history – The Dusty Jacket

The Autobiography of Santa Claus by Jeff Guinn (Adult Historical Fiction)

The Autobiography of Santa Claus

Jeff Guinn (Adult Historical Fiction)

Think you know everything there is to know about Santa? Well think again. Now, for the first time—in his OWN words—is the true story of Saint Nicholas, Kris Kringle, Father Christmas, or whatever name you call the man in red who travels around the world delivering presents to good girls and boys on Christmas Eve night. We get to know the REAL man—from humble beginnings to worldwide notoriety—whose simple philosophy of it being better to give than to receive has touched the world all over.

Jeff Guinn, the ONLY person (that he knows of) to have ever written a book WITH Santa Claus himself, has finally provided answers to the questions that have been asked for centuries: how did Santa attain his garments of red trimmed with white; why did Santa start giving toys and why were they put in stockings; why does he live at the North Pole; how can reindeer fly; and how can he travel the entire world in just one night? Those and so many other questions are answered, along with some interesting facts that you didn’t realize were even related to Santa such as his historically famous “helpers”, how he helped Charles Dickens restore Christmas in England, and how he inadvertently brought about the end of the American Revolution. Guinn packs a LOT of information into 280 pages, not including Santa’s favorite recipe found at the end of the book.

Guinn takes us from 280 A.D. (the year of Santa’s recorded birth) to present day. Because he’s covering over seventeen centuries of information, the story often gets deep in the weeds with geographical, theological, historical, and social anthropological references; however, Guinn is clever in connecting Santa to everyone from Attila the Hun to Amelia Earhart so we’re quickly drawn back into the story again. What is not mentioned on the cover of the book but is certainly worth mentioning is the beautiful artwork of Dorit Rabinovitch. She beautifully captures the old-world and magical appeal of the jolly old man and gives Guinn’s work an instant classic feel full of warmth and charm.

Through Guinn, Santa reminds us of the simple power kindness and that the real magic of Christmas involves love and a little baby born in a manger on what became the most holy of nights. Upon reading this book, I do feel a sense of obligation to bring to everyone’s attention that Santa is NOT an elf, he does NOT like to be reminded of his weight, and—on Christmas Eve night—if you were to set out some homemade chocolate chip cookies and perhaps some goat cheese, he would be most appreciative.

Rating: 4/5

* Book cover image attributed to: www.thriftbooks.com

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A Moment Comes by Jennifer Bradbury (YA Historical Fiction)

A Moment Comes

A Moment Comes

Jennifer Bradbury (Young Adult Historical Fiction)

“Safe. I think about the word as we continue walking. What does safe mean anymore? I wonder if I’ll ever feel safe again. I wandered these markets and streets freely just a few years ago. And then I grew up.”

Tariq is Muslim born and raised in India. He is eighteen and aspires to study at Oxford. It is what Daadaa—his grandfather—dreamed for him and he will do anything to make it a reality. Anupreet is Sikh and nearly sixteen years old. She’s beautiful despite the scar that runs from her eye to her cheek. It’s healing, but will always be there, just like the memory of that horrible day when she acquired it. Margaret is sixteen and from London. Her father was sent to Jalandhar to work for the boundary award. His job is to help break India into pieces so that Muslims can have their own separate state. She knows why her mother made her come here…to restore her virtue, make her “respectable” again. Although she’s not sure how this hot, sticky, and loud place will be able to accomplish that. It’s June 1947 and the worlds of these three teenagers are about to come together and their journey will take them to what history would later refer to as the Partition of India of 1947.

Books, like Bradbury’s, that are based on actual world history play such an important part in the lives of our younger population. Historical Fiction is not only a way to educate, but to offer an all-important perspective. In A Moment Comes, we are given three very different yet relatable young adults: each offering his or her own point of view about what is happening to them, their family, and the world around them. Bradbury largely avoids stereotypes and instead offers up an honest landscape about a country being torn apart from the inside.

The Partition of India of 1947 began after the Second World War. Lacking the sufficient resources to control its greatest asset, Britain exited India after three hundred years of British rule and partitioned the country into two independent nation states: India (with its Hindu majority) and Pakistan (with their Muslim majority). It marked one of the greatest migrations in human history and resulted in more than fifteen million people losing their homes and between one to two million people losing their lives. Bradbury is exceptionally careful not to choose sides and paint one party as “good” or another as “bad”. Instead, she lays out three lives told through three alternating points of view and allows the reader to form his or her own judgments and opinions. The story is fast-paced, harrowing, poignant, and bitter. But in the end, Bradbury offers up some much-needed hope. It’s faint and so very uncertain, but she places it there nonetheless so that we—along with Tariq, Anupreet, and Margaret—can grab it and hold onto it as tight as we can.

A Moment Comes reminds us that history is more than just words on a page. Rather, it’s people who breathe, dream, hope, bleed, and die. People who have risen above their own limitations in order to do something remarkable or historic or even heroic. And just like history is more than just printed words, maps are more than just lines. They are traditions and cultures and religions. Bradbury summed this up perfectly through Margaret when she said, “Lines are funny things. They make us feel safe—at least for a while—knowing where we end and something or someone else begins. But they can also make us want, can make us bitter, wanting what lies on the other side of the line. But whether it’s a border on a map or a boundary between two people, the lines are still only lines. Still something someone made up, decided on. They’re not even real, but so long as everyone agrees to play along, they work fine. But how can lines of a map tell a piece of land what to be any more than lines between one person and another can pretend to be what makes them different?” In the end, Tariq, Anupreet, and Margaret were all able to let go of their own prejudices and realize that they themselves aren’t so very different from one another…regardless of what the lines might say.

Rating: 5/5

*Book cover image attributed to www.goodreads.com

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How We Got to Now by Steven Johnson (J Non-Fiction)

How We Got to Now

How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World

Steven Johnson (Juvenile Non-Fiction Science)

Ever wonder how a plant in Syria could enable scientists to study galaxies and supernovas billions of light-years away? Or how one man’s desire for a cold drink in the tropics would ultimately change the political map of America? Or how a 19-year-old boy daydreaming in a church pew would lead to the ability to trace humans crossing into the Americas more than ten thousand years ago? Well wonder no more as Steven Johnson shows readers how big ideas changed the world and how ordinary people were able to accomplish some rather extraordinary things.

Steven Johnson’s young reader adaption of his New York Times bestselling book has its own “How We Got to Now” story. His non-fiction book was made into a television version for PBS and the BBC. After several airings, Johnson began hearing from families (and later schools) who enjoyed watching the show with their children. He was then approached by Penguin Random House with the idea of adapting his work for a middle grade audience.

How We Got to Now covers the topics of glass, cold, sound, clean, time, and light and Johnson presents each subject in a fascinating step-by-step, connect-the-dots-type story full of interesting facts and tidbits. If you are familiar with James Burke and his television series Connections, this book follows a similar format so if you enjoy Burke, you’ll find Johnson to be an equally talented historian and storyteller.

How We Got to Now is an ode to the tinkerers, dreamers, inventors, hobbyists, scientists, and reformers who had an idea to make life easier or the desire to make something better. Some achieved their goals through grueling trial and error while others stumbled upon greatness purely by accident. Whether it’s a flat and filthy city, a thirsty businessman, or a bored teenager staring at the ceiling of a church, every problem leads to an idea and that idea—however outrageous, ludicrous, or preposterous—marks the beginning of an amazing, unpredictable, and never-ending journey. To all the future scientists, inventors, innovators, and dreamers, here’s to your success and here’s to now.

Rating: 5/5

* Book cover image attributed to www.amazon.com

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The Lost German Slave Girl by John Bailey (Biography)

The Lost German Slave Girl

The Lost German Slave Girl

John Bailey (Biography)

How could Sally Miller possibly imagine how much her life and future would change on a chance encounter in the spring of 1843. That is what happened when Madame Carl Rouff left her home in Lafayette on that bright morning and travelled across New Orleans to visit her friend in Fauborg Marigny. On her way, she noticed a woman—a slave—who bore a striking resemblance to her beloved friend, Dorothea Müller. But no, it couldn’t be for her friend died on board a ship heading to America. No, it wasn’t Dorothea, but perhaps her lost daughter, Salomé? Could it really be her after twenty-five years without a trace? Was Salomé Müller, the lost daughter of Daniel and Dorothea, finally found? And how could a woman of pure German ancestry be a slave? One chance meeting was about to set off a series of events that would eventually lead Sally Miller all the way to the Supreme Court of Louisiana in one woman’s historic fight for freedom.

In his Author’s Note, John Bailey said that he stumbled upon Sally Miller’s remarkable story while doing research on the laws of American slavery. The breadth of his research is thorough and extensive and he seems to have included everything he gleaned—the rights of slaves and their descendants, the founding of New Orleans, the plight of redemptioners—in his biography of Sally Miller (waste not, want not). On the cover of The Lost German Slave Girl is a quote from The Washington Post declaring, “Reads like a legal thriller.” Not quite. I would say this book comes closer to an immersive (and at times exhaustive) history of slavery in Old New Orleans in the early 19^th century. The story does pick up at about 100 pages in (the book is 257 pages not counting the Endnotes) and has enough twists and turns to keep the reader’s attention; however, to get to this point in the story requires a healthy amount of tenacity and grit. Lovers of history and the law will find the abundance of information interesting, but unless you are deeply passionate about either topic, you’ll find the sheer amount of facts and details presented to be a bit to slog through.

Bailey does give readers plenty to think when sharing Sally’s story of freedom, perseverance, and faith. At this biography’s heart is a seemingly simple question: “What is it that binds one person to another?” Love? The law? A sense of duty? For Sally Miller, it was perhaps a little of each depending on her current stage of life. Her story is remarkable, extraordinary, and indeed deserves to be shared if for no other reason than to remind us to never stop fighting for what your heart desires most.

Rating: 4/5

*Book cover image attributed to www.amazon.com

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A Million Shades of Gray by Cynthia Kadohata (J)

a million shades of gray

A Million Shades of Gray

Cynthia Kadohata (Juvenile Fiction)

Even at eleven years old, Y’Tin Eban knew what his future would look like: he would work with his elephant, Lady, until she died; he would travel to Ban Me Thuot then to Thailand and finally to America; and he would open an elephant-training school in Vietnam. But it’s 1975 and the American soldiers have been gone from Vietnam for two years now. Y’Tin and his tribe live in Central Highlands in South Vietnam and every day, soldiers from the north are advancing closer and closer to his village. The Americans called it the Vietnam War. His father called it the American War. And now, this war was coming to Y’Tin’s remote part of the country and everything that his future once promised is about to change forever.

It’s never easy to discuss the horror and ugliness of war, especially when that discussion involves a younger audience (this book is targeted for readers ages ten and older). Cynthia Kadohata is able to portray a country savagely torn apart by Civil War with remarkable honesty and sensitivity. Because she is dealing with younger readers, she avoids graphic details and opts for subtle clues and visuals that guide readers to the desired conclusion. For example, she describes a scene where captive male villagers are forced to dig a very long and deep pit on the outskirts of the village. Older readers know immediately that this is a mass grave and the outlook is bleak for the villagers. However, the younger reader shares the same learning curve as Y’Tin and both share in the eventual realization of what is actually taking place at the same time.

Several reviewers found this book to be too “anti-American” given the repeated mentions by the villagers of the Americans’ broken promise to return should assistance be needed. But Kadohata foregoes popularity points by choosing to give us a story based on the villagers’ perspective. They are a community that is scared, helpless, and feels very much abandoned and alone. It’s an honest representation of the many thousands who were facing certain annihilation by their own government. While this book deals mainly with war and its effects, at the heart is a young boy—rapidly thrown into manhood—and his relationship with his elephant, Lady. The mutual trust they have for one another and the formidable bond they share serve as the singular bright spot in what is often a rather dark and grim story.

The book’s title, A Million Shades of Grey, refers to the colors of the jungle right before sunrise, as well as the color of an elephant’s hide. In life, we often view things—view choices—as being a matter of “black or white”. Kadohata reminds us that things aren’t always that simple and that every day we face or own “million shades of gray”. At one time, Y’Tin said that you don’t love and you don’t make promises during times of war. But it took his village’s smallest but strongest elephant to show him otherwise…that even during war, it is possible to have both.

Rating: 4/5

* Book cover image attributed to www.publishersweekly.com

The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander

the kitchen boy

The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar

Robert Alexander (Adult Fiction)

“My name is Mikhail Semyonov. No, my real name—the one given to me at birth—was Leonid Sednyov, and I was known as Leonka. Please forgive my years of lies, but now I tell you the truth. What I wish to confess is that I was the kitchen boy in the Ipatiev House where the Tsar and Tsarista, Nikolai and Aleksandra, were imprisoned…and I saw them shot. Trust me, believe me, when I say this: I am the last living witness and I alone know what really happened that awful night…just as I alone know where the bodies of the two missing children are to be found. You see, I took care of them with my own hands.”

Mikhail (Misha) Semyonov is ninety-four years old. He’s a man who’s tired of living with the knowledge of what he has caused, what he has seen, and what he has done. Before he dies, he begins dictating his story into a small black tape recorder that will be given to his granddaughter upon his death. Misha desires neither understanding nor absolution. He merely wants the truth to finally be known and perhaps, at last, it will.

It’s one thing to read about the execution of the Romanov family during the late-night/early hours of July 16-17, 1918. The information gleaned from a history book or online is rather antiseptic—a blurb here, a mention there. On the contrary, what we get from Robert Alexander is an emotional, personal, and in-depth portrayal of a father, a mother, and their five children. We get a glimpse of Nikolai Aleksandrovich and Aleksandra Fyodorovna not as Tsar and Tsarista, but as a loving husband and wife and doting parents. Viewing them in this light makes reading about their horrific and heinous murders all the more gut-wrenching and abhorrent. They are not merely line items, but flesh and blood who love, hate, fear, and trust. Because of this humanistic portrayal of the royal family and the two weeks leading up to their execution, we almost forget that this is based on fact, and we futilely hold out hope for a courageous midnight rescue or a perilous, well-planned escape…although history reminds us that neither will happen.

This book held a few surprises for me. First, the number of secret notes, letters, and diaries that not only survived, but were preserved. I found this astonishing given the Bolsheviks’ ruthless intent to wholly wipe out the very existence of the Romanovs. It was also interesting to learn how the Romanovs planned to smuggle their vast family fortune once they acquired liberation (I will not elaborate further should this be new to you as well). Third, the ending was purely unexpected and opened up a whole new prospect of “What if….”. Just when you think you’ve reached the end of the story, Alexander gives us one final jolt that depletes the room of oxygen and leaves us wishing that his work of fiction was indeed fact. What if…

Rating: 5/5

*Book cover image attributed to www.amazon.com

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum (J)

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus

L. Frank Baum (Juvenile Fiction)

Did you ever wonder why Santa delivers presents on Christmas Eve or why he climbs down a chimney? Why reindeer were chosen to pull his sleigh or how the first Christmas tree came about? All of these questions and more are answered about the jolly old man who delivers joy and happiness to every child around the globe on one very special night each year. From his introduction as a helpless infant who was discovered by the Wood-Nymph Necile in the Forest of Burzee to the night he escaped the Spirit of Death by being given the Mantle of Immortality, the life of Santa Claus is finally shared and what you thought you knew about the man in red may never be the same again.

Two years after The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published in 1900, L. Frank Baum delighted audiences again with another tale of mythical creatures and magical worlds. The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus is not just a history of one of the world’s most notable and recognized figures, but it is a heartwarming story of selflessness, devotion, family, and love. More importantly, Baum gives us a book extolling and celebrating the virtues of inclusion. As an abandoned baby, Claus was lovingly adopted and wholly accepted within the secret and protected world of immortals. As an adult, he once questioned whether or not wealthy children were also deserving of gifts since they already possessed so much. The Queen of the Fairies replied, “Whether it be rich or poor, a child’s longings for pretty playthings are natural. I think, friend Claus, it is your duty to make all little ones glad, whether they chance to live in palaces or in cottages.”

Children and adults alike can benefit from the messages Baum delivers in this classic children’s story. The idea of extending grace, mercy, and joy to everyone we encounter is something we should aspire to every day of the year and not just one.

“’In all this world, there is nothing so beautiful as a happy child,’ says good old Santa Claus; and if he had his way the children would all be beautiful, for all would be happy.”

Merry Christmas from The Dusty Jacket.

Rating: 5/5

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (Biography) by Ishmael Beah

A Long Way Gone

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

Ishmael Beah (Adult Biography)

Ishmael Beah is a typical 12-year old boy. He enjoys rap music, practicing his dance moves, and playing soccer with his friends. But on one January day in 1993, what he and his brother and friends don’t realize as they head to Mattru Jong for a talent show, as that they will never be returning to their village of Mogbwemo again.

War has come to Sierra Leone. The adults call it a revolutionary war—a liberation of the people from a corrupt government. But why do the liberators kill innocent people? Why do they pillage and burn down the villages? Ishmael and his friends soon find themselves wandering from village to village searching for food, struggling for survival, and keeping one step ahead of the rebels. When they are captured by the government army, they are given a choice: join and fight or die.

Beah’s personal account of his years as a child soldier is horrifying and unimaginable. In his book, he says that it was his father’s words that kept him moving despite his weariness: “If you are alive, there is hope for a better day and something good to happen. If there is nothing left in the destiny of a person, he or she will die.”

It was hard reading Beah’s story and learning about his vile actions during war, his terrifying nightmares that made him fear sleep, and his addiction to marijuana and cocaine. Perhaps what is harder still is knowing that the practice of using children as soldiers in war still exists and remains rampant. But Beah gives us a story not just of tragedy, but of redemption and hope. When he is rescued by UNICEF and taken to a rehabilitation center, every day counselors and medical staff would say to him, “It’s not your fault.” After many months, the day finally came when he began to believe it. By forgiving himself, Ishmael Beah started to forge a new beginning for himself and began to share his incredible story with the world—a story that will hopefully bring awareness and change for the thousands of children still fighting in wars throughout the world.

Rating: 5/5

* Book cover image attributed to www.amazon.com

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson (YA)

Fever 1793

Fever 1793

Laurie Halse Anderson (Young Adult Fiction)

It started with the sudden death of a young and healthy girl. Within a week, 64 more would die from yellow fever and the capital city of Philadelphia would be filled with the endless ringing of bells—one toll for every year the victim had lived.

In the summer of 1793, 14-year old Matilda Cook helps run her family’s coffeehouse, where folks idly gossip or talk politics. Lately, the conversations have turned to the fever: Is it a sign from God? A punishment for sinners? Did the refugees bring it with them? As death draws closer, she and her grandfather are forced to flee the city for the safety of the country. But Matlida soon discovers that death is not easily escaped.

Anderson gives us a compelling, gripping, and suspenseful account of one of the worst epidemics in the history of the United States. Wiping out 10% of Philadelphia’s population in under three months, the effects of the fever were devastating. Many fled the city to escape the carnage, but it was those who stayed and tended to the sick, as well as the dead, that were the true heroes.

You don’t have to be a fan of history to thoroughly enjoy this book. From the first page, the plot never slows and the story will keep you on the edge of your seat. It reminds us how even the direst of circumstances can often bring out the best in people and that both disease and heroism are not bound by either social status or race.

Rating: 5/5

Ben and Me by Robert Lawson (J)

It’s Tween and Teen Tuesday where we review either a juvenile (J) or young adult (YA) book.

Ben and Me

Ben and Me

Robert Lawson (Juvenile Fiction)

Do you recall seeing portraits of Benjamin Franklin where he wore an old fur hat? Little did you know that inside that hat lived one very intelligent, outspoken, and opinionated mouse by the name of Amos. Amos was Franklin’s closest friend, adviser, and the one largely responsible for Franklin’s greatest innovations and achievements…regardless of what historians may have recorded.

Lawson writes with wit and charm and provides readers with whimsical drawings that give life to both Ben and Amos. From lightning rods to “Liberty Forever!”, young readers will get a glimpse into the greatness and brilliance of one of history’s most accomplished individuals. Of course, we need to temporarily overlook the flamboyant embellishments of one overly enthusiastic rodent, but when you do, you get a delightful story that is just the right length to hold a young reader’s attention while capturing the imagination. Throw in a revolution…or two…and you have a tale that is sure to delight and amuse.

Rating: 4/5