Book Review Roundup #5
August 9, 2024
For the Glory: Eric Liddell's Journey from Olympic Champion to Modern Martyr by Duncan Hamilton
Everyone knows about Eric Liddell, Olympic gold medalist, Chariots of Fire, missionary to China. At least, everyone thinks they know the story of his life. I even knew the basic outline, up to to and including his death during World War II in a Japanese internment camp in China.
Nevertheless, the legacy of this one man is hard to appreciate without reading something like Hamilton’s 350 page biography in which every single person interviewed or quoted has nothing but good to say of Eric Liddell, a truly selfless follower of Jesus Christ throughout a servant’s life and to a sacrificial and difficult death in Weihsien Internment Camp in February, 1945.
Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs, translated by Randall Jarrell and illustratedby Nancy Ekholm Burkert
Born in 1977, I grew up on the “original” Disney princesses and Snow White was my favorite. I did have the benefit of knowing that the Disney movies were just “modern” versions or interpretations of Old World fairy tales. Published in 1972 and awarded a Caldecott Honor, I am shocked that I do not remember ever having seen this particular version of Snow-White before. This is gorgeous!
From The Good Mountain by James Rumford
This book is an exquisite introduction to the world-changing advent of machine-printed books. It would also be an excellent starting point for a discussion with older children. Every invention that has been hailed as progress by many has also been met with dire warnings by some. Ancient philosophers cautioned that writing would be the ruin of man’s memory, and in some ways, that has proven true.
Secret Castle by Anne Colver
Molly-O and Pip are horse-loving, pet owning, ice cream eating, giggly, and adventurous girls (about ten years old, although the book never tells their exact ages) who “set off to solve the mystery of a lost legacy.” Actually, the girls spend most of their time in the first half to three-quarters of the book looking for a mystery to solve and learning to row a boat and fish. They get to know a young man named Christie who takes the girls and Molly’s father out on his boat to learn to catch fish. Soon the girls also learn that Christie has a rather sad secret, and they are impelled to solve a mystery and help Christie find a fortune.
Under the Cover of Mercy by Rebecca Connolly
Last this month I reviewed Hidden Yellow Stars by Rebecca Connolly and celebrated it as being perfect for the “hopeful stories from WWII” category. When I finished, I went looking to see what else she had written and was delighted to see that she had a historical fiction novel that was released last year about Edith Cavell and WWI. I instantly grabbed it. My Greta loves Edith Cavell and here at Plumfield, we have been actively looking for more WWI novels that would be appropriate for teen readers. Under the Cover of Mercy absolutely fits the bill.
The Christmas Rocket by Anne Molloy
This is an endearing story made truly lovely by the illustrations. It is possible not to notice at first that many of them are little more than rough sketches. But they are extremely expressive sketches that convey a sense of place that draws you right into a little 1950s Italian village and lets you walk around in it with Dino and his father.
Stubby the Dog Soldier: World War I Hero by Blake Hoena
A common comment that either Diane, Tanya, Sarah or I make on “Our Reading Life” is how rich WWII literature is and how challenging it is to find excellent WWI stories that can be shared with children. Keeping that at heart, I have been actively looking for gems that we can recommend to families that will introduce this complicated and hard war to our children. This summer I had the joy of reading two dog-themed WWI picture books that I can wholeheartedly recommend. The first is, Stubby the Dog Soldier: World War I Hero by Blake Hoena and illustrated by Oliver Hurst. (You can read that review here.) The second is Rags: Hero Dog of WWI by Margot Theis Raven and illustrated by Petra Brown.
Rags: Hero Dog of WWI by Margot Theis Raven
A common comment that either Diane, Tanya, Sarah or I make on “Our Reading Life” is how rich WWII literature is and how challenging it is to find excellent WWI stories that can be shared with children. Keeping that at heart, I have been actively looking for gems we can recommend to families that will introduce this complicated and hard war to our children. This summer I had the joy of reading two dog-themed WWI picture books I can wholeheartedly recommend. The first is, Stubby the Dog Soldier: World War I Hero by Blake Hoena and illustrated by Oliver Hurst. The second is Rags: Hero Dog of WWI by Margot Theis Raven and illustrated by Petra Brown.
A Long Road on a Short Day by Gary D. Schmidt
“Early on a white January morning, Samuel’s mother said, ‘I do wish we had a brown-eyed cow to give us milk for the baby.’”
So Papa sets out to get Mama a cow, and Samuel goes with him. “‘Keep up,’ said Samuel’s father. He looked up at the gray clouds. ‘It’s a long road on a short day.’”
This beautiful book is a collaboration between Gary D. Schmidt and his late wife Anne, whose pen name was Elizabeth Stickney. And, of course, with the illustrator, Eugene Yelchin. His folk-art style exactly suits the story.
The Letter on the Tree by Natalie Savage Carlson
Bébert is a ten year old French Canadian boy who lives with his family on a small dairy farm in Quebec. The family is poor, and although Bébert longs for an accordion like the one he has heard played on the family’s radio, his Papa says that they are too poor to buy one from Pére Noel (Father Christmas). Mamie says that it is God’s will that they are so poor, but perhaps if they work hard, it won’t always be God’s will to keep them in poverty. Bébert tries to think of ways to make the cows that they have give more milk or ways for Papa to earn more money, but none of his ideas work out—until the day that Bébert goes with his Papa to cut Christmas trees to sell. Bébert gets the wonderful idea of writing a letter to whoever gets one of the trees, asking for an accordion for the poor little French boy in Canada whose family is too poor to provide a Christmas gift. Of course, the poor little French boy is Bébert himself.
The Great Kettles: A Tale of Time by Dean Morrissey
The illustration in this one immediately got my attention, but since it had a longish amount of text, I handed the book to my seventeen-year-old engineering-type son to preview while I read through a massive stack of shorter picture books. Michael is not much of a fiction reader and even less of a picture book reader. This one, however, grabbed hold of him, and he insisted that it come home with us. Then, when I was getting ready to run it through our intake process and just shelve it, he stopped me and insisted that I take the few necessary minutes and let myself fall in love with it too. Boy, was he right!
Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt by Gary D. Schmidt
In nearly every review Sara and I have written for Gary D. Schmidt’s books, we have used the word hard to describe the situations his characters encounter. Orbiting Jupiter takes hard to a new level.
In this interview with Schmidt after Okay for Now was published, he talks about an experience at a book club for reluctant readers in a medium security prison. The boys in the book club were between the ages of twelve and fourteen – six from the medium security prison, six brought in from a maximum security prison. Schmidt says, “This book began in a prison, quite literally.”
Though ugly things happen in this book, it is not an ugly story. This is a story about friendship, and the power of love.
Ten Black Dots by Donald Crews
What can you do with ten black dots? Donald Crews, the Caldecott Honor illustrator and the creator of the books Harbor and Freight Train, both Picture Book Preschool books, wrote and illustrated this fun introduction to basic math concepts. The author-illustrator uses ten black dots to form basic elements of many pictures–one dot can make a sun, two can be a fox’s eyes, and nine can be pennies in a piggy bank. The text is plain, rhyming and rhythmic.
Heckedy Peg by Audrey Wood and illustrated by Don Wood
Published in 1987, Heckedy Peg by Audrey Wood and illustrated by Don Wood is a gorgeous new book with an old-fashioned fairy tale feel. The illustration is vibrant, full of movement, and texture, and the story is completely charming. This story of a mother and her children is a perfect bedtime story.
The Giant Jam Sandwich by John Vernon Lord and Janet Burroway
The setting is the English village of Itching Down. The characters are a full cast of English villagers: Mayor Muddlenut, Baker Bap, Farmer Seed, and more. The problem is wasps, millions of wasps. Tis’ a puzzlement . . . until Bap the Baker proposes a giant strawberry jam trap. Funny and clever at the same time, this tall tale in rhyme plays out with grace and humor and ties up all the loose ends on the final page.
One Thousand Tracings by Lita Judge
The Kramers were grateful for the gifts and asked that Elva’s family would now help others in need. Dr. Kramer sent a list of ten families and included tracings of their feet, hoping shoes could be found for them.
Judge learned the story when she discovered a box of foot tracings in her grandmother’s attic. Then her mother began to remember details. Now Judge shares with us the story of regular people who quietly helped thousands of suffering strangers. Like many, many others of the Greatest Generation, they did it because it was the right thing to do. When the job was done, they didn’t expect to be hailed as heroes or awarded medals. Sometimes they didn’t even tell their grandchildren.
Eddie's Green Thumb by Carolyn Haywood
Carolyn Haywood’s many books about Betsy and Eddie and the 1950’s neighborhood that they live and grow in never disappoint! Eddie’s Green Thumb is just one of the many books by Haywood featuring the intrepid and inventive Eddie Wilson, who reminds me of Beaver Cleaver of Leave It to Beaver fame. In fact, despite the fact that Ms. Haywood gives us numerous illustrations depicting Eddie, he always looks a lot like Beaver in my mind as I read about Eddie’s adventures.
The Animal Hedge by Paul Fleischman and illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline
The Animal Hedge by Paul Fleischman and illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline is a delightful fairy tale about a poor farmer and his three sons. The writing is solid, the story is interesting and pleasing, and the illustration is enchanting. I am shocked that it did not at least get a Caldecott honor (but that may be because it was previously published with a different illustrator)! You can see what did win and get honored in 1997 instead at the Biblioguides Caldecott resource, here.