Archive | December 2004

Historical Fiction/Historical Fact

Dec24

As I said in an earlier post, I’ve been enjoying reading several books of historical fiction by Ann Rinaldi. I wonder if Ms. Rinaldi or another writer of historical fiction has ever heard of Lady Grizel Baillie.

Born at Redbraes Castle in Merse, Scotland on Christmas Day of 1665, she was the eldest of Lady Grisel and Sir Patrick Hume’s eighteen children. As her mother’s health was frail, the care of her brothers and sisters fell on young Grisell’s shoulders and throughout her life she exhibited a strong sense of duty and responsibility. At the age of twelve, she was dispatched by her father to take a letter to the imprisoned Robert Baillie of Jerviswood and was expected to collect intelligence while inside the prison.

That’s only the beginning of her story. Grizell’s father later had to go into hiding in his own familly’s burial vault because he was suspected of being part of a plot to assassinate Charles II and his brother James. Grizell “would slip items from off the dinner table and carry them, under the cover of night, to her father’s hiding place.” The situation in Scotland became so difficult that the entire family (including all eighteen children) fled to Holland and lived there for three years. There Grizell renewed an acquaintance with the son of the prisoner to whom she had delivered the letter at age twelve, and she managed to get her parents, in spite of their initial reluctance, to consent to her marriage to George Baillie. She was also busy during this time composing a book of songs. And there’s more . . .
Spies, political intrigue, love thwarted and then triumphant–wouldn’t Lady Baillie’s life make a fantastic novel?

SNOW

Dec24

In Houston on Christmas Eve! We came out of the church at about 7:30 this evening, and there was a thin layer of snow on top of all the cars. We’ve been in Houston for nineteen years now, and most of my children have never seen snow. Only Eldest Daughter has been to Colorado and to Chicago and experienced snow. The rest have only seen pictures and movies. What a blessing!
Now we’re enjoying our traditional Christmas Eve dinner–chili cheese dip, chips, Christmas Eve salad, and punch. What an amazing Christmas Eve! It’s still snowing outside. At this rate, we’ll be making a snowman for Christmas day.

Noel Streatfield

Dec24

Noel Streatfield wrote 58 books for children, and she was born on Christmas Eve, 1895. (Now I suppose I know where the name “Noel” came from.) The “shoes” books are Ms. Streatfield’s most famous: Ballet Shoes, Theatre Shoes, Tennis Shoes, Dancing Shoes, Circus Shoes, Movie Shoes, New Shoes,, and Party Shoes, maybe more. Some of the books were apparently re-named for the American market and to take advantage of the popularity of Ballet Shoes. Ballet Shoes I can recommend without reservation. It’s a lovely story of three sisters, Pauline, Petrova, and Posy Fossil, who are determined to do something to make their surname famous. Each girl must find her own talent and her own way to uphold the Fossil name while coping with near-poverty and a very strict ballet school.

In Memory and In Honor

Dec23

Eleven years ago today I was in the hospital. Our fifth child, Joanna Kirsten, was born and died two days before this date, and I spent Christmas 1993 in the hospital recovering from a very difficult and scary premature (eight months) birth.
Ten years ago today I was in the hospital again. Brown Bear Daughter was born, safely and easily; Engineer Husband called her our “Return to Flight Baby.” She’s been flying ever since. Of course, she didn’t replace little Joanna, but she did bring a new joy and beauty to our family. We call her Brown Bear Daughter because she was the happy recipient, we theorize, of the Native American genes that come from my mother’s side of the family, brown hair, brown eyes, brown skin. She’s our drama queen, our social butterfly, our curly hair pokey bear.
Happy Birthday, Brown Bear.
See You in Heaven, Joanna Kirsten.

Books for Boys (and Girls): Christmas Edition

Dec23

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. The Herdmans take the meaning of “bad kids” to a whole new level, and when they decide to participate in the annual Christmas pageant, all h— breaks loose. The Herdmans have never experienced the Christmas story, so they put a fresh interpretation on the old story for everyone.
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George. A boy leaves his crowded home to live alone on a mountain. He builds his own home, finds his own food, and has visitors for Christmas.
Christmas in Camelot by Mary Pope Osbourne. Jack and Annie travel via the Magic Treehouse to Camelot where they go on a quest for some special gifts.

Mental Multivitamin

Dec23

Mental Multivitamin has a wonderful “un-blog” that so often seems to see into my home. Kind of scary! Today she reminds her readers to get back to reading Edith Grossman’s translation of Don Quixote in honor of the 400th anniversary of its publication. I’m one of those who bought the book early in 2004 with good intentions, and Engineer Husband and I do need to get back to it. 
Mental Multivitamin also has an occasional feature called “On the nightstand (under the pillow, in the knapsack, etc.)” She gives us a picture and commentary about what the family has been reading, skimming, browsing through, etc. In the most recent post of this nature, M-MV has a hardbound copy of Lord of the Rings, just the book that we’re referring to and re-reading around here in preparation for a marathon movie viewing around the first of the new year in honor of Tolkien’s birthday (January 3rd). As the urchins would say, Mental Multivitamin rocks!

Boys’ Books

Dec21

I’m writing a new book(let) about books for boys. I remember learning a long time ago in library school, I think, that someone had done research and learned the not-so-surprising fact that whereas most girls were willing to read books with boys as the main character(s), most pre-teen and older boys were not interested in reading books in which a girl was the protagonist. This finding translates into lots of children’s books with either a boy as the main character or a group of friends, boys and girls, as the characters. I’m making up an annotated list of either 52 or 100 classic and modern books that appeal especially to boys ages 7-11. (That doesn’t mean the girls mightn’t enjoy many of these, too.) I’ve already taken a survey around here, and these are a couple of the books that will be on the list:

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis Computer Guru Son, age 17, says this book and the series are the books that first come to mind when he thinks of his “childhood.” The main characters are four children, two boys and two girls, who travel into another place and time and experience an adventure to be envied by any red-blooded boy. Swords, battles, bravery, treachery, and the admonition “whatever happens, never forget to wipe your sword.”
Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective by Donald Sobol Encyclopedia, whose real name is Leroy, not only reads the encyclopedia, he also solves mysteries–everything from who swiped twenty-five cents to bank robberies and grand larceny. And you get a chance to solve the mystery in each chapter, too, before turning to the back of the book to find out whodunit.

Your turn. What are your boys’ favorite reads? Or what was your favorite when you were a kid of a boy?

Charles Wesley, b. 1707

Dec18

Here are the words to Charles Wesley’s lesser known Christmas hymn:

Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel’s strength and consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.

Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

My Favorite Luddite

Dec18

Eldest Daughter is fast becoming a (nonviolent) Luddite. She says I make fun of her, but I actually think she has some good ideas. However, she might want to keep in mind who the original Luddites were:

The original Luddites claimed to be led by one Ned Ludd, also known as “King Ludd” or “General Ludd”, who is believed to have destroyed two large stocking-frames that produced inexpensive stockings undercutting those produced by skilled knitters of the time. The movement spread rapidly throughout England in 1811 with many wool and cotton mills being destroyed, until the British government harshly suppressed them. The Luddites met at night on the moors surrounding the industrial towns, often practising drilling and manoeuvres. The main areas of the disturbances were Nottinghamshire in November 1811, followed by West Riding of Yorkshire in early 1812 and Lancashire in March 1812. Pitched battles between Luddites and the military occurred at Burtons’ Mill in Middleton, and at Westhoughton Mill, both in Lancashire. It was rumoured at the time that spies employed by the magistrates were involved in stirring up the attacks. Magistrates and food merchants were also objects of death threats and attacks by the anonymous General Ludd and his supporters. “Machine breaking” was made a capital crime, and seventeen men were executed in 1813. Many others were transported to Australia. From The Free Dictionary

Tolkien, Caedfael, and Lewis make much better role models. And Middle Earth is a place worth being homesick for.

Quiet Enthusiasms

Dec17

While searching for something else, I forget what, I serendipitously stumbled upon a bimonthly Australian magazine/newsletter, Bikwil, subtitled The Home of Quiet Enthusiasms. This description will give you a taste:

Bikwil celebrates quiet enthusiasms, where “quiet” implies subtlety, restraint, minimum hype, while “enthusiasm” has its usual meaning of any pursuit or interest that beguiles us. A crucial corollary of the Bikwilian approach concerns our avoidance of negativity. What we emphasise here is involvement that is mainly “positive towards . . .” and “in praise of . . .”.

Bikwil first saw the light of day in Sydney in May 1997 as a “newsletter”. Although the idea of a magazine was that of editor Tony Rogers, in a way its genesis had actually occurred a few years earlier among a group of like-minded souls. They were talking over lunch and the phrase “small dinosaur” got coined to convey the meaning “we are small creatures who enjoy waxing passionate on topics of value that most of the modern world appears to deem ‘old-fashioned’ or even ‘extinct'”.

Bikwil includes poetry, fiction, essays, a section called “Quintessential Quirky Quotes” and various and other sundry rather quiet and quirky contributions. (The editor seems to be fond of q’s, and it’s catching.) You can subscribe to the magazine online in a downloadable version for free, or you can pay to get Bikwil mailed to your door.

This entry was posted on 12/17/2004, in General.