Review of 14 Cows for America, by Carmen Agra Deedy

Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Stand-outs, Starred Review, True Stories 0

14 Cows for America

by Carmen Agra Deedy
in collaboration with Wilson Kimeli Naiyomah
illustrated by Thomas Gonzalez

Peachtree, Atlanta, 2009. 40 pages.
Starred Review
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2010: #3 Children’s Nonfiction

14 Cows for America is a gorgeous nonfiction picture book, telling a touching and beautiful story. I’ve read many books about September 11, but this one is completely different from any other.

The book takes us to a remote village of the Maasai in Kenya. One of their own, Kimeli (the collaborator on this book), has come home from his doctoral studies in America. The people ask him if he has any stories to tell, and he tells the story of the Twin Towers falling.

After telling the story, “Kimeli waits. He knows his people. They are fierce when provoked, but easily moved to kindness when they hear of suffering or injustice.”

To the Maasai, the cow is life. So Kimeli offers the people of America his only cow. Others in the tribe respond the same way. A diplomat from the United States Embassy in Nairobi comes for a day of sacred ceremony, as the Maasai give 14 cows to the people of America.

“Because there is no nation so powerful it cannot be wounded, nor a people so small they cannot offer mighty comfort.”

The story is told beautifully, with simple language. My summary doesn’t convey the charm and grandeur of the book, with its gorgeous paintings. This story can be read to very young children, but also enjoyed by adults. A double-page spread at the back has Kimeli Naiyomah explaining the background of this true story in more detail. I especially like his final paragraph:

“These sacred, healing cows can never be slaughtered. They remain in our care in Kenya under the guidance of the revered elder Mzee Ole-Yiampoi. The original fourteen have calved and the herd now numbers over thirty-five. They continue to be a symbol of hope from the Maasai to their brothers and sisters in America. The Maasai wish is that every time Americans hear this simple story of fourteen cows, they will find a measure of comfort and peace.”

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/14_cows_for_america.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

A Good Library Day

General 1

Today was a day to make me very happy I work in a library. Unfortunately, it also makes me sad that I will probably lose my job in a few months due to budget cuts. But back to the happy stuff!

The day started with a baby program, Mother Goose Time. It went great! Lots of toddlers, and the parents and babies were into it and singing along wonderfully. There’s nothing quite like having those sweet babies smile at you to make your day!

Later in the day, I got quite a few readers’ advisory questions for kids. And the kids and parents seemed to like my suggestions. I really enjoy doing that! And there were more questions than usual.

Then, to top it off, a boy asked me, “Are you the one who gave me The Hunger Games?” Indeed I was. He said that he finished it and liked it a lot, and now he has the sequel, Catching Fire, to read. It’s doubly cool when someone to whom you recommended a book comes back and says they liked it! I feel like I’m beginning to be known with some of our customers as a source of book recommendations, and that feels great! But I admit I like it best when it is kids who are asking.

I have done my Comment Challenge today, too. I am up to 15 Comments left after 3 days of doing it. Yay! And my 30 minutes of writing on my book. Then, however, I again spent lots of time looking at job websites. I did find a local company that maybe maybe would hire me based on my Master’s in Math. It would be fun to do some real math-related work. Now I need to get my resume written….

Bloggiesta Finish

General 1

I don’t feel like I did much with Bloggiesta, but I only found out about it last night. And I already had a busy weekend planned. Tonight, silly me, got sidetracked looking at job posting sites. This would be more productive if I was actually ready to apply, which I probably should do, but am procrastinating just a little longer at this point. It’s amazing how long you can spend messing around on those sites.

My job is almost certain to be cut if budget cuts go through that the County Executive has asked for. I have both a Master’s in Math and a Master’s in Library Science, so I’m looking at jobs in both categories, browsing around, figuring out what’s out there.

Anyway, my grand total of time spent on Bloggiesta was 3 hours. I did Mother Reader’s Mini-Challenge and posted comments on 10 blogs new to me, which was a whole lot of fun.

I got my comments to work better and got 2 comments already! Yay!

I wrote 2 reviews. I think I have 30 to go to finish the books I read in 2009. I may have to decide to just skip some of them…!

Now, one fun thing I’m doing since NaNoWriMo is tracking my writing progress in a big spreadsheet. I haven’t been counting comment words, but maybe I should. Last year, my goal was to write 15 minutes per day, on my books, and I only missed about 10 days. This year, I’ve increased the goal to 30 minutes per day, and have hit the first 10 days! My spreadsheet says that in January, for books and blogging, I’ve written 7,035 words. I’ve done 15 blog posts, including 11 reviews. Now I’ve got a column for Comments, too.

Like I said, I started this spreadsheet after NaNoWriMo, because it was fun keeping track of words written. It feels good to keep track of what I’ve accomplished, and what can I say? I like numbers!

Review of The Second Journey, by Joan Anderson

Biography, Musings, Nonfiction Review, Personal Growth, True Stories 0

The Second Journey

The Road Back to Yourself

by Joan Anderson

Voice (Hyperion), New York, 2008. 205 pages.

Here’s a book written by a woman in midlife, musing about the paths we take. As a 45-year-old woman going through divorce, with a looming job loss due to budget cuts, I was very ready to listen to what she had to say, to share her journey.

I especially liked the last section, where she spends some time on Iona, an island off the coast of Scotland. I especially enjoyed it simply because I have been to Iona, only for a few hours, but it’s easy to remember the spiritual magic of the place, and easy to take vicarious pleasure in her journeys there.

In the prologue, Joan Anderson says,

“The call to a second journey usually commences when unexpected change is thrust upon you, causing a crisis of feelings so great that you are stopped in your tracks. Personal events, such as a betrayal, a diagnosis of serious illness, the death of a loved one, loss of self-esteem, a fall from power are only a few of the catalysts. A woman caught thusly has no choice but to pause, isolate, even relocate until she can reevaluate the direction in which she should head. Should she stay the course or choose another path?

“But alas, many of us inhibit our capacity for growth because the culture encourages us to live lives of uniformity. We stall, deny, ignore the ensuing crisis because of confusion, malaise, and yes, even propriety. Yet more and more, I come in contact with women, particularly in midlife — that uneasy and ill-defined period — who do not want merely to be stagnant but rather desire to be generative. Today’s woman has the urge to go against the prevailing currents, step out of line, and break with a polite society that has her following the unwritten rules of relationship, accepting the abuses of power in the workplace, and blithely living with myriad shoulds when she has her own burgeoning desires.

“This book will help you navigate through change — from being merely awakened to being determined, impassioned pilgrim on her own individual path. This does not mean giving up family and friends; it simply means integrating the web of family and other relationships into your world so that they are a part of your life but not your entire life.”

Here are some good thoughts for your own second journey.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction/second_journey.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Bloggiesta Progress

General 3

Today’s the last day of Bloggiesta, and I haven’t done much. I put in 1.5 hours yesterday, and I wrote a review and did Mother Reader’s Comment Challenge. I commented on 5 kidlit blogs new to me. Quite fun!

One thing I found about doing the comments: It’s a PERFECT way to get my mind off divorce negotiations with my husband. He’s been e-mailing a lot this week, and I should probably say no more. I think with any future e-mails, I will make a rule to post 5 kidlit blog comments before I even think about trying to answer him! That should calm me down. I think it’s also good to be thinking about what I love to do.

Today I had church and the inevitable Sunday afternoon nap. Then my internet didn’t work, so I did my weekly ironing. Then, hooray, turning the router on and off brought it back, so now I can spend the evening blogging.

I have already attempted to make it easier to comment. I changed the settings so you don’t have to be registered. I hope that helps! I had trouble commenting on blogs that required a Google ID, but finally remembered what password I had used. So I understood when my friend said she’d tried to comment, but hadn’t been able to. I hope I fixed it!

Now I need to get busy and write some more reviews. I believe I have 32 more to go before I finish the books I read in 2009. I should just give up and not review them, but I want to catch up. My plan is to crank out the reviews and not post them to the main site until I have finished. I will then announce my Stand-outs for the year. Or, actually, I plan to announce my Stand-outs next weekend before the Newbery winners are announced. I don’t want my choices to be influenced!

Review of Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, by Gary D. Schmidt

Historical, Stand-outs, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy

by Gary D. Schmidt

Clarion Books, New York, 2004. 219 pages.
2005 Newbery Honor Book.
2005 Printz Honor Book.
Starred Review
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2010: #4 Other Teen Fiction

I read this book as one of my assignments for the class I took on the Newbery Medal. I’m afraid I would have liked it better if I hadn’t just read Kira-Kira, the Newbery Medal winner for 2005. I was ready for something cheerier. An awful lot of people die in this book! So it, too, is better if you want a book that makes you cry.

However, this is a truly wonderful book. Well-crafted, with characters that come alive and plenty of humor mixed through the tragedy. There’s some injustice that doesn’t get righted, but many eyes are opened, and the story is satisfying and uplifting.

“Turner Buckminster had lived in Phippsburg, Maine, for fifteen minutes shy of six hours. He had dipped his hand in its waves and licked the salt from his fingers. He had smelled the sharp resin of the pines. He had heard the low rhythm of the bells oon the buoys that balanced on the ridges of the sea. He had seen the fine clapboard parsonage behind the church where he was to live, and the small house set a ways beyond it that puzzled him some.

“Turner Buckminster had lived in Phippsburg, Maine, for almost six whole hours.

“He didn’t know how much longer he could stand it.”

Turner is the new minister’s son. There’s a lot of pressure on the minister’s son in Phippsburg, Maine, in the early 1900s. Turner would like to light out to the Territories, to somehow escape. He doesn’t play baseball like they do. He can’t jump off the cliff like they do. He gets picked on by the other kids. He gets criticized by the older people. It seems he can’t win, can’t fit in, can’t find a friend.

And then he meets Lizzie Bright Griffin.

Lizzie is the Preacher’s granddaughter from the community of colored people who live on Malaga Island. Turner meets her down by the shore when he was trying to be alone, practicing hitting a baseball.

Lizzie teaches him how to hit the ball every time. They dig clams together. They become friends. Lizzie even takes him out to Malaga Island.

But people in his father’s congregation don’t approve. They want to develop tourism in Phippsburg and feel the community on the island is an eyesore and needs to go.

The plot is much more intricate than this summary suggests. Turner makes an interesting friend out of an old lady who disapproved of him at the beginning, and she meets Lizzie, too. Meanwhile, he’s trying to gain his father’s approval, yet he can’t seem to stay away from Lizzie Bright.

This book will stick with you long after you finish it.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/lizzie_bright.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Comment Challenge 2010

General 0

Mother Reader has posted a Comment Challenge. From January 8 to January 28, the challenge is to comment on 5 kidlitosphere blogs per day, for a total of 100. Since I already missed the first day, I’ll take the day of grace to be January 8.

Of course, I was meaning to madly write reviews of all the books I read in 2009 and post my list of stand-outs. I want to list my stand-outs before the Newbery winners are announced next week, because I don’t want to be influenced!

But I’ve also been meaning to do more reading kidlit blogs and commenting, ever since I went to the Kidlitosphere Conference last October. Five doesn’t seem unreasonable.

Then, while I’m at it, there’s a Bloggiesta going on at Maw Books Blog, a weekend to work on your blog.

Well, I’m starting super late — just found out about it. But I was planning to get as many reviews as possible written this weekend, so why not?

So, I’m signing up for Bloggiesta at 10:15 pm on Saturday night. I’ll do half a weekend, anyway!

The first mini-challenge is to comment on 10 blogs new to you. So I’ll start with Maw Books!

Review of The Promise, by Robert J. Morgan

Christian, Musings, Nonfiction Review, Personal Growth 0

The Promise

How God Works All Things Together for Good

by Robert J. Morgan

B & H Publishing Group, Nashville, Tennessee, 2008. 211 pages.

This book is an extended meditation on Romans 8:28 — “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to his purpose.”

The author states that the theme of the book is In Christ, we have an ironclad, unfailing, all-encompassing, God-given guarantee that every single circumstance in life will sooner or later turn out well for those committed to Him.

As he says in the introduction:

“But consider this: What if you knew it would all turn out well, whatever you are facing? What if Romans 8:28 really were more than a cliche? What if it was a certainty, a Spirit-certified life preserver, an unsinkable objective truth, infinitely buoyant, able to keep your head above water even when your ship is going down?

“What if it really worked? What if it always worked? What if there were no problems beyond its reach?”

The bulk of the book is going over this verse, phrase by phrase, with life stories and thoughts about what each part of the promise means. I didn’t find it particularly surprising or especially profound. However, this is a very good verse to spend that much time exploring and thinking about!

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction/promise.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Review of Kira-Kira, by Cynthia Kadohata

Historical, Teen Fiction Review 0

Kira-Kira

by Cynthia Kadohata

Atheneum Books for Young Readers, New York, 2004. 244 pages.
2005 Newbery Award Winner.

“My sister, Lynn, taught me my first word: kira-kira. I pronounced it ka-a-ahhh, but she knew what I meant. Kira-kira means ‘glittering’ in Japanese. Lynn told me that when I was a baby, she used to take me onto our empty road at night, where we would lie on our backs and look at the stars while she said over and over, ‘Katie, say “kira-kira, kira-kira.”‘ I loved that word! When I grew older, I used kira-kira to describe everything I liked: the beautiful blue sky, puppies, kittens, butterflies, colored Kleenex.

“My mother said we were misusing the word; you could not call a Kleenex kira-kira. She was dismayed over how un-Japanese we were and vowed to send us to Japan one day. I didn’t care where she sent me, so long as Lynn came along.”

Kira-Kira is a beautiful story about a struggling immigrant family in 1950s America. But even more, it is about two sisters, one of whom gets a long, slow disease. They grow up together, with the mix of conflict and love that sisters have, while their parents struggle to make a home for them in America.

This is a very sad story, but it also glitters with hope. Good reading for those who enjoy a book that makes them cry.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/kira_kira.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Review of A Birthday for Bear, by Bonny Becker

Animal Characters, Beginning Chapter Books, Picture Book Review, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

A Birthday for Bear

by Bonny Becker
illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton

Candlewick Press, 2009. 50 pages.
Starred Review
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2010: #4 Picture Books

A Birthday for Bear, is a follow-up to one of my favorite picture books, A Visitor for Bear. In the first book, Bear doesn’t like visitors, but persistent Mouse wears him down and shows him how nice having a friend can be.

Now it is Bear’s birthday. Unfortunately, bear does not like birthdays. He would much rather spend a day cleaning his house than celebrate his birthday. Or so he thinks.

In this beginning chapter book with four simple chapters, Mouse brings one thing after another to celebrate Bear’s birthday, until he finally realizes he doesn’t mind birthdays so much after all.

Once again, the delightful illustrations show Bear’s and Mouse’s emotions. The progression gets kids wondering what Mouse will do next. Even though this is longer, I’d like to see if it’s as big a hit at Storytime as the first book, which appealed to all age levels.

Bear and Mouse have definitely gained a special place in my heart.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/birthday_for_bear.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.