Back to History Wrapup

Laura Ingalls Wilder: Little House in the Big Woods; Little House on the Prairie; On the Banks of Plum Creek; By the Shores of Silver Lake; The Long Winter; Little Town on the Prairie; These Happy Golden Years; The First Four Years.

Carolyn Meyer: White Lilacs,

Anne Frank. Diary of a Young Girl.

Laura Hillman: I Will Plant You A Lilac Tree.

Ruth Minsky Sender: The Cage.

I Have Lived A Thousand Years by Livia Bitton-Jackson
My Bridges of Hope by Livia Bitton-Jackson

Edward Rutherfurd: London.

Karen Hesse: Out of the Dust.

The Duke and I by Julia Quinn
The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn
An Offer From A Gentleman by Julia Quinn
Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn
To Sir Phillip, With Love by Julia Quinn.
When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn

Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell

I, Claudius by Robert Graves.
The King's Arrow by Michael Cadnum
Crispin by Avi
A Long Way From Chicago by Richard Peck
A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck

Christy by Catherine Marshall

In Mozart's Shadow by Carolyn Meyer

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

A Year Down Yonder

Peck, Richard. 2000. A Year Down Yonder.
Review by Becky Laney.

A Year Down Yonder is the sequel to A Long Way From Chicago. However, this is not a novel in stories. Nor is it narrated by Joey Dowdel. No, A Year Down Yonder is the story of Mary Alice, the little sister that is almost-but-not-quite all grown up. The year is 1937. The Depression is making life difficult both in urban and rural areas. It is economic necessity which prompts Mary Alice's parents to send their daughter away. (Joey is sent away also, but not with Mary Alice.) Mary Alice is being sent to live with the vivacious, one-of-a-kind, sometimes embarrassing Grandma Dowdel. How will this "city" girl fit in with these country bumpkins? Will they accept her? welcome her? Not if the Burdicks have their way!

A Year Down Yonder is a treat. It's rich in detail, rich in humor, rich in heart and humanity. The characters, the place all come alive. Richard Peck is a pro when it comes to capturing the good, the bad, the ugly, and the laughable. Mary Alice does have a few adjustments to make, but this book captures her unforgettable journey, her coming-of-age in small town America.

If you haven't read A Long Way From Chicago, this book does stand alone. In case you're wondering. But I would recommend reading both books. Both books are such a joy, a treat, a delight.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

A Long Way From Chicago

Peck, Richard. 1998. A Long Way From Chicago. Review by Becky Laney.

Prologue
It was always August when we spent a week with our grandma. I was Joey then, not Joe: Joey Dowdel, and my sister was Mary Alice. In our first visits we were still just kids, so we could hardly see her town because of Grandma. She was so big, and the town was so small. She was old too, or so we thought--old as the hills. And tough? She was tough as an old boot, or so we thought. As the years went by, though, Mary Alice and I grew up, and though Grandma never changed, we'd seem to see a different woman every summer.
Now I'm older than Grandma was then, quite a bit older. But as the time gets past me, I seem to remember more and more about those hot summer days and nights, and the last house in town, where Grandma lived. And Grandma. Are all my memories true? Every word, and growing truer with the years.

A Long Way From Chicago is a book that is practically perfect in every way. (It did win a Newbery Honor.) It's historical fiction. The book is set during the Depression. The title page calls it a "novel in stories" and that's a fair assessment. The book does consist of loosely connected stories or memories told within a framework of an old man recalling his youth fondly. There are eight 'memories' shared within the book that are the heart and soul of the book. Seven are the consecutive stories of his summer vacations. Each August (starting in 1929 and ending in 1935), Joey and his younger sister Mary Alice leave Chicago to visit their grandmother who lives in a small town in Illinois.

Here is how the first chapter begins, "You wouldn't think we'd have to leave Chicago to see a dead body. We were growing up there back in the bad old days of Al Capone and Bugs Moran. Just the winter before, they'd had the St. Valentine's Day Massacre over on North Clark Street. The city had such an evil reputation that the Thompson submachine gun was better known as the Chicago typewriter. But I'd grown to the age of nine, and my sister Mary Alice was sever, and we'd yet to see a stiff. We guessed that most of them were where you douldn't see them, at the bottom of Lake Michigan, wearing concrete overshoes. No, we had to travel all the way down to our Grandma Dowdel's before we ever set eyes on a corpse."

Joey's voice is of immediate interest to me. He's a great little narrator. The story is rich in detail, rich in character. Every person--man, woman, child--has depth. Peck is just a genius when it comes to writing, to capturing human personalities with wit and humor and heart. The reader becomes intimately acquainted with Joey, Mary Alice, and most importantly Grandma Dowdel. A woman that is one-of-a-kind. A woman that has spirit, gumption, personality, heart, and a mind of her own. A very strong woman who sees the world in her own unique way.

I definitely recommend A Long Way From Chicago!!! It was a fantastic book.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Diary of A Young Girl

Frank, Anne. 1952. The Diary of A Young Girl.

"You're reading that again?" That's what my mother said as she caught me reading Anne Frank. Like I haven't read anything but this one book in all these years. She's right. I have read Anne Frank's Diary of A Young Girl before. But some things are worth repeating. Diary of A Young Girl is one of them. The first time I read this book, I would have been in high school. Close enough to Anne's age to feel it--the drama of adolescence on top of extreme political and social upheaval. The Diary of A Young Girl captures both. The war. The threat of death. The threat of captivity. The threat of starvation and disease. But it also captures youth. What it means to be young, to be at that ever-awkward stage in life, in development. Always a me-in-the-making, never quite done finding out who you are and what you believe and what you want out of life. Anne could be any girl in any place and time. But because she was born a Jew. Because Hitler came to power. Her life--her perfectly ordinary life--was cut short.

The book begins in June of 1942. The last entry is in August of 1944. In these two years, these two turbulent years, Anne and her family and several other people as well all go into hiding in the Secret Annexe. Mr. and Mrs. Frank. Margot, the older sister. Mr. and Mrs. Van Daan. Their son Peter. And Mr. Dussel. Eight people. Cramped living conditions. This isn't reality tv. This is life and death. Yes, every person gets super-cranky and super-sensitive. But wouldn't you?

The reader gets a glimpse into the lives of real people through the eyes of one very young sometimes-mature, sometimes-immature girl. Anne Frank. Very famous now because of her diary. But just then--at the moment--one very ordinary girl with a natural desire to write a diary. I think most kids (or teens) at one time or another try their hand at keeping journals. Though perhaps now, blogging has replaced all that. Diaries are intimate, personal, private. Each entry is a snapshot into that one day, that one hour, that one moment. When you're young, (and even when you're older and supposedly all grown up) your mood, your outlook changes moment by moment, day by day. Happy one minute, miserable the next. Such is the case with Anne. Personally, I'm surprised that Anne had as many happy moments, contented moments, grateful moment in the Annexe as she did. I think it would only be natural to be unhappy, scared, miserable, depressed. Living in cramped quarters with people you dislike, people you disagree with, not being able to go outside, to go anywhere you want. Not having the freedom to move, to make noise when you want. To always be on alert. To always worry about the threat of discovery, the threat of capture, the threat of bombs blowing you to bits. High stress. Very high stress.

But this isn't just a book about war, about being Jewish, about being a victim. This book is so much more than that. It's a book about growing up. A book about changing from a girl into a young woman with hopes and dreams and fears and desires. It's a book about being that age. That extremely awkward stage of life. My mom thought all people of that age should be shipped off to junior high island until they grew out of it. That moody, I-hate-you, you-don't-understand-me stage. Anne was a work-in-progress. There's no doubt about it. When we first meet her, she's entering that phase of life. She doesn't get along with her mother. At all. She feels completely disconnected from her. Misunderstood. Unloved. Unwanted. Unappreciated. And her relationship with her father is better, but not perfect. Sometimes she feels the disconnect with him too. And her sister. She feels that her parents love her sister more. That her sister gets all the praise, the love, the positive attention. And she feels that she gets attacked, bombarded with negative attention--lectures, lectures, more lectures. Everyone is always out-to-get-her. But though this does seem to be Anne's story, Anne's predicament, by the second half of the book, Anne is growing, changing, maturing. She looks back over past entries and realizes that things are different, things have changed. And she realizes that most of the changes were in her. She is beginning to build, to establish a better relationship with her family. She is beginning to get comfortable in her own skin.

Anne is someone I think we all can relate to in a way. Anne was just a girl. A girl with interests and hobbies. Likes and dislikes. She could be anybody.

The Diary of A Young Girl was originally published in Holland in 1947. It was soon translated into other languages, including English, and printed in the United States. 1952 is the first publication date for the United States. Almost from the very beginning, it was recognized as a good book, a powerful book, a book worthy of time and attention and respect. But it's not without its enemies.

Though I'll never in a million years understand the mindset of those that challenge books, I'll never ever ever understand why Diary of A Young Girl is one of their targets. I just don't understand it. Can't understand it. One challenge brought against the book stated that it was pornographic. How??? Why??? Fortunately, the challenge failed, and the book stayed on the shelves. I suppose pornography is subjective. But a young girl writing about her period is so not pornographic! A young girl writing about her breasts developing? Not pornographic. A young girl writing about her first kiss? Not pornographic. There is no talk, no hint of sex in the book. Though Anne spends the last part of the book making out with Peter, the son of the Van Daans. But it's not pornographic in the slightest. Not unless it's the mention of Anne reading a book where there is mention of a woman selling her body. Or perhaps it is the conversation about the cat's male organs that is so offensive to folks? Whether the cat is a tom cat.

I could go on for hours about all the suffering the war has brought, but then I would only make myself more dejected. There is nothing we can do but wait as calmly as we can till the misery comes to an end. Jews and Christians wait, the whole earth waits, and there are many who wait for death. (64)

I see the eight of us with our "Secret Annexe" as if we were a little piece of blue heaven, surrounded by heavy black rain clouds. The round, clearly defined spot where we stand is still safe, but the clouds gather more closely about us and the circle which separates us from the approaching danger closes more and more tightly. (115)

But seriously, it would seem quite funny ten years after the war if we Jews were to tell how we lived and what we ate and talked about here. Although I tell you [the diary] a lot, still even so, you only know very little of our lives. (192)

And if I haven't any talent for writing books or newspaper articles, well, then I can always write for myself. . . I want to go on living after my death! And therefore I am grateful to God for giving me this gift, this possibility of developing myself and of writing, of expressing all that is in me. I can shake off everything if I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn. But, and that is the great question, will I ever be able to write anything great, will I ever become a journalist or a writer? I hope so, oh, I hope so very much. (197)

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Out of the Dust

Hesse, Karen. 1997. Out of the Dust.

Out of the Dust is a Newbery winner. And honestly I can't believe I missed this one. I'm just now getting to it. (Though I don't think I would have been as ready for it then as I am now.) Set in the 1930s, the novel focuses on a family living in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl during the Depression. To say things are a bit bleak would be an understatement. Our heroine, Billie Jo, has many hopes and dreams, but the lack of rain, the lack of crops, the lack of money do have a way of weighing the family down--Billie Jo included. Her mother is pregnant. And her father is always busy working on the farm. Billie Jo's biggest dreams revolve around the piano. She loves to play the piano. She loves to make music. It's a part of who she is; it's a part of her soul. But when tragedy strikes, Billie Jo's dreams get buried in despair. Will things ever get better? Will she ever find the courage and strength and will to play again?

Life. Love. Hope. Disappointment. Anger. Grief. Despair. Loneliness. Guilt. Families. Forgiveness. Grace. Peace. It's all here. The story is definitely one that resonates. But I would be lying if I said it was an easy read. The tragedy is a tragedy. And it changes everything in her life forever.

Nonfiction Monday: The Cage

Sender, Ruth Minsky. 1986. The Cage.

The Cage by Ruth Minsky Sender is one of the most outstanding Holocaust memoirs I've ever read. The narrative is told loosely through a framework. That is in the first chapter, Ruth Minsky Sender begins her narrative by setting it in the present day (or what would have been the present day when it was being written). She frames her story around questions her children asked about why they had no grandparents, no cousins, no extended family, etc. This, I believe, is quite effective in drawing you into the story. Of making you see the big picture.

Nancy looks at me, bewildered. "Why did they let them do it? Why didn't people stop them?"
Why did they let them do it? Why did they let them do it? It echoes in my ears. Many voices ring in my ears. Voices I have heard before. They are all calling, Why? Why? Why did they let them do it?
I hear Mama's voice, filled with hope. A world full of people will not be silent. We will not perish in vain. She was so sure. But she perished, and the world was silent.
Tears fall down my face. Nancy's soft hands wipe them away. "But, Mommy, it could not happen here. Our neighbors, our friends, they would help."
Suddenly it is 1939 again. (4)

In simple but haunting prose, the narrative tells the story of one girl's survival. Riva, our narrator, is a child-soon-to-be-a-woman growing up in Lodz, Poland. Her world changes, her future changes when the Nazis invade Poland. Friends? Neighbors? Vanish overnight it seems. You see, it's not safe to be 'Polish' anymore...better to be German. To blend in with the oppressors. To take up their mantras. To join with them side by side. To pursue the destruction of the Jewish race. There is no one to stand up for the Polish Jews. (Or should I say there are few if any that are willing to make such a stand.) The story of Riva and her family--her mother, her brothers, her sisters, is powerful.

Riva finds her strength in poetry. You might could even say that poetry saves her life in more ways than one. This is her story.

Camp Mittelsteine, Germany
September 23, 1944
Riva Minska, Number 55082.

When my tormented heart can't take any more
The grief within rips it apart;
My tears flow freely--they can't be restrained
I reach for my notebook--my friend.
I speak to my friend of my sorrow
I share my anger, my pain.
I speak to my friend of tomorrow
Of a future we'll build once again!
The pillars I build for the future to come,
I knock down and build once again.
I share all my dreams, share my hopes with my friend
Share the pain that is filling my heart. (178)

First sentence: Warm rays of sunshine fill the house, mixed with the sweet smell of lilac in full bloom.
Last sentence: As long as there is life, there is hope.
245 pages
Nonfiction Monday roundup.

Nonfiction Monday: I Will Plant You A Lilac Tree

Hillman, Laura. 2005. I Will Plant You A Lilac Tree.

"We are going to Brunnlitz, to Oskar Schindler's camp!" I recall the shouts of joy that filled the barrack at Plaszow. But the terrible place where I now stand is not that hoped-for refuge. It is Auschwitz. (1)

I Will Plant You A Lilac Tree is a memoir of one of the women saved by Oskar Schindler. Hannelore Wolff. Except for the two-page prologue, the book is a chronological account of Hannelore's life in Nazi Germany. The book opens with her attending a Jewish boarding school in Berlin. Since Hitler had come to power, it was dangerous for Jews to walk on public streets. In spite of the risk we walked along a tree-lined avenue in a suburb of Berlin, the ever-present yellow Stars of David sewn to our jackets. (3) One day she receives a letter from her mother with the news that her father has been taken by the Nazis and has died. Weeks later she receives another letter. A letter saying that her mother and two brothers will be deported to the East on May 8, 1942. In what could only be perceived as foolish-yet-brave behavior, Hannelore writes a letter to the Nazis saying that she wishes to be deported along with her family. They grant it. Now this family of four is facing the great unknown as they board a train that could lead them--probably will lead them--to their deaths.

Hannelore's story isn't always easy to read. Let's see if I can phrase this better. Those readers who aren't well-versed in Holocaust memoirs may find it difficult to read. The way the Jews are treated is despicable. It is callous. Hannelore's story is an account of some of the wrongs she faced, some of the wrongs she witnessed. But it is also a story of courage, of hope, of strength in a time of great despair. While sometimes surviving was a matter of luck--of chance--part of it had to do with will as well. Those that lost the will to live, those that gave up hope, those that gave in to despair... Starvation. Disease. Nazis. The Nazis were responsible either directly or indirectly for so many deaths. Hannelore's story of how she survived the various camps and came to be one of the lucky few saved by Schindler is amazing and fascinating and in places quite heartbreaking.

But this memoir isn't just a testament of survival, and it isn't just an account of the wrongs against the Jewish people. It is a love story as well, a story of how love can be found even in the darkest places, the most despairing times. A story of how one young man and one young woman found hope and love in each other. A story of how that love helped them endure.

I definitely recommend this one.

243 pages.

To read other Nonfiction Monday posts, visit the roundup.

White Lilacs

Meyer, Carolyn. 1993. White Lilacs.

In the time before we knew that we would be driven away, our lives uprooted, and our people scattered, Grandfather Jim Williams spent every spare minute tending his beautiful garden in Freedomtown. He loved that garden, and I loved him. The garden was my favorite place.

Set in the fictional town of Dillon, Texas, White Lilacs tells the story of a community within a community. Freedomtown, a community of African Americans (Though of course they weren't called that then, negroes or colored being the terminology then. Though Meyer does use the n* word later on when relations become more strained.) Our narrator is Rose Lee Jefferson, a twelve year old who is about to forced into growing up rather quickly. She is a girl that loves life, loves her family, loves to draw. She especially loves spending time with her grandfather. He is a gardener for the Bell family. Her Aunt Tillie works for the Bell family as well. (I believe as the cook.) One day, soon after our narrative opens, Rose is unexpectedly called into the Bell's kitchen by her aunt and told that she needs her to serve luncheon to the Bells and their guests. She had been having fun with her grandfather, and the garden was a place she felt at home, felt comfortable. But she does what she must. It's a day that will change her life forever. Why? She overhears that the white folks of the community are planning to force them out, force them to sell. They want a park, a library, a woman's club.

Throughout that summer, Rose works when she can and overhears as much as she dares. But by the middle of July, it's clear that the whites will have their way. Change is a coming. And coming fast. Knowing that it would be impossible to save their community, Rose acts quickly to preserve what she can--on paper. She draws what she can--the school, the churches, the homes, the businesses.

White Lilacs is a heartbreaking story of prejudice and hate. But it is also a story of a loving family, a family that holds onto hope, holds onto the good, that holds together.

Though fictional in nature, the book tells the all-too-real story of Quakertown. In the early 1920s, the African Americans of Quakertown were forced to sell their land so that the white folks of the city could have a park. You can read more about the actual Quakertown here. There is now a museum opened that tells the story of the community and documents its past.

Back to History Challenge

I have *found* a new 2008 Challenge. You're probably thinking, "Becky, is SO challenge-deprived. She'll have nothing to read ALL year." This challenge that I don't-really-need, but can't-say-no-to is the Back to History Challenge. It lasts all year. January 2008-December 2008. The post mentions nothing about being able to list alternates or about the 'freedom' to change your mind. But I'm going to hold on to both. The challenge is to read twelve books, but I'm going to make my list MUCH longer than that and choose twelve from it as I go. Let me repeat, I will not be reading each and every book on this list. I am not insane. I will be picking and choosing from this list. I will probably read 12-20 from this list.

These are "borrowed" from the "In Their Shoes" Challenge making these all nonfiction:

The Diary of A Young Girl by Anne Frank
I Have Lived A Thousand Years by Livia Bitton Jackson
(My Bridges of Hope by Livia Bitton Jackson)
(Hello, America by Livia Bitton Jackson)
No Pretty Pictures by Anita Lobel
Night by Elie Wiesel
Until We Meet Again by Michael Korenblit and Kathleen Janger
Alicia My Story by Alicia Appleman-Jurman
The Cage by Ruth Minsky Sender
To Life by Ruth Minsky Sender
Isabella From Auschwitz to Freedom by Isabella Leitner
The Tale of The Ring: A Kaddish by Frank Stiffel
Dry Tears: The Story of A Lost Childhood by Nechama Tec
A Special Fate Chiune Sugihara: Hero of the Holocaust by Alison Leslie Gold
In My Hands: Memories of A Holocaust Rescuer by Irene Gut Opdyke
I Will Plant You A Lilac Tree by Laura Hillman

These are borrowed from the Book Awards Reading Challenge

Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi
Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

I'm definitely wanting some Laura Ingalls Wilder:

Little House in the Big Woods
Little House on the Prairie
On the Banks of Plum Creek
By the Shores of Silver Lake
The Long Winter
Little Town on the Prairie
These Happy Golden Years

These would be *new* reads without being part of any other challenge--yet.

Patience, Princess Catherine by Carolyn Meyer
Hang A Thousand Trees With Ribbons: The Story of Phyllis Wheatley by Ann Rinaldi
A Ride Into Morning: The Story of Tempe Wick by Ann Rinaldi
Marie, Dancing by Carolyn Meyer
Escaping Into the Night by D.Dina Friedman
Shanghai Shadows by Lois Ruby
The English Governess and the Siamese Court by Anna Leonowens
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
Let the Circle Be Unbroken by Mildred D. Taylor
The Road to Memphis by Mildred D. Taylor
The Land by Mildred D. Taylor
White Lilacs by Carolyn Meyer
Jubilee Journey by Carolyn Meyer
An Unlikely Friendship A Novel of Mary Todd Lincoln and Elizabeth Keckley
*one or more of the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Juneteenth by Ann Rinaldi
the Hawk that Dare Not Hunt By Day by Scott O'Dell
Christy by Catherine Marshall
Savannah by Eugenia Price
To See Your Face Again by Eugenia Price
Before the Darkness Falls by Eugenia Price
Stranger in Savannah by Eugenia Price
Bright Captivity by Eugenia Price
Where Shadows Go by Eugenia Price
Beauty in the Ashes by Eugenia Price
Maria by Eugenia Price
Margaret's Story by Eugenia Price
Don Juan McQueen by Eugenia Price
The Beloved Invader by Eugenia Price
New Moon Rising by Eugenia Price
Lighthouse by Eugenia Price
London by Edward Rutherfurd

If Carolyn Meyer and/or Ann Rinaldi publish ANY new books in 2008, they're automatically on this list. Even though I don't know the titles or if there are any forthcoming at all. Maybe I should just say *any* novel by Ann Rinaldi or Carolyn Meyer to be absolutely clear should count for this challenge.

I am also *considering* reading biographies of Margaret Mitchell, Jane Austen, and Laura Ingalls Wilder. I don't know if I will. But if I do, I'd want them to *count* in this challenge.

Another loophole, ALSO ANY HOLOCAUST RELATED BOOK FICTION OR NONFICTION PUBLISHED IN 2008. This is my "subject" area of interest and if there are any new books out there that I want to read, I want them to count.

Yet another loophole, I reserve the right to indulge in any book related to Henry VIII and or any of his wives regardless of whether they're YA or YA-friendly. :)