I’ve read some great historical fiction recently, ranging from 1840’s Ireland to 1950’s New Jersey.    First up is the Children of the Famine trilogy by Marita Conlon-McKenna.  This juvenile fiction series follows 3 Irish children, orphaned in the Great Famine, as they search for a new home and a place to belong.  It would be interesting to compare with Nory Ryan’s Song.

Moving to the 1870’s and Idaho Territory.  In Jenny of the Tetons, Carrie is orphaned by an Indian attack as her family makes its way to Oregon.  With no where else to go, Carrie makes her home with Beaver Dick, a trapper and his Shoshoni wife, Jenny.  Beaver Dick and Jenny are based on real people, and each chapter begins with an excerpt from Beaver Dick’s journal.

Private Peaceful is the battlefield reflections of a 16 year old private in the British army.  The tension builds with each chapter as a crucial night comes to an end.  An excellent choice for middle school boys.

And finally, we have Newbery Honor winning Penny from Heaven.  11 year old Penny lives with her mother and her mother’s parents.  While her life with her mother’s family is quiet and controlled, it is her dead father’s family that provides noise and excitement.  During one eventful summer, Penny discovers the secrets behind her father’s death, and brings both sides of her family together.

While I was waiting in a doctor’s waiting room the other day, I overheard another lady admitting (confessing, bragging?) that she had read a book over 150 times.  Any guesses as to what book she was referring to?  If you’re thinking that she was a patient mother, faithfully re-reading her young child’s latest favorite, you would be wrong.  The book that this lady had read over 150 times was Stephanie Meyer’s Breaking Dawn.  Not only that, but this lady happened to have her copy of Breaking Dawn with her, and after her confession, proceeded to commence yet another re-read, pencil in hand to underline favorite passages.

There are many books that I have re-read many times.  My Personal Classics list contains quite a few of them.  But Breaking Dawn?  150 times?  Seriously?  Now I’ve never read the book, but I have read the first one in the series–Twilight.  I found Edward to be slightly abusive and Bella to be whiny and weak.  Nothing I’ve heard or read since then leads me to believe that anything has changed for these two characters.  In fact, Wired.com had a tongue-in-cheek article entitled Top 20 Unfortunate Lessons Girls Learn From Twilight. I know that the article was intended to be funny, but it pretty accurately summed up my feelings about the series.

If you have a book that is worthy of being re-read 150 times, I’d love to hear about it, unless it’s a Twilight book, in which case I don’t want to know.  It hurts me too much to think of more reading time wasted on Edward and Bella.

Little House on the Prairie fans will love this book.  Melissa walks you through her seasons on Little House, giving her thoughts on various episodes and sharing little known trivia and background.  She also share memories about the cast, in particular, Michael Landon.  I’m inspired to re-watch my favorite episodes.

I’m also impressed with Melissa Anderson as a person.  Here is a child star who went on to have a successful career and then put it all on hold for the sake of her own children.  She stepped out of the limelight so she could put her family first.  You just don’t see that very often.

This was one of the best history books I’ve ever read.  I learned so much about a time period that is often reduced by history textbooks to a summary of The New Deal and the beginning of WWII.  American History classes should use this book!  Egan interviewed people who lived through the Dust Bowl, and combined their stories with historical records to recount 40 years of history on the American Plains.

Did you know that during the great dust storms, the skies would rain mud?

Did you know that babies, children and even adults died from lung diseases brought on by dust?

Did you know that the dust storms blew dirt from the plains all the way to Washington DC and out into the Atlantic?

Did you know that the dust storms could have been prevented?

The Blue Sweater was written by Jacqueline Novogratz, the founder and CEO of Acumen, which she describes as, “A nonprofit venture capital firm for the poor that invests in sustainable enterprises.”  Novogratz has spent her entire career as a banker working to help the poor and disadvantaged help themselves through sustainable ventures.  Her experience and wealth of knowledge are amazing.

I would have loved to have read this book in an economics class, or as part of a mission trip.  Reading it in isolation left me with too many questions and too few answers.  I did come away with a few favorite quotes:

“…strengthened resolve to find more solutions that started with the poor as customers…” pp276-277

“There is a powerful role both for the market and for philanthropy to play in creating this future.  Philanthropy alone lacks the feedback mechanisms of markets, which are the best listening devices we have; and yet markets alone too easily leave the most vulnerable behind.” p277

“The world will not change with inspiration alone;rather, it requires systems, accountability, and clear measures of what works and what doesn’t.”  p 277

Although I love Novogratz’ ideas on a big scale, I was left wondering what I, as an ordinary person, without thousands of dollars to invest, can do to help in any meaningful way.  What do the ordinary folks do?  Novogratz offers a brief piece of advice (“thinking and acting like a true global citizen” p.284), but I feel that there is much more that can be written at the practical level for individuals.  That being said, if you work with disadvantaged populations of any type, this is a book that you and your organization should read.

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