Category: Historical

The Silver Donkey, by Sonya Hartnett

Candlewick Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2006.  First published in Australia in 2004.  266 pages.

“One cool spring morning in the woods close to the sea, two girls found a man curled up in the shade and, immediately guessing he must be dead, ran away shrieking delightedly, clutching each other’s hands.”

In fact, it turns out the man is not dead.  He is an enemy soldier, having run away from the war.  He cannot see.  His eyes got tired of seeing the horrors of war, and his vision clouded over.

He tells the girls not to tell anyone he is there.  But how can they help him find his way home, across the Channel?  His younger brother is very ill.  “The doctors don’t think he has long to live.  My mother wrote saying that he wakes at night with a fever, calling out for me.  She wrote that I should hurry home.”

Marcelle and Coco want to help their soldier.  But how can two girls help a blind soldier?  They start by bringing him food. 

The soldier has a good-luck charm, a small shining silver donkey.  He repays their kindness by telling them stories, stories of donkeys, which, though humble, turn out to be surprisingly noble.

This book is mythic and powerful.  It tells of the horrors of war, but also of the nobility that shines through in difficult times.  And the wonder of friendship, across cultures.

The library copy is in a wonderful binding with high-quality pages, silver decoration on the cover, and a silver ribbon bookmark.  Illustrations by Don Powers grace its pages, with a special border on the pages of the stories the soldier tells.

A simple and beautiful tale.

This review is posted on the main site at:

www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/silver_donkey.html

Before Green Gables:  The Prequel to Anne of Green Gables, by Budge Wilson

G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 2008.  389 pages.

ISBN: 978-0-399-15468-3 

Before Anne Shirley, the red-headed orphan, came to Green Gables, no one wanted her.  She helped Mrs. Thomas, with all her children and a drunken husband, and then Mrs. Hammond, who had twins three times in succession, before she ended up in an orphanage.

Before Green Gables tells the story of Anne’s first eleven years.  I knew they were hard years, so I thought it would be a depressing book, but of course a hard-core fan of L. M. Montgomery can’t resist reading it.

Although the book didn’t quite reach L. M. Montgomery’s genius, there were moments when I did feel the author had captured Anne’s soul and given us insight into how she might have become the jewel we see in Anne of Green Gables.

I loved the picture Budge Wilson gives us of Anne’s parents, Bertha and Walter Shirley, two schoolteachers, very much in love with each other and with their new baby daughter.  She portrays how the cleaning lady was touched by their lives — enough to take in their baby even when her own house was full.

I like the side characters the author portrayed in Anne’s life, especially the Egg Man, who taught her to love words.  I like the teachers she encounters who feed her soul, so hungry for beauty.

Most of all, this book gave me a story of a girl who cherished transcendent moments and refused bitterness, in spite of a life of drudgery and hardship.  Anne relished beauty and found friendship, even if only in a reflection and an echo.

My own hardships seem small in comparison.  Oh, to be like Anne, finding moments of beauty even when doing so takes great imagination.

This book is a worthy addition to Anne’s legacy.

Link to the review on the main site:

www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/before_green_gables.html