Book Review Roundup #11
November 8, 2024
Mistmantle: Urchin of the Riding Stars by Margaret McAllister
This story is set on a mystical (not magical) island that is populated by talking animals. It is a beautiful place where squirrels, hedgehogs, otters, and moles live in relative harmony and equality. Urchin is a foundling squirrel who was born on a momentous night – a night of riding stars (many shooting stars filling up the sky). When the story begins, the island is about to be challenged by an attack from within. A good animal will be falsely accused and banished from the island, and the rest of our friends will work to uncover the truth, protect the king, and save the island from a growing and hidden evil.
Surprised by Oxford by Carolyn Weber
The story is deceptively simple: Agnostic Canadian feminist gets a scholarship to Oxford. She is dazzled by the Oxford experience, meets a group of “serious Christians” (and others who are not Christian at all), and eventually becomes a Christian herself. The hook is that Ms. Weber tells the story of her Oxford education and conversion to Christianity with a great deal of poetic language, wordplay, puns, Brit-speak, simile, metaphor, and philosophical thought processes. It’s not always easy to follow Caro, as she is called in the story, as she winds her way through Oxford and through literature to get to Jesus.
Anson’s Way by Gary D. Schmidt
Anson’s Way, published in 1999, is Gary D. Schmidt’s fourth book, but only his second fiction novel. The Sin Eater was his first.
When the story opens, Anson Staplyton, drummer boy, is aboard ship on his way to Ireland from England where he will take his place as the seventh Staplyton to keep the king’s peace in the Staffordshire Fencibles. He has been waiting all his life to follow in the footsteps of his forefathers and win glory in battle defending the king’s realm.
Home on the Range: John A. Lomax and His Cowboy Songs by Deborah Hopkinson
John A. Lomax was an “ethnomusicologist.” In layman’s terms, picture book language, that’s a collector of folk songs. He’s of special interest to me, a Texas girl, because he collected cowboy and western folk songs, many of them songs of Texas. John Lomax was a Texas boy, born in Mississippi, but raised in good old Texas. Deborah Hopkinson’s book tells the story of how Mr. Lomax became a folk song collector and how he recorded thousands of folk songs that might be lost to history if not for his work. Lomax’s book Cowboy Songs and Frontier Ballads, published in 1910, helped to preserve songs such as “Git Along, Little Dogies” and “Sweet Betsy From Pike,” and of course, the titular song for this book, “Home on the Range.”
Brooklyn Rose by Ann Rinaldi
Brooklyn Rose follows young Southern belle Rose Frampton as she marries wealthy, older Renee in 1900 and moves to Brooklyn. Written as Rose’s diary, the story offers an intriguing historical premise but lacks depth, relying on anachronistic expressions and simplistic writing. While it seems suited for teens, adult themes like Rose’s marital intimacy feel inappropriate. Plot threads, such as a rumored plague and the importance of Rose’s horse, are introduced but left unresolved, making the story feel disjointed. When Rose’s overbearing mother-in-law arrives, Renee doesn’t defend his wife, prompting Rose to run away to test his love. Ultimately, the novel lacks the historical detail, depth, and purpose that could make it meaningful for young readers.
Miss Moore Thought Otherwise by Jan Pinborough
I recently started off on a rabbit trail that leads back through prominent librarians of the 20th Century to the first women librarians in America. These women were influential in shaping ideas about the kinds of books that should be written for children. Many of them resorted to writing children’s books themselves.
While sorting through biographies about these pioneers, this book for children came up. Not only did my library have it, but when I went to check it out the children’s librarian had set it out on a display shelf minutes before I got there. It was meant for me!
Down Ryton Water by E.R. Gaggin
Down Ryton Water is a 1942 Newbery Honor book about the Pilgrims–published back when children’s books were really meaty and challenging reads. It’s 369 pages of pilgrim wanderings and family-building and moving and rearranging and traveling and birthing and marrying.
The (sainted) Pilgrims come across as real people with personalities and foibles and humor and salty language (nothing that’s shocking for nowadays) and full lives. The book focuses on the Over family: Mother Orris Brode Over, a gardener and herbalist; Father Matt Over, a farmer; Young Matt, five years old as the story opens in Scrooby, England; and baby Remember, “the damp woman child” as Young Matt calls her.
The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio by Lloyd Alexander
While it doesn’t deliver the same magic as The Iron Ring, The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio offers a safe, gentle read with intellectual touches. Ideal for young readers interested in an unobtrusive adventure, it’s particularly suitable for a quiet afternoon. The audio is very well done.
Blue Willow by Doris Gates
Blue Willow by Doris Gates was a 1941 Newbery Honor Book. Between 1930 and 1940, Gates worked as a children’s librarian in Fresno, California, where she became familiar with many children of migrant workers during the Great Depression. One notable aspect of this book is that it is considered to be, if not the first, then one of the first realistic “problem” stories about a child. In 1945, author Howard Pease listed Doris Gates among only three children’s authors he knew of who had written “a story intimately related to this modern world, a story that takes up a modern problem and thinks it through without evasion.”
Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature by Sarah Campbell
I would pair this book with the picture book biography, Blockhead: the Life of Fibonacci by Joseph D'Agnese. Blockhead tells the story of how Fibonacci discovered the number sequence that is now named for him as well as popularized the use of Arabic numerals in the West. Even though people thought he was a head-in-the-clouds blockhead, Leonardo Fibonacci is now known as the "greatest Western mathematician of the Middle Ages." These two books together give a much more enlightening introduction to Fibonacci numbers than does either book on its own.
Lily’s Victory Garden by Helen L. Wilbur
Lily’s Victory Garden by Helen L. Wilbur tells a heartfelt WWII story of a young girl determined to start her own garden to support the war effort. When Lily learns that children can’t enter the community garden lottery, she courageously asks a grieving neighbor, Mrs. Bishop, for a garden plot in her yard. Through this shared space, Lily helps bring comfort and healing to Mrs. Bishop. Illustrated by Robert Gantt Steele, the book’s lush visuals and poignant themes of resilience and neighborly love make it a beautiful addition to the “Tales of Young Americans” series.
All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor
I didn’t read Sydney Taylor’s All-of-a-Kind Family until I was homeschooling my children. My first thought was, “Why didn’t I know about this sweet story when I was a child?” The first book in the series was published in 1951. June Cummins, who wrote the foreward for a 2014 edition of More All-of-a-Kind Family, says that at the time the first book was published, books specifically for or about Jewish characters reached a very limited audience, but that Taylor’s book changed the genre. Perhaps it just hadn’t caught on in our part of the country.
The Impossible Journey by Gloria Whelan
The Impossible Journey by Gloria Whelan is a compelling sequel to Angel on the Square, set in Soviet Russia and following the children of the original heroes. After Marya and Georgi’s parents are arrested, they are left to survive alone in a country that views their aristocratic background as a threat. Marya’s intelligence and resilience drive the siblings’ daring journey across Russia to reunite with their mother in Siberia. Along the way, they encounter a vivid cast of characters, from the compassionate to the cruel, adding richness and authenticity to their adventure. This unforgettable tale highlights resilience, family, and hope.
The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff
I finally read this book, after seeing it on lists for years, because it is in the Veritas Press Omnibus I, which I am teaching through this year. I find value in Sutcliff’s vivid picture of ancient Britain, but wouldn’t put the book on a must-read list. Though Marcus is a likable enough character, his former slave is a better example of selfless friendship than he. Marcus goes through some tough circumstances in order to reach his goal, but I was never truly concerned that he might not succeed. He did have to learn to subdue his pride and impatience in order to get to the eagle. The young girl waits faithfully for him, which I expected, but the faithfulness seems to be mostly on her side. There are signs of character growth in Marcus, but there are other stories that show this more plainly.
Sabre Jet Ace by Charles Coombs
Joseph [Mac] C. McConnell always loved planes, whether they were the model planes he flew around his hometown or the real things. And when he decides to follow his patriotic duty and join the armed forces, he decides to become a pilot. Sadly, he is too young, and the Air Force turns him away. They refer him to the army until he is old enough. He follows their recommendation and becomes a medic in the army. This book is so fast! I didn’t really realize that it wasn’t historical fiction till the end when it gave Joseph C. McConnell’s death date! It was one of my favorite books I’ve read this year.