Swift Rivers, by Cornelia Meigs

My goodness, this is the fourth book by Cornelia Meigs that I've reviewed for this blog. I'm glad to say that her writing definitely improves with time! This book actually takes place along the Mississippi and nowhere near the ocean, but I'm giving it a "sea voyage" tag anyway because I think it's close enough.

Chris Dahlberg lives in Minnesota, in farming country with his Uncle Nels. Both of his parents are dead and Nels has pledged to care for Chris, but Nels is a temperamental man who has grown to resent the young man more and more over time. Fortunately, Chris is well-liked in his small community and very beloved by his grandfather, Alexis Dahlberg.

Alexis was one of the region's first settlers and has marked the passage of time by a large walnut tree growing outside of his cabin. Unfortunately, as he has aged, Alexis has become weaker. Although he'd scarcely admit it or ask for help, he needs it. Chris can clearly see it, and after the winter's major work is completed, he defies his uncle to go stay with his grandfather for a few days to see that he is settling in well for the season ahead. He feels helpless to ensure his grandfather's security, and his own security becomes uncertain when he returns to Nels's home, only to find that the gate has been barred to him for his act of defiance. In the midst of a snowstorm, Chris is forced to turn around and is fortunately able to take shelter with kind neighbors.

This exclusion from Nels's home, however, turns out to be a great blessing to Chris, because he is now free of obligation to the man and is able to truly take his future into his own hands. He met a man the previous fall who had told him of the great fortune to be made in timber in Saint Louis, and since land closer to the city had become deforested, Minnesota would be in a good position to profit if they could fell trees and raft them down the Mississippi. Alexis agrees that this could be a great venture for his grandson to undertake, and to show his confidence, he himself fells the great walnut tree on his property. As soon as spring thaw begins and the river swells, Chris begins his journey.

The remainder of the story reminded me in many ways of a Grimm fairy tale- Chris is a kind and trustworthy young man who is rewarded for his honesty and candor. When he greets strangers with assistance and kindness, he later encounters them and finds that they are in a position to be of great help to him. He does encounter trials and dishonest men during his long journey, but also makes a number of lifelong friends of good character and skill. All works out in the end, including his issues with Nels. Not a bad little book at all, and more easily accessible due to a 1994 reprint (which I've done some investigation into, but that's a tangent post for another day, when I've gotten more resolution!).

Children of the Soil: A Story of Scandinavia, by Nora Burglon

This might seem an odd choice to get my "favorite" label, since there's very little conflict in the book and no excessive excitement, either. But this book is marvelous in its simplicity, and I have a fondness for books about poor children who nonetheless live happy and rich lives because they have wonderful family and a life free from unnecessary complications (if that makes any sense). They're just kids being kids- the kind of kids who stay out of trouble and might get ignored by most but are actually pretty awesome.

Nicolina and her younger brother Guldklumpen live with their mother, Olina, in northern Sweden. Their father was a sailor who never returned from sea, and it's unknown whether he'll ever return (and remains unknown at the end of the book). They are a family of crofters (essentially tenant farmers) but since they are without a man in the household, they are exempted from providing a crop for the Colonel. Instead, Olina is responsible for doing the weaving for the big house, and paying an annual rent for her property. She and the children all work their property to bring in enough crop to last them and their goats through the winter, and Olina sells goat cheeses at the market. It's a reasonably simple life and although they more or less accept their place in the world, the children are occasionally chafed by the fact that blessings often seem to come to the rich, who have no need of them, leaving little or nothing for those who have the most need.

At the start of our story, it is Easter, and although eating eggs on Easter is a tradition, our family has none. The two children notice that it does seem unfair that the tradition is kept at the big house, where eggs are nothing out of the ordinary anyway, and Nicolina remarks that it's probably because there is a tomte (much like a gnome, from what I'm able to gather) living on the property and bringing good fortune. Guldklumpen notes that his purported home on the Colonel's property isn't remotely an attractive one, and decides to build a more attractive tomte house on their own property to lure him. He finds an old sea chest washed up from the ocean, and fills it with hay, and decorates around it with spruce boughs. And with that, their fortune begins to slowly change over the course of the following year.

We follow Nicolina and Guldklumpen through their annual traditions, marketing, and school, and by next Easter we find them generally unchanged, but with more comforts. It really is a happy little book, and although the children suffer small injustices and disappointments, no real misfortune comes to them.

It sounds as if the author herself was also an awesomely incredible woman. I am linking to a website that provides a brief biography; I'd love to read more of her works now. Here is the link.

Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze, by Elizabeth Foreman Lewis

This one was such a treat after the last book :) It says in the intro that this book was one of the ones used in Germany and Austria as part of the US Government Reorientation Program, which was pretty awesome to learn! I'd link to Wikipedia for more information but believe it or not, this program has no entry. Boo.

The author has also clearly done her homework. She spent years in China as part of the China Inland Mission, teaching religious instruction classes. Clearly she has a great deal of respect for her characters and their culture. The speech does seem a bit stilted at times, but I think it's more intended to remind the reader that the dialogue doesn't take place in English (and really, wouldn't it seem stranger if they were speaking slangily?).

After the death of his father, Young Fu and his mother move to Chungking so that he can pursue an apprenticeship under the instruction of a coppersmith. Young Fu had never been to a city before; his family were country farmers and unfamiliar with city life, but with no other means of survival his mother reluctantly moved them. The reader learns of the culture of city life along with Young Fu; how business is conducted, who lives where, and the diversity of professions and businesses that he previously had no concept of.

Young Fu begins at the bottom of the food chain at Tang's shop, keeping the fire stoked to just the right temperature, but he slowly (and despite his ignorant country ways) gains the approval and kinship of the others in the shop. Additionally, his errands often bring him around the city, where he has many adventures and encounters a great deal of good fortune (although his ignorance, gullibility, and overestimation of his own virtues also cost him at times). An honest and earnest character, he's very sympathetic, making the book so, so easy to read and enjoy (and after 6 weeks at Glory of the Seas, I could not have appreciated this book more). Children today would have no trouble enjoying this one.

The Railroad to Freedom, by Hildegard Hoyt Swift

Although it's hard to imagine a time when Harriet Tubman is virtually unknown in children's literature, apparently the early 1900's were such a time. This book claims to be the first time that Tubman's life is told "in book form". Clocking in at 364 pages, Railroad also contains acknowledgements and a full bibliography, as well as a note that racial epithets used in the text are not expressive of the author's own sentiment, rather, are "used for purposes of realism, where they would have been used by the different kinds of people whom this book concerns".
Not remembering much about Harriet Tubman from my grade-school American history curriculum, I found this an interesting read. It's not purely biographical; the book is distinctly novelized. Also, the black "dialect" is cumbersome and difficult to read at times, but may not have been to a child in those times.
While reading the book, I took an interest in some of the major plot points and took the time to do a little homework. I was very disappointed to find that some of the major turning points in her early life were altered with no apparent reason, and other well-known parts of her life were omitted entirely. It's a wonderful effort for the first book of its kind, but it was sad to realize that much more of the book that I would have assumed cannot be taken as fact.