This month's book reviews
A boy loves a new puppy which has
already been promised to someone else
Tom had come really close to getting into trouble
at school just before the end of the term. It all worked out,
but he was sure glad to see summer vacation arrive so he could
visit his grandparents. Tom's grandfather had bought part
of a dairy farm close to the airport just out of town. The
grandfather had converted the dairy barn into a large kennel
where he raised and trained dogs - especially hunting dogs
- for sale.
This summer would be different for Tom. His
grandfather had recently had a heart attack and had undergone
heart surgery. Tom, along with his mom, would have to help
with the dogs at the kennel while his grandmother took care
of her husband when he came home from the hospital. It was
going to be difficult to keep grandfather away from his dogs
long enough for his body to completely heal.
There were thirty-six dogs, along with new puppies,
to take care of. Grandfather knew them all by name. Besides
keeping the kennels cleaned out, one of Tom's first jobs was
to go to town to buy labels. He printed the names of the dogs
and placed the labels over each of the pens. That way, like
grandfather, the temporary caretakers used the dogs' names
all the time, the dogs learned their names quickly, and they
responded better during the training sessions.
All the adult dogs had to be taken out for exercise
every day. Some of them could be trusted to run through the
fields and come back when called. Others had to be kept on
a leash or they could run off and get lost or hurt by cars
along the road. As his grandfather was recovering from his
operation, Tom was learning more and more about the different
personalities that the dogs had.
One, called "Old Gabe," sometimes jumped against
the cage and growled angrily at Tom, almost scaring him to
death. Tom learned that "old Gabe" would only do this when
the dog thought he could catch Tom off guard. If Tom was alert,
the dog acted indifferent to Tom's presence. Only later, did
Tom find out that his grandfather used the dog's cantankerous
personality in helping train other hunting dogs.
In one litter of new puppies, a pointer pup
seemed unusually intelligent and sensitive. He responded to
Tom like none of the other puppies did. Tom secretly named
the dog "Tad" and hoped that he could talk grandfather into
giving him the pup. He was shocked when he found out that
his granddad had promised the owner of the puppies' father
the pick of the litter. Tom knew the man would recognize how
Tad stood out from the rest of the puppies and be sure to
pick him. What could Tom do? He knew his grandfather would
always keep his word and not try to talk the man out of taking
first choice.
This is a good book to read to learn about
doing the honorable thing. It is also a good book to read
to learn more about caring for and training dogs.
A twelve-year-old sketch artist plays detective
in downtown Seattle
Hannah West is the adopted Chinese daughter
of Maggie West, an art critic and writer, who had recently
lost her full-time job. The mother had accidentally stumbled
into apartment and home-setting for people who were to be
away for long periods of time. It gave the mother and daughter
a chance to live in nice places at no cost. Of course, it
meant they had no permanent home and had to move around a
lot. They supplemented their income by the mother doing free
lance writing and working in a coffee shop, as she tried to
stay connected to the art community in Seattle. Hannah, on
the other hand, had cards printed up advertising her willingness
to take care of people's pets for a fee. Her connection to
the art world was that she carried a sketch pad and drew pictures
at every opportunity.
The mother and daughter's latest job at house-setting
was in an expensive high-rise condominium in a plush section
of town. While looking down at the street from her new high
vantage point, Hannah noticed unusual activity on the street
below on the part of a uniformed bicycle messenger. At that
moment, she didn't realize that what she saw would involve
her in trying to solve the mystery of a series of art thefts
over the next few weeks.
Both Hannah and her mother are very active
characters. In her efforts to stay in contact with the art
world, Mrs. West meets many figures from the art world and
attends many exhibits and art functions. Hannah, of course,
comes into contact with all of these adults, but she has a
best friend of her own age that she sees frequently. Because
she moves around a lot, Hannah has to use the transit system
to get to her school. She uses the address of a friend of
her mothers to enable her to stay in the same school, even
as she moves around to different neighborhoods. On her long
bus rides, she is always sketching faces of people and different
scenes around the city. Little did she guess that her drawing
might help her later to solve the mystery behind the art thefts.
Young readers will enjoy keeping up with the
fast pace that Hannah sets in trying to juggle all her activities
and solve a crime at the same time.
A boy breaks his leg in a farm accident
and feels rejected by his father
Nathanial James (Nate) was just eleven but he
knew his help around the family farm was essential to his family's
being able to keep their land. They were homesteaders in Nebraska
in the late 1800's. His dad had to borrow money to pay for seeds,
farm animals, and other necessities. If the farm was not successful,
the bank would end up taking over their land. The James family
would have to move on once again.
Nate was helping his father get hay into the barn
before heavy rain would ruin it in the field. Thunder and lightning
spooked the horses while Nate was hurrying to toss hay from
the farm wagon. He lost his balance and, in falling, broke his
leg in several places. The doctor worked to save his leg, but
Nate was told he would be lucky if he could even just walk again
on his injured leg. In the future, he would never be able to
do heavy work around a farm. He would have to spend weeks in
bed and not using the leg in order to give it a chance to heal
enough for him to limp on it. Now, what would his father do
with no help? Could they possibly hold on to their homestead?
Nate's mom was good at fixing things. People brought
tools, broken pots and pans, non-working clocks, and other things
to be repaired. These people though Nat's father was a tinker,
or handyman. They didn't realize, and were never told, that
it was the wife and not the husband that fixed their broken
items. In that era, people didn't believe women could or should
do that kind of work. The repairs were paid for with eggs or
other items of trade. Mrs. James' work helped the family survive
in the tough frontier atmosphere.
Since Nate was unable to do much as he recovered
from his injury, he tried to learn from his mom how to fix things.
He wasn't good at it. He could take a clock apart; he just couldn't
get it back together. Since he was likely to be a cripple, it
became more important for Nate to learn to read much better
than he had up to that time. In fact, after he healed, he started
to go to the one room school. He found he couldn't read as well
as the much younger kids who had been attending school regularly.
The other kids made fun of him. He began to feel more and more
useless.
One day, Nathaniel's father returned from town
with a boy about Nate's age. The boy was from the Orphan Train
that brought homeless kids from the big cities in the east.
The boy's name was John and he was strong and healthy. If Nate
couldn't help around the farm, his dad would adopt a boy who
could help out. Now Nate really felt useless since, it seemed
to him, that his dad was replacing him with another son.
Along with all the other troubles the James' family
was having, they also had to put up with cattlemen who would
cut the fences and let cattle in to ruin the farm crops. Nate
and John joined together to figure out how to put a stop to
that problem.
You need to read the book to find out how Nate
finally was able to overcome his feelings of worthlessness and
regain his confidence that he was a valued and contributing
member of his hard-working family.
London during the plague of the 1680's
seen from two different perspectives
Actually, "The Plague" by Phillip Wooderson is
two books bound together, with one titled "The Plague - Rachel's
Story" and the other titled "The Plague - Robert's Story." The
reader is told to read Rachel's story first and only then to
read Robert's story.
Rachel is the daughter of a cloth merchant. The
father was successful enough that the family lived in a house
in the city that was reasonably comfortable for those times.
They had a household servant girl named Jess. A country cousin
named Robert also lived with them. He had come to the city to
"make his fortune" and he worked as Rachel's father's assistant
in the cloth trade. Robert and Rachel did not get along very
well, but Rachel realized that Robert was the best hope for
her father's being able to remain successful in business. Rachel's
mother was rather flighty and kept the father constantly worried
about how she spent money trying to keep up socially with more
prosperous acquaintances.
The times were troubled. King Charles had been
beheaded the very day Rachel was born. At the time the story
takes place, Oliver Cromwell, who had executed the King, was
no longer in power. The English were fearful that they were
going to be invaded by the Dutch. A terrible disease was just
starting up among the poorer inhabitants. As the disease spread,
it was called "The Plague." It tended to kill most people who
caught it, as they turned a black color with large bleeding
sores on their skin. In fact, in some places it was called "the
Black Death." Nobody knew what caused the disease, and nobody
knew how to begin to cure it or to stop its spread. Some of
the cures that were attempted were almost as bad as the disease.
People had to go on and live their regular lives
as much as they could with more and more people dying around
them as weeks went by. Wagonloads of dead bodies were pulled
through the streets to be buried in mass graves. The wealthier
people left the city, hoping that the plague would not follow
them to the less populated parts of the country.
Against the backdrop of political unrest and
the spread of the plague, Rachel's family struggles to hold
on to the business and lead as normal lives as possible. Rachel
comes to suspect that one of her father's competitors is trying
to bankrupt her father and take over his business. But she needs
to find proof, since no one, especially her mother, will believe
her suspicions. On top of everything else, Robert suddenly disappears
without leaving any trace.
Along with Rachel, we start to worry about who
next will be taken by the plague. How will the family survive?
What happened to Robert, and will he ever return to help save
the family business?
