Review of The Witch of Blackbird Pond

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

by Elizabeth George Speare

Laurel-Leaf Books, 1993. First published in 1958. 224 pages.
Winner of the 1959 Newbery Medal.
Starred Review.
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2010: Wonderful Rereads

When I took a class on the Newbery Medal, some of my classmates got to talking about The Witch of Blackbird Pond, and I found I simply couldn’t resist rereading it, even though for the class I was reading winners that I’d never read before.

Kit grew up in the West Indies, on her grandfather’s plantation. She wore fashionable clothes in bright colors, went swimming in the warm water, and took slaves for granted.

Her grandfather dies, leaving debts that an old widower will help her clear up, if she marries him. So Kit flees to the Massachusetts colony, to her mother’s sister, who married a Puritan long ago.

To say that Kit doesn’t fit in among the Puritans is an understatement. She tries to help in her aunt’s household, but it takes her time to get used to the tasks. She finds a friend in Hannah, an old woman living out by Blackbird Pond, a Quaker who’s rumored to be a witch, but whom Kit finds to be loving and kind.

There’s all kinds of drama in this story. It’s a testament to its power that most of us in the Newbery class were most enthusiastic about the romance, but one participant, who had read the book when she was younger, in elementary school, hadn’t even noticed the romance. She loved the book because of the drama of Kit trying to fit in and being accused of witchcraft.

The book takes place shortly before the American Revolution, so you also have good historical background. Of course, that’s more conflict for Kit, since she and her grandfather were Royalists, but the Massachusetts colony is talking about rebellion.

This is truly a wonderful book worth reading over and over again. It stands the test of time and spans almost all age levels.

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Review of The Language of Letting Go, by Melody Beattie

The Language of Letting Go

by Melody Beattie

Hazelden, 1990. 393 pages.
Starred Review
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2010: #6 Other Nonfiction

The Language of Letting Go is a collection of 365 daily meditations about letting go and giving up codependency. There’s all kinds of wisdom and good thoughts here. You can tell how powerfully it spoke to me because selections from it appear over and over again on my Sonderquotes blog.

I bought this book in May 2008. I started on the date when I bought it and read through the whole year, then started at the beginning and finished out 2009. Now that I’m in 2010, I’ve bought two other books of meditations by Melody Beattie, More Language of Letting Go and Journey of the Heart. So I decided to give this book a rest, but I hope that shows how much I liked it, how often I’d find just the bit of wisdom I needed for that particular day.

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Review of The Sacred Romance, by Brent Curtis and John Eldredge

The Sacred Romance

Drawing Closer to the Heart of God

by Brent Curtis and John Eldredge

Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, 1997. 229 pages.
Starred Review
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2010: #3 Other Nonfiction

This powerful book explains life as a Sacred Romance. From the first chapter:

“The inner life, the story of our heart, is the life of the deep places within us, our passions and dreams, our fears and our deepest wounds. It is the unseen life, the mystery within — what Buechner calls our “shimmering self.” It cannot be managed like a corporation. The heart does not respond to principles and programs; it seeks not efficiency, but passion. Art, poetry, beauty, mystery, ecstasy: These are what rouse the heart. Indeed, they are the language that must be spoken if one wishes to communicate with the heart. It is why Jesus so often taught and related to people by telling stories and asking questions. His desire was not just to engage their intellects but to capture their hearts.

“Indeed, if we will listen, a Sacred Romance calls to us through our heart every moment of our lives. It whispers to us on the wind, invites us through the laughter of good friends, reaches out to us through the touch of someone we love. We’ve heard it in our favorite music, sensed it at the birth of our first child, been drawn to it while watching the shimmer of a sunset on the ocean. The Romance is even present in times of great personal suffering: the illness of a child, the loss of a marriage, the death of a friend. Something calls to us through experiences like these and rouses an inconsolable longing deep within our heart, wakening in us a yearning for intimacy, beauty, and adventure.

“This longing is the most powerful part of any human personality. It fuels our search for meaning, for wholeness, for a sense of being truly alive. However we may describe this deep desire, it is the most important thing about us, our heart of hearts, the passion of our life. And the voice that calls to us in this place is none other than the voice of God.”

The authors present life as a grand Story:

“Life is not a list of propositions, it is a series of dramatic scenes. As Eugene Peterson said, “We live in narrative, we live in story. Existence has a story shape to it. We have a beginning and an end, we have a plot, we have characters.” Story is the language of the heart. Our souls speak not in the naked facts of mathematics or the abstract propositions of systematic theology; they speak the images and emotions of story. Contrast your enthusiasm for studying a textbook with the offer to go to a movie, read a novel, or listen to the stories of someone else’s life. Elie Wiesel suggests that ‘God created man because he loves stories.’ So if we’re going to find the answer to the riddle of the earth — and of our own existence — we’ll find it in story.”

But the authors also talk about “Arrows” that pierce our hearts and tell us that life is meaningless, that there is no Romance.

“This is the story of all our lives, in one way or another. The haunting of the Romance and the Message of the Arrows are so radically different and they seem so mutually exclusive they split our hearts in two. In every way that the Romance is full of beauty and wonder, the Arrows are equally powerful in their ugliness and devastation. The Romance seems to promise a life of wholeness through a deep connection with the great heart behind the universe. The Arrows deny it, telling us, ‘You are on your own. There is no Romance, no one strong and kind who is calling you to an exotic adventure.’ The Romance says, ‘This world is a benevolent place.’ The Arrows mock such naivete, warning us, ‘Just watch yourself — disaster is a moment away.’ The Romance invites us to trust. The Arrows intimidate us into self-reliance.”

This book is about the adventure of living out the Romance. It encourages you to think about your higher calling, to listen to your heart. It reminds you that your life does have meaning.

I like this sentence, which puts perspective on hard times:

“God is so confident in the good that he is willing to allow our adversary latitude in carrying out his evil intentions for the purpose of deepening our communion with himself.”

The overarching message of the book is this:

“We are the sons and daughters of God, even more, the Beloved, pursued by God himself.”

What an amazing calling!

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Review of Walk Two Moons, by Sharon Creech

Walk Two Moons

by Sharon Creech

Scholastic, 1994. 280 pages.
1995 Newbery Medal Winner.
Starred Review.
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2010: #2 Other Children’s Fiction

I read this book as part of a class on the Newbery Medal, and I got to participate in a discussion with the author.

The book begins:

“Gramps says that I am a country girl at heart, and that is true. I have lived most of my thirteen years in Bybanks, Kentucky, which is not much more than a caboodle of houses roosting in a green spot alongside the Ohio River. Just over a year ago, my father plucked me up like a weed and took me and all our belongings (no, that is not true — he did not bring the chestnut tree, the willow, the maple, the hayloft, or the swimming hole, which all belonged to me) and we drove three hundred miles straight north and stopped in front of a house in Euclid, Ohio.”

Now Sal is driving across the country with her grandparents, from Ohio to the last place where they heard from Sal’s mother, in Idaho. While they are driving, Sal tells the story of a girl she met in Ohio, Phoebe Winterbottom.

Phoebe has a vivid imagination, and is convinced the boy hanging around their house is a lunatic. Then they discover mysterious messages, and then Phoebe’s mother goes away.

The power of this book is that there’s a story within a story. When Sal tells about Phoebe’s story, she gets insights into her own story and her own mother’s disappearance. And with the story within the story, if you have your own story of loss, you will hear echoes of it in this book.

The book is funny and entertaining, but also poignant and powerful. I found myself taken by surprise by how hard I was sobbing at the end. A beautiful book.

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Review of Change Your Mind and Your Life Will Follow, by Karen Casey

Change Your Mind and Your Life Will Follow

12 Simple Principles

by Karen Casey

Conari Press, 2005. 149 pages.
Starred Review
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2010: #2 Other Nonfiction

This is a simple book about living a more peaceful and loving life. I found the thoughts presented to be profound, as you can tell by the twenty-two times I chose selections from this book for Sonderquotes.

The 12 simple principles make up the first twelve chapters, with a summary chapter at the end. Here are the principles as they are listed in the chapter titles:

1. Tend your own garden.
2. Stop focusing on problems so their solutions can emerge.
3. Let go of outcomes.
4. Change your mind.
5. Choose to act rather than react.
6. Give up your judgments.
7. Remember that you are not in control.
8. Discover your own lessons.
9. Do no harm.
10. Quiet your mind.
11. Every encounter is a holy encounter — respond accordingly.
12. There are two voices in your mind — one is always wrong.

I told you they were simple! You’ve probably heard most of these ideas before, but she helps you see how you can actually do these things, and convinces you how much it will help.

Here’s a passage I enjoyed from “Tend Your Own Garden”:

“Let’s celebrate the fact that we are in charge of no one but ourselves. It relieves us of a heavy burden, and a thankless job, one that never blesses us. Taking control of every thought we have and every action we take, and being willing to relinquish the past while savoring the present, will assuredly keep us as busy as we need to be. Doing these things, and only these things is why we are here. It’s only when we live our own lives and manage our own affairs, freeing others to do the same, that we will find the peace we seek and so deserve.”

She gives similar advice in the chapter “Choose to Act Rather Than React”:

“Minding other people’s business simply isn’t the work we are here to do, regardless of how seductive the idea may be. We each must make our own journey, and even when it appears that someone we love is making a poor decision about an important matter, unless we are asked for advice, it’s not our place to offer it. Besides, minding your own business will keep you as busy as you would ever need to be.”

In the chapter “Give Up Your Judgments,” she says:

“When I embrace the practice of unconditional love — seldom an easy exercise, I might add — I am able to see how similar I am to those around me, and my habit of judgment lessens. Please note the word ‘habit.’ Judgment does become a habit, and so can unconditional love, though it is more difficult to perfect. A tool that has worked for me (when I remember to use it) is to express a statement of unconditional love out loud every time a judgmental thought crosses my mind. Try it next time you find yourself gripped by judgment. As soon as you catch it, state your unconditional love. It works.”

Another theme of focusing on yourself, not others comes in “Remember That You Are Not In Control”:

“What we discover when we give up trying to control everybody and everything is that we suddenly have the time and opportunity to learn and change and grow within ourselves, so that we can progress to the next level of spiritual awareness that awaits us.

“A surprise benefit, too, is that by letting go, moving on, and living our own lives peacefully and with intention, we often inspire others to change in the very ways we want them to change. Ironic, isn’t it?”

From “Every Encounter Is a Holy Encounter,” we find this wise advice:

“We can never know who we really are unless we have others to interact with. Perhaps most difficult to understand, in all this, is that the people with whom we have the most difficult relationships are the ones from whom we learn the most. It is in these more fraught interactions that our minds are healed the most.

“That’s why it’s so important to choose to be grateful for every relationship. We simply cannot know what God has intended for each of them to mean in our lives. We can only be sure that they are present to help us heal.”

In the final chapter, she gives us encouragement to go out there and begin:

“How we acquire better lives is not very mysterious. It comes back to making better choices, beginning with the most important choice of all: Whom will we listen to, the aggressive boss ego or the quiet, wise voice that’s always there to guide us to a higher place? You don’t have to make huge changes all at once. I wouldn’t even suggest trying. Just commit, one day at a time, to changing your mind, and you will begin to experience that peaceful life you deserve. The power of one mind changing cannot be overstated. Are you willing to be an example?”

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Review of The Rebel Princess, by Judith Koll Healey

The Rebel Princess

A Novel of Suspense

by Judith Koll Healey

William Morrow (HarperCollins), 2009. 365 pages.

I enjoyed Judith Koll Healey’s earlier novel, The Canterbury Papers, so much, I made sure to preorder this one on Amazon so I could read it as soon as it was published. Although I did enjoy it, I wasn’t as thoroughly captivated as with the earlier book.

In The Canterbury Papers Princess Alaïs, daughter of Louis VII, gets in deadly peril and falls in love. In The Rebel Princess, she has a disagreement with her beloved. He wants her to stay safe while he rescues her son, who doesn’t yet know he is her son. But Alaïs gets new information and is convinced her son’s life is in danger, and she must go save him.

Thus, the story isn’t such lovely romance as the earlier book. Alaïs again gets in deadly peril with court intrigue, but I felt that some of her conclusions fell into her lap, following her intuition rather than cleverness.

Still, this is another gripping adventure tale, and fans of medieval historical fiction will enjoy it.

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Review of The Sharing Knife: Beguilement, by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Sharing Knife

Volume One

Beguilement

by Lois McMaster Bujold

eos (HarperCollins), 2006. 372 pages.
Starred Review.

A big thank you to my siblings who gave me this book last year for Christmas. When I was on my way to see them this year for Christmas, I thought it was high time I read it, so I brought it along. It was another that I was very sorry I didn’t have the second volume with me, but remedied that as soon as I got home.

Fawn Bluefield has run away from home after she learns she’s pregnant and the father spurns her. She’ll find work in the city, and won’t have to face her brothers on the farm with this.

Along the way, she sees a group of Lakewalkers, including a man with only one hand. There are fearsome tales among the farmers about Lakewalkers, so Fawn hides until they go, not realizing that her spark of life is bright and clear to the one-handed man.

But the Lakewalkers are on the trail of a Malice, a fearsome creature that can enslave animals and humans and destroy their souls. Some of the Malice’s servants are on the road to town, and they find Fawn. The tall Lakewalker saves Fawn, twice, but then she has a chance to save him. His magic knife, bespelled to kill a Malice, has a strange reaction to Fawn’s unborn child.

Their frightening adventures plus the magic knife, create a bond between this unlikely pair. But few things are more forbidden, on both sides, than a romance between a farmer girl and a Lakewalker.

Lois McMaster Bujold creates a fascinating world where the Lakewalkers use powerful and mysterious magic, at great cost to themselves, to protect the farmers. Yet both sides neither trust nor understand one another. Can Fawn bridge that gap?

This is fantasy for adults, with plenty of talk about sex, as Fawn learns from the more experienced Lakewalker. There is more detailed world-building than you usually find in Young Adult fantasy, but I found myself so interested in the pair, I wasn’t as distracted by it as I often am. I definitely plan to read more of the series to find out what happens next.

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Review of Big Wolf & Little Wolf: The Little Leaf that Wouldn’t Fall, by Nadine Brun-Cosme

Big Wolf and Little Wolf

The Little Leaf that Wouldn’t Fall

by Nadine Brun-Cosme and Olivier Tallec

Enchanted Lion Books, New York, 2009. 28 pages.
Starred Review.

In springtime, Little Wolf notices a particularly sweet and tender green leaf high in a tree, and he asks Big Wolf to get it for him. Big Wolf tells him to wait. Eventually the leaf will fall.

In summer, the leaf is a shiny deep green, and in autumn it’s a lovely soft brown. Both times, when Little Wolf asks Big Wolf to get it, Big Wolf tells him to wait.

But when winter comes, there is one leaf left on the tree — exactly the leaf that Little Wolf wanted.

Big Wolf decides to get the leaf for Little Wolf. Is it worth the trouble?

This book is a lovely, heart-warming story of friendship and the beauty of nature. The pictures are impressionistic, with wolves quite different from other picture book wolves. I like the different perspectives the artist uses, making the quiet story all the more interesting.

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Review of The Princess and the Hound, by Mette Ivie Harrison

The Princess and the Hound

by Mette Ivie Harrison

eos (HarperCollins), 2007. 410 pages.

A big thank you to my sister Becky for giving me this book for Christmas. It’s one I’d heard of and had been meaning to read, and Becky’s recommendation was enough to get me to go ahead and do it.

People with animal magic had been hated and feared in this kingdom ever since the time of King Davit, a hundred years ago. So Prince George doesn’t dare let anyone know that he has it. He has to use it periodically, though, or he would die like his mother, burning up from the inside.

When George reaches seventeen, he is betrothed to Princess Beatrice of Sarrey. Beatrice has a reputation of being cold, and she always keeps a large black hound by her side. She treats the hound like a person, her constant companion. Yet George is sure she doesn’t have animal magic. There is something else strange going on between the princess and the hound.

Both George and Beatrice have secrets, and uncovering those secrets will transform both of them and their kingdoms.

I enjoyed this book, though somehow it didn’t captivate me as much as some other fairy-tale type stories. The plot is nicely woven and the story is interesting. I felt a little sorry for George’s character, but he didn’t quite capture my heart.

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Review of Never Smile at a Monkey, by Steve Jenkins

Never Smile at a Monkey

And 17 Other Important Things to Remember

by Steve Jenkins

Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2009. 32 pages.
Starred Review
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2010: #4 Children’s Nonfiction

I’m a huge fan of Steve Jenkins’ art work. He uses cut paper, and is able to make animals that to me look completely realistic. His textures mimic fur or scales or feathers so thoroughly you want to touch the soft-looking ones.

But you probably shouldn’t touch any of the animals in this book. Never Smile at a Monkey is essentially a list of 18 ways certain animals can kill you or severely hurt you.

For example, the author advises you never to harrass a hippo, jostle a jellyfish, or step on a stingray. All of those creatures are capable of killing human beings. Some of the animals in this book are dangerous in surprising ways.

This is definitely not a book for very young children who might be frightened. But certain school-age children will find these facts gruesomely interesting. And, as I said, the pictures are amazing.

And, by the way, why shouldn’t you smile at a monkey?

“If you smile at a rhesus monkey, it may interpret your show of teeth as an aggressive gesture and respond violently. Even a small monkey can give you a serious bite with its long, sharp fangs.”

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