Historical Fiction of Ancient Times Project: Greece

Jan2

These are some of the books I’d like to find and read as a part of my Ancient History Through Fiction Project:
Maia of Thebes by Ann Turner. (1463 BC)

Winged Girl of Knossos by Erik Berry, pseud. (Allena Best) (Appleton) Ms. Bird at Fuse #8 gives this book a wonderful review in an Under the Radar post from last August.

The Windswept City: A Novel of the Trojan War by Henry Treece.

Inside the Walls of Troy: a Novel of The Women Who Lived The Trojan War by Clenence McLaren.

Goddess of Yesterday by Caroline Cooney.

The Moon Riders by Theresa Tomlinson. (c.1100 B.C.) Amazons in Ancient Greece.

The Voyage of the Snake Lady by Theresa Tomlinson. Sequel to The Moon Riders.

Deeper Song by Patricia Pfitsch.

I don’t really know much about any of these books, except the time period (c. 1500-900 BC) and the place (Greece or among Greeks). If you’ve read any of them and have comments or if you have other suggestions of children’s or young adult historical fiction for this time period set in Greece, please leave me a note.

I’ll be reading as many of these as I can find, and I’ll let you know how I like them.

Long Way Gone: Pray for Kenya

Jan2

I just finished reading Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishamel Beah (which takes place in Sierra Leone), and this morning I read about similar violence in Kenya. We have a tendency to think that nothing like this could happpen here in a “civilized” ‘Western” country, but New Orleans, riots in Los Angeles, and other events within my lifetime indicate that our American sin nature is just as active and just as treacherous as that of any African.

So, pray for Kenya. And pray for ourselves: “Lord lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil.”

Blogs from Kenya:

Diary of a Mad Kenyan Woman

Kenyan Pundit

Joseph Karoki

Pure Christianity

What An African Woman Thinks

Thinker’s Room

Farmgal

Cybils Finalists

Jan1

The Cybils Finalists are posted at the Cybils website, and the Middle Grade Fiction finalists, which I helped choose, were the first up. I’m quite pleased with our choices, and I don’t envy the judging panel their task of choosing ONE winner. We had enough trouble narrowing down a list of 70+ nominees to eight finalists.

All eight of the finalists are worth your reading time, especially if you enjoy children’s fiction.

A Crooked Kind of Perfect
by Linda Urban
Harcourt

“I teach middle school, and sometimes I find that I have more choices for my readers who like edgy YA stories than I do for those kids who read well but aren’t quite ready for teenager issues. A Crooked Kind of Perfect is a perfect kind of book for those readers.”
Kate: Read her review
Semicolon review here.

Cracker: The Best Dog In Vietnam
by Cynthia Kadohata
Atheneum

“It’s a war story about a seventeen-year-old named Rick Hanski and his experiences as a dog handler toward the end of American involvement in Vietnam’s civil war. As he stumbles into the army, then into dog handling, then over to Vietnam, Rick grows into a man of integrity and purpose.”
Semicolon review here.

Emma Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree
by Lauren Tarshis
Dial

“This was a very refreshing book and one I really feel middle school students can and will enjoy. It is great to read books that are written about abnormal children or kids that simply do not blend in with everyone else, yet are perfectly fine with that fact. So many stories are written about wanting to fit in and needing to gain social acceptance, yet this, shows the reader that being different can be perfect.”
Amanda, A Patchwork of Books: Read her review.
Brown Bear/Semicolon review here.

Leap of Faith
by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Dial

“The writing in Leap of Faith was good; the plot always moved along smoothly and compelled me to keep reading. I needed to know that Abby was going to pull through and be okay. Leap of Faith was a sweet, hopeful story that I’m very glad to have read.”
Miss Erin: Read her review
Semicolon review here.

Leepike Ridge
by Nathan D. Wilson
Random House

“Leepike Ridge is a book for every kid (and every grown kid) who played in refrigerator boxes, caught critters in the woods, and floated down creeks on homemade rafts. It’s a fantastic story with a grand adventure, a heroic boy, bad guys that you love to hate, a loyal dog, and a hidden treasure. The fact that it’s beautifully written with magical, transporting descriptions is gravy.”
Kate: Read her review
Karate Kid’s review.
Semicolon review here.

Louisiana’s Song
by Kerry Madden
Viking

“In Gentle’s Holler, Kerry Madden introduced young readers to Olivia (better known as Livy Two) Weems, a twelve-year-old with a passion for books and music. Livy has eight siblings of various ages and temperaments, a sweet mama, and a starry-eyed daddy. Money’s tight — Daddy’s music fills the heart and ears more than it fills the pocketbook — but the Weems make do, and their household is always bursting with family, love, and music. Louisiana’s Song is a worthy sequel to Gentle’s Holler, and, unlike many middle books in trilogies, can stand on its own two feet. When Louise learns to do the same, Livy Two will cheer her on, and so will readers.”
Little Willow: Read her review
Semicolon review here.

Miss Spitfire
by Sarah Miller
Atheneum

“This book is the story of Helen Keller’s teacher, Annie Sullivan, as she struggles to teach a girl who can neither hear, see, nor speak. She displays incredible strength and determination as she sacrifices herself completely for Helen. Almost everyone knows this story, but hearing it from the teacher’s point of view is a really unique insight. This delightful debut novel will keep you rooting for teacher and student right up until its triumphant ending.”
Miss Erin: Read her review
Semicolon review here.

Wild Girls
by Pat Murphy
Viking
“Pat Murphy tells the story of two girls — the rule-following Joan (a.k.a. “Newt”), who just moved to California from Connecticut and has always written the kinds of stories she thought her teacher would like, and Sarah (a.k.a. “Fox”), who hangs out throwing rocks in the woods near the run-down house where she lives with her dad, a motorcycle-writer-guy who doesn’t fit the image of any dad Joan has ever known. Fox and Newt form the kind of bond that can only be forged in secret clearings and treehouses, and together, they weather the storms of family trauma and trying (or not) to fit in among their peers. More than anything, though, they learn about writing and about the power of story to help us see truth — especially when truth is different from the story that the grownups are dishing out.”
Kate: Read her review

Newbery Project: 2008

Jan1

I think in terms of projects rather than resolutions. I’m posting the plans for some of my projects here so that I can keep track of them and for your edification.

I’ve been working on this project off and on since last year. I managed to cover three years last year: 1922, 1923, and 1924. I would like to read, in addition to the Newbery Award book for each year, as many of the Honor books as I can find. Many, if not most, of them are out of print and inaccessible. Anyway, here are the Newbery Award and Honor books for 1925-1935. Perhaps I can read several of these this year.
Some of the titles of these old and award-winning books are fascinating: Spice and the Devil’s Cave? Vaino? Queer Person? Runaway Papoose?

I think it’s something of a treasure hunt into the recesses of the history of children’s literature in the United States.

1935 Medal Winner:Dobry by Monica Shannon (Viking)
Honor Books:
Pageant of Chinese History by Elizabeth Seeger (Longmans)
Davy Crockett by Constance Rourke (Harcourt)
Day On Skates: The Story of a Dutch Picnic by Hilda Von Stockum (Harper)

1934 Medal Winner: Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women by Cornelia Meigs (Little, Brown)
Honor Books:
The Forgotten Daughter by Caroline Snedeker (Doubleday)
Swords of Steel by Elsie Singmaster (Houghton)
ABC Bunny by Wanda GÃ¡g (Coward)
Winged Girl of Knossos by Erik Berry, pseud. (Allena Best) (Appleton)
New Land by Sarah Schmidt (McBride)
Big Tree of Bunlahy: Stories of My Own Countryside by Padraic Colum (Macmillan)
Glory of the Seas by Agnes Hewes (Knopf)
Apprentice of Florence by Ann Kyle (Houghton)

1933 Medal Winner: Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze by Elizabeth Lewis (Winston)
Honor Books:
Swift Rivers by Cornelia Meigs (Little, Brown)
The Railroad To Freedom: A Story of the Civil War by Hildegarde Swift (Harcourt)
Children of the Soil: A Story of Scandinavia by Nora Burglon (Doubleday)

1932 Medal Winner: Waterless Mountain by Laura Adams Armer (Longmans)
Honor Books:
The Fairy Circus by Dorothy P. Lathrop (Macmillan)
Calico Bush by Rachel Field (Macmillan)
Boy of the South Seas by Eunice Tietjens (Coward-McCann)
Out of the Flame by Eloise Lownsbery (Longmans)
Jane’s Island by Marjorie Allee (Houghton)
Truce of the Wolf and Other Tales of Old Italy by Mary Gould Davis (Harcourt)

1931 Medal Winner: The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth (Macmillan)
Honor Books:
Floating Island by Anne Parrish (Harper)
The Dark Star of Itza: The Story of A Pagan Princess by Alida Malkus (Harcourt)
Queer Person by Ralph Hubbard (Doubleday)
Mountains are Free by Julie Davis Adams (Dutton)
Spice and the Devil’s Cave by Agnes Hewes (Knopf)
Meggy MacIntosh by Elizabeth Janet Gray (Doubleday)
Garram the Hunter: A Boy of the Hill Tribes by Herbert Best (Doubleday)
Ood-Le-Uk the Wanderer by Alice Lide & Margaret Johansen (Little, Brown)

1930 Medal Winner: Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field (Macmillan)
Honor Books:
A Daughter of the Seine: The Life of Madame Roland by Jeanette Eaton (Harper)
Pran of Albania by Elizabeth Miller (Doubleday)
Jumping-Off Place by Marion Hurd McNeely (Longmans)
The Tangle-Coated Horse and Other Tales by Ella Young (Longmans)
Vaino by Julia Davis Adams (Dutton)
Little Blacknose by Hildegarde Swift (Harcourt)

1929 Medal Winner: The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly (Macmillan)
Honor Books:
Pigtail of Ah Lee Ben Loo by John Bennett (Longmans)
Millions of Cats by Wanda GÃ¡g (Coward)
The Boy Who Was by Grace Hallock (Dutton)
Clearing Weather by Cornelia Meigs (Little, Brown)
Runaway Papoose by Grace Moon (Doubleday)
Tod of the Fens by Elinor Whitney (Macmillan)

1928 Medal Winner: Gay Neck, the Story of a Pigeon by Dhan Gopal Mukerji (Dutton)
Honor Books:
The Wonder Smith and His Son by Ella Young (Longmans)
Downright Dencey by Caroline Snedeker (Doubleday)

1927 Medal Winner: Smoky, the Cowhorse by Will James (Scribner)
Honor Books:
[None recorded]

1926 Medal Winner: Shen of the Sea by Arthur Bowie Chrisman (Dutton)
Honor Book:
The Voyagers: Being Legends and Romances of Atlantic Discovery by Padraic Colum (Macmillan)

1925 Medal Winner: Tales from Silver Lands by Charles Finger. (Doubleday)
Honor Books:
Nicholas: A Manhattan Christmas Story by Annie Carroll Moore (Putnam)
The Dream Coach by Anne Parrish (Macmillan)

Postscript: I looked for all of these books in my library system, and aside from the obvious ones, the winners and the Wanda Gag titles, my library had next to none of them. I did find a copy of Davy Crockett by Constance Rourke and Calico Bush by Rachel Field (which I’ve already read). And they have Swift Rivers by Cornelia Meigs; I reviewed that one here.

So, I’ll go to the local university library next. They may have some titles since they have a fairly decent children’s iterature collection.

Looking Back, Looking Forward

Dec31

“No one ever regards the first of January with indifference.” —Charles Lamb.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. —Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities.

Genesis 8:22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

“Christianity, generally a horizon-watching faith rather than a novel-gazing one, has over the centuries helped people to outgrow petty hopes and climb faster and higher toward God’s greater challenges. But what if evangelicals sing self-absorbed hymns and songs, classing “personal peace and affluence” —to use Francis Schaeffer’s term— as Job No. 1? The result could be spiritual heart attacks and an international laziness that allows Islam and other anti-Christian doctrines to spread without challenge.” —Marvin Olasky in WORLD magazine, December 29, 2007.

Suppose we think little about number one;
Suppose we all help some else to have fun;
Suppose we ne’er speak of the faults of a friend;
Suppose we are ready our own to amend;
Suppose we laugh with, and not at, other folk,
And never hurt anyone “just for a joke”;
Suppose we hide trouble and show only cheer—
“TIs likely we’ll have quite a Happy New Year!

Riddles for the New Year:
1. Why is a New Year’s resolution like a mirror?

2. Which travels faster in January: heat or cold?

3. What is the next letter in the series?: J F M A M J

4. What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?

5. What goes up and never comes down?

“My father made us,” she began, “keep a diary in two columns: on one side we were to put down in the morning what we thought would be the course and events of the coming day, and at night we were to put down on the other side what really had happened. It would be to some people a rather sad way of telling their lives . . . I don’t mean that mine has been sad, only so very different to what I expected.”
—Miss Matty in Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell.

“Destiny waits in the hand of God, shaping the still unshapen:
I have seen these things in a shaft of sunlight.
Destiny waits in the hand of God, not in the hand of statesmen
Who do, some well, some ill, planning and guessing,
Having their aims which turn in their hands in the pattern of time.”
—T.S. Eliot, Murder in the Cathedral.

Happy New Year to All! May 2008 be filled with books, poetry, life, and love. And may all who enter here go away with a sense of the Joy of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is and was, and is to come. Maranatha!

Pulitzer Project

Dec31

I’ve been participating in this project for the past year. I’ve read 15 of the almost 100 Pulitzer Prize winners, and this year I’d like to read six or seven more:

2007 – The Road (McCarthy)

2001 – The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (Chabon)

1990 – The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (Hijuelos)

1973 – The Optimistâ€™s Daughter (Welty)

1928 – The Bridge of San Luis Rey (Wilder) I already read this one a long time ago, but I’d like to re-read it and see how and if it relates to LOST.

1926 – Arrowsmith (Lewis)

1922 – Alice Adams (Tarkington)

Bible Reading Project

Dec30

I think in terms of projects rather than resolutions. I’m posting the plans for some of my projects here so that I can keep track of them and for your edification.

I plan to take one book of the Bible or part of one book each month and read it through each day for that month. I also want to take notes of what impresses me from the day’s reading, maybe copy out a verse or two, maybe memorize a passage or a few verses. I memorize fairly easily, but long term retention is becoming more problematic as I get older. Anyway, here’s the tentative plan, subject to revision as the Spirit moves.

January: Mark 1-8. My pastor is starting a sermon series on Mark that will last through the spring. So Mark seems like a good place to start on my Bible reading adventure for 2008.

February: Ruth. We have a women’s retreat in February, and we’ll be doing an intensive weekend study of the book of Ruth. Plus, February is such a romantic month, and Ruth is a romantic story of God’s providence in the area of courtship and marriage. I’ll be taking my annual Lenten blog break during the months of February and March, but I’ll keep a record of anything profound and worth sharing that comes out of my Bible study and share it with Semicolon readers when I return. (Ash Wednesday in 2008 falls on February 6th, and Resurrection Sunday will be on March 23rd.)

March: Mark 9-16. Mark’s the shortest gospel with only 16 chapters, so I’ll read the second half in March.

April: I Samuel 1-11. As a follow-up to Ruth? Samuel and Saul and David seem like good subjects for study and meditation.

May: Romans 1-8. The SBC January Bible study for 2008 is on the book of Romans, so I should be able to find a good study guide at Lifeway. As I’ve said many times, I’m still a Southern Baptist at heart even though we attend an Evangelical Free church these days. Romans also has sixteen chapters, so I’ll finish it up in July.

June: I Samuel 12-17.

July: Romans 9-16.

August: I Samuel 18-23.

September: 1 John.

October: I Samuel 24-31.

November: 2 John and 3 John.

December: Isaiah 52-61. These chapters are chock-full of prophecies about the coming Messiah, especially the Messiah as a Suffering Servant, so I thought they’d be appropriate for next year’s Advent.

The Rest of the Books I Read in 2007 and Cybils, again

Dec28

Here’s my list of the twelve best books I read in 2007.

And here, in case anyone is interested, is a list of the other 160 books that I read in 2007.

Total books read in 2007: 182, give or take a few.

I’m finishing up the year with a re-read of Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. It’s an interesting change from all the Cybils children’s fiction nominees. Our announcement of the Cybils Middle Grade Fiction finalists should be posted at the Cybils blog sometime tomorrow. Thanks to all the people who worked with me on the nominating panel: Kate, Erin, Little Willow, Amanda, Kerry, and Jocelyn. It was great fun.

And good luck to the Judging panel:
Stacy Dillon (Booktopia)
Betsy Bird (A Fuse #8 Production)
Lindsey Dunn (Zee Says)
Christine Norris
Bruce Black (Wordswimmer)

Semicolon: Twelve Best Books I Read in 2007

Dec28

The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon: “When he has the opportunity to participate in an experimental treatment that may change the way his brain functions and eliminate his autistic symptoms, Lou must decide whether he wants to be â€œnormal.â€ Without his autism, will he still be himself, or will he become someone else? If the latter, does he want to be that other person? Will he lose the ability to analyze complex patterns and to pair those patterns of color and shape with music and with fencing, his outlet for self-expression? How much of who Lou is is bound up with his autism and with his past experience of overcoming the difficulties of being autistic in a â€œnormalâ€ world?”

Excellent Women by Barbara Pym: “I’ve never read anything by Barbara Pym before, but I found her book, Excellent Women, to be reminiscent of Jane Austen (drolly observant), Mrs. Gaskellâ€™s Cranford (insightful in regard to the ordinary), and even Jane Eyre, without the drama, but with the wry self-analysis.”

Dissolution by C.J. Sansom. I didn’t actually get this one reviewed, but I did like it. The link is to a review of another book in the series, Sovereign.

A Garden to Keep by Jamie Langston Turner. “The book jumps back and forth between past and present, profound and mundane, in a very satisfying way, just as real people think and weave thoughts about the realities of living with thoughts about the meaning of it all.”

Winds of War by Herman Wouk. I never got around to posting my review of this one. It’s a good story, a favorite of my pastor and his family.

All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren. “The book is much more than Huey Long renamed and fictionalized, however. Itâ€™s an exploration of how power corrupts, of how weâ€™re all, as Willie says, ‘conceived in sin and born in corruption.'”

Enchantment by Orson Scott Card. “If youâ€™re interested in retellings of fairy tales or in medieval historical fiction, Enchantment is one of the best of either Iâ€™ve read. Itâ€™s an adult or young adult book with some (married) sexual descriptions and innuendos.”

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. I really enjoyed this Cybils nominee, a story of adventure and intrigue in which four chidren save the world from disaster.

The Middle of Somewhere by J.B. Cheaney. Another Cybils nominee. I even got to interview Ms. Cheaney, lots of fun.

Isle of Swords by Wayne Thomas Batson. “Isle of Swords is a rip-roaring pirate story in the tradition of POTC, but not too derivative. I think those who enjoy a fast-paced adventure story will love it. It is somewhat violent, so if that bothers you . . . Otherwise, read it over the holidays while it snows outside and dream of high-seas adventure in the tropics.”

Leepike Ridge by N.D. Wilson. “This take-off on Tom Sawyer, Robinson Crusoe, and The Odyssey should also appeal to boys especially. It has caves, tunnels, hidden treasure, wild water rafting, and wilderness (sort of) survival. There are bad guys, good guys, dead guys, blood, raw food, and near-dismemberment. What more could a boy want in a book?”

Leap of Faith by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. “How many childrenâ€™s books can you name that are actually about the process of coming to faith, without being preachy or proselytizing? Thereâ€™s The Bronze Bow, Newbery Award winning historical fiction by Elizabeth Speare from fifty years ago. What else?”

I see that that they’re all twelve fiction.

I read a lot of fiction.

I did enjoy some nonfiction this year, but I suppose the fiction won out.

Semicolon: Twelve Best Posts of 2007

Dec27

LOST Rehash: Flashes Before Your Eyes: “I don’t think the writers of LOST have left room for a God who is in control of the Universe and yet allows human beings to make real choices. A God who is powerful enough and intelligent enough could weave corrections into the predetermined plan for the universe without making human choice into a farce. Itâ€™s the only path I see between determinism and chaos. But Iâ€™m no philosopher.”

Classic Iconic Movie Festival. “Way back in March, over spring break, Eldest Daughter and I held our own movie festival. She had some recommendations from friends who were fans of old movies, and we watched several of the movies on her list. For some of the movies the other young adults in the house joined us. Here are my impressions.”

Lazy Days of Homeschool. In May, our school year at Meriadoc Homeschool winds down not with a bang, but a dam.

Projected, a post about all the projects that I started (and mostly didn’t finish) during the first half of 2007. Oh, well, there’s always 2008, the good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise.

Under the Radar: Christian Fiction. “Christian fiction” has gotten a bad rap, partially deserved. Some so-called â€œChristian fictionâ€ (just like some YA fiction and some post-modern fiction) is nothing more than a bad sermon disguised as an even worse story. However, some of the fiction published by Christian publishing houses is not only exemplary and literary, but also just good reading.

Under the Radar: An Adult Fiction Trio. Don Camillo, Andrea Orsini, and Rima the Bird Girl: if you don’t recognize the naes of these fictional characters, you should. They’re all fascinating characters from popular fiction of the past.

Balance: Sometime I would love a glimpse into your daily lifeâ€¦how much time you give to reading and writing AND schooling your own children.
Do your children understand the time Mom gives to books and writing? Mine are 5-11 and I worry they see me staring at a book or screen more than anything else. Someone asked, and I attempted an answer.

The Rule of Six, or Seven or Eight: Melissa even says that “Miss (Charlotte) Mason believed children needed three things every day: something to love, something to think about, and something to do.” So educator Charlotte Mason started with three things each day, Melissa made it six, and Iâ€™m making my own list of ????

A Madeleine L’Engle Annotated Bibliography. Ms. L’Engle died in September, and I remembered her with a series of posts and links. This bibliography was one of them.

Apples in the Bible. I also celebrated apples in September. Apples in the BIble was one of the polsts from that series.

Mike Huckabee: It’s Time to Support a Conservative Values Candidate. The title is self-explanatory. I still think it’s time.

Things That Scare Me: In this post, I admitted my deepest fears in public, on the internet. I must be a brave person.