The Land I Lost by Huynh Quang Nhuong

Summary: Stories of the native dangers fill this book of life in Vietnam.  Huynh and his water buffalo, Tank, have many escapades in and out of the river as he describes life in his Vietnamese village during his childhood.   Each day brings danger that most American children cannot even imagine.  Snakes of gigantic proportions, wild hogs that run a person down, bad weather, and little spiders with a deadly bite all combine to make up this story of survival and fun (yes, fun) in the life of young Vietnamese children in rural Vietnam.  Each chapter provides another look into a world that many tweens in the more modern world will never experience. 

These windows into a totally different world help enhance the understanding for tweens as they study cultures and countries throughout the world.  With the first person narrative style, the author provides a connection for the reader, drawing readers into the story and creating a word picture that resonates long after the story is over.  This is definitely a terrific addition to any curriculum focusing on world studies.

Standards:  Louisiana H-1A-M2: Demonstrating historical perspective on political, social and economic context through which an event or idea occurred. H-1C-M9: Tracing the expansion of major religions and cultural traditions and examining the impact on civilizations in Europe, Africa and Asia.

Awards and Recognitions:

            1982 Children’s Editor’s Choices (ALA Booklist)

            Children’s Book of 1982 (Library of Congress)

            1982 Teacher’s Choice (NCTE)         

 Huynh, Q. N. (1986). The Land I lost: adventures of a boy in Vietnam (Harper Trophy book) (1st Harper Trophy Ed). New York: Harper Trophy.

Bully for you, Teddy Roosevelt by Jean Fritz

This narrative style biography of President Theodore Roosevelt reads like fiction and pulls the reader into the story.  Starting when Teddy is a boy, the author provides insight into all the illnesses he was forced to endure and the wonderful advice his father gave him.   This advice helps our 26^th President throughout the rough times in his life, especially after the death of his beloved father, mother and 1^st wife.  

At an early age, Teddy liked to do things a little differently.  He enjoyed watching and analyzing birds, insects and mammals and this joy grew to studies and dissections of all sorts of critters, much to the horror of his mother and housekeeper.   They never knew what they would find when they opened the icebox, cupboards or his bedroom.  Sounds like a typical boy in any age to me.   Later in life, he marries, has a daughter but loses his wife just after the birth, ran away to the west and fell in love with the plains.  All that within just a few years which is enough for any person but Teddy has so much more life to live. 

Although polite society during Teddy’s age considered local politics beneath them, Teddy felt that to be a good politician, he needed to start with “everyman” and get an understanding of the basic problems of the masses.  So, even though he was wealthy, he entered local politics and caused an uproar on both sides of the tracks.  His political future was struggling along but he continued to have his regular life of going, studying, hunting and so on. 

The author does a great job portraying the President as a go-getter who truly deserves the numerous nicknames he still holds.  Rough and tumble Teddy describes this man perfectly.  While studying American History, this book is a great way to engage tweens and interest them in the person behind the title.

Standards: Louisiana H-1B-M13 Era 6: The development of the Industrial United States (1870-1890). H-1B-M14: Describe the effects of industrialization on the United States.  H-1B-M15:  Describing the economic, social, cultural and political changes that have occurred in the 20^th Century.

Awards and Recognitions:

                               

Age Range: 9 to 13

Fritz, J. (1991). Bully for you, Teddy Roosevelt. New York: G.P. Putnam & Sons.

I Came As A Stranger: The Underground Railroad

I Came As A Stranger: The Underground Railroad. By Bryan Prince. Tundra, 2004. 168 pages. Tr. $15.95 ISBN 978-0887766671

Summary: Prince evocatively bears witness to the stories of 40,000 enslaved African Americans, who journeyed via the Underground Railroad to freedom in Canada. Made possible through the support of black abolitionists and their white allies, the Underground Railroad was comprised of a web of safe houses where fugitives were offered refuge from slave catchers’ grasp. Railway conductors played an instrumental role in fugitives’ ability to reach freedom, however, Prince is careful not to underestimate their own agency. We follow the freed men, women, and children as they build new lives for themselves throughout Ontario. Once in Canada, African Americans formed their own schools and churches. Enslaved family members were never forgotten, and many freed people returned to the South to aid their relatives.

Standard(s): California Standards: 8.7 Compare the lives of and opportunities for free blacks in the North with those of free blacks in the South; 2. Trace the origins and development of slavery; its effects on black Americans and on the region’s political, social, religious, economic, and cultural development; and identify the strategies that were tried to both overturn and preserve it (e.g., through the writings and historical documents on Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey). 8.9 Students analyze the early and steady attempts to abolish slavery and to realize the ideals of the Declaration of Independence;  8.9 1.Describe the leaders of the movement (e.g., John Quincy Adams and his proposed constitutional amendment, John Brown and the armed resistance, Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, Benjamin Franklin, Theodore Weld, William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass); 6. Describe the lives of free blacks and the laws that limited their freedom and economic opportunities. Ontario, Canada Standards: identify key social, political, economic, and physical characteristics of the British North American colonies between 1850 and 1860 (e.g., British, French, First Nation, and Black communities) Michigan Standards 8 – U4.3.2 describe the formation and development of the abolitionist movement by considering the roles of key abolitionist leaders (e.g., John Brown and the armed resistance, Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, Sojourner Truth, William Lloyd Garrison, and Frederick Douglass),and the response of southerners and northerners to the abolitionist movement. 8 – U5.1.1 Explain the differences in the lives of free blacks (including those who escaped from slavery) with the lives of free whites and enslaved peoples.

Suggested Age Range: 10-14 years

Annotation: Prince presents an engaging and nuanced view of the history of the Underground Railroad. He demonstrates that this historical era is more complicated than was once thought. Canada was a beacon to many enslaved people, who traveled at night by following the North Star. However, the experience of life in Canada was not entirely rosy. Since 1833 slavery was outlawed in Canada, however, freed people found that de facto discrimination was still widespread, much like life in the Northern United States. Canadian public schools were mostly white bastions, forbidding the inclusion of black students. The Detroit River worked both ways. Though many freed people found refuge in Canada, some avoided capture by journeying back into the U.S.

Subjects/Themes: Blacks – Ontario, Canada; Underground railroad – Canada; Fugitive slaves – Canada; Blacks – Canada - History

Reviews: Voice of Youth Advocates (August 1, 2004)

            School Library Journal (June 1, 2004)

            Booklist (May 1, 2004)

            Quill & Quire (April 1, 2004)

High Interest Annotation: The history of the Underground Railroad is explored from the Canadian perspective. 

Out of Line: Growing Up Soviet

Out of Line: Growing Up Soviet. By Tina Grimberg. Tundra Books, 2007. 128 pages. Tr. $22.95 ISBN 978-0887768033

Summary: Tina Grimberg’s memoir poignantly depicts life in Post-WWII Soviet Ukraine. Babushka Broyna, Tina’s maternal grandmother, was wrongly imprisoned, for it was mistakenly believed that she stole some food. Within Soviet Ukraine, essential commodities like food are scarce. Relationships play a fundamental role. Through her connections Tina’s maternal grandmother, Babushka Inna, manages to procure exotic foods for her family. Even with connections, however, people are forced to wait in endless lines to purchase essential commodities, including fish, clothes, and toilet paper. Tina reflects upon waiting in lines with her mother, by reciting poetry. She also remembers waiting in line to procure flowers for Mother’s Day.  Under Communism workers’ pay is scant. Bribery is rampant. Tina remembers attempting to visit her grandmother in the hospital. She illustrates the corruptness of the system. Under Communism, patient’s treatment depends upon the ability to pay hospital workers; without extra money, bloody bed dresses are not changed, and visitors are not able to visit. There is one perk to Communism, however. Since both men and women must work, the state must provide affordable, quality early-childhood education. All children attend state-run preschools, where women like Tina’s mother work as teachers. School is also run by the state, and curriculum is highly circumscribed. Students that are caught attending religious activities, or who engage in non-state approved tasks are liable for expulsion. This is exactly what happens to Tina, when she informs the school that her family will be leaving Ukraine once their exit papers have been procured.

Standard(s): California Grade 7 - 2.0 Reading Comprehension (Focus on Informational Materials); Grade 8 - 2.0 Writing Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics - Structural Features of Informational Materials 2.1 Understand and analyze the differences in structure and purpose between various categories of informational materials (e.g., textbooks, newspapers, instructional manuals, signs).  2.3 Write research reports: a. Define a thesis. b. Record important ideas, concepts, and direct quotations from significant information sources and paraphrase and summarize all perspectives on the topic, as appropriate. c. Use a variety of primary and secondary sources and distinguish the nature and value of each. d. Organize and display information on charts, maps, and graphs.

Suggested Age Range: 10-14 years

Annotation: Communism is brilliantly depicted in Grimberg’s memoir. Tweens learn about the positive and negative experience of life under Communism, especially the impact of state-controlled media, schools, hospitals and transportation. Grimberg’s prose captivates readers, dispensing an accessible entry into a bevy of political and historical issues.

Subjects/Themes: Jewish children – Ukraine – Biography; Ukraine – Social Conditions - Post WWII; Communism; Soviet Union

Reviews: School Library Journal (January 1, 2008)

            Voice of Youth Advocates (December 1, 2007)

            Booklist (December 1, 2007)

            Quill & Quire (October 1, 2007)

High Interest Annotation: A Jewish girl’s reminisces about life in Post WWII Soviet Ukraine.

Sigmund Freud: Pioneer of the Mind

Sigmund Freud: Pioneer of the Mind. By Catherine Reef. Clarion Books, 2001. 160 pages. Tr. $19.00  ISBN 978-0618017621

Summary: Sigmund Freud is one of the great thinkers of all time. His late-nineteenth-and-early-twentieth-century experiments profoundly altered our way of treating the mentally ill. Instead of subjecting patients to water treatments or electric shock therapy, Freud listened to his patients’ problems. This radical patient-centered method was called psychoanalysis. Freud also studied the unconscious, arguing that much of our actions can be explained by inner-forces. By bringing these thoughts to the surface, psychiatrists can aid patients in real change. His theories on dreams and sexuality, expanded upon his work on the unconscious. Many modern mental health professionals have criticized Freud’s theories. However, without Freud’s work our understanding of unconscious processes would be greatly impaired. A lot of psychological theories rest on Freud’s work.

Standard(s): California Grade 7 - 2.0 Reading Comprehension (Focus on Informational Materials); Grade 8 - 2.0 Writing Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics - Structural Features of Informational Materials 2.1 Understand and analyze the differences in structure and purpose between various categories of informational materials (e.g., textbooks, newspapers, instructional manuals, signs).  2.3 Write research reports: a. Define a thesis. b. Record important ideas, concepts, and direct quotations from significant information sources and paraphrase and summarize all perspectives on the topic, as appropriate. c. Use a variety of primary and secondary sources and distinguish the nature and value of each. d. Organize and display information on charts, maps, and graphs.

Suggested Age Range: 10-14 years

Annotation: Reef’s biography of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) is a fascinating account of his life and work. Freud’s theories on dreams, sexuality, and unconscious memories, are outlined against the backdrop of European history. We witness Freud as he struggles against Viennese anti-Semitism. The controversy surrounding Freud’s theories are discussed, as are his contributions to the nascent field of psychoanalysis. Reef concludes that, while current psychologists have criticized much of Freud’s work, Freud’s contribution to the field cannot be denied. Unconscious factors play a cardinal role in human behavior, and understanding these hidden forces at work is essential towards developing meaningful and efficacious methods of treatment.

Subjects/Themes: Sigmund Freud – Biography; Psychoanalysis; Austria

Awards: Sydney Taylor Book Award (2001)

            National Jewish Book Awards Nominee (2005)

Reviews: Voice of Youth Advocates (October 1, 2001)

            School Library Journal (August 1, 2001)

            Booklist (July 1, 2001)

            Publishers Weekly (May 14, 2001)

High Interest Annotation: Sigmund Freud’s life story is paired with his work, resulting in an engaging, tween-friendly book. 

The Forbidden Schoolhouse: The Dramatic Story of Prudence Crandall and her Students

The Forbidden Schoolhouse: The Dramatic Story of Prudence Crandall and her Students. By Suzanne Jurmain. 160 pages. Tr. $19.00 ISBN 978-0618473021

Summary: In 1831, Prudence Crandall opened the Canterbury Female Boarding School. Located in Canterbury, Connecticut, the school was rated as one of the leading private girls’ academies in New England. Though owning a slave was still legal in Connecticut, most African-American people were free. Racial discrimination was rife, however. Prudence Crandall grew up in a Quaker family, and she sympathized with the plight of the slaves. Reading William Lloyd Garrison’s abolitionist paper the Liberator opened her eyes to the unequal treatment experienced by Northern blacks, who received less pay than whites for the same work, and were forbidden from entering most schools. Crandall was so moved by what she read, that she accepted an African American girl named Sarah Hayes as a student, in 1832. When word got around to students’ parents that their daughters were attending school with a black girl, chaos ensued. The floodgates were opened as parents lashed out at Crandall, removing their girls from her academy. This is the story of Crandall’s decision to transform her academy into a school for African American girls. We follow Prudence Crandall as she welcomes pupils from across New England, and sympathize with her as she courageously bears the local outcry against the school, and battles state laws.

Standard(s): 8.7 Compare the lives of and opportunities for free blacks in the North with those of free blacks in the South; 4.Compare the lives of and opportunities for free blacks in the North with those of free blacks in the South. 8.9 Students analyze the early and steady attempts to abolish slavery and to realize the ideals of the Declaration of Independence. 1. Describe the leaders of the movement (e.g., John Quincy Adams and his proposed constitutional amendment, John Brown and the armed resistance, Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, Benjamin Franklin, Theodore Weld, William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass). 6. Describe the lives of free blacks and the laws that limited their freedom and economic opportunities.

Suggested Age Range: 10-14 years

Annotation: The Forbidden Schoolhouse chronicles nineteenth-century ideas of women, race and education, offering tweens with balanced and engaging first-person narratives. We follow Prudence Crandall’s Canterbury Female Boarding School, from its founding in 1831 as an all-white school for girls to its closing in 1835 as a school for African American girls. The local outcry against the school brought forth many short-term laws. The 1833 Connecticut Black Law, for example, fined out-of-state African-American students for attending Connecticut schools. Charged with breaking the Black Law, Prudence’s court struggles were met with failure. However, her lawyer’s rhetoric played a fundamental role in the 1955 landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. Board of Education. Separate education for whites and blacks is unconstitutional, for it violates student’s rights as American citizens.

Subjects/Themes: Crandall, Prudence, 1803-1890 – Biography; Women educators – Connecticut; African-American women – Education – Connecticut

Awards: ALA Notable Books for Children (2006)

            NCTE Orbis Pictus Award Nominee (2006)

            Golden Kite Award Nominee (2005)

            James Madison Book Award Nominee (2006)

            Rhode Island Children’s Book Award Nominee (2007)

Reviews: School Library Journal (November 1, 2005)

            Booklist (October 1, 2005)

High Interest Annotation: Local and state-wide protests against a nineteenth-century academy for African American girls, the Canterbury Female Boarding School, is chronicled.

The Mysteries of Beethoven’s Hair

The Mysteries of Beethoven’s Hair. By Russell Martin and Lydia Nibley. Charlesbridge Publishing, 2009. 128 pages. Tr. $15.95 IBSN 978-1570917141

Summary: Younger readers will not be disappointed with this story, which follows the journey of a locket of Beethoven’s hair as it is first snipped by pianist Ferdinand Hillier at Beethoven’s death in 1827.  The ownership of the locket then passes to Hiller’s son, somehow arriving at the port city of Gilleleje, Denmark, during the Holocaust. Dr. Fremming, a Danish doctor assisting Jewish refugees receives the locket from a captured Jewish prisoner. Later his adopted Jewish daughter, Michele Wassard Larsen, auctions the locket, which is purchased by two American Beethoven aficionados – Dr. Che Guevara and Ira Brilliant. Through the locket of hair, Beethoven’s story comes vividly to life. Readers learn about Beethoven’s character, compositional style, early childhood years, education, and life in Vienna, romantic attachments, friendships, familial mores, philosophy, and health problems. Beethoven’s biography alternates with research in cutting-edge science, as scientists analyze the sample of hair to discern reasons that might explain why Beethoven suffered chronic health problems, especially deafness and stomach ailments.

Standard(s): Ontario, Canada’s cross-curriculum and integrated learning: “students are provided with opportunities to learn and use related content and/or skills in two or more subjects. . . . . they build subject-specific vocabulary, read stories for inspiration for their art works, and respond to and analyze art works using language.” C3.1 analyze some of the social, political, and economic factors that affect the creation of music; C3.2 compare and contrast music from the past and present

Suggested Age Range: 10-14 years

Annotation: In 2001, Russell Martin garnered international acclaim for Beethoven’s Hair: An Extraordinary Historical Odyssey and a Scientific Mystery Solved. The tie-in documentary, directed by Larry Weinstein was released in 2006 to rave reviews. In 2009, widespread interest in Beethoven’s Hair encouraged Martin to publish the same research on Beethoven with Lydia Nibley for tweens. The biography is a curious mixture of the history of Beethoven, classical music, medicine, Europe, and the Holocaust, along with modern scientific research. Studying relics like hair can aid biographers in fleshing out more information about the subject of interest, and these studies do add a more rounded view of Beethoven.

Subjects/Themes: Beethoven, Ludwig van (1770-1827) – Biography; Holocaust;  Beethoven, Ludwig van (1770-1827) - Relics; Science

Awards: AJL Sydney Taylor Notable Books for Young Readers

            An NSTA/CBC Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students K-12 
(2010)

            CCBC Choices

Reviews: Booklist (June 1, 2009)

School Library Journal (March 1, 2009)

            The Horn Book (May 1, 2009)

High Interest Annotation: A locket of Beethoven’s hair is followed from his death in 1827 to the present day, uncovering mysteries of Beethoven’s life through cutting-edge research.