Book Review Roundup #6
August 23, 2024
Hannah's Children: The Women Quietly Defying the Birth Dearth by Catherine Ruth Pakaluk
This book wasn’t what I was expecting when I first heard about it. Written by a Catholic mother of eight children who is also a business school professor with a doctorate in economics, the book begins with what you would expect from a research professor: an academic recital of the facts surrounding the declining birth rates, both in the U.S. and globally. Ms. Pakaluk writes about how the birth rate is very rapidly declining to below replacement level in almost all parts of the world and about the effects of those declining birth rates on the global economy and on political stability. Then, she tells us why she decided to do a “qualitative study” of women who are bucking the trend toward families with fewer and fewer children. She interjects some personal anecdotes and observations, but the first 60 or so pages of the book are mostly academic and statistical facts given as background and justification for what becomes a fascinating story of women who have purposefully chosen to have more than four children.
War Horse by Michael Morpurgo
Two books have made me cry in front of my class while reading aloud. One was Little Britches, the other was War Horse by Michael Morpurgo. It’s not that I only cry about horses. It is the suffering of innocent creatures that gets me. In the case of War Horse, it is also the senselessness of war, WWI in particular. The clash of the technology of two different centuries makes for particularly gruesome situations.
My intent is not to make sure you never read this book. It is to try to explain some of its power. I’ve heard different comments about the intensity of the story. I also hope to give you some details to help you discern whether this might be a good fit for you or your family.
Dear Peter Rabbit by Alma Flor Ada and illustrated by Leslie Tryon
1994 Parents’ Choice Honor Winner, Dear Peter Rabbit by Alma Flor Ada and illustrated by Leslie Tryon is a clever and comical story about the friendship between some of the most famous storybook characters. It reminds me strongly of The Jolly Postman but is well suited to children in its humor and practicality (none of the cute letters and things to pull out and get lost).
Katje the Windmill Cat by Gretchen Woelfle
“On November 5, 1421, St. Elizabeth Day, a violent storm blew in from the North Sea, breaking through the dikes and flooding a small village in South Holland. Katje the Windmill Cat is based on a true story of the Elizabeth’s Day Flood. A cat and a little baby did live through that terrible flood.”
Knights Besieged by Nancy Faulkner
This historical fiction novel, published in 1964, is set on the island of Rhodes during the siege of Rhodes in 1522. The Knights of St. John, or Knights Hospitallers, whose headquarters is on the Greek island of Rhodes, are besieged by the Ottoman Turks under the leadership of Suleiman the Magnificent. The battle will decide who will control trade and commerce in the eastern Mediterranean Sea for the immediate future as well as its being a religious war between the Muslim Turks and the Christian (Catholic) Knights.
Our protagonist, Jeffrey Rohan, is an English merchant’s son, fourteen years old, and an escaped former slave of the Sultan Suleiman. After his escape from Constantinople, Jeffrey ends up by accident on the island Rhodes and finds that he cannot leave since the city of Rhodes is under siege. Jeffrey takes solace in his prayers and his belief in the courage and piety of the Knights Hospitallers, but he is also aware, in a way that his friends are not, of the strength and overwhelming numbers of the Turkish force.
Bambi by Felix Salten
Oh, Bambi! I had no idea. My husband inherited his dad’s copy of Felix Salten’s Bambi, so it was in our family library until we passed it on to our son. Though my husband assured me that it was nothing like the cartoon, for over 30 years I resisted reading it. I assumed that since I hadn’t read it as a child, it wouldn’t be worth my time as an adult. I knew it couldn’t be just like the Disney version. No book I know of has survived Disney-fication intact. But I still expected a less than stimulating read. I didn’t believe an author could maintain my interest in a baby deer throughout an entire novel, and I assumed Salten would rely heavily on manipulating my emotions. After all, we know Bambi’s mother dies. And there’s the terror of that devastating, man-caused forest fire.
Dodsworth in New York by Tim Egan
Dodsworth first encounters the duck in this book in the first chapter at Hodges’ Cafe. The duck is at first Hodges’ duck, and he’s a crazy, pancake-throwing, runaway duck who stows away in Dodsworth’s trunk. Dodsworth is on his way to New York City, from thence to embark on a journey to see the world. But Dodsworth can’t get rid of the crazy duck who becomes the key to adventure in a series of books: Dodsworth in Rome, Dodsworth in Paris, Dodsworth in London, and Dodsworth in Tokyo.
A Town Like Alice by Neville Shute
Neville Shute’s A Town Like Alice is a long, intricate, emotional, and deeply fascinating look at life during Japanese occupation and post-war life after much destruction. But even more than that, it is a story about the search for vocation. Our favorite characters in this novel endure incredible, unthinkable, suffering during the Japanese occupation of Malaysia during WWII. At the risk of sounding cliché, what did not kill them, made them so much stronger. Ordinary people living through extraordinary circumstances discovered something about themselves that could only be uncovered under extreme pressure.
Magic in the Margins by W. Nikola-Lisa
The author information on the dust jacket of Magic in the Margins says, “Mr. Nikola-Lisa’s interest in medieval bookmaking began many years ago as a second grade teacher, when he ended each year with a unit on the Middle Ages.”
In his preface, Nikola-Lisa says his inspiration for this book came from an illustration in another book; Bibles and Bestiaries: A Guide to Illuminated Manuscripts, by Elizabeth B Wilson. The illustration shows a scribe watching a mouse stealing his cheese, but also includes a picture of the scribe’s young apprentice. Nikola-Lisa began to wonder about the apprentice’s life.
He Went With Hannibal by Louise Andrews Kent
He Went With Hannibal is everything you ever wanted to know about Hannibal and his wars with Rome, encased in the story of a fictional Spanish companion and spy named Brecon. Brecon comes to Hannibal in Spain as a hostage at the age of thirteen and remains Hannibal’s loyal friend and servant throughout his life. Hannibal’s famous crossing of the Alps—with elephants–and his march to the gates of Rome as well as all of the battles, both victories and defeats, are all described vividly and in detail, but not so much detail as to get bogged down in minutiae. Brecon gathers information for Hannibal and goes everywhere and meets everyone of note, including Archimedes, Hannibal’s brothers, Hasdrubal and Mago, Fabius Maximus, Marcellus, Flaminius, Scipio Africanus, and of course, Hannibal himself.
Read for the 1964 Project. Available in reprint edition from Living Book Press.
Cautionary Review: Percy Jackson Books
As I have read through many book lists, I have noticed a trend toward the inclusion of the Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan. Honestly, that perplexes me. I have read all of the first two Percy Jackson series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Heroes of Olympus. At first, I loved the books. As the series progressed, however, I began to realize that it was fraught with problems. If you are a family who loves Percy, feel free to disagree with me and stop reading here. If you are a family trying to discern whether or not to include Percy in your family diet, I would like to share some of my concerns.
Landmark Book: The Story of D-Day: June 6, 1944 by Bruce Bliven
I saw “Saving Private Ryan” as a teen. Once you have seen that film, you will never forget what the beaches of Normandy looked like. And if you are like me, you may try to avoid reading a lot more about the invasion because of how tragic it was. Bruce Bliven’s The Story of D-Day: June 6, 1944 helped me. There is nothing that can make this story less tragic, but there is much that can help us celebrate the heroes who made sure that the losses were not in vain.
Very much like reading Wyatt Blassingame’s Combat Nurses of WWII or his Medical Corps Heroes of WWII, this book made me cry tears of pride for the men who stormed those beaches. The first half of the book sets the stage and focuses on the insane bravery of the First Wave (as it should). The last half of the book highlights individual heroes who refused to admit defeat even when everyone around him was stalled, pinned down, and about ready to give up.
The Enigma Girls by Candace Fleming
The majority of the staff at Bletchley Park were actually women. From the cryptographers to the indexers, they dominated the park. And more incredible still the vast majority of them were between the ages of 17 and 21. What those young women did was unbelievable. The work of the thousands of Wrens (Women’s Royal Navy) who spent hours working on the hated mechanical computers referred to as the Bombs, was no less impressive than the cryptographers, who every day broke the Enigma setting.
Life Shop by Margi McAllister
This book is a brilliant example of good children’s literature. It is good, wholesome and very intriguing. Once I picked it up I couldn’t put it down. Lorna was the kind of character I could relate to. She wants to do the right thing, but isn’t quite sure what the right thing is. She plays the piano, and has dreams of being a famous musician! All in all, this book is a treasure and one that will remain a favorite on my shelf forever.
Jenny: The Airplane That Taught America to Fly
Jennys were used to teach many famous American and English pilots, including Amelia Earhart, to fly. When the Jenny was first invented, there were no organized airports. Instead the pilot would have to find an open field. Of course, landing in a field had its hazards, requiring the pilots to fly over the chosen landing spot many times to ensure there were no obstacles. To make things even harder the Jenny’s gas tank was not very large, making long flights very difficult. Her wings had originally been made of cloth, but after a few crashes due to rain and snow soaking through the wings, the cloth was coated in oil. But despite her many challenges, the Jenny was beloved.