Books Reviews - Page 31

Madeline, the French schoolgirl who has been delighting children for more than 60 years, teaches in this new book that the secret to being polite is simply being kind to others. For example:
Every gift deserves appreciation
No matter what the situation
and
A thank you spoken is a very nice token
But a thank you letter is even better.
Madeline Says Merci is a gentle reminder to children how important it is to say “please” and “thank you,” to share, to help others, and to be nice to others.
Madeline Says Merci is geared to ages 2-8, but older children who love Madeline also will enjoy this book and will get something from its message.

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American Icons
Steve Gottlieb
Roberts Rinehart

Baseball, Yellowstone National Park, Friday night bowling, Thanksgiving dinner, cowboys, and the Statue of Liberty are among America’s shared symbols—its icons. In American Icons, photographer Steve Gottlieb has selected his list of the nation’s most important symbols and created a beautiful coffee table book of these powerful images.
To turn the pages of this book is to catch a glimpse of the symbols that form the values, history, and culture of America: the 18-wheeler in Jefferson County, Ohio; a Pecos County, Texas, longhorn; an Amish buggy in Lancaster, Pa.; the Iwo Jima Memorial in Roslyn, Va.; and a surfer at sunset at Venice Beach, Calif.

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Lisa Wingate’s Tending Roses is a touching novel about how an estranged family struggles to reconnect when faced with moving an ailing grandmother from her Missouri farm to a nursing home.

Kate Bowman moves temporarily to Grandma Rose’s farm with her husband and new baby, charged by her family with convincing the elderly woman she must leave her beloved home. The pace of rural life offers Kate the unexpected blessing of a chance to examine her own life and values.

This novel’s strength is its believable characters. Grandma Rose can be a cranky, stubborn old woman. And many readers will see themselves in Kate, who is so wrapped up in her own problems that she fails to see the worries of others.

But when Kate discovers Grandma Rose’s handmade journal, with its stories of love, faith, friendship, and family, she begins to see her grandmother in a completely new way.

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To the Best of My Ability: The American Presidents
Edited by James M. McPerson and David Rubel
DK Publishing

President Warren G. Harding was extraordinarily vain about his appearance and had so many clothes that new closets had to be built in the White House to hold them all. President Lyndon Johnson proposed to Claudia Taylor, nicknamed Lady Bird, on their first date.

To the Best of My Ability, a collection of lively essays written by members of the prestigious Society of American Historians, is a gold mine of interesting nuggets of information about the presidents who have led America. The essays aren’t capsule biographies, though they do contain essential information; rather, they feature the primary characteristics and achievements of each presidency, along with each inaugural address. Packed with photographs, illustrations, and fascinating trivia, this book is a highly readable, fascinating, fun reference book.

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When Franklin the turtle’s grandparents couldn’t make their yearly trip to his house for their traditional Thanksgiving celebration, the entire family was disappointed—Mom, Dad, and little sister.

So Franklin decided to surprise his parents and invite his teacher’s family—whose own relatives couldn’t visit—and a classmate’s family. Franklin’s mother secretly invited the neighbors next door. And Franklin’s father asked Mr. Mole, who couldn’t travel to his sister’s with a broken ankle, to join them. Imagine their surprise—and joy—on Thanksgiving Day when their home filled up.

They gladly moved dinner outside —“just like the early settlers”—and gave thanks for good friends and family. And they vowed to do it again next year.

Franklin’s Thanksgiving, for children primarily ages 4-8, is a touching story of turning disappointment into something wonderful: a new family tradition.

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1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving
Catherine O’Neill and Margaret M. Bruchac
National Geographic Society

Most schoolchildren are told the story of how New World settlers invited a few headdressed American Indians over for a dinner of turkey, pumpkin pies, and cranberries. But many of today’s assumptions about the harvest gathering that eventually would evolve into the Thanksgiving holiday appear to be based more on fiction than fact.

Historians have surmised, based partly on a letter written by one of those settlers, that the English indeed were preparing a harvest feast, and several men were out hunting fowl for the feast.

The American Indians initially were alarmed by the sounds of gunfire. “When it became clear to all that the English were celebrating, (Chief) Massasoit sent some of his men out to hunt deer for meat to contribute to the feast. Once it was seen to be safe, it is likely that Native women and children … joined them.”

Aided by photographs of re-enactors from the Plimouth Plantation living museum in Plymouth, Mass., 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving, for ages 8-12, begins to show a clearer, truer, picture of this most American of holidays.

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Pilgrims of Plymouth
Susan E. Goodman
National Geographic Society

This picture book, aimed for children ages 4-8, also uses Plimouth Plantation photographs to explain who the Pilgrims were.

“They had left England and crossed the ocean safely,” the book reads. “They had built a new home in America.”

But Pilgrims of Plymouth also makes those long-ago settlers very real to children. “Their houses and clothes didn’t look like the ones we have today. But the Pilgrims talked and laughed with their friends. Pilgrim parents loved their children. They tried to make a good life for their families. The Pilgrims were real people just like us.”

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Try your hand in the World Championship Cardboard Boat Festival each July in Heber Springs, Ark., where contestants construct a boat entirely from cardboard, glue, and duct tape. The idea: stay afloat for 200 yards and be the first to cross the finish line, no matter how long it takes. Or visit the American Sanitary Plumbing Museum in Worcester, Mass., created by Charles Manoog, a successful plumbing wholesaler who wanted to pay tribute to his trade. Be amazed by The House on the Rock in Spring Green, Wis., a 14-room architectural impossibility perched on a rock’s pinnacle.

Eccentric America is packed with unconventional museums, festivals, collections, pastimes, and events. The book’s first sentence describes it perfectly: “Eccentric America is a walk on the wacky side of American tourism—fun to read, talk about, and follow.” Even if you never travel to any of these destinations, the book is a vacation in itself.

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Clay’s Quilt, a first novel from Silas House of Kentucky, follows young Kentucky coal miner Clay Sizemore’s struggle to make peace with his tragic history and make a happy life for himself. Orphaned at age 4, Clay is raised by a close-knit extended family who feel a deep love for each other and their small community on Free Creek.

He’s surrounded by colorful, yet very real, characters such as his religious Aunt Easter; his aptly named cousin Dreama; card-playing Uncle Gabe; and his hard-partying best friend Cake. Each is a treasured piece of his life, but it is Alma, the gentle fiddler who becomes the love of his life, who completes him.

Clay’s Uncle Paul, a skilled quilter, gives him a wondrous gift that beautifully illustrates Clay’s life and shows that you can make something beautiful from bits and pieces of ordinary.

The tale shines with vivid description, authentic dialect, and familiarity with his characters.

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Oma’s Quilt
Paulette Bourgeois and Stephane Jorisch
Kids Can Press

When young Emily’s grandmother, Oma, leaves her longtime home on Maple Street and moves to a retirement home, nothing makes her happy. Her room is either too cold or too hot. The food tastes funny. She can’t sleep in a strange bed.

At home, as Emily and her mother sort through Oma’s belongings, they discover treasures—Emily’s baby blanket, the dress her mother wore for her first piano recital, kitchen curtains, old dresses, and a faded quilt made from her grandfather’s worn-out shirts. “We could make a quilt,” Emily suggests, “using all the things that Oma loved at Maple Street.” The one-of-a-kind quilt, stitched by Emily and her mother, delighted Oma, eased the transition to her new home, and allowed her to keep a connection to her past.

Oma’s Quilt, for children ages 5-8, is a touching story of love across three generations.

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