Blood on the River by Elisa Carbone

Sep7

This is a great book about a small boy who will face sickness, starvation, indians, and many other adventures. On his way to help found the colony of Jamestown, young Samuel Collier is apprenticed to Captain John Smith after a fight with another boy in the orphanage. Though at first Samuel sees it as a bad thing, this apprenticeship will turn out to be the very thing that keeps him alive. When Indians are attacking, when the colonists are being abandoned, through starvation and pain, Captain John Smith will help him. Samuel will learn what it is like to be dependent on others, something he never learned in England. He will make friends, lose friends, and even live with his enemies. During his life in the new world he will come face to face will death and sickness, as well as happiness and feasting.

I loved this book because it had so much adventure and excitement, easily balanced by sadness and even death. It’s a great read for anyone with a great imagination and an urge for learning as well. Many of the occurrences in this book actually happened, save some of the details. I read this book by my choice, and I am very glad I did. This is the kind of book you will want to read again and again. Between the action, the great story, and the thrills of the colonists lives, you will be stuck on this book.

KarateKid

Two Novels of Twelfth Night

Sep7

As I have said in another post, Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is not my favorite of his comedies, although it has its moments. The sword fight between Sir Andre Aguecheek and an inexperienced Viola disguised as a boy is quite hilarious. However, I always feel sorry for Malvolio, a character who is not really malevolent as much as he is misguided and inadequate. SInce I often feel misguided and inadequate myself, and since I don’t like practical jokes that take advantage of my or others’ weaknesses, Twelfth Night generally leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I’m laughing at Malvolio, and even poor Sir Andrew, in spite of my better instincts.

Nevertheless, this month and last seem to be the appointed time for me to gain a better appreciation of Shakespeare’s play. First I saw a production of Twelfth Night at Winedale in August. Then, I came home to find a copy of The Fool’s Girl by Celia Rees waiting on my TBR shelf. Of course, I had to read it as a follow-up to the play. And in fact, Ms. Rees’s novel is a sort of sequel to Twelfth Night. The main character, Violetta, is the daughter of Count Orsino and the Lady Viola, and as our story opens, Violetta is a refugee from her native country, Illyria. Her city has been conquered and sacked by the Venetians, and Feste, the jester, is Violetta’s only friend and protector as she wanders the streets of Elizabethan London. Violetta and Feste happen to meet Master Shakespeare and ask for his help in reclaiming Violetta’s rightful inheritance and righting old wrongs, and the story continues from there.

In an afterword, Celia Rees says that Twelfth Night is her favorite Shakespearean comedy. “While I was watching, I began to wonder: What happens next? What happens after the end of the play? The play walks a knife’s edge between tragedy and comedy. It is perfectly balanced, but one false move and it could all go horribly wrong.” In Rees’s sequel, it does all go horribly wrong. People go insane and betray one another. Sir Toby and Maria become flawed but sympathetic characters, while the wronged Malvolio becomes perfectly evil and completely unsympathetic. The world of Illyria is turned upside down, and it’s up to Violetta, Feste, and Master Shakespeare to set things right.

I enjoyed Ms. Rees’s sequel even though it did partake of the darkness and the equivocal nature of Shakepeare’s play. Ms. Rees writes, “The Fool’s Girl wasn’t always called that. For a long time it was called Illyria.” The idea of a mystical (and rather dark) place named Illyria captured the imagination of more than one Young Adult novelist this year. In Elizabeth Hand’s brief novel, Illyria, cousins Rogan and Madeline inhabit a mystical world of the mind with a physical location in the attic of Rogan’s home. They also participate in a high school production of Twelfth Night, Madeline starring as Viola and Rogan as the wise fool Feste. Rogan and Madeline are fascinating characters, but the book as a whole was not as successful in making me feel things or think thoughts as either Shakespeare’s play or Celia Rees’s historical fiction. Mostly, Illyria made me uncomfortable, not because Rogan and Madeline are “incestuous” first cousins, but rather because they have a strange and unfathomable relationship that seems based on physical attraction but also attempts to transcend the physical without ever quite being able to do so. It was weird and creepy, and the fact that the two cousins are engaging in an illicit sexual relationship only makes the story more awkward and fraught with tension. Rogan is talented but self-destructive, and Madeline ends up a thwarted and unloved second tier actress. The characters and their actions are realistic, but I failed to understand what their lives meant or what I felt about their choices, except that as I said before, I felt uncomfortable. That feeling may have been the author’s main intent.

Bottom line: I would recommend Rees’s The Fool’s Girl to anyone interested in Twelfth Night and Shakespearean fiction and ideas. The book is somewhat dark and dances along the edges of dismal and black magic, but the ending is bittersweet with an emphasis on the sweet and comedic. Illyria by Elizabeth Hand is a bit more problematic, and I didn’t enjoy it very much although I did try. Maybe Colleen’s thoughts on Illyria at Chasing Ray would be more helpful if you are trying to decide whether to read this one or not. She loved it; I’d give it a pass if I were choosing again.

Diamond Ruby by Joseph Wallace

Sep6

I am not sure what made me pick up this book from the library. I can’t find a review in the Saturday Reviews, and I don’t have the book on my TBR list. I am not a baseball fan. I had never heard of author Joseph Wallace, although he’s published several nonfiction books mostly on baseball history. Diamond Ruby is his first novel.

However, even though I’m not a baseball fan, I do like reading well-written books about baseball, especially fiction (see Fascination #23). So, I either read about this book somewhere and thought it sounded interesting, or I saw it on the New Fiction shelf at the library and thought it was worth a try. Either way I’m glad I found and got to read about Diamond Ruby.

In 1923 seventeen year old Ruby Thomas lives in Brooklyn. She has become responsible for the care and upbringing of her two nieces, ten year old Amanda and six year old Allie, since their mother is dead and their father is AWOL. Fortunately for Ruby and the girls, Ruby does have one freakish ability that she can parlay into cash: Ruby can throw a baseball faster and better than most men. In fact she’s just about as fast and accurate as the great Walter Johnson, maybe better.

As the story continues, Ruby’s life and livelihood become enmeshed in the politics of NYC, the enforcement of Prohibition, and the world of professional baseball. She becomes friends with baseball star Babe Ruth and heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey. She draws the enmity and disdain of the Ku Klux Klan and of baseball’s all-powerful commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis. She finds out that baseball, like many sports, has a dark side, and she finds herself a target for opportunists, gamblers, and gangsters who see her only as “a piece of meat” ripe for exploitation.

Such a good book. Diamond Ruby is a strong, courageous young lady with a talent that to her is physical aberration. Ruby has unusually long arms. In fact, the kids around where she lives growing up call her “Monkey GIrl.” Ruby figures her freakishly long arms are in great part responsible for pitching abilities, and she doesn’t know whether to hide her deformity as much as possible or to be thankful that it enables her to feed herself and her nieces. So part of the book is about self-acceptance and gratitude, themes that resonate with anyone but especially with young adults.

This book would be a perfect crossover book for adults and young adults, and it could appeal to lots of different subgroups of readers: those who read sports stories, or historical fiction, or feminist lit, or crime and suspense. It incorporates history and historical events such as the 1918 influenza epidemic, the opening of Coney Island, the death of President Warren Harding, Prohibition, the Yankees’ win in the 1923 World Series, and a heavyweight boxing match between Jack Dempsey and Luis Firpo. But Wallace never loses sight of the story to over-emphasize either sports or history. Diamond Ruby is a rollicking good story about an engaging character who wins the reader’s sympathies until we’re rooting for her both on and off the baseball diamond.

Happy Birthday: Celebrating Joan Aiken

Sep4

Joan Aiken was born on September 4, 1924 in Sussex, England. She grew up in a country village with a mother who “decided that I’d learn more if she taught me herself than if I went away to school” and an American father, Conrad Aiken, who was a Pulitzer-prize winning poet and author himself. Joan’s parents divorced when she was a child, and her mother married another author, Martin Armstrong. Ms. Aiken wrote books for children and adults, and she received the Guardian Award for Children’s Fiction in 1969 and the Mystery Writers’ of America Poe Award in in 1972.

Joan Aiken’s website, created by her daughter Lizza Aiken, is full of treasures, including this bibliography of the over 100 books that Ms. Aiken wrote. I knew of course about The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, her most famous book. And I knew that there were sequels to Willoughby Chase (eleven of them, actually), although I’ve never read them. I also checked out the collection of stories about the Armitage family called The Serial Garden that was published last year, but I never managed to become interested in the stories although I dipped into the book two or three times.

However, I didn’t know that Ms. Aiken was a Jane-ite before Jane Austen was cool. According to the bibliography, Joan Aiken wrote the following sequels to Austen novels:
Lady Catherine’s Necklace, a sequel to Pride and Prejudice.
The Youngest Miss Ward, a sequel to Mansfield Park.
Eliza’s Daughter, a sequel to Sense and Sensibility.
Jane Fairfax, a sequel to Emma.
Emma Watson, a completion of Austen’s unfinished novel fragment, The Watsons.

I must try one of these Austen fan fiction titles by Joan Aiken, if only to see if Ms. Aiken can pull off a feat that many have tried but few have succeeded in accomplishing. I’ve thumbed through a few of the Jane Austen wannabes out there, and even read a couple. But I’ve not been impressed. However, anyone who can write a book like The Wolves of Willoughby Chase surely has a shot at imitating Austen passably well.

Getting back to the website, you can also watch a movie about Joan Aiken and her books from the Puffin Club. I think this film was made back in the time of old 16mm films because it has that scratchy, old timey look and sound, and Ms. Aiken doesn’t look that old to me. And there are games and ecards and screensavers to download and printable bookmarks. Lots of fun fan stuff.

And here’s an interview with Ms. Aiken (before her death in 2001) at Indiebound in which she says a few of her favorite authors are “George Macdonald, E.E. Nesbit, Francis Hodgson Burnett, John Masefield, T.H. White, J.RR. Tolkien, Laurence Houseman, Walter de la Mare, Rudyard Kipling, Kastner, Peter Dickinson, Philippa Pearce, Susan Cooper, Barbara Willard, E. Weatherall (she wrote The Wide Wide World). I could go on and on.” I could agree with every author on that list. I’m especially pleased to see another fan of Barbara Willard, about whom I’ll write a post someday.

Here at Locus Magazine is another interview in which Ms. Aiken disses C.S. Lewis and Narnia. (“My children loved them, but I always thought they were repulsive books, the ‘Narnia’ books. I can’t stand that awful lion!”) Oh, well, no one is perfect.

For today, Happy Birthday to Joan Aiken!

A Little Bit of This and That, or Fascinations

Sep3

Last Saturday was the anniversary of Tasha Tudor’s birth, and there was a celebration with links at the blog Storybook Woods. Ms. Tudor was a flawed but lovely author and artist, and it’s fun to see how different families and individuals celebrate her life and work each year.

***************************************

We’ve been watching a lot of the television show Numb3rs here at Semicolon home, and I’ve managed to watch the first two seasons, most of the episodes at least twice. That’s what happens when you have eight children, six of them grown up enough to watch a sometimes violent FBI drama, and each of them with different schedules. I’ve watched some episodes with Karate Kid(13) and Artiste Daughter(20), and others with Brown Bear Daughter(15) or with Drama Daughter(19). I actually downloaded the first season of Numb3rs to share with Engineer Husband because I thought he’d like the math aspect of the show. However, Engineer Husband doesn’t sit still for TV much, and I can’t say he’s actually watched an entire episode through. We make a good pair, EH and I: he’s mathematical, scientific, and compulsively busy while I’m bookish, literary, and congenitally indolent. (I looked up that synonym in my thesaurus; it sounds so much better than “lazy.”)

Anyway, back to Numb3rs, the plot and the characterizations both sometimes get stretched a little thin, but what keeps me coming back is the family dynamics. Two brothers, one an FBI agent and one a gifted mathematician, work together to solve crimes, sometimes using the mathematical skills of the younger brother Charlie, but also depending on the strength, intelligence, and common sense of the older brother, Don. The brothers obviously care for one another deeply, but there is also baggage, as there is in all families. Charlie’s status and needs as a child prodigy made Don the somewhat neglected older (normal) brother, and yet Charlie admires and wants to impress his older brother, too. There’s a dad, played quite capably by actor Judd Hirsch. And Charlie’s friend Larry, a physics professor, has the best lines in the show. all about the cosmos and relationships compared to black holes and metaphysical speculations on the meaning of life and mathematics. I just started season three, and so far so good.

**************************************

I’ve been reading about Pilgrims and Puritans (The Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick, an adapted version for young people and various other books, mostly kidlit). I’ve learned a few things I didn’t really know before:

Half of the Pilgrims died before and during their first winter in Massachusetts, from 102 down to 51.

Many of the local Indians became Christians largely through the work of missionary John Eliot. They were called Praying Indians.

The colony at Plymouth eventually failed. The colony at Massachusetts Bay became the center of New England life, later Boston. The land around Plymouth wasn’t that good, and the harbor there was also poor, so descendants of the original settlers moved away to find better lands and better trading opportunities.

King Phillip’s War was a nasty, bloody mess on both sides of the native/European divide.

*****************************

Go here to look at some amazing photographs from Tsarist Russia, taken in color circa 1910. I have a tendency to think that people lived in black and white that long ago whereas the beautiful colors of God’s world existed then, too. Look and see if you don’t have to keep reminding yourself that the photographs are of real people from the early twentieth century, not actors dressed up as Russian peasants.
*******************************************
Thanks to Bill at Thinklings for the link to this brief 30 minute BBC film, first broadcast in 1968, about Tolkien and Middle Earth. Seeing the beginning of the film made Z-baby bring me our annotated copy of The Hobbit and ask me to start at the beginning and read. I read about two pages and put her to sleep. The film itself consists mostly of Tolkien and some of his fans and detractors talking about LOTR and its merits and demerits. There are also links in the sidebar to other BBC author interviews, including ones with P.G. Wodehouse, Daphne duMaurier, and Somerset Maugham. Maugham talks with Malcolm Muggeridge about Maugham’s list of his top ten novels, as published in his book Somerset Maugham and the Greatest Novels.

Maugham’s List (not in order):
1. Moby Dick by Herman Melville.
2. The Red and the Black by Stendahl.
3. The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky.
4. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding.
5. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert.
6. David Copperfield by Charles DIckens.
7. War and Peace by Tolstoy.
8. Old Man Goriot by Honore de Balzac.
9. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.
10. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

I’ve read eight of the ten novels on Maugham’s list, but not Fielding nor Stendahl. I’ve always thought Tom Jones would not be my sort of humor, and I never really knew what The Red and the Black was all about. What do you think are the top ten novels of all time in terms of classic staying power?

Poetry Friday: Poem #33, Young Lochinvar by Sir Walter Scott

Sep2

“Reduced to its simplest and most essential form, the poem is a song. Song is neither discourse nor explanation.”~Octavio Paz

O young Lochinvar is come out of the west,
Through all the wide Border his steed was the best;
And save his good broadsword he weapons had none,
He rode all unarm’d, and he rode all alone.
So faithful in love, and so dauntless in war,
There never was knight like the young Lochinvar.
He staid not for brake, and he stopp’d not for stone,
He swam the Eske river where ford there was none;
But ere he alighted at Netherby gate,
The bride had consented, the gallant came late:
For a laggard in love, and a dastard in war,
Was to wed the fair Ellen of brave Lochinvar.

So boldly he enter’d the Netherby Hall,
Among bride’s-men, and kinsmen, and brothers and all:
Then spoke the bride’s father, his hand on his sword,
(For the poor craven bridegroom said never a word,)
“O come ye in peace here, or come ye in war,
Or to dance at our bridal, young Lord Lochinvar?”

“I long woo’d your daughter, my suit you denied; —
Love swells like the Solway, but ebbs like its tide —
And now I am come, with this lost love of mine,
To lead but one measure, drink one cup of wine.
There are maidens in Scotland more lovely by far,
That would gladly be bride to the young Lochinvar.”

The bride kiss’d the goblet: the knight took it up,
He quaff’d off the wine, and he threw down the cup.
She look’d down to blush, and she look’d up to sigh,
With a smile on her lips and a tear in her eye.
He took her soft hand, ere her mother could bar, —
“Now tread we a measure!” said young Lochinvar.

So stately his form, and so lovely her face,
That never a hall such a gailiard did grace;
While her mother did fret, and her father did fume
And the bridegroom stood dangling his bonnet and plume;
And the bride-maidens whisper’d, “’twere better by far
To have match’d our fair cousin with young Lochinvar.”

One touch to her hand, and one word in her ear,
When they reach’d the hall-door, and the charger stood near;
So light to the croupe the fair lady he swung,
So light to the saddle before her he sprung!
“She is won! we are gone, over bank, bush, and scaur;
They’ll have fleet steeds that follow,” quoth young Lochinvar.

There was mounting ‘mong Graemes of the Netherby clan;
Forsters, Fenwicks, and Musgraves, they rode and they ran:
There was racing and chasing on Cannobie Lee,
But the lost bride of Netherby ne’er did they see.
So daring in love, and so dauntless in war,
Have ye e’er heard of gallant like young Lochinvar?

This poem is actually an excerpt from Scott’s longer poem Marmion. Lochinvar is a real place, a reservoir in southern Scotland. There was a silent movie made in 1923 in the UK (starring no one I ever heard of) based on Young Lochinvar. I rather think the story might require a lot of padding to make a full length movie, but maybe silent movie era films were shorter than those of today.

Cate of the Lost Colony by Lisa Klein

Sep2

I just finished reading this YA historical romance about a fictional lady in the court of Queen Elizabeth I who ends up being banished to Sir Walter Raleigh’s doomed colony on Roanoke Island, and today we read about the Roanoke Colony in our history book (Hakim’s History of the U.S, which I am finding to be quite readable and informative, by the way). I was planning a post in my mind about Cate of the Lost Colony and intending to incorporate some suggested fiction and nonfiction titles concerning the mystery of what happened to the Roanoke settlers.

And, lo and behold, Margo at The Fourth Musketeer has already written my post and done it better than I could have written it anyway. Don’t you just love/hate it when that happens? I agree with just about everything she says. It was a great book. It’s got better romance and better adventure than Twilight. (No vampires were imagined in the writing of this book, an advantage as far as I’m concerned. I think we reached the vampire saturation point in YA literature approximately October 31, 2008.)

The Native American characters and cultural aspects of the story are handled with respect, and the character Manteo, Roanoke’s native leader, is a fully realized character and an attractive man. Sir Walter Ralegh is also a character in the book, and I must say he comes across just about the way I imagine he would have in real life. I have a much better feel for the history of the time period (late 1500’s) after having read this book.

And Margo suggests lots of books I have heard of and others I have not. Did you know that the third book in Margaret Peterson Haddix’s Missing series, Sabotaged, has a major character who is a missing child from the Roanoke Colony? I’ve only read the first book in that series, and I need to get on the stick and read the rest.

I first read about the lost colony of Roanoke when I checked out Virginia Dare, Mystery Girl by Augusta Stevenson (Childhood of Famous Americans) from the library when I was about ten years old. I loved that book although (maybe “because”) it was fiction pretending to be biography. Virginia Dare was the first European baby to be born on North American soil (as far as we know), and no one knows for sure what happened to her and to the rest of the Roanoke colonists. And I think that’s fascinating.

I read an ARC of Cate of the Lost Colony. The actual book is due out on October 12, 2010.

Happy Birthday: Celebrating Elizabeth Borton de Trevino

Sep2

Elizabeth Borton de Trevino, whose historical fiction book I, Juan de Pareja, won the Newbery Medal in 1966, was born on this date in 1904 in Bakersfield, California. She died at the age of 97 on December 2, 2001.

Ms. Borton de Trevino was not Hispanic, but she married a Mexican man and moved with him to his home, Monterrey, Mexico, then to Mexico City, and finally to Cuernavaca. The couple had two sons, and one of the sons, Luis, inspired his mother to write I, Juan de Pareja by telling her the story of the slave of a seventeenth century Spanish artist.

I, Juan de Pareja tells the fictionalized story of Spanish painter Diego Velasquez and his slave and protege, Juanico. Juan posed for one of Velasquez’s most famous paintings, and Velasquez taught Juan to paint even though it was against the law for a slave to learn a profession in seventeenth century Spain. The story itself moves rather slowly and covers a great many years in the life of Velasquez and Juan de Pareja. As the relationship between the two men grows, Velasquez comes to see Juan de Pareja as a friend and an equal instead of a lowly and inferior slave.

Review clips:
Shelley at Book Clutter: “While this was an interesting and somewhat educational children’s novel, I certainly didn’t find it to be a page-turner. I had a hard time imagining a child finding it at all engaging, and thought it was peculiar that the main character is an adult for a very large portion of the book.”

One Librarian’s Book Reviews: “I thought this story was beautiful and terrible. It showed the kinds of extremes slaves felt (at least in Spain) experiencing sometimes the good and sometimes the horrible.”

Sandy at The Newbery Project: “Although I like historical fiction, I’m afraid I was often bored by Juan de Pareja’s narrative, and I frequently wondered just how probable the story was.”

Linda at The Newbery Project: “The writing in this book flowed flawlessly so it was pleasant to read, and it took me only a few days to get through it. That’s fast, as I’m normally a slow reader who gets through one chapter per night if I’m lucky. But I, Juan de Pareja fascinated me and at times I couldn’t put it down despite being tired.”

There you have it–a fine example of mixed reviews. This book might very well be a hard sell for the TV generation, but for that very reason, I considered it a valuable part of our curriculum last year when we were studying Renaissance history. However, I read the book aloud to my children because I knew that they would complain about the slow pace if I required them to read it to themselves. Juanico is a sympathetic character, and the story of how he became a painter and a friend and encourager to the great Velasquez is worth the time and effort, especially for those interested in art and the history of art. Of course, when reading the book it is recommended that you look online to find and view some of the paintings mentioned in the story.

Elizabeth Borton de Trevino wrote three volumes of autobiographical memoir: My Heart Lies South: The Story of my Mexican Marriage, Where the Heart Is, and The Hearthstone of My Heart. I’d like to add at least the first of these to my TBR list. It seems an especially appropriate selection for September, Hispanic Heritage Month.

Elizabeth Borton de Trevino on her family’s reading of Kristin Lavransdattir by Sigrid Undset (good book, by the way):

I got hold of the book first. I sat in a corner with that novel and could not do anything but wash and dress mechnically, eat what was put in my hand, sleep reluctantly, and read, for two weeks. Next, my sister seized the book and she was tended, as I had been, and relieved of every household task and duty until, sighing, she turned the last page. Then my mother said, “All right, girls, take over. It’s my turn.” And she never moved or spoke to a soul until she had finished it. My father did not care. He was rereading, for the tenth enchanted time, the African journals of Frederick Courteney Selous, the great English hunter, and while we were in medieval Norway, he had been far away in darkest Africa, with all the wild forest around him. That is the kind of family we were.

Thanks to Peter Sieruta at Collecting Children’s Books for the quotation.

Happy Birthday: Celebrating Jim Arnosky

Sep1

Jim Arnosky was the first writer of nature books for children that I fell in love with. Oh, I’ve gone on to enjoy others–Joanna Cole, Ruth Heller, Nic Bishop, Gail Gibbons, Anne Rockwell, Jerry Pallotta—but Mr. Arnosky was the first to catch my attention back in my elementary school librarian days. Such fine detailed pencil and pen and ink drawings! And then, in other books, beautiful, realistic paintings that look as if you could reach out and touch the animals depicted! Arnosky includes just enough information for primary age and even beginning middle school naturalists without overwhelming the newbie with too many textual details. The illustrations, however, are full of fascinating detail. If I want to introduce a certain animals or class of animals to my children, I’ll look for a book by Arnosky first (then one by Gail GIbbons, a topic for another day).

Arnosky has several series of books:
Crinkleroot’s Guides include Crinkleroot’s Guide to Knowing Animal Habitats, Crinkleroot’s Guide to Animal Tracking, Crinkleroot’s Guide to Walking in Wild Places, Crinkleroot’s Guide to Knowing the Trees, Crinkleroot’s Guide to Knowing the Birds, Crinkleroot’s Guide to Knowing Butterflies and Moths, and Crinkleroot’s Nature Almanac. Crinkleroot is a little dwarvish man with a long white beard who guides the reader through the wonders and experiences of various aspects of nature, particularly in the forest. Crinkleroot, the nature guide, first appeared in a 1988 title called I Was Born in a Tree and Raised by Bees, a title that I assume encapsulates Mr. Crinkleroot’s autobiography, even though I’ve never seen the book.

Then there are the All About books: All About Frogs, All About Lizards, All About Manatees, All About Alligators, All About Turtles, All About Sharks, etc. I count ten books in this series so far. The books are picture book length, 32 pages, and the text is appropriately preschool/primary level. The series is published by Scholastic and available in both hard cover and paperback although some of the books are out of print.

Another series is called Jim Arnosky’s Nature Notebooks, and it includes the books Shore Walker, Animal Tracker, and Bug Hunter. These are how-to books telling kids how to observe, sketch, and write about wildlife. Like a lot of other Arnosky books, these are as much about the artwork as they are about natural science. If you have a budding young naturalist with a gift for or interest in drawing what he sees, these are the books to encourage that bent. Actually, even “ungifted” children can benefit from keeping a nature journal and at least trying to sketch what they see.

Mr. Arnosky also has a series of “Video Visits,” VHS and DVD adventures in nature with Mr. Arnosky as the host.

Mr. Arnosky’s single titles are just as lovely and evocative as the series books. I especially like Crinkleroot’s 25 Mammals Every Child Should Know and Sketching Outdoors in All Seasons. The titles are self-explanatory.

In visiting Jim Arnosky’s website I found some wonderful resources. First of all you can buy Crinkleroot’s Nature Library on 2 CD’s, all of the Crinkleroot books for $95.00 plus coloring pages for 100 animals every child should know. But if you don’t have the money, you can get the boks at the library (probably) and print the coloring pages straight from the website for free. Wouldn’t the coloring pages make a lovely preschool nature curriculum? Color and read about one animal a day. Then, take a trip out into the wild or to the zoo to see how many of the animals you could see for yourself.

Mr. Arnosky also writes songs, sings and plays the guitar. I haven’t heard any of his songs, but the titles sound like fun: Manatee Morning, Rattlesnake Dance, and Big Jim and the White Legged Moose, for examples.

You can read more about Jim Arnosky, author, artist, and naturalist, in his book Whole Days Outdoors. Jim Arnosky has written and illustrated more than 90 books for children. He lives with his family on a farm in Vermont, and he’s celebrating his 64th birthday today (b.1946).

Author Fiesta: Jim Arnosky. Blogger Cay Gibson gives lots of links and ideas for a month-long celebration of Mr. Arnosky and his work.

Animal Tracks Unit Study.

Jim Arnosky’s WIldlife Journal website, in case you didn’t click on one of the links above.

Mr. Arnoskys new book, Man Gave names to all the Animals (from the song by Bob Dylan) is due out September 7, 2010. Has anyone seen a copy? It sounds like something we will all enjoy.

What I Learned from Psalms 23 and 24

Aug31

These are the chestnut psalms. Everyone knows at least a little of Psalm 23, and most people have heard or memorized phrases from Psalm 24.

1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Many of you have probably heard this musical version of the psalm, too, but I hadn’t. Karate Kid shared it with me. It’s by John Foreman of the group Switchfoot.

1The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
2For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.
3Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?
4He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
5He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.
7Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
8Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.
9Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
10Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.

And here’s a Messianic Jewish version of Psalm 24:

What I Learned: God’s Word is forever the same, and yet it can be interpreted and re-interpreted for a new generation and in many cultural genres. And still in any place and in any time, from everlasting to everlasting, He is the Shepherd, and He is the King of Glory.