte children didn’t have children’s books to read when they were growing up, but read extensively from their father’s library.