Rifles for Watie (1958)

Rifles for Watie is a really good historical fiction about the western front of the Civil War.  The protagonist, Kansas native Jefferson Davis Bussey, enlists in the Union army at the age of 16 and goes to war.  The book covers the 4 years that comprise the Civil War, and focuses on the war in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas.  (The area referred to as Texas is now Oklahoma.)  A major part of the war here was between rival Indian groups that have aligned themselves with either the Union cause or the Confederates, and although  Jeff comes to realize that neither of the sides is wholly right or wholly wrong, he remains true to the Union and their fight to allow all men freedom. 

Jeff served in both armies.  He spent about a year behind the lines with the Confederates as a spy.  And in that time, he came to admire and understand the men he fought with.  As the back of the book says, "Jeff Bussey is probably the only soldier to fight the Civil War from both sides--and understand each."

I really enjoyed this book.  It contained great examples of honor, bravery, camaraderie, loyalty.  However, I thought it was too mature for the age group Newbery targets.  There are vivid descriptions of battle, (dead and wounded men, shooting, amputations, etc.) an execution, falling in love (see quote below), cruelty and hatred between Jeff and one of his commanding officers.  I think it would be difficult to write a historical war novel without those things and it is a really good book, just not for 3-5 grades.

Quotes I enjoyed:

On Jeff's first going into battle.  "He began to recall all the mean things he had ever done and how he might never have time to atone for them.  Life was running out on him.  He wasn't ready to die.  He didn't want to be rushed into it.  He needed more time to think about it.  After all, a person died just once.  Anybody who let himself get killed was just plain stupid." (p. 132)

Why I think the love part is a bit mature. Although this is about the extent of the "kissy part."-- "As their lips met and his arms went around her waist, he felt a blissful melting within him, an overpowering rapture that he had never known nor dreamed existed.  For a moment there was no sound save that of their quick breathing and the leaves of the redbud tree...As he held her close, Jeff's lips caressed her eyebrow, her cheek, her ear.  He could feel her heart pounding beneath her bodice." (p. 297)

When exhausted in his escape from the Confederate side back to the Union with the intelligence he gathered.  "He braced and began to labor up the rise, concentrating on each step and thinking of Pete Millholland and his words, 'You can always go farther than you think you can.'  It was funny how a fellow could lie moldering in his grave and still his words could go right on helping people." (p. 309)

Keith, Harold.  Rifles for Watie.  HarperCollins.  1958.

Miracles on Maple Hill (1957)

10-year-old Marly needs a miracle.  Her family needs one.  Her father wasn't the same when he came back from the war and she wants so much for him, and their family, to be happy again.  Marly's parents decide that they should visit Maple Hill and that Marly's dad, Dale, should stay there for a while.  Marly's mom, Lee, visited her grandmother at Maple Hill when she was a little girl, and they hope that getting out of the city (Pittsburgh) and into nature will help Dale get over his depression.  (Although they never use the word depression, the description of how Dale behaves seems to be that.)

When they arrive at Maple Hill the snow was so deep they got stuck and had to get help from Mr. Chris.  Lee had known him as a girl, but since her grandmother had died, she hadn't been back.  Mr. Chris is collecting maple from the trees and takes them to the sugar camp where the maple sap is collected and boiled down.  When Marly smelled it, it was "absolute sweetness...like passing an orchard in full bloom.  But different."  Mr. Chris said, "Your great-grandma used to say there was all outdoors in that smell.  She called it the first miracle when the sap come up." (p. 14)  At that point, Marly knew there would be miracles.

When the kids (Marly has a 12-year-old brother named Joe) and Lee next visit, they find Dale to be much happier, and when school gets out for summer, they return for those months.  Mr. Chris points out to Marly the plants and animals in nature.  And she sees in each one a miracle.  They make friends with Harry the hermit, for whom Joe gains a great admiration. 

The family has to make a big decision.  Whether to go back to the city, or to move to Maple Hill.  You can probably guess which they decide.  So Marly gets to see the miracles of fall and winter as well.

Although this was not my favorite Newbery, I enjoyed Marly's view of miracles--that miracles surround us and that we just have to see them and recognize them as miracles. 

Some quotes I liked:
When Lee introduced Dale to Mr. and Mrs. Chris, Marly thought, "Her voice was even more special when she said, 'This is Dale,' than when she said, 'This is Marly,' or 'This is Joe.'  Marly loved the voice and the look that seemed to say: Isn't he wonderful?" (p. 17)

Marly's view on boys and girls.  "For the millionth time, she was glad she wasn't a boy.  It was all right for girls to be scared or silly or even ask dumb questions.  Everybody just laughed and thought it was funny. But if anybody caught Joe asking a dumb question or even thought he was the littlest bit scared, he went red and purple and white.  Daddy was even something like that, as old as he was." (p.99)

Harry on Mr. Chris.  "When you have done a great many good things, you forget to speak of them.  It is those who do very little who must talk of it." (p. 119)

Dale on his prison camp experience.  "Some of the people in camp helped each other all the time.  Some others never thought about anything or anybody but themselves.  I'd never known before how different people can be." (p. 140)

Sorensen, Virginia. Miracles on Maple Hill. Harcourt, 1957.

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch (1956)

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch is about Nathaniel Bowditch of Salem, Massachusetts.  Nat was super-bright, especially at mathematics, but when he was 10 he had to leave school to help his father's business, and at 12 he was made an indentured servant, as his father was just not able to care for the family since the passing of his wife several years before.

Nat dreads being an indentured servant, but his masters are kind and give him every opportunity to read and study on his own, even providing him with books.  He continues his study of math, but also becomes interested in physics and astronomy.  He is given Principia by Sir Isaac Newton, but finds that he needs to know Latin to read it.  So he obtained a Latin dictionary and a Latin Bible and proceeded to teach himself.  He also learned French and Spanish in this way.

With his indenture fulfilled, Nat took a job surveying, and then at work on a trading vessel.  He made several voyages for business.  On each of them he continued to improve his navigating skills, as well as teaching the crew about navigation.  He gained many solid friends of those deck hands through his teaching.

On one voyage he discovered a new way of finding longitude through lunar and stellar observation, with some complex mathematics of course.  This leads him to write "American Practical Navigator."  Here is what one website has to say about it. "The American Practical Navigator, first published in 1802, was billed as the"epitome of navigation" by its original author, Nathaniel Bowditch. The text has evolved with the advances in navigation practices since that first issue and continues to serve as a valuable reference for marine navigation in the modern day." (http://msi.nga.mil/NGAPortal/MSI.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=msi_portal_page_62&pubCode=0002)

I really enjoyed this book.  It has adventure, hard work, friendship, more adventure, love of learning, and just a touch of romance.  A great story for kids with the message that you don't need wealth to be smart and make something of yourself.  Hard work and life-long learning are the key.

Although called a biography in several reviews, Carry On, Mr. Bowditch is shelved as fiction. I think this is because it contains a great deal of supposition about what particulars of different voyages and facets of Nat's life were like.  All of the main timeline and facts seem to check out historically, but it is mighty embellished.

Latham, Jean Lee.  Carry On, Mr. Bowditch.  HoughtonMifflin, 1955.

In response to Valerie's comment, here is the quote on ash breeze.  "When a ship is becalmed--the wind died down--she can't move--sometimes the silors break out their oars.  They'll row a boat ahead of the ship and tow her.  Or they'll carry out anchors and heave them over, and the crew will lean on the capstan bars and drag the ship up to where the anchors are heaved over.  Oars are made of ash--white ash.  So--when you get ahead by your own get-up-and-get--that's when you sail by ash breeze." (p. 48)

The Wheel on the School (1955)

The quiet in the little school in Shora was broken when Lina asked if she could read her essay.  It was about storks.  She wondered why there were no storks on the roofs of Shora, for she knows they bring good luck and make you happy.  There are storks on the roofs of the houses in surrounding villages, but not in Shora, a small, Dutch fishing village just behind the dike at the edge of the sea..

This essay and the question it poses starts the class on an adventure to get storks back in Shora.  The teacher sees an opportunity for the class to do some thinking and runs with the idea, getting them all excited about the project.  They realized that they need a wagon wheel to place on the roof so that the storks will have a place to build their nest.  The children begin combing the village and surrounding farms to find a wheel to place on the roof of the school. 

Their adventures soon lead them to interact with the people in the village.  One of my favorites was Janus.  The children all think he is the meanest man in town.  His legs, so the children tell each other, were bitten off by a shark.  When twins Pier and Dirk try to sneak into his yard to look for a wheel, they make a surprising discovery.

That is what happens in this book.  The characters make discoveries about the people around them and about themselves.  They find out good and surprising things which strengthen and lift each one and brings unity to the village.  There is enough going on that children would enjoy the book, and it also has a message that will inspire them.  I give it two thumbs up.

Some favorite quotes.  There were more, but would take up too much space setting the scene and are better read in full context.:

The teacher says, "But there's where things have to start--with a dream.  Of course, if you just go on dreaming, then it stays a dream and becomes stale and dead.  But first to dream the then to do--isn't that the way to make a dream come true?" (p. 32)

A farmer to one of the children. "I'll take a chance on you.  Fat, slow kids are usually pretty honest.  They have to be; they can't run away." (p. 81)

DeJong, Meindert.  The Wheel on the School.  HarperCollins, 1954.

...and now Miguel (1954)

...and now Miguel tells the story of, you guessed it, Miguel.  At 12 years old, Miguel thinks he is ready to go to the mountains with the men to tend the sheep during the summer.  His family have been raising sheep in New Mexico for generations and the journey to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains with the sheep symbolizes to Miguel the transition to manhood.  He wishes and prays for a miracle to make it possible for him to go, but he also works hard and does his best to pull his weight so that his father and the other men will see him as capable of the task.

The rest of the family do not understand Miguel.  Sometimes he thinks things and kind of assumes his listeners are following his thoughts before he speaks, and then they all become confused.  Kind of funny except that Miguel is so earnest. 

Small spoiler--A miracle does happen for him to go.  You will have to read the book to find out how it all works out.  :)

Some favorite quotes:

"I don't know if it is true but I have been told that if you are good all the time and if sometimes you pray, then you will go to heaven.  Maybe this is so and maybe not." (p. 10) 

Miguel had taken on the role painting the numbers on the ewes and newborn lambs so that the moms and babies could be matched up if they got separated.  In talking with his grandfather about this he learns: 

" 'That is the real work of a pastor,' my grandfather told me, 'of a shepherd..  To see that in all the flock there is no one that is alone by himself.  Everyone together.  Only so can all live.'

'How is it they go off, the way they do, by themselves?' I asked. 'Why are sheep not so smart?'

'Sheep!  There are many men who don't understand this simple thing.  Not only sheep.' " (p. 52)

"The boy should know this...Whenever something grows and you keep it from growing anymore, that's a sin.  And if it's a life, living, and you let it to die, that's a sin." (p. 57)

"Ordinarily I'm a pretty good prayer.  I can do an 'Our Father who Art In Heaven' as fast as anybody else.  Without skipping words, I can beat even my big sisters.  But this wish wasn't like doing an 'Our Father.' I had to make up the words for this one myself. And not only words.  To say a wish like this one I think maybe you have to say it with something more than just plain words." (p. 113-114)

"One thing is, next year on san Ysidro Day I'm going to say a new kind of prayer...I'm going to pray like this. 'San Ysidro. Dear Sir.  This is Miguel Chavez who took up so much of your time last year...Thank you for last year.  But  this year, I haven't got any wish.  No wish at all.  All I wish, San Ysidro, is for things to be the way you wish.  Amen.' " (p. 216)

Although I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I rather doubt that the target audience children would find it appealing.  It is kind of slow-moving and makes you stop and think.  I don't think kids these days like doing that, however much we would like them to.

Krumgold, Joseph. ...and now Miguel. Crowell, 1953.

Ginger Pye (1952)

Jerry Pye decided to buy a puppy.  He chose the smartest one in the litter.  Now all he needed was a dollar, and he needed it fast, before it was sold to someone else who had their eye on the same puppy.  Jerry and his sister, Rachel, earned the dollar by dusting the pews in the church.  Their Uncle Benny helped.  Uncle Benny's claim to fame is that he is 3 years old and is the uncle of Jerry and Rachel, who are 10 and 9. On the way home from buying him, Jerry and Rachel heard mysterious footsteps following them, but never saw who was there.  And later they noticed someone in a yellow hat looking furtively through the fence.

They named the dog Ginger Pye, and they loved this dog!!  He is cute and smart and nice.  As an example of how smart he is, when Jerry went to school one day, Ginger decided to find out where he was instead of staying home all lonely.  He tracked his scent, found the pencil Jerry lost on the way, and even climbed the fire escape to get to Jerry's classroom, and deliver the pencil.  They have some good times at the reservoir, etc.  But then something terrible happens. 

On Thanksgiving Day, Ginger Pye went missing.  They searched all over for him.  Over the next days and weeks, they enlisted the help of their friends.  Never a trace of him was found.  Everywhere Jerry and Rachel went now they looked for Ginger.  They talked to the police chief about the "unsavory character," as they called the mysterious person in the yellow hat.

Finally, on the 29th of May, Jerry's birthday, the mystery was solved.  Read and find out how.  :)

I enjoyed reading Ginger Pye. One of the interesting things about it were the tangents the author often took on her way through the story.  At first they kind of annoyed me, I wanted her to get on with the story, but they kind of grew on me.

Estes, Eleanor. Ginger Pye.  Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1951

Amos Fortune, Free Man (1951)

The majority of Newbery books I have read to this point have been good, but not stand-out great.  There were a few (Caddie Woodlawn, The Cat Who Went to Heaven, Johnny Tremain).  Amos Fortune, Free Man goes on that list. This biography reads like fiction.  I don't know how extensive the "Amos Fortune papers" are (available in the East Jaffrey library) which the author used in writing this, but I would hazard a guess that she made up the dialogue and internal thoughts.  Although it does say in the book that Amos carried around a notebook. 

The book begins in Africa in 1725.  Ms. Yates paints a superb picture in our minds with lyrical, poetic prose, of the night and the group gathered in the jungle, among whom is At-mun, the chief's son.  During this night, slave traders surround the tribe, shoot the chief and take all of the healthy, young men and women captive.  Then begins the arduous path to the Americas with a wait in the pit, the notorious Middle Passage, the humiliation of being sold.  Through all this, At-mun keeps his pride, remembers his heritage as a king. 

I will not go through the story of his life.  Know, kind reader, that it is filled with hopes and dreams and faith, love and loss.   What I will do is put down some of my favorite quotes.

"Amos went to church for two long hours in the morning and again in the afternoon, observing with respect the laws that pertained to the Sabbath during the hours when he was not under the vigilant eye of the minister.  It puzzled Amos that the white people put so much stress on Sunday.  Yet it seemed somehow similar to the stress they put on the color of a man's skin.  To Amos, once he understood the Lord, every day was lived to Him.  It was not in the Meeting House alone but in the tan yard that he took delight in being a Christian.  It was not with his own people he felt at his best but with all men" (p. 56)

On the day he bought his own freedom, "He stood in the doorway and breathed the air...and it seemed that now he was free he could breathe more deeply...He was almost sixty years old and he was ready to live." (p. 68)

"The struggling colonies had been bound together by words on a parchment, words that said 'All men are created equal...'  words that were to become the foundation stone of a nation, words easily ascribed to in the enthusiasm of youth when they signified breaking the bonds of restriction and tyranny, words hard to explain to the black man who looked to the white for wisdom and understanding." (p.77)

Describing the preacher, "Imposing and fiery, challenging and inspired, his words on a Sunday were as forceful as his life on a weekday." (p. 121)

Amos and Violet, his wife, had an argument and these are her thoughts.  "What right had she to oppose him?  Yet it was he who had given her freedom.  The word was meaningless unless in its light each one lived up to his highest and his best." (p. 140)

Amos, after many years, told Violet about his capture and his initial desire to escape.  He said, "My hand was restrained and I'm glad that it was, for the years between have shown me that it does a man no good to be free until he knows how to live, how to walk in step with God." (p. 162)

There are many more, but this is getting too long.  I think children would enjoy this book.  I sure did.

Yates, Elizabeth.  Amos Fortune, Free Man.  Dutton, 1950.