Archive | September 2007

Children’s Fiction of 2007: The Lacemaker and the Princess by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Sep18

I like historical fiction. I’m fascinated by the French Revolution. Kimberly Brubaker Bradley’s The Lacemaker and the Princess is an excellent fictional introduction to the inequities that gave rise to the Revolution and fueled its violence.

Isabelle is an eleven year old lacemaker in the town of Versailles, just like her mother and her grandmother and her grandmother’s mother before her. One day she is saved from being trampled by a crowd of courtiers by none other than Marie Antionette herself, and Isabelle becomes Clochette, playmate to Madame Royale, the princess Therese. (Clochette, according to the princess, is a much more fashionable name than Isabelle, so Clochette she is.) Isabelle travels between her lower class tradesman’s home and the palace of Versailles, and the contrast between the two becomes more and more disturbing and confusing. The more Isabelle tries to justify to herself and to her brother George the luxuries of the palace, the more she realizes that things are not as they should be. The king is oblivious and indecisive. The queen is obsessed with play-acting and insensitive to the suffering of the common people. Therese lives an ignorant and sheltered life within the walls of the royal palace. Only Isabelle is able to bridge the gap and see both the court and the city as the talk of revolution becomes louder and more impossible to ignore.

This story was inspired by a real girl who was the daughter of a chambermaid and a bailiff, brought up to be the companion of Marie-Therese, the eldest daughter of Louis VII and Marie Antionette. And Ms. Brubaker doesn’t “chicken out”; the story continues all the way through the arrest and imprisonment of the royal family and a note at the end tells what happened to each of the historical figures in the story.

Good story. Any children who like to read about kings and queens, and historical tragedies, and how people lived long ago will enjoy this particular story of tragic king who couldn’t make up his mind, a tragic queen who didn’t understand the time and place she lived in, and a princess who was trapped in the family and the role to which she was born.

The Legendary Apple

Sep17

The Greek hero Heracles, as a part of his Twelve Labours, was required to travel to the Garden of the Hesperides and pick the golden apples off the tree growing at its center.

The Greek goddess of discord, Eris, became disgruntled after she was excluded from the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. In retaliation, she tossed a golden apple inscribed Kallisti (‘For the most beautiful one’), into the wedding party. Three goddesses claimed the apple: Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. Paris of Troy was appointed to select the recipient. After being bribed by both Hera and Athena, Aphrodite tempted him with the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen of Sparta. He awarded the apple to Aphrodite, thus indirectly causing the Trojan War.

Atalanta, also of Greek mythology, raced all her suitors in an attempt to avoid marriage. She outran all but Hippomenes, who defeated her by cunning, not speed. Hippomenes knew that he could not win in a fair race, so he used three golden apples (gifts of Venus, the Goddess of love) to distract Atalanta. It took all three apples and all of his speed, but Hippomenes was finally successful, winning the race and Atalanta’s hand.

The Irish say that if an apple is peeled into one continuous ribbon and thrown behind a woman’s shoulder, it will land in the shape of the future husband’s initials.

Snow White is killed, or put into a deep sleep, by choking on a poisoned apple given to her by her stepmother. She is awakened by the kiss of the prince.

In Arthurian legend, the mythical isle of Avalon’s name is believed to mean ‘isle of apples’.

The Swiss hero William Tell is supposed to have shot an apple off his son’s head.

Any more apples in myth or legend?

Children’s Fiction of 2007: Spelldown by Karen Luddy

Sep17

Subtitled “The Big Time Dreams of a Small-Town Word Whiz”, this book piqued my interest because Brown Bear Daughter and I are interested in words and in spelling bees. According to the author’s note, Spelldown is Karen Luddy’s first novel, and I would say it shows some promise. However, in the end, I just couldn’t figure out the novel’s main character, which was somewhat disconcerting and off-puttting.

At first, I thought Karlene, the afore-mentioned word whiz, was a brat. She has a mouth and an attitude, and I actually said to myself, “What has this brat got to complain about?” Her older sister is marrying a guy Karlene doesn’t like. Big deal. Then, the story turned into an unorthodox-teacher-changes-my-life tale: “I, Amanda Harrison, am and extraordinary individual who fully intends to transform each and every one of you knuckleheads into a scholar of Latin by the end of the year, no matter how much suffering it causes.” Karlene is inspired, and she decides to win the county spelling bee.

THEN, we find out that Karlene does have family issues to complain about, Ms. Harrison is practically perfect in every way, and a teacher still can’t take the place of parents no matter how flawed they may be. Karlene wins a spelling bee or two and manages to find time for young love in the person of Billy Ray Jenkins.

I don’t know. It’s O.K. It just wasn’t quite there, if you know what I mean. I’d recommend you stick with Akeela and the Bee.

Constitution Titles for Constitution Day

Sep16

This year Constitution Day is Monday, September 17. Educational institutions receiving funding through the Department of Education are required to participate by holding educational programs pertaining to the U.S. Constitution. I think this particular instance of unwarranted interference by the federal government in educational affairs is probably unconstitutional, but well-meaning and perhaps helpful. At any rate, if you want to introduce students to the U.S. Constitution and its meaning, here are some titles to help you to do so:

Miracle at Philadelphia by Catherine Drinker Bowen. Subtitled “The Story of the Constitutional Convention May to September 1787,” this book is the one that gave me the story of the US constitution. It’s suitable for older readers, at least middle school age, but it’s historical writing at its best. I loved reading about Luther Martin of Maryland, whom Henry Adams described as “the notorious reprobate genius.” Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts who was”always satisfied to shoot an arrow without caring about the wound he caused.” (Both Gerry and Martin refused to sign the final version of the Constitution.) Of course, there were Madison, known as the Father of the Constitution, George Washington, who presided over the convention in which all present knew that they were creating a presidency for him to fill, and Ben Franklin, the old man and elder statesman who had to be carried to the convention in a sedan chair. Ms. Bowen’s book brings all these characters and more to life and gives the details of the deliberations of the constitutional convention in readable and interesting format.

A More Perfect Union: The Story of Our Constitution by Betsy Maestro; illustrated by Guilio Maestro.

If You Were There When They Signed the Constitutionby Elizabeth Levy; illustrated by Joan Holub.

Shh! We’re Writing the Constitution by Jean Fritz; illustrated by Tomie dePaola.

We the Kids: The Preamble to the Constitution of the United States Illustrated by David Catrow.

We the People: The Story of Our Constitution by Peter Spier.

Great Little Madison by Jean Fritz.

Cobblestone: Celebrating Our Constitution. Cobblestone Publishing, September 1987. (magazine for kids)

Cobblestone: The Constitution of the United States. Cobblestone Publishing, September 1982. (magazine for kids)

Constitution Day resources for libraries from the Colorado Department of Education.

Celebrate the Constitution game.

Announcement of federal legislation concerning Constitution Day from The Federal Register.

Anne Bradstreet Day: September 16

Sep16

Anne Bradstreet, a 17th century Puritan, is widely considered to be the first American poet. Her exact birth date is not known; September 16th marks the day of her death in 1672.

I posted this part of a poem by Anne Bradstreet last September, but no one has volunteered to set it to music yet.

As for this poem, I imagine many authors may feel this way when sending forth a book into the world:

The Author To Her Book by Anne Bradstreet

Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain,
Who after birth did’st by my side remain,
Till snatcht from thence by friends, less wise than true,
Who thee abroad exposed to public view,
Made thee in rags, halting to th’ press to trudge,
Where errors were not lessened (all may judge).
At thy return my blushing was not small,
My rambling brat (in print) should mother call.
I cast thee by as one unfit for light,
The visage was so irksome in my sight,
Yet being mine own, at length affection would
Thy blemishes amend, if so I could.
I washed thy face, but more defects I saw,
And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.
I stretcht thy joints to make thee even feet,
Yet still thou run’st more hobbling than is meet.
In better dress to trim thee was my mind,
But nought save home-spun cloth, i’ th’ house I find.
In this array, ‘mongst vulgars may’st thou roam.
In critic’s hands, beware thou dost not come,
And take thy way where yet thou art not known.
If for thy father askt, say, thou hadst none;
And for thy mother, she alas is poor,
Which caused her thus to send thee out of door.

Madeleine L’Engle: In Her Own Words

Sep16

“Artists of all disciplines must be willing to go into the dark, let go control, be surprised.”

“We die alone. But I wish that most deaths today did not come in nursing homes or in hospitals. Death is an act which should not happen in such brutal settings. Future generations may well regard our hopitals and “rest” homes and institutions for the mentally ill with as much horror as we regard Bedlam.” The Summer of the Great-Grandmother, p. 41.

” . . . it comes to me that if I am not free to accept guilt when I do wrong, then I am not free at all. If all my mistakes are excused, if there’s an alibi, a rationalization, for every blunder, then I am not free at all. I have become subhuman.” The Summer of the Great-Grandmother, p. 50.

“Change is a basic law of life, and when change stops, death comes.” The Summer of the Great-Grandmother, p. 105.

“It would be simpler to restrict myself to the things I can hear and see and touch, to the things I can prove, to the things I can control.” The Summer of the Great-Grandmother, p. 122.

“So according to our human perception of time a century may seem long, but all that has happened since that first moment of creation is no more than the flicker of God’s eye. In the life span of a star, an ordinary star like our sun, our lives are such a fragment of a fragment as to seem practically nonexistent, even if we live four score years and ten, like my mother, or even five score, like my grandfather. So, according to one perception of time, the zealous creationists are right—God created everything in an instant—or, rather, seven days; and according to another perception of time, the pragmatic evolutionists are right, and life has evolved slowly over our chronological millennia.” And It Was Good.

“What I believe is so magnificent, so glorious, that it is beyond finite comprehension. To believe that the universe was created by a purposeful, benign Creator is one thing. To believe that this Creator took on human vesture, accepted death and mortality, was tempted, betrayed, broken, and all for love of us, defies reason. It is so wild that it terrifies some Christians who try to dogmatize their fear by lashing out at other Christians, because tidy Christianity with all answers given is easier than one which reaches out to the wild wonder of God’s love, a love we don’t even have to earn.” Penguins and Golden Calves, p. 31.

“Prayer was never meant to be magic,” Mother said.
“Then why bother with it?” Suzy scowled.
“Because it’s an act of love,” Mother said.
A Ring Of Endless Light, p. 288-289.

“If you want to see the stars you must go out into the country where there are no lights to dim them. But if you really want to see the stars then you must be out in the middle of the ocean. Then you can see them as the sailors and navigators saw them in the days when stars were known as very few people know them now.”
Arm of the Starfish

“What is forever? It cannot be in time, because time can be measured, and forever cannot. Time is inextricably tangled up with place, and can be measured only against place (dark of night in New York; grey of morning in Beja). Time has meaning only in relation to its position in space, the movement of a planet about a sun, of a night through stars.”
The Love Letters

“Oh, child, your language is so utterly simple and limited that it has the effect of extreme complication.” A Wrinkle in Time, p. 169.

“Progo! Help me! How can I feel love for Mr. Jenkins?”

Immediately he opened a large number of eyes very wide. “What a strange idea. Love isn’t feeling. If it were, I wouldn’t be able to love. Cherubim don’t have feelings.”
A Wind in the Door

Poetry Friday: Indwelling by T.E. Brown

Sep14

PFbutton
Although Madeleine L’Engle was a fine poet, her works are most likely still protected by copyright. So instead of one of her poems, I give you a poem by Thomas Brown that formed a significant anchoring thematic element in the book A Ring of Endless Light.

Concholigia Iconica, 1843-1878

If thou could’st empty all thyself of self
Like unto a shell dishabited
Then might He find thee on the ocean shelf
And say, ‘This is not dead,’
And fill thee with Himself instead.

But thou art all replete with very thou
And has such shrewd activity
That when He comes He says, ‘This is enou
Unto itself–’twere better let it be.
It is so small and full, there is no room for me.”
–Thomas Brown

The poem was written, by the way, by Thomas Edward Brown, b. 1830, not by the Sir Thomas Browne, b. 1605, who wrote Religio Medici and Urn Burial.

To This Great Stage of Fools: Born September13th

Sep13

Carol Kendall, b. 1937. I loved The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall (b. September 13, 1917) when I was a child, and I still remember images and ideas from it. For instance, I’ve always had a desire to paint my front door red or orange or yellow. And I sort of like being different–sometimes just for the sake of difference. The Gammage Cup was published in 1959. The story of five non-conformist Minnipins who become unlikely heroes probably hit a nerve in the non-conformist sixties, but it’s still a great story. The Periods, stodgy old conservatives with names such as Etc. and Geo., are wonderful parodies of those who are still caught up in the forms and have forgotten the meanings. And Muggles, Mingy, Gummy, Walter the Earl, and Curley Green, the Minnipins who don’t quite fit in and who paint their doors colors other than green, are wonderful examples of those pesky artistic/scientific types who live just outside the rules of polite society. One of them, Muggles I think, isn’t consciously a nonconformist nor an artist; she just gets caught up in the adventures of the others and finds out that she, too, has her own desires and dreams and talents.

Today is also the birthday of Else Holmelund Minarik, b. 1920, author of the Little Bear stories for beginning readers. What is your favorite Little Bear story? I really like A Kiss for Little Bear in which Little Bear’s grandmother gets some friends to deliver a kiss to Little Bear. The kiss unfortunately gets “all mixed-up” when a pair of lovestruck skunks keeps exchanging the kiss instead of delivering it, but everything turns out all right in the end. I also like the quote from Little Bear’s grandfather when Little Bear suggests that Grandfather might be tired and need a rest. “Me–tired? How can you make me tired? I’m never tired,” says Grandfather, just before he falls asleep in his lawn chair. Then, there’s the story of how Little Bear visits the moon and comes back in time for supper. Oh, yes, and I love Little Bear’s Friend about Little Bear’s friendship with Emily. Little Bear is about as fun and as profound as Frog and Toad. Who ever said that children’s books were boring or unchallenging? They have to be better than adult books so that we can enjoy reading them over and over again until they’re memorized.

Also born on this date in 1916 was Roald Dahl, author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach. To tell the truth, Dahl is too gross-out icky for my tastes, but lots of kids and adults love his books.

Finally, Mildred Taylor, b. 1943, is the author of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry which won the Newbery Award in 1977. It’s the story of Cassie Logan, a black girl growing up in Mississippi in the 1930′ during the Great Depression.

A Sweet Year

Sep12

Rosh Hashanah, the celebration of the Jewish New Year, begins tonight at sundown. Rosh Hashanah meals often include apples and honey, a symbol of a sweet new year.

I think we’ll have our own snack of apples and honey tomorrow and discuss the significance of Rosh Hashanah and the Feast of Trumpets for both Jews and Christians.

Leviticus 23:24 (NIV): “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts.'”
Numbers 29:1-6: ‘On the first day of the seventh month hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. It is a day for you to sound the trumpets.
As an aroma pleasing to the Lord, prepare a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect.
With the bull prepare a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil; with the ram, two-tenths;
and with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth.
Include one male goat as a sin offering to make atonement for you.
These are in addition to the monthly and daily burnt offerings with their grain offerings and drink offerings as specified. They are offerings made to the Lord by fire–a pleasing aroma.

Wikipedia on Rosh Hashanah.

Remembering Madeleine

Sep11

John Podhoretz: “. . . she had about her an almost supernatural grace, suitable to someone who was a very serious churchgoing Episcopalian and the author of several novels for adults about the difficulties and joys of faith.”

Dan Wilt: “We will miss you, Madeleine. May the doors of heaven open to you more gloriously than any of the pictures you painted with words. You’ve been an artful Healer and Tender Of Souls, a Raiser Of Imaginations and Blender Of Worlds. Thank you for giving us your very best.”

Ann Bartholomew: “When I look back on my childhood reading, it’s her books I see stacked on my shelf within easy reach. I read and read and re-read the stories of Meg and Charles Wallace Murry (and, of course, Calvin O’Keefe) more times than I can recall.”

Magistramater: “When something reminds me of Madeleine, I call it L’English. It’s one of the most delightful words in my personal lexicon.”

Sundial Girl: “I come back to the novels at least once a year to pay homage to the woman who opened my eyes to the magic outside the boundaries of this world, who taught me that science and fantasy can exist in one world. She taught me the meaning of words, of names, of the act of naming.”

LD Wheeler: “I appreciated her as a woman of deep (specifically, Christian) faith who acknowledged deep doubts; who saw something almost sacramental in the little things and tasks of life, like cooking a meal or making music.”

Laurel Snyder, Slate: “Nothing was enough for L’Engle. As an author, she danced with demanding philosophical questions and toyed with quantum physics. She wrote about faith with devotion, dabbled in ethics, psychology, myth, art, politics and nature. And she blended everything into stories that describe the crushing complexity of a child’s life in this century.”

Darla D. at Books and Other Thoughts: “As I child I loved to lose myself in stories about the Austin family because it was the kind of family I longed to have, and those books were a safe but stimulating place to think and learn about life.”

BooksforKidsBlog: “Like C. S. Lewis before her, L’Engle brought a hard-headed Christian mysticism to the task of writing for children. She was not afraid to draw upon religious and mythical symbols to tell her stories . . . ”

Jeffrey Overstreet: “On Thursday night, at the age of 88, Madeleine L’Engle made her journey through a wrinkle in time and space. And I feel that I lost a grandmother and a mentor.”

Thom at The Culture Beat: “Her words of wisdom will continue to impact future generations of artists, and no one articulated the relationship between faith and art better than she.”

Left Coast Mama: “Of all the books I own, my Madeline L’Engle Collection is very tired looking and dog-eared. I have lost count of how many times I have re-read all of them.”

Melissa Hart: “Spirituality informs all of L’Engle’s books, but I suspect that she, like her characters, had a horror of the word “pious.” To the people who frequented her books, religion meant something other than showing up at church once a week. It meant living a life infused with gratitude.”

Leigh: “One of the books that most changed my life is Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time. (It also, apparently, did so for Sawyer in LOST. Woo!)”

D.W. Congdon: “My favorite works by L’Engle are her books of nonfiction, particularly Penguins and Golden Calves, The Rock That Is Higher: Story as Truth, and Walking on Water: Personal Reflections. These books reward multiple readings. L’Engle’s wisdom and spiritual insight is on full display in these works, as she discusses art, literature, faith, Scripture, worship, and love in ways that are both deeply moving and profoundly theological.”

LivingSmall: “It’s been years since I’ve looked at any of these books, but I remember them vividly as a series that glowed like a beacon, gave me hope that perhaps it was actually possible to live a good life, to raise kids, write, build a marriage, and find some sort of faith that wasn’t blind, but was a faith that required all of one’s intellect.”

Gina at AmoXcalli has more links to media coverage, obituaries, and blogger reaction.

And this discussion of L’Engle’s life and work at Phantom Scribbler isn’t a remembrance; it was posted a year and a half ago. Nevertheless, it’s a good meeting of Madeleine L’Engle fans and readers. I think you’ll enjoy the discussion if you read through the comments.