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The Forgotten Daughter by Caroline Dale Snedeker

May14

If The Forgotten Daughter were published now, instead of in 1927, it would probably be classified as Young Adult, at least in terms of interest level. The story takes a young Greek slave girl from age twelve to seventeen as she grows up in Samnium, southern Italy, on a Roman farm villa in the second century B.C. Chloe, the slave girl, lives in a hut on the mountainside with her guardian, an older woman named Melissa. Chloe’s mother is dead, and her father, the Roman patrician and owner of the villa whom she hates, deserted her mother before Chloe was born. The first part of the book deals with the back story behind the marriage of Chloe’s parents and Chloe’s birth and enslavement.

Although The Forgotten Daughter was a Newbery Honor book, I can’t imagine anyone younger than 12 or 13 being able to read the book with enjoyment and appreciation. It took several chapters for me as an adult to be able to follow the plot and understand the deeply religious, cultural, and philosophical meanderings that the author indulges. I did eventually enjoy the insight into Roman culture and law and religion, but it took some mental adjustment to understand the purpose of the descriptions and explanations of Roman superstition, Greek religious practice, Stoicism, and Roman politics, among other subjects. (It was a bit reminiscent of Victor Hugo, Les Miserables, and the sewers of Paris, but not nearly as long as Hugo’s digressions.)

The story is a romance, but a chaste one, although there is some kissing mentioned. It’s also a story of redemption and of freedom from the bondage of hatred and of forgiveness. The author paints a vivid and memorable picture of ancient Roman family life and politics, mentioning or invoking Sappho, Plato, Euripides, the Grachi, Plutarch, and many other Roman and Greek politicians and philosophers and playwrights. Chloe grows up isolated on her father’s Roman farm property, but the politics of Rome impact her life in unexpected ways. Her journey from slavery to freedom mirrors her internal journey from hatred to forgiveness, and it’s all accomplished within a pre-Christian religious and philosophical environment that feels very true and well-researched.

Charlotte Mason educators who are following her advice and reading Plutarch with their students would find this story full of connections and insights. I recommend it for philosophical girls and stoical boys and interested adults. Available from Bethlehem Books.

The Tripods Trilogy by John Christopher

Jan10
  • The White Mountains by John Christopher, 1967.
  • The City of Gold and Lead by John Christopher, 1967.
  • The Pool of Fire by John Christopher, 1968.
  • There was also a prequel, When the Tripods Came, published in 1988.

John Christopher is a pseudonym for British author Sam Youd, who wrote a multitude of novels and short stories for both adults and children, mostly speculative fiction, although he says in this 2009 interview that he “outgrew science fiction” before he became successful at writing it.

Christopher/Youd’s most famous books are these three, written for children and young adults, about a post-apocalyptic society in Europe in which a species from another planet, called the Tripods and the Masters, have subjugated the entire Earth and almost all its inhabitants. A small group of people in the mountains of Switzerland have managed to remain free and form a resistance group. And in the White Mountains our narrator and hero, Will Parker, is determined to join the resistors before he is “capped” and made a slave to the Tripods on his fourteenth birthday.

Boys Life, the monthly magazine of the Boy Scouts of America, serialised all three books in the trilogy from May 1981 to August 1986. The BBC started making a TV series based on the books, but it only lasted through the first two before it was cancelled. The books are well known in sci-fi circles, but they have fallen out of fashion in our dystopian, high fantasy influenced, somewhat violence-laden twenty-first century science fiction reading tastes.

These books are not so much dystopian as they are post-apocalyptic. Nobody mistakenly thinks they have created the ideal world only to find out they are sadly mistaken. The people of Earth have been tricked into believing that this world is all there is, that slavery to the Tripods is inevitable and probably for the best. At least there is no war because the Tripods won’t allow it. But even in the beginning of the first book, The White Mountains, there are hints that the ancestors of these people had technology and comforts that would be useful and life-enhancing. And to all but those whose minds are capped and controlled by the Tripods, it should be obvious that the coming of the Tripods was an apocalyptic event, an invasion that made the world a worse place to live, not better.

These books definitely reminded me of the sixties with themes of the unity of all mankind, the power of technology, mind control, meeting with and understanding (or misunderstanding) alien species, and freedom fighters. I thought of Star Trek with its similar concerns and themes. Although the story holds up well, the ending of the last book is a little sad and wistful in its recognition of human dissension and and its rather forlorn hope for a future of of love, peace, and unity. Again, very sixties and “all we need is love” and “give peace a chance.”

Anyone interested in vintage science fiction and apocalyptic fiction, alien invasions, and the history of the genre, would definitely enjoy this trilogy. I probably read these books for the first time about fifty years ago, and I remembered my enjoyment of them, if not particular plot points. This time around reading Mr. Christopher’s stories was a good way to start out my reading year.

The Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander

Dec31
  • This book is marketed as middle grade fiction, perhaps because the author’s previous books were mostly middle grade verse novels, but I believe this particular historical fiction verse novel falls firmly into the Young Adult genre and maturity level. It includes horrific violence, war, and sexual assault, and even though these things are true to the time and setting and are not gratuitously described, they are present and central to the story. Caveat emptor.
  • I don’t care for verse novels. I chafe at the constrictions of writing (and reading) narrative/story in a series of free verse poems. The writing of a story in the form of a series of short poems seems choppy and incomplete to me. Write a novel, or write poems, or even a long narrative poem, but don’t try to combine them.
  • Nevertheless, as verse novels go, this one was a well-written one. There were some striking images, and the story managed to come through in spite of the limitations of the form.
  • So, The Door of No Return is a book that I would recommend to older teens and adults as a window into African/Ashanti history and the history of African slavery. I do believe that it is well-researched and valuable as a window into the origins and horror of African slavery in the nineteenth century.

With those initial thoughts given, The Door of No Return is a Young Adult verse novel set in 1860’s Ghana among the Ashanti people of that area. In the fictional region of Upper Kwanta, eleven year old Kofi lives in a village with his family and enjoys hanging out with his best friend Ebo, the stories of his grandfather Nana Mosi, his flirtation with his cousin Ana, and swimming in the river Offin. He does NOT enjoy his cousin who bullies and teases him, his teacher Mr. Goodluck Phillip who thinks learning the Queen’s English is the path to future success, or the rule that says he must never swim in the river at night.

When Kofi’s brother accidentally becomes the victim of old animosities and horrific injustice, Kofi is caught up in the violence and injustice himself. And thereby Kofi has his first direct encounter with “the wonderfuls” (white men) who perpetrate the greatest injustice of all–kidnapping and slavery.

This story is an indictment of war and greed and enslavement and hatred carried across generations. In the afterword, Mr. Alexander says that this was a hard book to write, and it is also a hard book to read.I want to deny the fact that these things happened, but I cannot. I wish that the book had been written in narrative prose with detailed descriptions of Kofi’s village and his life there. But I really wouldn’t wish for any more details than are already present in the book about the suffering and cruelty that Kofi experiences. So, maybe a verse novel was the best way to go.

Highly recommended for older teens and adults, poetry lovers, historical fiction fans, and readers concerned with the issues of injustice, hope, and endurance.

Retelling a Classic Story for Young Adults

Nov28

Sometimes an author loves a classic story so much that he or she takes that fandom and makes it into something brand new, not exactly fan fiction, but close. In the following books, the affinity for old books and authors is evident, but the story itself is something new and surprising.

A Secret Princess by Margaret Stohl and Melissa de la Cruz. Riffing on the novels of Frances Hodgson Burnett—Little Lord Fauntleroy, The Secret Garden, and A Little Princess, all three–A Secret Princess has characters Sara Crewe, Mary Lennox, and Cedric Erroll all together as students and friends at Ms. Minchin’s boarding school. Some elements of the story are a little weird, such as the rule that parents are only allowed to visit on one day once a year. What kind of school has a rule like that? Well, of course, a very bad school with things to hide. And Sara Crewe in this story is a Filipina girl, which is fine but over-emphasized. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the story. No ugly language or sex, but racism is a problem. If you like Burnett’s novels, you’ll probably like this Young Adult update.

The Wonderland Trials by Sara Ella. Semicolon review here. Recommended YA.

Goblin Market by Diane Zahler. Not exactly a retelling, but this rather spooky story is “rich world-building inspired by both Polish folklore and the poetry of Christina Rossetti,” namely the eponymous poem, Goblin Market. Which is a bit of a problem. The audience for this one is said to be ages 8-12, grades 4-6. Minka and Lizzie are . . . older than twelve. And the basic plot is about how Minka is seduced by a boy in the market who gives her luscious fruit and induces her to follow him into the dark forest to marry him. And how Lizzie saves Minka. It’s the same problem that first appeared in Rossetti’s poem:

Goblin Market (composed in April 1859 and published in 1862) is a narrative poem by Christina Rossetti. The poem tells the story of Laura and Lizzie who are tempted with fruit by goblin merchants. In a letter to her publisher, Rossetti claimed that the poem, which is interpreted frequently as having features of remarkably sexual imagery, was not meant for children. However, in public Rossetti often stated that the poem was intended for children, and went on to write many children’s poems. 

~Wikipedia

I might share this story with a twelve year old, but no one younger. It’s well written, remarkably disturbing, and ends well. However, it’s a bit much for most eight year olds.

Bargain Bride by Evelyn Sibley Lampman

Nov26

I’ll just share the publisher’s (Purple House Press) disclaimer at the beginning of this review to get that off the table:

This book, written 45 years ago, tells the story of a young girl and her experiences in the Oregon Territory during the 19th century. An excellent storyteller, Evelyn SIbley Lampman provides the reader with the opportunity to explore this time and place through the eyes of the main character, including social customs, religious beliefs, and racial relations. Many aspects of life at that time are foreign and sometimes offensive to us now including specific customs, practices, beliefs, and words. To maintain and provide historical accuracy and to allow a true representation of this time period, words such as Indian, Injuns, savage, colored, and Negro have not been removed or edited.

So, Ginny is ten years old, living in Oregon Territory with her miserly and cruel distant cousins when she is sold into marriage to Mr. Mayhew, a man at least thrice her age. The marriage won’t be consummated until Ginny is fifteen at which time her kindly, but old, husband has promised to have a fine house built for her. When Mr. Mayhew comes to claim Ginny on her fifteenth birthday, it’s clear that he’s a kind man who has kept his promise to make a home for Ginny, but still Ginny is terrified, only sure that anything is better than living with Cousin Mattie and Cousin Beau.

Things go from bad to worse (or better?) when Ginny and her new husband get to their flourishing farm only to have Mr. Mayhew fall dead of a stroke. So Ginny is left with a rich farmstead and a whole train of suitors who can’t wait to offer their strength and protection to the wealthy young widow. Ginny has more important worries than finding a new husband, however. What if Cousin Mattie and Cousin Beau move into her house and take over as they are trying to do? Can Ginny stop them? What’s to be done about the Indian (Molalla) woman who’s living in the smokehouse in back? What will the townspeople think of a fifteen year old widow living alone on the farm? But who can Ginny find to stay with her other than that harridan, Cousin Mattie?

Many of the characters in this novel certainly are prejudiced, pig-headed, and close-minded. And that’s just the “good guys”, including Ginny herself at times. The cousins, the “bad guys” in the story are worse. Still, the people of the town and Ginny’s neighbors are generous, welcoming, and consistently helpful to Ginny as she learns to make a life for herself on the Oregon frontier. Their relationships with the Native Americans in the area are complicated, and this story presents some of those complications with all the nuance and compassion possible in a short young adult novel. None of the characters is completely right or completely wrong (except maybe Cousin Mattie). Some are more prejudiced than others. Some learn, like Ginny, to accept the Molalla people, even though Ginny never does completely understand their culture and actions.

At any rate, this young adult novel, and I think it is indeed young adult, maybe ages 13 and up, raises lots of good questions. What is marriage, and why is it important? Are economic reasons sufficient to make a good marriage? Are we so sure that romantic love is the only basis for a sound marriage? How old is old enough to be and adult? What if one is forced into adulthood? How do we begin to understand and value people from a completely background or culture other than our own? What if we can’t communicate? What if they don’t seem to value us or want to communicate? How do we confront racism and prejudice? Can you talk someone out of their prejudices?

I found this novel to be thought-provoking and compelling. I’m thankful that Purple House Press was able to reprint it, along with three more of Ms. Lampman’s novels: The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek, Three Knocks on the Wall, and The City Under the Back Steps. You can purchase all four books from PHP, or you check them out from my library, Meriadoc Homeschool Library.

Vivid (The Color Theory #1) by Ashley Bustamante

Sep26

All of the people left on Earth live together on a protected island run by those who manifest some sort of color magic as children and by those magical adults who become Benefactors, protectors of the world on this island. Ava’s goal as she studies in her school Prism has always been to become a Benefactor someday. So, there are three kinds of color magic:

  • Red Augmenters have magic that affects the body: healing, strengthening, and increasing agility and speed.
  • Blue Shaper magic changes and makes objects, technology, building and re-forming things into different things.
  • Yellow Mentalists, however are dangerous. They can work on, even control, others’ thoughts and emotions. Yellow, the color and the magic associated with it, has been outlawed, and practitioners of yellow magic have disappeared from the island. They are exiled or perhaps destroyed?

This book is firmly in the Young Adult camp. There’s an on again-off again romance building throughout the novel, and it reads like a very teenage-y, somewhat ridiculous, romantic entanglement in the eyes of this sixty-five year old grandmother. (Not a criticism. If you’re a teen girl, you may fall hard for Ava’s love interest, Elm.) Ava indeed does fall for the “bad boy”, only maybe he’s not a bad boy at all. But he is a Yellow magic mentalist, so maybe he’s manipulating her mind? Ick! Is he good or bad? Can Ava trust him or not? That’s a lot of the plot and tension in the entire story.

I enjoyed the book, but I never could get over my discomfort with the idea that Yellow magic people could manipulate other people’s thoughts and feelings. How would you ever know if what you were feeling or thinking was real and accurate if that’s the case? I think this is exactly why God gives us free will; our responses have to be our own, and we have to know that our loves and and beliefs are not coerced. Otherwise, nothing can be trusted to be real or meaningful or logical.

So, although the premise of the story is catchy, and the writing is decent, I’m having trouble staying on the train. Maybe the second book in the series will explain more. And maybe the romantic part of the story will be just a little more mature? I don’t mean explicit, just less angsty, more carefully considered.

Overall, it’s a decent start to a possibly good series. You might want to wait for the next installment, or if you like clean bad boy romances, you could go ahead and jump in now.

The Wonderland Trials by Sara Ella

Sep17

The Wonderland Trials (The Curious Realities Book 1) by Sara Ella. Enclave Publishing, 2022.

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll is one of those love/hate it kinds of books. I happen to love it, and now I want to reread it after finishing The Wonderland Trials, a “love letter to Alice and fairy tales and children’s literature and games,” according to the author. Trials is not only a love letter, it’s a Christian love letter, not obvious or preachy, but bringing up Biblical concepts and allusions in an artful and intriguing way. And that makes me think the author and I would have much in common if we were to enjoy a nice cup of tea together.

Still, I’m from Texas, not London, and my cup of tea would probably be a glass of sweet iced tea. Ms. Ella, on the other hand, lives in Arizona and as a young person she immersed herself in Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, not just Carroll’s Alice. Her American nationality shows. The story is good, but the references to British culture are sometimes a bit off. Do people really eat Yorkshire pudding for dessert? And I caught at least a couple of instances of words that were slightly misused. Can you concur when no one has said anything to concur or agree with in the first place?

Nevertheless, I found a lot to like about this story of a girl named Alice who makes a journey into Wonderland to search for the lost competitors in the Wonder Trials. The sense of confusion and nonsense and riddle that pervades the story made my head ache just a little–along with Alice. And I’m still not sure where this journey is taking us as readers any more than I know where Alice and the other members of Team Heart are going. This is only Book 1, and it ends . . . unfinished. I’m not fond of cliffhangers, especially if I enjoyed the story.

And I did enjoy this story despite its minor glitches, so I’ll make an exception. Alice is an interesting, well-rounded protagonist, and her love interest Chess Shire is intriguing and a bit mysterious. Oh, yes, this book is firmly in the Young Adult speculative fiction camp, but also clean and romantic in a playful way. It’s just right for the 13-17 year old crowd, which happens to be the age group of most of the team players and main characters.

By the way, why is a raven like a writing desk?

Alone on a Wide Wide Sea by Michael Morpurgo

Aug19

This middle grade or young adult novel, by the author of War Horse and Private Peaceful and many other excellent titles, takes place in Australia—and on the ocean. Part 1 of the book is The Story of Arthur Hobhouse, a British orphan who at the tender age of six years old is sent to Australia to live with foster parents in an orphanage in Cooper’s Station. Arthur’s story has its ups and downs, some of it quite harrowing. There’s child abuse, and outback survival, and the sad death of one of the main characters, which is why maybe the book is more for older teens and adults. But it’s a good and ultimately hopeful story, and I liked the fact that almost none of the characters in the book is all good or all bad. They are a mixture for the most part (except for the main villain with an appropriate name, Piggy Bacon).

Part 2 is The Voyage of the Kitty Four, the story of how Arthur’s daughter Allie takes the boat her father built for her and sails from Australia to England, alone. It’s an ocean adventure, reminiscent of one of my favorite true life adventure stories, The Boy Who Sailed ‘Round the World Alone (aka Dove) by Robin Graham. Allie’s story also has ups and downs, not just on waves, but also in her emotional state as she faces the dangers of sea by herself and learns to rely on her own resources.

There’s some hostility to religion and Christianity in the book since Arthur’s first experiences of “Christianity” are horrifying and anything but Christlike. There’s also a bit of superstition—because if you can’t rely on God then you might tend to look for signs and wonders, right? But these things all made the book more rich and understandable for me. People do have bad experiences with abusive, religious people, and sometimes an albatross could be a sign of God’s love and protection. Allie and Arthur both have a deep love for Colerige’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, so that’s a thread throughout both stories.

Good book by a very good author. I’ve enjoyed all of the books by Michael Morpurgo that I’ve read.

Out of Range by Heidi Lang

Jul26

3 sisters: Abby, Emma, and Ollie McBee.

A months-long feud, trading pranks, insults, and put-downs, culminates in the girls being sent to Camp Unplugged. Their parents hope that some time together, away from internet, cell phones, and other distractions, will help the sisters to re-unite and forgive each other. But it’s not working. Abby, the oldest sister, has found a new friend at camp, and Emma and Ollie feel just as angry and left out as they did at home. So the malicious pranks–a frog in the tent, honey in the sleeping bag, and more–continue, and the girls’ camp counselor, Dana, is just as exasperated with them as their parents were.

So, Dana takes the girls on an all day disciplinary hike up a nearby mountain, and then when the three sisters are separated from Dana, they get lost and and injured. And they have to outrun a fire and navigate a raging river. And they meet a bear, and there may be a mountain lion stalking them. Can the sisters learn to work together, forgive each other, and survive?

The author shows the tangled relationships between these three sisters, their fears and their hopes and their growing pains, so well, as they trade insults and yet come to realize how much they really care for each other and need each other. It’s not an immediate or complete change that happens just because the sisters are in crisis mode. Abby is still the somewhat bossy and superior older sister, twelve years old and responsible but not sure she’s up to the responsibility. Emma is still the middle sister, ten, caught between Abby and Ollie, afraid of strong words, somewhat anxious, and longing for everything to go back to the way it was before the sisters broke up into “sides”—The Youngers against Abby. Ollie is still the baby (who isn’t really a baby any more), stubborn, impulsive, and slow to apologize. There are layers of personality and relationship and sisterhood here that are revealed a little at a time, like peeling an onion, as the three sisters come to know each other and themselves so much more deeply.

I liked this book a lot. The sisters have been rather cruel to each other, but they eventually, and realistically, find a way to forgive each other and move forward. I’m going to be recommending this books to sisters and to brothers, all siblings, who are forging their own sibling relationships, probably in less challenging circumstances than those the McBees face. I always told my kids when they were growing up that friends come and go, but family, sisters and brothers, are forever. Those sibling relationships are an important training ground for life, and sometimes they have to be mended–because we all say and do things to hurt each other.

Good book.

Hana Hsu and the Ghost Crab Nation by Sylvia Liu

Jul18

Hana Hsu can’t wait to be meshed: her brain tied into the multiweb by means of a neural implant that will enable her to communicate with everyone, thought to thought, brain to brain. AND she will be able to choose one of three areas of giftedness to be enhanced: intelligence, sensory powers, or physical strength. However, there are, of course, problems. Hana can’t get meshed for another year, not until she’s thirteen. And Hana feels she is losing touch with the rest of her family, especially her older sister and her Ma, both of whom are already meshed. Then, there’s Hana’s grandmother, Popo, who’s beginning to lose her memory. The only way Hana can see to help Popo and regain her family’s closeness and bond is to get meshed as soon as possible.

Enter the Ghost Crab Nation, a loosely organized group of underground protestors who are trying to, well, Hana’s not sure what their aims are or whether or not she can trust Ink, the girl she met in the junkyard, or Wayman, the old man who wants her to spy on her Start-Up program to see if something nefarious and dangerous is going on. But the Start-Up program is Hana’s way to get herself meshed early, maybe if she does well in as little as three months at the end of the summer. Should Hana trust the leaders of her Start-Up? Should she trust Wayman and Ink? Is there a downside to getting meshed? The entire book is a mystery inside a science fiction dystopian fantasy, and the world building is well done.

Other pluses:

  • Hana is a great character, concerned for her family, ambitious, and curious. She does some rather dangerous things, but all in a good cause.
  • The theme of asking questions about what our reliance on the internet and our interconnectedness is doing to us as individuals and as a culture is certainly relevant, but it’s not a didactic or propagandistic novel. The idea are presented by means of story and on a middle grade level.
  • The action is well paced, and the plot is believable within the confines of the world the author has created.

But . . . a couple of caveats:

  • When meshed (or maybe enmeshed) people meet they get a feed in their brains that tells them some basic stats about the other person, name, age, education, family status, and pronouns? Really, pronouns, like he/him, she/her. Luckily, no weird pronouns appear.
  • One of the characters, Ink, is a girl in the real world, but he’s a boy inside this virtual reality video game that everyone uses not only to play but also to communicate and move around and share information. That wouldn’t really be a problem, a girl choosing a male avatar in a game, except that it’s made very clear that Ink could choose to be male in the real world, too, if he/she wanted to. At least I think it’s clear, although nothing about this whole gender confusion era that we’re in right now is really very clear.

Were it not for the caveats, I would recommend Hana Hsu as a great story and a vehicle for exploring ideas related to the internet and social media and its effect on young, developing brains. It’s also got ideas and questions about family and how you maintain family bonds and how you fight injustice and solve social problems and how much is too much to give up in order to serve the community. But there is already enough gender confusion in this world as it is without adding to the mix. I enjoyed it, but I’m not recommending.