May 2021 Books

It was kind of a disappointing reading month.  Meaning : there were several books I was looking forward to reading, but was disappointed in them.  Two of them I abandoned without finishing.  Two of them I finished, but didn't enjoy them.

I found two new sites with helpful book reviews:

Squeaky Clean Book Reviews -- I like that they specify what might be cautionary under headings such as "Violence", "Sexual Content", "Crude/Profane Language", etc.

The Good and the Beautiful Booklist -- They have a list of criteria regarding potty humor, profanity, using God's name in vain, literary value, moral value, etc. and a list of books that are clean according to all their criteria, as well as a list of books that didn't make the list (and why).

Biography

Didn't get around to reading a biography this month.

Classics

Little Women 

by Louisa May Alcott

What can I say?  I finished off the month by re-reading this delightful classic.  I appreciated the chapter where Jo talks with Marmee about her frightful temper and how to try to conquer it.  There was good good advice in there about dealing with anger.  My only disappointment was that the copy I have was only part 1 -- up to Meg getting engaged.  Apparently, the story was written in two parts, with the second one being published as Good Wives.  In the US, both parts are usually published together under the title Little Women.  Fortunately, I was able to quickly get a copy from the library that contained both parts so I could finish the story. Only little nit to pick -- the girls make many allusions to Pilgrim's Progress and refer to their "burdens", meaning their trials in life that they must bear.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Christian's burden his sin?  And wasn't most of his journey made without the burden?

Newberry

Our Only May Amelia

by Jennifer L Holm

May Amelia is the only girl in a family of 7 brothers.  In fact, she's the only girl ever born in the entire settlement where she lives in Washington State in 1899.  She loves adventure and chafes at her family's attempts to make her a Proper Young Lady.  It was funny and amusing at first (especially the chapter about her brother who loves caring for the "sheeps").  It was touching when she learned why her older brother Kaarlo (who is really a cousin) is so mean and grouchy.  It made my blood boil when the grandmother came to live with them and was positively cruel and vicious to her (verbally and physically).  However, about halfway through I got tired of the constant cutting-down speech (some might call it "banter") among the kids and the increasing use of God's name as a curse word.  So I quit.

Nonfiction

Dyslexia 101

by Marianne Sunderland

The author is a homeschooling mother of 8 children, 7 of whom have some degree of dyslexia. She describes dyslexia as a difference in the way the brain is wired and processes information.  It's not a disability, just a difference.  More than half the book (in chapter count) deals with dyslexics and college.  I got this book because I heard the author interviewed on Read-Aloud Revival.  Some of the ways that she described the struggles dyslexics have with learning to read (and spell and mastering math facts) made my say "Hmmm" about one of my children who has struggled more than the others with those skills.  It was an interesting book, but it could have used a better editor.  There are several places where it was blatantly obvious that the material was copied from a blog post (i.e. "Click here"), and numerous places where they forgot to go back and fill in the chapter number (one chapter references another with "Chapter #").  I suspect you can probably find most of the information in the book on her website (for free, instead of buying the book).  But if you prefer to read a paper copy rather than online, this is ok.

The World-Tilting Gospel

by Dan Phillips

From the back cover: "[this book] lays out four reasons why the first believers had more impact on their culture than today's church  has on contemporary society....[it] shows us who we really are, what kind of world we are really living in, who God really is, and what difference the Gospel really makes in our everyday lives."

Just For Fun

Calico Captive

by Elizabeth George Speare

I have enjoyed several other books by this author (The Witch of Blackbird Pond, The Bronze Bow, and The Sign of the Beaver).  I enjoyed this one as well : I finished it in less than 48 hours and stayed up late a couple of nights to read it.  Miriam and her sister's family are captured by Indians in New Hampshire, marched to Canada, and sold to the French in Montreal during the French & Indian War.  Eventually, they are able to obtain ransom money to buy their freedom.  It seems to be based on a true story.  I would probably rate it as a teens and up novel.  This would be another favorite of the month, and helped satisfy me after several other disappointing books this month.

Read-aloud

Paddington Goes to Town

by Michael Bond

The eighth book in the Paddington series.  Paddington is up to his usual misadventures, getting snared into helping the grumpy neighbor Mr. Curry.

History

Who In the World Was the Unready King: The story of Ethelbert

by Connie Clark

A short chapter book about Ethelbert, who became the king of England when he was only 10 years old.  He never wanted to be king; he though his older stepbrother would be the king. He listened to various advisers and tried paying off the Vikings to keep them from attacking.  Of course, this only worked temporarily.  It was kind of a sad story.  I kept waiting for a redemptive angle -- as in, he finally got a backbone and stood up to the people who were pushing him around -- but there wasn't one.  Based on a true character in history. Read-aloud.

Fire, Bed & Bone

by Henrietta Bradford

Historical fiction set in the 1300's during the time of a peasant revolt in England.  After being decimated by the plague, the peasant population is even more overworked and burdened than before and begins agitating for change.  The king cracks down on the rebellion, promises changes, but then reneges and many of the rebels are slaughtered.  Things continue on for a couple hundred more years before real changes to the feudal system occur.  This story is told from the point of view of an old hound dog who belongs to one of those rebel peasants.  It is bloody, violent (including domestic violence), and depressing.  While all these things may be an accurate description of the time and I did learn something new about this little-known episode of history, this isn't a book I want to read again, or read to my kids, or have my kids read.

The Heart of a Samurai

by Mary Preus

Based on the true story of a Japanese boy rescued from a shipwreck in the 1840s.  He spent 10 years sailing around the world, learning about the world and the Americans who had rescued him -- these "foreign devils" that the isolated Japanese misunderstood, feared, and hated.  He eventually made it back home and helped open up Japan to the outside world.  Very engaging story.  Interestingly, he came across the navigation book written by Nathaniel Bowditch (about whom I read last month in Carry On, Mr. Bowditch).  Some of the descriptions of capturing and harvesting whales might be too graphic for extremely sensitive readers, but it shows the repulsion with which the Japanese viewed this practice.  This was a Newberry Honor book in 2011.  Strewed, and at least one or two of the older kids read it.  While this may not make it to my "all time favorites" list, it was one of my favorites of all the books I read this month.

Ink on His Fingers

by Louise Vernon

Historical fiction about a boy who becomes an apprentice to Johannes Gutenberg.  Strewed.

Marco Polo

by Charles Graves

A young reader's biography of Marco Polo.  Read aloud.

The Minstrel in the Tower

by Gloria Skurzynski

A boy and his sister set out to find their estranged uncle as their mother is very sick and on the point of death.  They are trapped on the way by robbers, but manage to get out, find their uncle, prove their relationship, and restore peace in the family.  A short, easy chapter book.  Strewed.

Samurai

by Caroline Leavitt

A nonfiction picture book about the Samurai, who were the knights of Japan in the middle ages.  Strewed.

William Tell

by Leonard Everett Fisher

A picture book retelling of the story of William Tell of Switzerland shooting an apple off the head of his son with an arrow.  He was forced to do this because he refused to kneel before the hat of a wicked, oppressive governor.  This was a shorter, less detailed version of the story told in The Apple and the Arrow by Conrad Buff, but good enough to give the general gist of the story.  Read aloud.

The Ramsay Scallop

by Frances Temple

Fourteen-year old Elenor is betrothed to marry Thomas, who is a recently returned from eight years in the crusades.  Neither is excited about the match.  Thomas is haunted by the things he saw during the Crusades -- things less than worthy of a "holy" war.  The local village priests send them on a pilgrimage to some place in Spain to lay a list of the sins of the people as a supposed tomb of the apostle James.  Supposedly, this story is a bit like Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, in that they meet and hear the stories of various other pilgrims along the way.  However, I didn't get that far before I abandoned the book.  I almost set it down when the priest was telling the story of James.  First, he said that James and John were cousins of Jesus (on what verse from the Bible does he base that idea?)  Then, he said that James was so sad when Jesus died that he didn't want Jesus' teachings to die with him, so James traveled around telling people about Jesus' teachings.  No mention that Jesus was resurrected!  But I really did abandon it a few pages later when there's a scene where Elenor is grabbed and handled by strange man one night.  Amazon says the publisher rates this book as for ages 8-12.  I would strongly disagree.  Upper teens would be my estimation, if at all.  It may turn out to be an ok story, but I've got a lot of other books on my shelf and I know I'm not going to read this book to my kids or give it to them to read on their own, so I'm not going to spend any more time on it.

A Parcel of Patterns

by Jill Patton Walsh

A historical fiction tale based on true events that happened in the village of Eyam, England in 1665-1666.  The new minister's wife has the local tailor  order a dress pattern from London.  When it arrives, it contains the plague and within a week the tailor is dead.  Over the next 13 months, one half to two-thirds of the town dies from the bubonic plague.  The people don't know what is causing it or how to prevent it.  They are torn between two parsons: one says the plague is judgment for sin and if you have a clean conscience, you don't need to worry; the other parson tries to get the people to practice better sanitation, keep their distance from others (aka "social distancing"), and avoid traveling outside the town borders to prevent spreading it to other villages (can you say "lockdown?").  It was interesting to read in light of the COVID19 situation we've been watching the past year.  The writing style was challenging to read, and the content was depressing.  I can see value in the story, but I don't expect many people (especially students) would enjoy this book.  It's certainly not a "fun" book.  Recommended age : teens, with parental discussion to aid in processing it.

Picture books, just for fun

Nothing new this month.

Magazines

World (3), Texas Parks & Wildlife (1), Young Rider (1)