single mom and some newberies

I don't usually broadcast this information on my blog, but my self-pity is overwhelming. Jared is out of town for some work training. We didn't really believe he was going to end up going thanks to the goings-on in DC last week, but when the shutdown was narrowly avoided he packed his bags and took off. When Jared is out of town, I usually console myself by making the kids PBJs for dinner, not cleaning the house, watching girl movies, and starting an enormous home improvement project that Jared would stop me from doing if he were here. This time, however, I have been up with a sick Sammy every night and am now sick myself with a raging fever and sore throat. Not so fun. Painting all the doors in the house, like I had originally planned, sounds a lot more fun. (I did one! Only eight more to go...) So please feel sorry for me. That's all I ask. *sniff, sniff* Because I am unable to do more than lay on the couch in my jammies while Sam watches "Bob the Builder," I thought I could at least add some more Newbery reviews:

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

by Jean Lee Latham (1956) I could not for the life of me figure out why so many people were dying in this darn book! Our poor main character loses mother, grandmother, beloved sisters, brother, brothers-in-law, and finally a wife. So much for one fictional character to bear! Then I realized Nathaniel Bowditch is not a fictional character but was an early American mathematician from Salem who revolutionized ocean navigation and did indeed lose a lot of family members. Aside from all the dead relatives, Bowditch is an odd choice as a topic for a children's book. All children love to read about innovative mathematicians, right? A ho-hum little book, it combines historical fiction with ocean adventures but not a whole lot else. Though I am fascinated by anyone who can teach himself Calculus. A runner-up this year was Men, Microscopes, and Living Things. Must have been a brainy year for Newbery!

Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes (1952)

Jerry Pye scrimps and saves to earn a dollar to buy a puppy. After he brings home Ginger, Jerry and sister Rachel are overjoyed and the book promises to unfold into a delightful little tale of two children and their dog. And then Ginger runs away (or, as we find out later, is kidnapped) and doesn't return to the book until nearly the last page. So why is this book called Ginger Pye? He is pretty incidental to the book. It should be called Two Kids Have Some Picnics and Express Mild Concern Over Their Missing Dog For A Year. Yes, a year. The dog is missing for a year. The whole time Ginger is hidden in a neighbor's backyard being trained to be a circus dog. Now that sounds like an interesting book!

Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates (1951)

Is this weird or what? All the Newbery runners-up for 1951 were biographies: Lincoln, Gandhi, Johnny Appleseed, and - the ultimate winner - Amos Fortune. If you can look past some of the condescending racial conventions of it's day, this really is an inspiring true story of a man taken from Africa at the age of fifteen to live the life of a slave in Salem in the 1700s. Fortune is finally able to purchase his freedom at the age of sixty and begins a new life as a tanner in Jaffrey, New Hampshire. He marries, has a family, and becomes a prominent member of the community of Jaffrey, where you can still visit his grave stone and see a monument to him. I know the story is very sugar-coated, but it is hard not to be moved by the underlying fact of a man beginning his life at the age of sixty and spending his remaining years doing so much good. While this book itself is not terribly intriguing, Amos Fortune the person is. There was a short film produced in 1997, Amos Fortune Road, about trying to find orginal records to preserve his story.

Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry (1941)

A basic coming-of-age story, Mafatu wants to prove to his tribe and his father (the Chief, of course) that he is not afraid of the sea. Launching from his island home with only his spear, some food, and his dog, Mafatu is on a quest to find his courage and come home a hero. He lands on a deserted island and manages to survive just fine until he discovers the island is really the home to a tribe of cannibals. I hate when that happens! A quick and predictable read, but who doesn't love a good survival book? Also, the author's illustrations are stunning. And is that his real name? Too good to be true!

One of Sperry's woodcut illustrations