This month's book reviews

An eighth-grade girl becomes the teacher
in a one room school house

The setting for "The Secret School" is sheep raising country in Elk Valley, Colorado. The year is 1925. Ida Bidson is one of two eighth-graders in the little one-room school house that serves Elk Valley. There are only eight kids total in the school. Miss Fletcher had been the teacher in the school for the past five years.

Ida was surprised when she showed up for school one morning with her little brother, Felix. Mr. Jordan, the president of the school board, was there. Miss Fletcher's elderly mother back east in Iowa was seriously ill. Miss Fletcher was going to have to leave her job and go back to Iowa to take care of her mother. Without a teacher, the school was going to have to close down. The school year would end without the kids finishing a grade.

Ida and the other eighth grader, Tom Kohl, were especially upset at the news. Both had hoped to graduate from eighth grade and go on to high school. Ida had wanted, eventually, to go to the Teachers' College and become a teacher herself. Without going on to high school, she could never become a teacher.

After Miss Fletcher left, the kids got together to discuss what might be done. It was too late in the school term to expect the school board to hire a new teacher. Tom Kohl was first with the idea that maybe Ida could become the teacher. She was smart enough. She was a good reader, knew her grammar, and had always made good grades. Her math was a little weak, but Tom was really good in math and could help her prepare for her eighth grade examination in that subject area. Ida was a little frightened by the responsibility, but agreed to become "Miss Bidson" and take over as the new teacher.

Ida and Tom knew that if the board of education found out about their plan, it probably would not approve. So the school with Ida Bidson as teacher had to be a "secret school." All of the kids voted in favor of the plan.

The remainder of the story is concerned with Ida's efforts to be a good teacher and control the kids, especially Herbert Bixler, who thought it was his place to make life miserable for any teacher. He saw it as a challenge to target a teacher who was really just a fellow student. It was not surprising that eventually the board of education found out what was going on. Could Ida and Tom finish eighth grade and go on to high school? Could the younger kids get credit and go on to the next grade? You need to read "The Secret School" to find out.

 

Just winning at baseball may not be
what the game is all about

The Breadhurst Newts, a Little League team, made up of eight boys and four girls from a small private school, was getting ready to start a new season. Last season, the team had managed to lose every single game, mostly by lopsided scores. Luckily, the school was a boarding school and most of the players' families lived miles away, so their families never saw them play.

Whiz was the team's pitcher and captain. He had great control. The ball went right over the plate every time. The trouble was, every batter on an opposing team knew just where the ball would be as it slowly came by. They would all hit it just as hard as they could. He and the other Newt players all loved the game of baseball. Unfortunately, loving the game wasn't the same thing as being able to play the game!

Whiz had a summer job at Mr. Dougal's print shop. He had learned to set type and run the presses. Mr. Dougal had even trusted him with a key to the shop. Whiz could come in and finish small jobs anytime he wanted. He liked going in when no one else was there. It was dark and quiet and he enjoyed feeling the power of the hulking presses.

Whiz had been making up business card descriptions of imagined baseball players. When he read the description and stats on the cards, he actually felt he had created a real player. He also had printed cards describing the Newt players. He kept all the cards hidden in the shop.

When the season started, the Newts lost game one with a score of 15-6. Game two was even worse with a score of 16 -1. After the second loss, Whiz felt terrible. He decided to slip out of the dorm one night and go to the print shop. He printed the description of an imaginary pitcher named Ace Jones. Ace was described as "a superb fireballer, with unusual control for a hurler with his kind of speed. Quiet, dedicated, and smart, he hits and fields well, too." Whiz placed the new card in the stack of Newt cards.

When Whiz showed up at the next team practice, who was there warming up on the field? A new boy was pitching balls hard into the chain-link backstop. He had a Newt's cap and shirt on over his blue jeans. It was Ace Jones!

With Ace as their pitcher, the Newts started playing some real baseball. But, as they played, more weaknesses became evident. It was clear, if they were to maintain a winning streak, they needed some more talented players. Strangely enough, new players started showing up, claiming they were friends of Ace Jones. They all were quiet kids, unknown to the old members of the team. Of course, Whiz knew them and told plausible stories of where they came from.

The team was winning every game. But the new players stood apart from the old team members and seemed to look down on their less talented team mates It was true that the Newts were winning all their games, but baseball wasn't any fun at all anymore. Finally, E6, Whiz's best friend, figured out something strange was going on. He knew Whiz and the print shop had to have something to do with what was going on.

What should Whiz do to restore fun to the Newt's baseball playing experience? What could he do? He couldn't just wipe out the players he had created. This unusual baseball story has an unexpected ending that turns out to be consistent with baseball tradition.

 

Classic stories of kings and knights told
in an easy-to-read paperback book

Just about every kid has heard about King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. This little paperback, called "Tales of King Arthur" by Felicity Brooks, retells in brief versions many of the stories and legends that have been recounted through the years. King Arthur was supposed to have lived in what are called the Dark Ages, possibly in about 400 to 700 A.D.

The first story, of course, is the one that tells how the young Arthur pulls a sword from a stone. He doesn't realize that the one who is able to pull the sword out is to be recognized as the true king of the realm. Nor does he know that many powerful and famous knights have tried and failed to retrieve the sword. Only after he successfully retrieves the sword does Arthur find that his true father had been the past king of the realm, King Uther Pendragon. Arthur had been brought up by the King's brother, Sir Ector.

Arthur goes on to be crowned king. He leads his knights in many battles and finally unites his kingdom. He founds a city called Camelot and, later, places a huge round table in the great hall of his castle. The table provides seating around it for the greatest knights of the kingdom. Arthur marries a beautiful princess named Guinevere, who becomes his queen. The Round Table keeps drawing to it great warriors from lands around the kingdom. These knights all pledge allegiance to Arthur and his Queen.

Throughout the stories, there are characters who appear in the background. One is the famous magician, Merlin, who had saved Arthur as a baby and continued to try to protect him. There are always the villains in the background also, including the sorceress, Morgan le Fay, and the evil knight, Sir Mordred.

This little paperback does a good job of introducing the reader to all the characters and telling in a brief but interesting way some of the many stories and legends about the great king, King Arthur.

 

A book based on a popular animated movie

This paperback book is described as the "novelization" of the hit movie, "The Wild Thornberrys". I didn't see the movie. One reason was I didn't like the way the characters were drawn. I thought they were ugly - not cute at all. So when I read the book based on the movie script, I was surprised that I found it to be an interesting story. If you liked the movie, you will enjoy reading the plot in novel form. If, like me, you didn't see the movie, you are just likely to enjoy reading a good adventure story.

The Thornberry family has gone to Tanzania in Africa to study elephants. The father in the family hosts a TV nature show and the mother is the one who films the TV footage. The main character is Eliza Thornberry who is twelve years old and never met an animal she didn't like. In fact, unknown to her family, a native witch doctor had given her the power to speak to animals and understand them in return.

Eliza is bugged mainly by her older sister, Debbie, who hates Africa and longs to return to wearing "cool" clothes and make-up and trying to impress her teen-age friends. The family lives in a big safari-camper called a Commvee, which can travel on land or on water.

Early in the story, Eliza tries to save a cheetah cub from poachers. The poacher had jumped out of a helicopter to steal the cub and had flown off with Eliza hanging on to the bottom of the chopper. She is nearly killed but is not able to save the cub. Debbie, her older sister, tells the parents what risks Eliza takes to save animals. In order to keep Eliza from possible injuries, the mother and father decide to let Eliza's grandmother take her back to England to boarding school. Of course Eliza is horrified. She has no interest in going back to "civilization". She loves it in Africa.

When Eliza gets to the school, she finds that Darwin, the family's pet chimpanzee, has hidden in her luggage. Naturally, Eliza and Darwin end up getting into all kinds of trouble at the boarding school. Eliza figures out how to borrow some money and book a flight back to Africa and her family. Can you imagine her trying to get on an airplane with a chimp dressed up like a person?

The rest of the plot is mainly concerned with Eliza's trying to figure out who the bad guys are and trying to save hundreds of elephants from being killed just for the ivory in their tusks. I'll bet the book is even better than the movie!