Eleven-year-old Nelly Vandorn, who lives in the Indiana
wilderness near Fort Wayne in 1821 with her older brother and parents, loses
her mother. When her father goes off, men at the fort tell Cornelius
that their father has probably gone off to start a new family. When
their father returns with a young bride, the siblings make a pact to make
Margery’s life miserable. This is not difficult because Margery, a
professor’s daughter, is inept and cannot translate what she reads into practical
action. When Margery becomes pregnant their worst fears are realized.
There is lots of action in the book. John Chapman stops by several
times and saves Nelly’s life, Pa gives Nelly a “critter” to love but the
mountain lion cub soon becomes too big to handle, Cornelius goes to the forbidden
fort to be near a girl, Nelly has a yearning to learn to read, and little
by little Margery becomes part of their lives until tragedy strikes.
This is a satisfying book about the hardships of frontier and pioneer life.
Mary Ann Paulin; Director, Superiorland Preview Center,
Marquette, MI
32 years of experience as a school library/media specialist
Erdrich, Louise. THE BIRCHBARK HOUSE. Illus by the author.
New York: Hyperion,
1999. 244p. 0-7868-0300-2; hb.
0-7868-2241-4; lib.bdg. 98-46366 Gr. 4-6+
FIC
PAULIN'S PICKS
Told in the style of Laura Ingalls Wilder's
"Little House" books, this is the story of Omakayas, a 7-year-old Anishinabe
girl (Chippewa/Ojibwa), who lived in 1847 on an island in Lake Superior off
the coast of present day Minnesota.. In searching her family tree,
the author found roots on Madeline Island and found the name of the heroine,
Oh-MAY-kay-ahs in an old census. The story begins with a brief passage
about a girl child who is the only survivor of smallpox which killed everyone
in her village. The chapters take Omakayas, Little Frog, through seasons
of the year and readers share in the activities of Anishinabeg family life:
making a birchbark house; scraping a moose hide; making makazins; keeping
birds from eating the corn; picking heartberries; gathering wild rice; and
sugaring maple. Customs are also woven into the total book: giving
of names; offering tobacco as thanks; caring for infants; recounting visions
and dreams; eating habits; and honoring plants and animal life. A variety
of wildlife from the WOODLANDS HABITAT find themselves part of the
story: a striped snake; squirrel; raccoon; crow; moose; bears; and a one
horned deer.
Readers feel they know the heroine because
they share experiences with her: meeting bears; enjoying her pet crow,
Andeg; caring for her baby brother; tolerating her pesky younger brother;
surviving another smallpox epidemic and mourning the loss of a family member;
learning to write her name in Zhaganashimowin, the white man's language;
having a vision; accepting her vocation as a healer; and learning the story
of herself. Erdrich does an excellent job of presenting the supporting
characters; readers feel that they know this Anishinabeg family by their
description, or own words, and actions. Father, Deyde, tells stories,
plays chess with his French father's set, wears a fancy earring, is
gone part of the year, and chops wood for his family even though he is ill.
The older sister, Angeline, breaks the small mirror when she sees her face
after having smallpox. Pinch, the pesky younger brother is constantly
in trouble but brings laughter, into their lives after the terrible winter.
Grandmother says "the soul of the Anishinabeg is made of laughter.
If there is no laughter, the soul dies." Nakomas, Grandma, tells
stories and shares her medicine. Old Tallow, an eccentric, weaves
her way through the book until she tells Omakayas a story which ties up all
the loose ends of book and binds those two characters together. Even
the other members of the tribe appear to be real people. The
author's pencil sketches of Deyde and Old Tallow dispel preconceived notions
what the Anishinabeg looked like and the text provides a real picture of
a native family during the middle of the 17th century.
Erdrich weaves several legends into the book
with the same grace that Yep includes a story in STARFISHER (Morrow,
1991). Deyde tells a ghost story, Grandma tells a story about her grandparents
and one about how Nanabozho and Muskrat make an island, and Old Tallow tells
a personal story. Read stories aloud about Manabozho/Nanabozho,
from Leekley's classic THE WORLD OF MANABOZHO: TALES OF THE CHIPPEWA INDIANS
(Vanguard, 1965, op) and have students enjoy Greene's MANABOZHO'S
GIFTS (Houghton Mifflin, 1994). Which hopefully will be published in
a paperback edition. A glossary and pronunciation guide of Ojibwa terms is
helpful. The end papers include a map of the island and another showing
it's relationship to Lake Superior.
Teachers and librarians, especially in the
Great Lake States where there are Chippewa/Ojibwa, will be excited about
this book. Every fourth grade teacher who is responsible for
Michigan history, and similar teachers in Wisconsin and Minnesota, will want
to have a copy of this book to read aloud to students. Every Upper
Peninsula school and public library should own this book because the setting
is so close and boundaries are artificial. But this
is not just a book with local color, it is a book that brings a native family
to life so that children can appreciate the Anishinabeg who were here before
the white man came. Although Erdrich has written winning books for
adults, this is her first book for children; may she write many more.
This book is a winner! Place your order today.
Mary Ann Paulin; Director, Superiorland Preview
Center
32 years of experience as a school library/media
specialist
Holm, Jennifer L. OUR ONLY MAY AMELIA. New York: HarperCollins,
1999.
253p. 0-06-027822-6; hb., $15.95 0-06-4408566;
pb., $4.95 98-47504
Gr. 3-8 FIC
PAULIN'S PICKS
Although this book was set in Washington state in 1899,
it could have taken place in Michigan's Upper Peninsula or Northern Minnesota
because it is about a Finnish-American farming and logging family. Also
familiar is a river for fishing and fun and a body of water large enough
to accommodate a sea captain and his ship. The narrator is May Amelia,
a 12-year-old tomboy in a family of seven brothers, one of whom is really
a cousin. The author used a great-aunt's diary to lend authenticity
to her setting but used her own experiences (as a tomboy growing up
with four brothers) to put flesh on this first person narrative.
Although everyone "is conspiring to make me a Proper Young
Lady," May says "I do not think being a Proper Young Lady sounds like any
fun at all." May makes her own fun which often turns into mischief
and sometimes gets her in trouble, like when she stepped in a animal
trap set by cousin Kaarlo, her nemeses. Readers share May's secret
place, commiserate with her when her papa is hard on her because she is a
girl, understand her relationships with the boys in her family, worry about
the brother who has a non-Finnish girlfriend, work with sheep named for neighbors,
gillnet with an uncle, look forward to a new baby, and confront death.
May Amelia has as much in common with Becky Thatcher, Caddie
Woodlawn, Jo March, and Laura Ingalls as she does with Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn,
and Harry Potter. She is spunky, or as the Finnish say, she has SISU,
guts. Besides being the only girl in her family, May is also
the only girl her own age for miles around. May has added responsibilities
because a new baby is on the way and her birthday wish is that it will be
a girl.
Besides her parents and brothers, May has an extended family:
a storytelling sea captain uncle and his wife who comes to help out before
the birth the new baby; her maiden Aunt Alice who is spunky in her
own right and who and shares city life with May; a witch of a grandmother,
ironically named Patience; and numerous neighbors. Although this seems
like a lot of characters to keep track of, Holm provides a sense of who they
are.
Although there have been many books written about pioneer
girls, this book has a Finnish flavor as Holm smoothly interjects Finnish
food, customs like the sauna, and Finnish first and last names into the story.
The vintage photos that begin each chapter add to the sense of time and place.
Readers will be curious to know whether or not they are family photos or
just period ones.
Fourth grade teachers of Michigan history can appropriate this book the same
way they did Louise Erdrich's THE BIRCHBARK HOUSE. (Hyperion,
1999) about an Ojibwa girl who lives along Lake Superior in Wisconsin.
This is an excellent example of historical fiction that can be read aloud
to students or read by students in grades 3-8. Holm's first novel should
be owned by every Upper Peninsula library and will make an excellent
gift recommendation. Mary Ann Paulin, Director, Superiorland
Preview Center
32 years of experience as a school library media specialist
*This book won a 2000 Newbery Honor book citation.
Karim, Roberta. KINDLE ME A RIDDLE: A PIONEER STORY.
Illus. by Bethanne Andersen. New York: Greenwillow, 1999.
40p.
0-688-16203-7; hb., $16.00 0-688-1604-5;
lib.bdg., $15.93 98-1955
K-Gr.5+ E
PAULIN"S PICKS
This clever story is told in the first person by a
pioneer girl whose father asks her a riddle to cheer her up after she lets
the fire die out. The riddle is "What is a wagon road before it's a
wagon road?" The answer" is "It was a buffalo trail, long and deep."
This is the beginning of many riddles that help explain pioneer life.
Other riddles are even more poetic like the doll made from "Corn husks dancing
in the cool moonlight." Others include: log cabin; johnny cakes;
cider; broom; fireplace; pie; winter cloak; chalk; ice blocks; sampler; candle;
mattresses; and pillow. At the end of the book there are 18 pictures
and explanations about items mentioned in the book or the riddle themes like
chalk and slates, beeswax candles, and making cloth. Information
important to understanding how pioneer families lived is useful for pioneer
studies and the riddles help to make the book interactive. This book
will be used by primary, intermediate, and even middle school students for
pleasure or information. School and public libraries need this title.
Highly Recommended.
Mary Ann Paulin, Director, Superiorland Preview Center
32 years of experience as a school library media specialist
Kay, Verla. THE IRON HORSE. Illus. by Michael
McCurdy. New York:
Putnam, 1999. 32Pp. 0-399-231196; hb.,
$15.99 98-29898 PreS-Gr.4
E
PAULIN'S PICKS
Summarizing the building of the Transcontinental Railroad
in a rhyming picture book of 32 pages is a daunting task. The scratchboard
illustrations not only complement but extend the rhyme which does an admirable
job of explaining this piece of American history while keeping the rhyme
scheme. Kay's book can be read aloud to students of any age who are
studying the Transcontinental Railroad. An Author's Note and a map
add more information. Pages of the book could be divided among students
who could research further information on the topic. This is an important
purchase for school and public libraries for the historical value or just
for the pleasure of reading an exemplary picture book.
Mary Ann Paulin, Director, Superiorland Preview Center
32 years of experience as a school library media specialist
Kinsey-Warnock, Natalie. A DOCTOR LIKE PAPA. Illus by
James Bernardin.
New York: HarperCollins, 2002. 73P. 0-06-029319-5;
hb., $14.95
0-06-029320-9; lib.bdg., $14.89
2001-039817 Gr. 2-5 FIC
Eleven-year-old Margaret finally gets permission from
her mother to accompany her father on his doctoring rounds. The year
is 1918 when women were not doctors, when Margaret’s young uncle comes home
from World War a changed man, and during an influenza epidemic. Margaret’s
experiences are realistic and intriguing but gruesome. The setting
is Vermont apple country. This chapter book moves at a fast pace
and provides a view of those times.
Mary Ann Paulin; Director, Superiorland Preview Center,
Marquette, MI
32 years of experience as a school library/media specialist
Kinsey-Warnock, Natalie. LUMBER CAMP LIBRARY. Illus
by James Bernardin.
New York: HarperCollins, 2002. 87p. 0-06-029321-7;
hb., $14.995
2001-039684 Gr. 2-5
FIC
Eight-year-old Ruby loves her father, a lumberman, and
when he dies she is devastated. They sell their piano and move to town
where she continues going to school until she has to give it up to help her
family. When she tries to trade raspberry pies for books, she gets
a delightful surprise. Her goal of becoming a teacher also has unexpected
results. Although this book is set in Vermont in 1912, it could have
been set during lumbering days in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, in Wisconsin,
Minnesota, Washington, or Oregon. The story is fast paced, the
characters are well drawn, and the vocabulary is easy to read but not simplistic.
This historical fiction story, in the tradition of the Little House books,
is an excellent chapter book for primary school readers or intermediate
remedial readers.
Mary Ann Paulin; Director, Superiorland Preview Center,
Marquette, MI
32 years of experience as a school library/media specialist
Love, D. Anne. I REMEMBER THE ALAMO. New York: Holiday,
1999.
156p. 0-8234-1426-4; hb., $15.95. 98-43331
Gr.4-7 FIC
Eleven-year-old Jessie's father is not a practical
man and believes that the next scheme he tries will succeed and satisfy him.
One day he meets two men who tell him about land in Texas and he uproots
his family the next day and they are "Gone to Texas." The promised
land is swampy and the baby dies and the family goes to San Antonio instead.
There Jessie meets a Mexican girl, Angelina, but Jessie's father does not
approve of the friendship. When her father and older brother
Yancy take off to fight with the Texians, the rest of the family goes to
the Alamo. Readers who have read SUZANNA OF THE ALAMO: A TRUE STORY
by Jakes (Harcourt, 1986) will know what is coming when they
meet Suzanna and her mother. Add this to bibliographies of intermediate
and middle school books to help students understand American History.
Mary Ann Paulin; Director, Superiorland Preview Center
32 years of experience as a school library/media specialist
Love, D. Anne. A YEAR WITHOUT RAIN. New York: Holiday,
2000.
118p. 0-8234-1488-4; hb., $15.95. 99-35825
Gr. 3-7 FIC
Twelve-year-old Rachel and her little brother,
John Wesley lost their mother several years before the story begins. The live
on the prairie in the Dakotas in the mid 1890s during a time when fire
and drought have caused their neighbors to leave. When the drought becomes
too severe, Rachel and John Wesley go alone by train to Savannah to stay
with their mother's sister, a suffragette. There the children miss
their father and their dog but they learn more about their mother from letters
she wrote their father when they were courting and letters their mother wrote
to her sister from Dakota Territory. When their father comes to get
them he has a surprise that does not please Rachel. She
loved Miss Burke as a teacher but does not want her for a mother. Rachel
plays tricks on Miss Burke but her mother-to-be is a paragon of virtue who
forgives Rachel's tricks even though she almost chops off her hand.
The wedding goes on and Rachel realizes that there is room in her family
for two women in her father's life. When the children leave during
the drought, it is reminiscent ofwhen Sarah took her step children to her
former home on the east coast during a drought in McLachlan's SKYLARK
(1995), sequel to her Newbery winning book SARAH PLAIN AND TALL (1987)
both Harper and Harper Trophy paperback.
Mary Ann Paulin; Director, Superiorland Preview Center
32 years of experience as a school library/media specialist
McGill, Alice. MOLLY BANNAKY. Illus. by Chris
K. Soentpiet. Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
1999. 32p. 0-395-72287-X; hb.,
$16.00. 96-3000 Gr. 1-7+
E or FIC
PAULIN'S PICKS
Double-page watercolor illustrations are an important
part of the educational and aesthetic value of this oversized fiction book
about an English dairy maid who was taken to court and deported to the new
world for stealing milk when her cow tipped over a milk pail in 1683.
At the age of seventeen, Molly Walsh became indentured to a tobacco planter
in Maryland. After seven years, she was given an ox, plow, two hoes,
tobacco and corn seed, clothing, and a gun so she left to stake a claim in
the wilderness. Molly bought an African slave named Bannaky to help
her and eventually she married him even though it was against colonial law.
The couple had four daughters and her grandson was Benjamin Banneker.
The historical note on the last page tells about life in 17th century England,
Benjamin's mother who was also married to a free African slave, and a paragraph
about Benjamin Banneker's accomplishments. This handsome and informative
book is a first purchase for intermediate and middle schools and public libraries
for understanding U. S. history. Outstanding!
Mary Ann Paulin; Director, Superiorland Preview Center,
Marquette, MI
32 years as a school library media specialist
Pinkney, Andrea Davis. SILENT THUNDER: A CIVIL WAR STORY.
New York: Jump at the Sun/Hyperion, 1999. 218p.
0-7868-0439-4; hb., $15.99
0-7868-2388-7; lib.bdg., $15.89 98-32071
Gr. 4-9 FIC
Each chapter is told in the first person by a
brother and sister who are slaves on the Parnell Plantation in Hobbs Hollow,
Virginia. The entries are dated from August 21, 1863 to January 1,
1863, the date of the Emancipation Proclamation which features in the plot
of the story. The book begins on Summer's eleventh birthday when her
owner, Master Gideon, asks to see her for his annual inspection. The
inspection foreshadows a plot development. Summer is curious about
her parentage and is curious about reading. Rosco, Summer's thirteen-year-old
brother, is consumed with learning to read and teaches Summer to read.
Rosco and his mother are worried that Summer cannot keep this dangerous secret.
A third character is the children's mother who organizes the Parnell
household for Missy Claire, saves her mistress's invalid son by helping him
breathe, and nurses her mistress's husband when he has a stroke.
The silent thunder, taken from the title, symbolizes
the passions of the four main characters. Another slave, Clem, wanted
to marry a slave on a neighboring plantation but Master Panell, refused to
buy her. When Clem and Marietta ran away together, they were caught
and Clem was whipped and Marietta was sold. Clem's passion is to join
the Union army.
Except for a few bothersome features (the dreams in italics or Doc's
toast at the Christmas party to the equality of people, even servants, while
he is hiding his role as a conductor on the Underground Railroad), this book
will be a good addition to civil war studies for intermediate and middle
school students.
Mary Ann Paulin; Director, Superiorland Preview Center
32 years of experience as a school library/media specialist