Island Beneath the Sea (Isabel Allende)

Island Beneath the Sea  

Zerite was born a slave on the French island colony Saint-Domingue, a place we now know to be Haiti. She dreamed of a life beyond being someone's property, yet nothing life sent her way enabled her to escape. The paths of Toulouse Valmorain (her master) and Violette Boisier (prostitute and Zerite's friend) intertwine tragically and beautifully with Zerite's life in appalling ways, revealing a great deal about slavery and plantations on colonial Saint-Domingue and beyond. In fact, this story of Zerite's life is set in the late 1770s and spans historical events that occurred everywhere from Saint Domingue all the way to New Orleans.

Zerite is born into an inferior position in a tumultuous time, and she is a beautiful soul who lives an immensely difficult life. Throughout her story, I continued to hope against all hope that somehow things would work out for Zerite...that somehow she could ease through one loophole or another and find her happiness. Be forearned: rarely did this happen for Zerite; unfortunately, hers was a very realistic tale.

A work of historical fiction, Island in the Sea by Isabel Allende provides a holistic understanding of slavery in the Caribbean and gulf societies. Among the many stories colliding in this book is the fascinating history of the very factual uprising among slaves in Saint-Domingue. 

Slavery in America is a commonly explored topic in literature, although far from a fully exhausted one. Books such as this present the uncomfortable opportunity to digest slavery, one of the most unpalatable periods in history. 

*Amazon affiliate links included; please see disclosure statement at bottom of page.

Island Beneath the Sea (Isabel Allende)

The Lightning Thief (Rick Riordan) [Percy Jackson Series: #1]

Percy Jackson is just a regular kid. Just a regular, middle school kid. Sure, weird things happen to him. Water does strange things when he feels strong emotions. Or does it? Maybe he imagines it.

Actually, Percy J is sort of a son of Poseidon. It's kind of a long story, but Papa Poseidon and human Mama Jackson go their separate ways and Percy never knows his father. And it's all fun and games until a lightning bolt gets stolen. A rather important lightning bolt. Zeus's lightning bolt, to be exact. Zeus thinks Poseidon took it, Poseidon blames Hades, Hades blames everyone, and the world is going to implode unless that bolt can be recovered.

Percy Jackson and his friends are the kids for the job. They trek all over tarnation trying to locate the bolt and then return it back to Zeus in order to stop World War III, and all along the way it seems that everyone and everything are trying to stop them.

This is the first installment in the Percy Jackson series. The series is wildly popular with kids, and in its movie form as well. I can see why! Incredible suspense, Greek mythology, and classic good vs. evil all make for strong elements in young adult literature. I found it interesting that the author is a middle school English teacher. That explains how he nails middle school humor and logic so well.

The Lightning Thief (Rick Riordan) [Percy Jackson Series: #1]

Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret (Dr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor)

What do you believe in? 

I'm not talking Mac over PC, or Percy Jackson over Harry Potter, or even Nutella over peanut butter. (Though of course, the correct choices are in fact Mac, Harry, and Nutella.)

No, but really...what do you really believe in? What do you believe in so strongly that you would give up your money, your home...even your family?

Hudson Taylor's single focused passion, which fueled his efforts as a pioneer missionary to China in the 1800's, was his salvation in Jesus Christ.  

Hudson Taylor lived a life of sacrifice just to have the opportunity to travel to China and work with the people there, and during his years serving the Chinese he experienced death, destruction, violence, and resistance from the government. He lost children and even his wife. He lost his health. At one point, he even lost his mobility. But, champion of faith that he was, Hudson Taylor never wavered from his calling to serve the people of inland China through medical and evangelical missions. He was known as an oddball because he was the first to dress in traditional Chinese attire and to shave his head (leaving the long braided ponytail) in the customary manner of the people he was serving. But eventually others realized that his strategy was working, as it earned him favor and understanding with the Chinese. 

His biography, written in 1932 by his son and daughter-in-law, alternates betwixt excerpts from Hudson's personal letters and journal to narrative descriptions of the events he and his family faced during their years in China. The book emphasizes the strength of his faith, and explains throughout that his "spiritual secret" was a joyful and willing submission of trust to God's plan for his life and for the people of China. 

I found this book oddly sluggish at times yet compelling at others. Ultimately, I was utterly fascinated by Hudson Taylor, but I found this particular telling of his life and work substandard. His legacy deserves a better, more clarified biography than this particular book offers.

Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret (Dr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor)

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Rebecca Skloot)

Ever heard of something called HeLa cells? Yeah, umm, me either...not until a few months ago, anyway.


HeLa is a building block of cell science and a cornerstone of modern medical research. Among numerous other very interesting uses, HeLa cells were used in the first space missions to test the effects of space on human cells, they were used in nuclear experiments, and they were (and still are) used to develop important vaccines, chemotherapies, and radiation treatments that have and continue to save millions of human lives. HeLa is widely known in the medical science community as one of the most important tools in the development of modern medicine. The purchase and sale of HeLa cells for the purpose of medical research over time likely numbers somewhere in the billions.


This book goes into painstaking detail about the relevance of HeLa cells in the existence of mankind, but its primary purpose is to shed some light on how HeLa came to be...which went a little something like this:


Once upon a time there was a woman, a wife and mother to several children. She suffered several medical ailments on and off in her life, but one day she became very ill and was diagnosed with cervical cancer. The doctor treated her with radiation, but the cancer spread and in her very early thirties this young woman died. After her death, cells were removed from her body and used in an experiment of cell division. Unlike any other cell in that experiment, this woman's cells kept dividing. And kept dividing. And kept dividing. And even unto this very day, they are still continuing to divide. Because of this unique type of cell division and multiplication, the woman's cells were extremely valuable for a multitude of research purposes. The woman's name was Henrietta Lacks. Likely because it was the 1950's and even more likely because Henrietta Lacks was a black woman, her family was never informed of the cultivation of her cells for research and certainly not informed of their value. Today, Henrietta's family is trapped between an expired statute of limitations on the several infringements committed toward them and an understandable inability to trust anyone in the legal or medical communities after a lifetime of  betrayals they have experienced. They have lived 60 years of intense frustration, and no one in the Lacks family has lived happily ever after. 

What a sad, sad story. Henrietta Lacks left a legacy that has transformed medical science, yet her own children stated at one point that they were so poor that they couldn't even afford health insurance.

Somehow the author of this book won the trust of the Lacks family and was therefore able to put together this very comprehensive tale of Henrietta's life and background, her medical treatments, and the process of the discovery and subsequent uses of HeLa cells. It is incredibly thorough and in the author's own words was extensively fact-checked.

The thoughts that continued to run through my mind while trudging through the bits of cellular science history were that the real untold story here is that this family has been exploited in ways unimaginable. Their disadvantages due to poverty and race (at that time) made them easy prey for the people who they should have been able to trust: the doctors. What has been done to the Lacks family is positively inexcusable, and why no reparations have been made to Henrietta's descendants is beyond me.

In addition to her cells' contributions to science, the controversy surrounding Henrietta's family's experience has led to a revolution in the way patients are required to be informed and to give consent for their treatments or for bits removed from their bodies. What you and I take for granted in that stack of release, privacy, and consent forms we fill out at the doc's office or for pre-operative processing, Henrietta was never given the opportunity to consider. You can thank Henrietta Lacks for her seemingly ceaseless contributions to science, but you can also thank her for your right today as a patient to be informed and to give consent to procedures that involve your body and what is removed from it. And we can all thank Rebecca Skloot for telling Henrietta's story.

*The author used a portion of her earnings from sale of her book to establish the Henrietta Lacks Foundation, which is a foundation that provides scholarships and grants for descendants of Henrietta Lacks as well as descendants of other research subjects (ex: the Tuskegee experiments). Learn more about that here: http://www.henriettalacksfoundation.org/

For more about the author and Henrietta's story, go to http://rebeccaskloot.com/.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Rebecca Skloot)

Girl Soldier: A Story of Hope for Northern Uganda's Children (Grace Akallo and Faith McDonnell)

Grace Akallo is a young woman who was abducted from her school in the middle of the night to serve as a child soldier and sex slave of the rebel army known as the LRA (stands for Lord's Resistance Army, led by Joseph Kony) in Uganda. She tells stories of the absolutely horrific things she saw, experienced, and was forced to do. This poor girl suffered hell on earth. The good news is, she lived through it, and is using her voice to spread the news of what is happening in northern Uganda. And the sad news is, we need her to keep doing it because it seems like the entire world is ignoring the atrocities that continue to plague the Ugandan people.

Faith McDonnell is an author and humanitarian who became interested in telling the story of the child soldiers in Uganda, and once she met Grace and heard her stories, it was decided that they would co-author this book, in which chapters alternate between Grace's narrative of actual experience and Faith's historical explanation of how these events came to transpire in Uganda. It's a beautifully written book that tells a very dark story, but again, it is one that will change your life forever. 

What I've learned is that in Uganda's history, the most powerful leader (or the one with the biggest army or the best guns) is who gets to be in charge. There has been a crazy, violent, twisted "king of the hill" tug of war for power since Uganda's establishment as a British protectorate in the 1800's. Right now, things are stable with the Ugandan government, but there are factions of rebel armies who roam the countryside and take their anger at not being in power out on innocent civilians. Most of those are children. 

What Grace tells us- from her own personal experience- is that the LRA would raid schools and villages in the middle of the night, when people are most vulnerable. They would abduct the children, and immediately begin the process of dehumanizing them by forcing them to kill a sibling, their parents, or another child. This tactic ensured the child would feel alienated from society and therefore would not attempt to escape. The manner in which the murders took place were the most savage, most violent possible. Smashing heads in, using a panga/machete to chop bodies apart piece by piece, stabbing with bayonets, beating with clubs, cutting lips and eyelids off with razorblades, stabbing through lips and pinning person to the ground with a knife, etc. Many of the killing methods I read about that these children were forced to carry out were so terrible that I have never even heard of them. So incredibly sad. These same methods were used to kill parents, teachers, or village elders who tried to protect the children. 

Once they had taken another life, then the children were trained to be killing machines. They were forced to walk for long distances with no shoes or food, carrying materials and weapons for the army. The girls were given to soldiers as "wives," which really meant that they were raped repeatedly. 

I found it interesting that the Islamic Sudanese were funding the LRA through weapons and militia. 

At this moment, Uganda is slowly recovering. Hundreds of thousands of Ugandan people, including those who were children who were forced to serve in the LRA and people who lost their land/homes/family/lives to the LRA, are living in refugee camps scattered throughout northern Uganda. That is a very slow start to the mountain of needs these people have. They have extremely limited medical care, no government protection, very little food, no access to education, and no clean water. 

Eventually Joseph Kony was driven to Sudan by the Ugandan government's troops. There are still divisions of the LRA who are in and active in Uganda. They repeatedly attack the refugee camps and burn families alive, demand food from the people, and continue to kidnap children. 

There are thousands of children who have been forced to become "night commuters," which means they literally walk up to 10 miles one way each day to make it to a shelter or hospital just so they can sleep without fear of being abducted in the middle of the night by the LRA. Rather than providing for these poor kids who are forced to take such desperate measures, it is reported that they are harassed by men and teenage boys along their route. Some girls have been raped. 

Then there are all the former child soldiers whose innocence was stripped away from them when they were forced to kill- violently. They are trying to re-enter a society which does not understand how to help them. The children's minds and hearts have been changed forever. There are organizations like World Vision who have a presence there in Uganda who have counseling centers to help rehabilitate the children back to a point where they can function within Ugandan culture. Slowly but surely, the country is trying to recover from such a nightmare. 

Included at the end of the book is an exhaustive list of resources for people who have been moved to help the Ugandan people after reading this story. It is wise for the authors to include this, because there is no possible way a person can take all of this in without being moved to action. 

Knowing these things leads me to pray more specifically and exhaustively for the Ugandan people. I am praying for resources and help to arrive soon for the refugees, for the Ugandan government to step it up in caring for these displaced people, for families to be reunited and restored, for physical, psychological, and emotional healing to occur for the people, for the former child soldiers to forgive themselves for what they have been forced to do, and of course for all the orphans left behind in the massacres of the Ugandan people. I pray that the Ugandan culture is restored, and that every orphan child has someone to truly love and care for them.

Girl Soldier: A Story of Hope for Northern Uganda's Children (Grace Akallo and Faith McDonnell)

Welcome to Uganda (Grace Pundyk; Welcome to My Country series by Gareth Stevens Publishing)

This was a wonderful basic-level overview of Uganda's history, government, and culture. The author provides very simple descriptions and explanations of the features of the Ugandan flag, its rivers and lakes, its plants and animals, and its history (including the terrible years of Milton Obote and then Idi Amin). She briefly mentions the existence of child soldiers, but does not explain that they are kidnapped from their families and forced to fight in the rebel LRA army. I suppose that may be a bit too much for young adult nonfiction, though.

I found these points very interesting:
-When a boy turns 15, he is old enough to serve in the Ugandan national army.
-In 1997, President Yoweri Museveni (still serving as President) introduced the Universal Primary Education program, which provides free education for up to 4 children in every family. If a family includes boys and girls, 2 of the students must be girls. If a child has special needs or some sort of physical disability, he or she must be given preference among applicants to local school programs. This program has increased the number of Ugandan schoolchildren from 2.5 million to over 6.5 million.
-Some Ugandans believe that their living elders can curse family members with illness or bad luck.
-Storytelling is a vital part of Ugandan life, and is even included in the school program.
-Popular foods are matooke, ugali, yams, potatoes, cassavas, and luwombo.

I think this book would be a perfect introduction to a 3rd or 4th grader to the Ugandan culture. I think that it would be good for them to read about how difficult it is for children to get an education in Uganda, and would likely prompt them to be thankful for the abundance of opportunities they have here in the United States.

Despite the number of books I have found about Uganda, I am pleased with the consistency in its story, even if I continue to be heartbroken over the plight of this country and its millions of orphans.

Welcome to Uganda (Grace Pundyk; Welcome to My Country series by Gareth Stevens Publishing)

Africa (Yvonne Ayo-Eyewitness Series)

I love Eyewitness books. My students love them, too. My teacher colleagues love the Eyewitness video series as well. What's the big deal about Eyewitness? These books are notoriously thorough, and infused with hundreds of real-life photographs of both historical and modern objects. Every aspect of African life is covered in this book, including great civilizations, building a house, home life, finding food, sports and entertainment, both female and male attire, medicine and healing, weapons and armor, crafts and skills, and a slave's journey. Each page is so filled with images that the reader could study it for a long while before moving along to another element of African life.

My favorite pages were those regarding female dress. I learned that a woman's attire can indicate her marital status (an unmarried Ugandan Karamajong girl wears a hip skirt and head ornaments; a married woman wears a leather cloak and a skirt that ties in the front), and also her stature (the larger her head piece wrap, the more important she is).

Africa is such a diverse continent, filled with amazing culture and history!

Africa (Yvonne Ayo-Eyewitness Series)

Eat Pray Love (Elizabeth Gilbert)

It's been sitting on the front shelves at my favorite bookstores for a long time. It's been a top seller for a while (over 155 weeks) now. Julia Roberts is about to star in the movie version. My reading  Eat Pray Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia has been long overdue.

This book is an autobiography of Elizabeth's crisis of...herself, really. She seems to be buzzing along enjoying some of the best things in life until, for reasons she respectfully refrains mentioning, she wants out of her marriage. She meets a new man, who is both very good and very bad for her all at the same time. After being destroyed through the divorce settlement, Elizabeth decides that a trek around the globe will let her find all that she needs in order to find balance and peace in her life.
She has begun to seek God with everything that she has, and struggles with the balance between devotion and experiencing life's pleasures. For this reason, she goes to Italy for 4 months and devotes herself only to the pleasure of good culture, company, and food. In Italy she meets many interesting people, eats food that sounds so delicious I think I gained some weight just by reading about it, and she also learns some very interesting things about herself and all that she really wants (and doesn't want) in life.

After leaving Italy, she spends 4 months in India. There she spends her time in an ashram (meditation temple), where she meets more interesting people, and learns all about the disciplines of meditation. At the beginning of the trip, she breaks down after 14 minutes of intense meditation. At the end, she can sit for hours meditating on her view of God and how she perceives His love for her.

Speaking of her view of God.... She believes that Jesus was "a great teacher of peace" (pg. 14), but does not believe that He is the only path to God. I do believe that. I believe Jesus is the son of God, that He lived a perfect life and died in my place (and that of every other sinner) so that I would have eternal life of peace and love in His presence.

Though I disagree with Elizabeth on this point, I have been deeply touched and inspired by some of her observations regarding religion. First off, she actively devotes herself to seeking God, and on meditating on God's love for her. When is the last time I did that? I like how she defines praying as speaking to God, and meditating as listening to Him. When was the last time I pursued and set aside time just to listen to Him?

She leaves Italy, and goes on to Indonesia for 4 months to round out her year of traveling. In Indonesia she meets more very interesting people, of course, one of whom she decides she is ready to fall in love with.

For one thing, on pg. 206 she writes "Be very careful...not to get too obsessed with the repetition of religious rituals just for its own sake." Too many churches, and believers, are obsessed with the repetition of religious rituals. These are wasting valuable time we have so little of on this earth.  

People long to have something to believe in. Even if they are skeptic, the longer they live and the more life they experience, they long to have something to believe in. What do people see in my life that indicates what and who I believe in? Would they ever ask me? 

Elizabeth believes she has to find her own peace in this life. I believe that God freely gives it to those who believe in Him, love Him, and ask for it. On the last page (334) she closes with these words: "In the end...maybe we must all give up trying to pay back the people in this world who sustain our lives. In the end, maybe it's wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices." Am I living a life of gratitude, both to my fellow humans and to God?


You cannot possibly make it through this book without thinking deeply about so many elements in life, including faith, family, and friends. And whether you disagree with her or not, it's always good to examine your beliefs.

You also cannot make it through this book without wanting to travel. She embeds lots of history about each country, nuances about its culture, and characteristics of its people in each section. Even if I am never able to make it to Italy, India, or Indonesia, I surely hope that I can stop and appreciate whatever foreign countries I do visit with the open heart and perceptive mind that Elizabeth shows her readers.

http://www.elizabethgilbert.com/eatpraylove.htm

Eat Pray Love (Elizabeth Gilbert)

The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)

As a reader, I often sail through pieces of literature or nonfiction.   With a goal to read everything (yes, truly), many times I underestimate how deeply a book can affect a person. The Good Earth is one of those rare books that has a deep and lasting hold on my heart. After about a month of reading it, I finally completed it last night, and lay awake thinking of the characters and wondering what happened so some of them and why they experienced one issue or another in the book. This family and this culture is one I will not soon forget.

The Good Earth is set in pre-revolutionary China. The main character is Wang Lung, and we meet him on his wedding day. He is a simple man but capable and very willing of hard work. His own father has ingrained in Wang Lung that nothing is more important than the land. The land that his family owns is one of the few constants in this book. I have thought often of its symbolism and irony.
Thanks to Wang Lung's (and his wife's, whose name is O-Lan) incredible devotion to his land, and to hard work, the land is profitable. They live in peaceful sufficiency, until a great drought comes upon the land. O-Lan works wonders with her creative ability to stretch what little food they have, but eventually it is not enough. Horrible atrocities take place when vast populations of people go hungry. Animals are eaten. Children are sold. Children are eaten. Families are attacked and torn apart. One of the saddest aspects of this culture is shown during the times of famine, which is that there is no respect whatsoever for human life...especially females. It is sad to the point of being absolutely maddening.

Eventually, Wang Lung and his family are once again able to work on their land that is once again fruitful. It is so fruitful, actually, that very quickly he becomes a very rich man. Soon their original earthen shack becomes a palace, and Wang Lung quickly forgets the loyalty, ingenuity, and faithfulness of his hard-working wife. Rather, he begins to criticize her appearance and find reasons to seek satisfaction at tea houses with local harlots. (Just one of the many reasons I can't stand this guy!)

The saga continues with Wang Lung's continued conflicts with his children and with other members of his family. At the conclusion of the book, he is an old man preparing for death but crying out for his sons to refrain from selling the land he has loved so much. It's sad that the land, not his faithful wife nor his talented children, is the only thing he truly loves.

When I read more about Pearl S. Buck (link below), I discovered that she knew so much about Chinese culture during this period of time because she had lived in China for much of her life with her missionary parents. Pearl went on to establish the very first international adoption agency. She has written two other novels about Wang Lung's family, and I definitely plan to consume those soon!
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1938/buck-bio.html

The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)

The Secret World of Hildegard (Jonah Winter)

This is a picture book telling the story of Hildegard von Bingen. Here is some background info about Hildegard von Bingen, who lived in the early 1000's. She is significant in the musical composition world because she was the first writer of music whose biography is known. She was also a scientist who studied animals, plants, and medicine. Her book Causes and Cures still provides the basis for alternative medicine. She is celebrated as a saint in Germany, though she was not ever officially made a saint.

This book is more about her mystical visions than her musical and scientific accomplishments. She always credited her creativity to God, the creator of all things and all people. The story begins with establishing that girls were not allowed to go to school, and were only taught to serve. "They were taught to be quiet and to be very gray." Even from Hildegard's days as a young girl, she had a special world all inside her head, though she did not know what it was or what to do with it. When she was 3, she correctly predicted the color of a calf that had not yet been born (Though, I found myself wondering, is that really such a big deal? You look at the momma cow and the daddy cow and choose one or the other, or a  combo of both!)   

Hildegard continued to have visions, and began to have headaches because she did not know what to do or who to tell about those visions. Because of her headaches, she was sent away to a monastery, in hopes that the nuns could help her with the headaches. At the monastery, the nuns taught Hildegard about the Bible, prayers, music, and how to read. She continued to have visions, and finally began to tell a monk and a nun about them, who wrote them down and compiled them in a book that was presented to the Pope. He approved and her writings were sought by many people.

In the end, her headaches went away, and Hildegard was happy because she was sharing the creativity God had given her.

It's a very different sort of biography. The pictures are pretty, though. I'm just happy to have learned something about a famous woman in world history.

The Secret World of Hildegard (Jonah Winter)

Foreign to Familiar (Sarah A. Lanier)

In our preparation to travel to an African country in the near future, we are attempting to learn as much as possible about other cultures. A fellow adoptive mom recommended this title, and I count it as a MUST READ for, well, anyone who deals with people. Do you fall into that category? ;)

Sarah Lanier is a world traveling professional who has spent significant time in a variety of cultures. She has discovered some keys to understanding the various cultures around the world.

In hot-climate cultures (Africa, Latin America, some US, etc.) people are more relational. Everything centers around relationships, and nothing is more important than how you make someone feel. To show respect for people, you must honor them as a person. All communication is indirect and must create a feel-good environment in order to honor the other person. Hot climate cultures are group-oriented, and people find identity and protection in their group. In these cultures, possessions are never an individual's (as in, I have a bike) and are alway's the group's (as in, WE have a bike). People prefer the company of others and are always careful never to hold private conversations in the company of others. Spontaneity is normal, and events are rarely planned in advance. When they are planned in advance, they do not begin at the time they were planned for (Example: In America we are accustomed to saying a wedding begins at 2:00. In Africa they might say the wedding is at 2:00, but it won't begin at that time. That is the time people begin making their way to the event.)

In cold-climate cultures (Europe, some US, etc.) everything people are more efficiency-driven. Everything centers around productivity, and nothing is more important than wise use of time. To show respect for people, you must honor their time. There is no care given to how someone feels. All communication is direct, in order to maximize efficiency. Cold climate cultures are more individualistic, and a person's identity is found in their self-standing and their ability to take initiative. Possessions are considered an individual's (it's MY bike, not OURS) and are responsible for maintaining and protecting them. People enjoy group events, but also prefer times of solitude and having space to themselves.

It's interesting to note that even within the given context of these cultures, people's personalities can also be individualized. A person can live in a hot climate culture like the American South, and still have some cold-climate tendencies such as valuing personal time and personal space. Also, a person can live in a cold climate such as Germany and still communicate indirectly.

These are only a few of the differences described in the book. It was a quick read, and very valuable for helping to understand where people are coming from, and how they think. You can best communicate with someone if you can understand their method of thinking. This knowledge will be very powerful when we are in Africa, but it is also good for understanding all sorts of people around us on a daily basis. I rarely say this because I believe that books are as different an unique as the people who read them, but this book is for everyone! 

Foreign to Familiar (Sarah A. Lanier)

Market! (Ted Lewin)

One of my precious librarian friends has followed and supported our journey, and shared this book title with me last week. I love hearing about new African (and especially Ugandan!) resources. I REALLY love getting it for next to nothing on Amazon. ;)

Market! is a nonfiction piece about various marketplaces around the world. It is a vibrantly illustrated book (watercolor on canvas, I think) that features scenes from Ecuador, Nepal, Ireland, UGANDA, the United States fish market, and Morocco. Each section displays common people and items found in those respective marketplaces, and offers insight into the culture of the country. It would be great for teachers to use in their social studies curriculum, and will also be a useful tool for showing our kids how wonderfully diverse our world is!

Market! (Ted Lewin)

Fever 1793 (Laurie Halse Anderson)

Mattie Cook is a teenager who has to grow up in a real hurry. We first meet Mattie as a girl exasperated by her mother, flirting (1700's style) with a boy, whining because she doesn't want to help out in the family's coffeehouse, and whose biggest concern is how to finagle a piece of candy from her grandfather. By the end of the next few months in her story, she has buried that grandfather, survived the fever herself, seen enough sickness and death to last a hundred lifetimes, and transformed into a young woman who realizes that she has what it takes to run the family coffeehouse.

Thanks to this book, I learned that:
-There was a yellow fever epidemic in 1793 that killed around 5,000 Philadelphians.
 -Yellow fever was (and still is, in some parts of the world) contracted through bites of certain mosquitoes.
-There were conflicting viewpoints on how to treat the fever. Some doctors thought the pestilence must be bled from the victims. Others believed that clean water, fresh air, and liquids were the best treatment.
-The Free African Society of Philadephia was to thank for caring for so many sick people, turning away any attempts at compensation.
-Thousands of children were orphaned as a result of this illness.
-There were so many deaths that men rolled wheelbarrows throughout the city every morning calling for families to throw out their dead.
-Homes where yellow fever had been contracted were marked with a yellow strip of cloth tied to the porch railing, doorpost, etc.
-There was such fear of catching the disease that people fled to various surrounding smaller cities, which were guarded by armed men ready to send away or shoot any sick individuals who attempted to enter. 
These are only a few interesting facts that Fever 1793 teaches about this very dark period in American history. It is a magnificent piece of historical fiction.  

Additional links:
1. Museum of Philadelphia- http://www.philadelphiahistory.org/akm/lessons/yellowFever
2. Eyewitness to History-
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/yellowfever.htm
3. The Role of African Americans-
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3p1590.html
4.The author's website, containing Teacher's Guide, Playlist, etc.-
http://writerlady.com/Fever1793/

Fever 1793 (Laurie Halse Anderson)

Chains (Laurie Halse Anderson)

I am a huge Laurie Halse Anderson fan. All of her books are piercingly honest, with just the right amount of wit and humor. Her characters and their dialogue are always spot on, and they bring an element of truth that shine the light of awareness on a variety of stories and issues otherwise unknown or ignored.

Laurie Halse Anderson has quite a voice. Not only does she speak on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves in her book, she also advocates on behalf of librarians dealing with issues of censorship. I had the distinct honor of attending a dinner with Laurie H.A. at the 2009 American Association of School Librarians Conference. Like her characters, she is witty and intelligent, with a heavy dose of honesty. When she speaks, people listen.

The story she tells in Chains is that of a slave girl whose freedom is hanging between two nations at war.

This is not a feel-good, happily-ever-after sort of book. It is raw and ugly and sad. I grew more broken-hearted for Isabel, the main character, with every passing page.
Set in volatile America in the 1770's, this book shows yet another horrific side of the war for independence.

Isabel is a young African American teenager who has had everything taken from her. Born a slave, she has never known freedom. She is an orphan charged with the care of her 5 year old baby sister, who suffers from seizures. Their mistress, who treated them well, taught her to read, and has even left in her will for them to be freed, has passed away. Her nephew, however, did not honor that request and promptly sells them to a cruel couple who are deeply devoted to the Loyalist cause. Isabel learns a great deal about the politics of war in their home. To say that she is treated like garbage would be quite the understatement. I have never despised a villain the way I have Madam Lockton, Isabel's new mistress.

Through it all, Isabel's hope to gain freedom for herself and her sister press her to become involved in the war by serving as a spy. She helps the American side, with their promise that she will be freed. Rather than being freed, however, Isabel is beaten until she can't think, has her teeth broken, is locked in stocks, and then branded on her face with a capital I (for Insolence). The Americans who promised her help turn their back on her. She eventually becomes (unwillingly) involved with the British side of the war, but they too use her and cast her aside.

Everyone seems willing to sacrifice the life, health, and spirit of this poor child. As desperate as the war for independence must have been, it is likely that there were many Isabels who unknowingly (and with great sacrifice) contributed to the success of the Americans. Yet, when our children study the American Revolution, where is the recognition of these individuals? As much as I love my country, I feel shame for the way these people, these Isabels, were treated. I do not know how all those people reconciled their desperate plight for freedom while they bought, sold, abused, and starved other human beings.  I am thankful for the Laurie Halse Andersons in the world who use their voice to speak for victims like Isabel.

*Chains is a National Book Award finalist and 2009 winner of the prestigious Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. Visit the author's site for teaching resources and discussion guides: http://www.writerlady.com/chainsh.html.

Chains (Laurie Halse Anderson)

Jumping Through Fires (David Nasser)

This is the story about an Iranian family who barely escaped death during the tumultuous 70's.

This is the story of a boy who experienced major culture shock when transplanted from the Persian Middle East to the American Deep South.

This is the story of a teenage boy's desperation to fit in, to stand out, to be understood, and yet to remain mysterious all at the same time.

This is the story of a man who has, is, and will likely continue to be used in some very big ways to effect positive change.

This is the story of how a new family was woven together from the fabric of two sets of very different religious and cultural heritage.

This story is good enough to be fiction, and without some prior knowledge of the author, I would have sworn it to be so. Action, suspense, romance, mystery? Who knew autobiographies could be so exciting?!

Sprinkled with interesting tidbits of Iranian culture, Jumping Through Fires is the author's amazing life experiences, beginning with his firsthand encounters with the crumbling of Iran's government in the 1970's. Once his family successfully began their new life in America, he experienced a whole new batch of issues in his young life. David Nasser was raised Muslim, but over time and through many elements, as a teenager he became a follower of Jesus Christ. His conversion led him to become a leader among his peers, and eventually a speaker to masses. Once a punk teenager lying to his parents, selling drugs, and rudely mistreating everyone "beneath" him, Nasser has become a respected authority in the transforming grace of God. His transparency in telling his story is rather unlikely from those in such positions of leadership.

My new favorite quote:
"His [God's] unceasing presence in our yesterdays is our hope and assurance for the fires of our tomorrows." pg. 170

Jumping Through Fires (David Nasser)

Transcendent Spirit: The Orphans of Uganda (Douglas Menuez)

I posted this earlier on our family's adoption blog (http://www.wilsonsinuganda.blogspot.com/). As a book review, it's fitting for this space as well.

We recently got a smoking deal on several Uganda-related books on Amazon. Among them was this amazing photographic journal showing the plight of Ugandan orphans.


The reasons for abandoned children in Uganda (or any country) are many and all very sad. Transcendent Spirit addresses them all, including AIDS. poverty, lack of education, political unrest, and murder. On each spread there is a massive, beautiful photograph of one (or several) orphans, and accompanying it there is a name and description of that individual's story.

This book puts specific faces and smiles and tears and hurts on the unfortunately vague term, "orphan." One young girl (Zaina), whose past includes the death of her entire family to some strange curse (her tribe's concept of the AIDS virus), was apparently asked by the author/photographer what she thought was most special about her. Zaina's response was: "The most special thing about me? That I am alive."

Other orphans featured in the book talk about their escape from their terrible circumstances due to traveling to the United States with a concert/musical/dance troupe known as Spirit of Uganda (since 2008...previously known as Empower African Children). Their performances raise money and awareness for the orphanages in Uganda. I have not yet had the honor of seeing one of these presentations, but I'm definitely adding it to our family's life experiences list.

The book is really a picture essay, and what is said about pictures being worth a thousand words is very true. We just received our copy today, and have all sat together looking through it a few times. It helps us understand more about Miriam's culture. It helps us feel the hurt of her birth nation. It helps us realize that when we talk about how "there are 147 million orphans in the world," each one of them is just like the hurting, crying, starving, sick children and teenagers in Transcendent Spirit. It reminds us that every one in that 147 million has a name, a face, and a story.

I'm so thankful that in April, when we finally are united with our baby girl, that there will be ONE LESS.

Transcendent Spirit: The Orphans of Uganda (Douglas Menuez)

A Framework for Understanding Poverty, Intro and Chapter 1 (Ruby Payne)

I've wanted to read this book for a while, and now our faculty is doing a book study (via our schoolwide teachers' blog) on A Framework for Understanding Poverty. The study is going very well so far. We already have 71 comments in response to the first post by our principal (and our school only has about 25 teachers)! Because we are studying and reflecting collectively on our schoolwide blog, I'm going to use this space to note key points in each division. Most of these are direct quotes, and some are my own summary of several points made by the author. By the time I'm finished, you may feel as thought you have read the book!

This is a book truly worth taking the time to savor. It should be required reading for all educators in their first 3 years of teaching (NOT pre-service, because firsthand experience makes Poverty much more powerful).

Notable key points from Intro:

• Poverty is relative.


• Poverty occurs in all races and all countries worldwide.


• Generational poverty and situational poverty are different.


• There are hidden rules in every class, and individuals carry along those rules with which they were raised.


• Schools (and businesses) target middle class hidden rules. This leaves out a lot of individuals.


• My favorite quote: "We can neither excuse children nor scold them for not knowing; as educators we must teach them and provide support, insistence, and expectations." WOW


• Two things that help move a person up out of poverty are education and relationships. WOW


• Four causes for a person to leave poverty: too painful to stay, a vision or goal, a key relationship, or a special skill/talent.

Key points from Chapter 1: Definitions and Resources-

• There is a set of various types of resources that people either have access to or do not have access to. The resources are: financial, emotional, mental, spiritual, physical, support systems, relationships/role models, and knowledge of hidden rules.


• So, even from the Introduction, Dr. Payne mentions several times the existence of "hidden rules" within different levels in a society. I was perplexed by this, and at the end of Chapter 1, Dr. Payne mentions a few of them as related to the 7 scenarios presented for dissection. Those rules include the ever presence of jail for many people who live in poverty. Jail bondsmen, bail, and even the guarantees of food, shelter, and safety provided by jail are a part of life for many in poverty. As Dr. Payne puts it, "The line between legal and illegal is thin and often crossed." People will do anything, sell anything, be anything, to get their loved ones out of jail in this class, because relationships are more important that money in generational poverty. In one scenario, a woman in generational poverty receives a bit of extra money, and is immediately asked by 3 different people for money they need to get out of a bind, buy groceries, etc. Another hidden rule is that any extra money is spent immediately or shared. If it is not shared, the next time she is in need, they will not help her...which leads to the hidden rule of the support system. "In poverty, people are possessions, and people can rely only on each other." Another important rule is that of penance and forgiveness, usually controlled by the mother. "The mother is the most powerful figure in generational poverty...she controls the limited resources" and also "dispenses penance and forgiveness. the typical pattern in poverty for discipline is to verbally shastise the child, or physically beat the child, then forgive and feed him/her. The hidden rules about food in poverty are that food is equated with love."


• "Resources of students and adults should be analyzed before dispensing advice or seeking solutions to the situation. What may seem to be very workable suggestions from a middle-class point of view may be virtually impossible given the resources available to those in poverty."


• "Educators have tremendous opportunities to influence some of the non-financial resources that make such a difference in students' ives. For example, it costs nothing to be an appropriate role model."

Great stuff, and I believe that this book will have a deep impact on the way we talk with and impact the students of our school!

A Framework for Understanding Poverty, Intro and Chapter 1 (Ruby Payne)

The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)

I read this on a tip from a good friend months ago, and I am still trying to figure out what, exactly, I really think about it.

The gist of it is that it's the story of Liesel Meminger, a German orphan in the 1940's who is sent to live with foster parents in a small German town. Her foster family, (the Hubermans), take in a Jewish man and hide him in their basement. The "Germanness" of the plot is significant because the action takes place before and during World War II. I've read lots of Holocaust books, but none quite like this.

For example...

1. It is written from Death's point of view. Death was quite busy during World War II, and I found it odd and abstract to think of it all in this way. The personification of Death makes me uneasy, yet I do feel like it is a very real way to communicate all the loss of life during that time period.

2. Though written in narrative-style, it's not your typical, smooth flowing narrative. The parts and chapters are choppy and skip from one time period to another with no explanation. This is weird because it leaves the reader floundering to re-orient to the plot, yet that feeling also does serve the purpose of enabling the reader to get an idea of just how choppy and unsure and unsecure life was in Germany during that time.

3. Max, who is the Jewish man hiding in Liesel's basement, is interesting because he shows the guilty-feeling side of Jewish people who hid to escape Adolf Hitler's rage. He hurts constantly for the danger he puts them in, and he is tormented by the fact that Liesel and her family could be punished or killed just for hiding him.

4. The Book Thief is named so because Liesel falls so deeply in love with reading and with literature that she steals them. I'm no proponent of petty larceny, but is worth considering the reason for Liesel's thievery. She was a young girl in a hate-filled country in an era that paid little attention to the worth of a woman's brain. I found myself being proud of Liesel, not for what she did, but for having the courage to do it.

5. There is SO much sadness and death and dying and fear and anger in this book. It is hard to chew and even harder to swallow. However, it also has tiny little "ray of sunshine" moments that remind you of the complexity of human nature.

6. It is written about the German point of view of the Holocaust, and it does a good job of showing that not all Germans were Nazis and not all Germans were supporters of the murders of those millions of Jewish citizens.

7. If you like literary devices, this piece will impress you. There is an enormous amount of allusion to future events, which would make it seem like there are no real surprises in the text...yet there are twists and turns at every step.

The Book Thief is one of those rare books that picks and stretches your mind. It's scary and sad and hopeful and unique, and it isn't a book that fits any sort of mold...which is why I like it so much! The complexity makes it a nice choice for a book club or literature study, and would easily lend itself to some deep response writing.

The Book Thief is a 2007 Printz Honor book, a prestigious literary award given to works of excellence in young adult (teen) literature. Rumor has it, there's a movie version due out sometime this year.

I still don't know if I would want to see it.

The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)

Sadako (Eleanor Coerr)

Sadako is a picture book and written on a third grade reading level, but I will say without reservation that this piece has impacted me very deeply.

Everybody knows about Pearl Harbor and the US dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many of us even have ancestors who served during World War II. We have been taught to remember it as a proud moment in our nation's history, how America (for once) showed its great might and power and delivered the blow that brought Japan to its knees.

Sadako is a narrative biography that tells the story of Sadako Sasaki, a 10 year old Japanese girl who was 9 months old when the bomb was dropped on her city of Hiroshima. Known as The Thunderbolt, the bomb not only killed thousands of people and devastated every part of Japan's existence (infrastructure, economy, etc.), but it also left behind residual chemicals that caused thousands more in the following years to develop leukemia and other cancers. Sadako Sasaki went from being an innocent little girl who had no idea about world politics and whose only concern was whether or not she would make the track team at school to fighting for her life against a sickness that was caused by a war.

Ingrained in the Japanese culture is the concept of luck and legends. One legend is that if a person folds (origami) 1,000 paper cranes, the gods will grant their wish. Sadako's sets out to folding her 1,000 cranes, and with every fold she wishes that she will get better. Sadako is unable to finish folding her last 300 or so, and after her death her schoolmates fold them on her behalf. It has become a tradition in Japan and all over the world for students to fold paper cranes and send them to the Hiroshima Peace Park in Japan, where a statue of Sadako stands in her honor.

I love this book because it lends itself to so many different topics. Just a few of the topics I could use this with students include: considering other points of view, the culture of Japan, legends and traditions, art, WWII, war in general, sickness, death, friendship, etc.

Sadako (Eleanor Coerr)