The Undefeated

About a year ago, I found a list of what some mommy-blogger had decided were the best children's books about kindness. I checked them all out and my son and I picked out our favorites. Probably among my top 5 was one called If You Plant a Seed by Kadir Nelson. It was beautiful in its message, its simplicity and the artwork was aMAZing. And so I was excited to recognize his name as the artist of one of this year's Newbery Honor books - The Undefeated! And it actually won the Caldecott Medal this year - double win!

The book is a poem by Kwame Alexander (probably only around 200 words) about important black people who shaped American history and overcame all odds to succeed. The paintings are beautiful and the text is fine. I knew most of the people/stories featured, but it was cool to meet a few more - Wilma Rudolph, Thelonious Monk.

Since it doesn't actually tell a story, my 3-year-old felt meh about it. My enjoyment was higher than meh but lower than wow. I actually enjoyed reading the epilogue with all the mini-bios of the American heroes painted in the book more than the book itself. Poetry has its merits and its fans, but I always prefer a good story.

Leader by Destiny: George Washington, Man and Patriot

To the memory of the Man, first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen.

I suppose it was nice to get a more concrete picture of a man I've only known in the abstract. But, like most (all?) biographies, I slogged through the majority of the details and could not remember names of people from one page to the next (what were all his brothers' names again?). 

Highlights:

-  Mentions of Mt. Vernon. I went there once to visit. I could picture the rooms and the trees and the vineyards and the slaves' quarters and the gift shop . . .
- The Sally Fairfax forbidden love thing had me so curious. I kept thinking, "I don't remember the first First Lady being named Sally Washington!" I actually looked it up on Wikipedia before I got to the part where he married Martha because I was so baffled. I think the biographer played up George's infatuation with Sally according to her own fantasy, but it seems like he never did anything unchaste and I appreciated that.
- The Marquis de Lafayette. I had only heard of him in a Hamilton song (I'm not that familiar with the musical, otherwise I would probably know a lot more about him!) and was surprised to learn how close he was with George Washington and how helpful he was in the Revolution. I'm a fan.
- The Constitutional Convention. Politics and history are pretty low on my interest list, but I had this overwhelming urge to be a fly on the wall to watch as so many opinionated, well-educated, passionate men debated the basic tenets of our government. Honestly, that probably would have been pretty interesting.

Lowlights:
- Battles.

Bad news:
- I can't find any more of my old Newberys online.

Good news:
- I can take a break from old Newberys for a bit because 2020 winners were announced this week! Yay!

Recommendation:
- Nah. Go visit Mt. Vernon instead. Or ride a horse.

Ood-le-uk the Wanderer

I am now at a point in my Newbery quest where I am just googling titles (only 16 left after reading Ood-le-uk) and seeing if I can find the text somewhere online. No libraries anywhere near me have any physical copies. I found this one on some digital library based in San Francisco that allows 14 day check-outs to read the text online. I suppose at some point even this method will prove fruitless and then who knows what I'll do!

Synopsis: Ood-le-uk is a creative, introspective Eskimo boy who doesn't feel particularly comfortable participating in the hunting escapades of the men in his tribe because he is often afraid and others consider him weak. Then on one particularly dangerous hunting trip, he gets separated from land on an ice floe and ultimately ends up (after ingeniously killing a walrus and making a boat) among a tribe of Siberian nomadic reindeer herders (who actually have lost their herds to sickness and are therefore no longer nomadic). He gets adopted into the chief's family and goes on many harrowing journeys, eventually acquires great wealth and becomes familiar with new cultures and people and religion and everything else that comes with travel. Finally, several years later, he builds barges and brings his adopted brother and other Siberian men with him to try to find his homeland and family in Alaska . . . and they do! And then he sets up a trade route across the Bering Straight between his people in North America and the Siberian tribes.

Reaction: I actually really enjoyed it! It reminded me of Gary Paulsen books at the beginning when Ood-le-uk has to survive on his own with only a few weapons. I was impressed that the authors were able to develop Ood-le-uk so well as a character and a hero without dialogue, but I still wished there was more conversation. Honestly, this is a people and a part of the world I know almost nothing about and I don't think I've ever read a book about them, either, so I have no idea how accurate any of the book was. It seemed like the authors had done some research and despite their clearly WASP worldview, had tried to depict the world from an Inuit boy's perspective. One thing is certain: I could never survive in a world that cold.

New Land

Another homesteading book with a headstrong, clever 17-year-old female protagonist? Yes, please! I'm not sure how I ended up reading New Land directly after The Jumping-Off Place (other than the fact that I found them both online), but there are so many similarities that I found myself comparing the two novels the whole time. Both chronicle a family of homesteaders with strong teenage girl leads, both are set in the early 1900s, both families have to deal with a "villainous" family that goes to great lengths to get them to fail on proving up (though with different motives) including vandalism and theft, both deal with crop failure and both climax with a really traumatic yet triumphant experience during a terrifying snow storm.

The books had very different feels, though, and I was more captivated by New Land. It focused more on the national and local politics at the time (not very interesting to me) and on the education required to farm successfully (somewhat interesting) and the protagonist's efforts to reform and strengthen her family members. I will admit: I wished there had been some romance! I think that's the first time I've thought that while reading a Newbery, but there was something about Sayre that just made me wish she had a prospect of some sort. Still good, nonetheless. 3.5 stars

The Jumping-Off Place

Resilience is a hot topic I've been hearing and reading about a lot lately. Studies show the lack of it is a major factor in kids dropping out of college and the armed forces during or after the first year. Studies also show that having it is a key predictor to one's happiness. As such, I've also been reading some great articles about how to teach kids to develop it. In a nutshell, allowing your children to struggle, to experience hardship and to make their own decisions are keys to helping them become resilient. And though none of the articles specifically mentioned it, after reading The Jumping-Off Place I am confident that sending your kids to homestead on their own would also be a fabulous way to help them develop this coveted virtue. Seriously, the four orphaned Linville siblings in TJOP seem to be the very definition of resilient, resourceful youth. It's also pretty cool that the story is a somewhat autobiographical account of the author's experience homesteading in South Dakota with her husband.

After a few very slow old honors, The Jumping-Off Place was actually a nice reassurance that kids in the 1930s may have had something interesting to read. There were some elements that reminded me of Anne of Green Gables and Little House on the Prairie and the story was well written. 3 stars!

Runner of the Mountain Tops: The Life of Louis Agassiz

Long ago, I read the biography of man written by his mom (entitled History of Joseph Smith Written by his Mother). I remember thinking after reading it that if I wanted the most glowing, faultless version of my life written, having my mom write it was an excellent idea. Since my mom has passed, I think a very close second place would be Mabel Robinson (the author of this book). Then again, she doesn't semi-worship me like she did Louis Agassiz, so I'd have to find my own Mabel. I mean, just comparing her version of Agassiz (the best scientist and teacher and possibly human EVER) and the Wikipedia article written about him (he made some contributions to the study of fish and the ice age, but he's a racist) proves that choosing your biographer can make all the difference.

As far as how I feel about Louis Agassiz after reading this book, I just have no respect for people (even geniuses! scientists! activists! politicians extraordinaire!) who aren't nice to or have no time for their spouses and kids. And while Mabel does her best to make all his work and passions sound so important that spending time with his first wife and young kids would have interfered, I didn't have to read in between any lines to realize he was a jerk to poor Cily and ignored her and his children. It also became clear as I read that Louis and I have very dissimilar interests and fifteen chapters about fish fossils got old really fast.

Honestly, this book was complete drudgery to read. I read it online. I think I started it three years ago and have read a chapter or so any time I thought of it (not often). I finally made it a chore on my to-do list and pushed through the last several chapters this week. I'm glad it's over.

Merci Suarez Changes Gears

A pick-up game of soccer ends in a bloody lip.
A bike ride ends in a black eye.
A P.E. baseball pitch ends in a head injury and another bloody lip (and a really unfair detention).
A (really cool jackal) costume gets smashed to pieces (maliciously).
A drive home from school ends in a car-totalling accident (and more bloodied facial features).
A Halloween party ends in body-covering sea lice bites?
An Egyptian school project ends in someone losing their eyebrows. 

I believe that every incident in Merci Suarez Changes Gears results in either blood or destruction. And it's just a coming-of-age middle school book! But you know what they say . . . "If it bleeds, it leads."

My biggest Merci take-away: Communicate with your children! Trust that your kids will be able to handle difficult and sometimes uncomfortable topics and know that hearing it from you is the best way for them to learn (definitely better than the internet! or them living a life of ignorance!). All that secrecy about Merci's grandpa having Alzheimer's was so frustrating. For most of the book, I thought it was because her family didn't know what was happening either. But no, for some reason they just didn't think they should tell Merci and it made it a lot worse. Don't make the same mistake.