The Dark Star of Itza: The Story of a Pagan Princess, by Alida Malkus

Alas, any jacket that this book once may have possessed has been lost to the sands of time. I'm sure it was fantastic, as the internal illustrations are marvelous and detailed, resembling the art and written language of the Mayan people.

The book primarily centers around Nicté, the daughter of the high priest of Chichen Itza. Nicté has also been trained to interpret signs and stars, and has visions of the future of her people. She and her father have both predicted that the king, Chac Zib Chac, should forgo an annual festival and remain in the city, lest he be lured to his doom. However, their claims are casually disregarded.

In the meantime, Nicté's emotions are torn between a young warrior who has been her friend since childhood, and a Toltec foreigner who has come into the city to learn about the Mayan methods of architecture. He promises her vast wealth and recognition in his home country, and he is well aware that the city will soon be laid siege to. She initially rebuffs the advances of the foreigner, Itzam Pesh, but in the chaos of the attack she, her father, and the king's wife are rescued from death by him.

The Toltecs eventually move in and restore the city with minimal loss of life. Although the people suffer in the heat, ravaged parts of the city are quickly rebuilt. The Toltec king relies on Nicté's advice and guidance. And then comes the surprise ending ;)

Really, I wanted to like this book much more than I did. It has a lot of really fun and exciting elements, and the author really knew his/her (it's unclear to me) stuff. The author really took the time to dig into primary sources to know the culture in question, and has visited the ruins as well. But I found it hard to follow- the names were foreign to me so I had trouble saying them in my head as I read, and the dialogue is written in the stilted way that authors often use to show that the speakers are not using English. Others online seem to have found the book exciting and engaging, though, so if you're able to get your hands on a copy, I'd love to know how you found it.

Floating Island, by Anne Parrish

This tale was written by the same Anne Parrish who wrote the Newbery Honor books The Dream Coach and The Story of Appleby Capple (which I haven't yet gotten to). It's a rather simple story for being so long. A family of dolls live a comfortable life in a toy shop, along with their cook, various furniture pieces and decorations, and "meals". The pick up bits and pieces of information from other toys and books in the shop. Eventually their house and its contents are packaged and put on a ship for a girl who lives abroad on a cocoa plantation with her family. However, the ship encounters a storm en route and the Doll family and house eventually wash ashore on a tropical island.

Mr. Doll, misunderstanding how islands work, dubs their new home Floating Island. Apart from Mr. and Mrs. Doll, the remainder of the house's occupants are separated, and the bulk of the story tells of their adventures in finding their way back to each other (and how Mr. and Mrs. Doll set up a new house in a coral cave, their own house being full of water).

It's a very simple story that would probably entertain children of a certain age, but generally speaking it's not very exciting or exceptional- none of the characters have very unique personalities which made most of them seem pretty unnecessary.

Spice and the Devil's Cave, by Agnes Danforth Hewes

This was a very busy year for illustrator Lynd Ward- he also illustrated The Cat Who Went to Heaven, the Newbery Award winner this same year.

Although the cover leads one to believe that this book takes place primarily on the open sea, it is actually set in the port city of Lisbon, Portugal, in the late 1400's. Bartholomew Diaz has recently completed the first known European voyage around the southern tip of Africa, and he and a number of other prominent men (some real, some invented for the story) are making plans for further voyages to determine whether this could be the beginning of a new trade route toward India. This would allow Lisbon to become a major trading port and hopefully edge out Venice, its primary competitor.

Throughout the book, everyone is anxiously awaiting the return of Vasco da Gama, who has set sail with a number of ships to attempt to see if it is possible to reach India and the spice islands by continuing Diaz's voyage. However, after no word is received for some time, the sailing community is beginning to lose hope. At the center of the story is Abel Zakuto, a Jewish Banker, who also has a keen interest in mapmaking and sea navigation. One evening he and his wife Ruth find a young girl of undetermined race peering into the window, appearing to be fleeing something (or some one). They take the bedraggled creature in and care for her, but they are unable to coax her name, or any language at all, from her to determine her origins. Meanwhile, things become uncomfortable for them- the king of Portugal has formed an alliance with Spain through an engagement, one of the conditions of which is the expulsion of all Jews from Portugal.

The book takes place in interesting times and has a well-developed stage and cast of characters. I'll admit that when I first saw the cover my first though was "Not ANOTHER seafaring book. I'm going to hate this". It certainly proved me wrong. The author also has tremendous insights not only into the political and trade relationships between various nations and people groups at the time, but also into the cultures of the Arab world (she had the fortune to be raised in Syria as the daughter of missionaries). Although the initial chapter is confusing in the way it introduces so many characters without placing them, it quickly redeems itself!

Mountains are Free, by Julia Davis Adams

If you're paying close attention, you may remember our author as the woman who also wrote Vaino: A Boy of New Finland. This particular story is much more straightforward and does not incorporate folklore into the story, allowing it to speak for itself.

Our protagonist is Bruno, a young man who is being raised by friends after the death of his parents. He loves his home in the mountains of Switzerland. Although they are technically under the dominion of the Austrian Empire (this being the 1300's or so), the Swiss have enjoyed a unique measure of independence and freedom due to the rights that have been passed down from their ancestors.

One day, Bruno encounters two Austrian horsemen passing through the mountains on their way home. Sir Rupprecht is amused by the young man's boldness and smart mouth, so he offers to take him along as a vassal. Although his guardians fear for him, he is certain that he can make a life for himself and learn enough to return and care for his own land and home someday.

Over the course of the journey and upon arriving at the castle of the Duke, however, Bruno soon learns that Rupprecht's initial fondness for him in no way relieves him of harsh expectations. He is a servant, after all. A young man of his own age, Kyo, takes Bruno under his wing and shows him how to get by in the castle. Bruno eventually sees that the life of a servant in a small courtyard pales in comparison to his former life as a free person amongst the mountains. When the castle is attacked, Bruno flees, along with Kyo and Zelina, the proud but sympathetic ward of the Duke.

Arriving in Switzerland, they see that it has changed. More Austrian officials have been set into place, and they are abusing the people and oppressing mercilessly. We eventually see how the Swiss gained independence, and where the famous legends of William Tell originated.

It was good for me to read about William Tell as just another character (who, granted, did some exceptional things)- I hadn't honestly even known that he was Swiss. I just knew that he shot an apple off some one's head and that he took his garbage to-the-dump, to-the-dump, to-the-dump-dump-dump. So it was just the encouragement I needed to do some quick online research.

This book was a treat and would be enjoyable for anyone with an interest in castles and medieval life.

Ood-Le-Uk the Wanderer, by Alice Alison Lide and Margaret Alison Johansen

5/26/11 10:10AM I don't usually blog books in segments, but I've started reading this one and I can tell already that I'm going to have a lot to say about it. I'm only on page 8 (text begins on 3) and my the-authors-know-nothing-of-this-culture sirens are going off.

Ood-le-uk is an Eskimo boy in Alaska, and the beginning of the tale finds him in the midst of a whale hunt with his cousin and other men of the community. He's not a brave child and dreads the endurance required for such a task. We learn the following about him:
But as though to compensate the small, runty, fur-clad youngster for his timidity, Nature had made a strange gift to Ood-le-uk. She had presented him with an imagination, a thing Eskimos are not given to possessing.
Ood-le-uk has also found himself enchanted with the small items which have drifted in with the tide from other cultures, stimulating his imagination and igniting longings for . . . well, just longings. He can't picture what lies on the other side because "his was so narrow a world". Over time, a Siberian axe-head buried in a log, an ivory knife blade, a bit of beaded leather, and now, a small wooden case have all come his way, but he is forced to hide his fascination with his treasures because his compatriots mock him for thrilling to a "something one could not eat".

Can you see why I'm seriously taking issue with this book already? I'll be the first to admit that my knowledge of indigenous cultures is vastly lacking. However, even I know that the Inuit/Yukip (Ood-le-uk is most likely Yukip but I can't say for certain) have a culture rich in both storytelling and hand-crafted art. NOT impressed so far, Lide and Johansen. If I weren't reading this for the blog I'd probably stop here and hope that no one whose offense would be more justified than mine will pick the book up next.

5/31/2011
Ok, finished the book up this morning. After the authors were finished completely demeaning this culture, the book got reasonably interesting. It's full of arctic tundra and man-versus-beast kinds of adventures. Ood-le-uk eventually gets set adrift and finds himself in the midst of another primitive culture in Asia. They initially want to sacrifice him, but find the "talisman" he is wearing (a cross necklace found inside the box that washed up on shore) marks him (unbeknownst to him) as a Christian, so he is saved. A missionary has recently made inroads with this new culture, the Tschuktschi of Siberia, and they recognize the cross as a token given to new converts upon baptism. Ood-le-uk settles among these people for some time, learning their language and culture, and how they keep and care for their reindeer. He and a friend are able to make their way back to Ood-le-uk's home after several years abroad, bringing with them a number of goods from overseas. This establishes the first trade between their two peoples.

I can imagine some little boys would like this book for the prehistoric Arctic action scenes, but really, it's nothing that hasn't been done better in other books. I wish I could find some insight into these two authors that would tell me something about what makes them feel qualified to do this sort of thing, but all I could find is that they did it prolifically, co-authoring other novels such as "Thord Firetooth", "Lapland Drum", "Pearls of Fortune", "The Wooden Locket", "The Secret Circle" and "Dark Possession", and two solo efforts, "Inemak, the Little Greenlander" and "Hawk of Hawk Clan" respectively.

Do yourself a favor and skip this one.

Meggy MacIntosh, by Elizabeth Janet Gray

I'm amazed that I was able to find a good cover image for this book online, even though this book seems much more rare than Garram the Hunter, the cover of which I scanned myself for lack of anything at all in Google Images.

I enjoyed this book *so so* much. It's probably kind of premature, but it's definitely my favorite book of the 1930's so far.

Meggy MacIntosh is the descendant of a proud Highland family. However, her life has become meaningless and dull. After the death of her father at Culloden under the command of Jaime Frasier, she is forced to leave their small stone castle in the hills and move to Edinburgh with her aunt, uncle, and cousin. Her cousin Veronica is kind to her, but is a typical socialite. As the older of the two, Veronica is very busy having her hair styled and being fitted for clothes and attending parties and generally making herself known. Meggy knows that she will never be an equal to her cousin, and it wearies her to see the disappointment on the faces of young men when she goes out in Veronica's hand-me-downs. And although she used to have time to at least share her day with Meggy, Veronica is becoming too worn with her busy social life to have much to say. The only highlight of Meggy's day is her tutoring with Mr. MacPherson, and even this small pleasure is ending because the old man wishes to return to the hills to retire.

Meggy's life seems to be coming to a standstill until she is presented with a surprising opportunity. One of Veronica's many suitors, Ewan, will be sailing for America in just a few days time. He has asked Veronica to slip away from a party that evening, be escorted by his traveling companions, join him on the boat, and marry him en route. Veronica, a fickle sort, has decided by morning that the idea doesn't suit her. But Meggy knows by then that she will go in her place. She takes from their hiding place all that remains of her family's jewels (two ruby earrings and an imperfect emerald), packs her bag, and boards the ship. She stays in bed, feigning exhaustion, until the ship is well out of port and she feels safe that it will not return.

Ewan, understandably, is furious when the exchange is discovered. Meggy attempts to reassure him that she plans to pay her own passage and not burden him, and be self-sufficient once she reaches the colonies, but it does little to cool his anger. All of her life she has heard stories of the beautiful Flory MacDonald, who helped smuggle Bonny Prince Charlie out of harm's way. Meggy is certain that if she can just get to Flory, she can be of some use. In any case, she is already better off than many of the passengers, who will be sold into indentured servitude for ten years to work off the cost of their passage.

During the length of the trip, Meggy (as one of the few who does not become seasick) makes herself useful as companion and nurse to those who need her, and upon arriving in Wilmington, is offered a place to stay with relatives of a fellow passenger who had grown fond of her. This relative, Mr. Clayton, has two daughters, about Meggy's age, and for the first time she is able to delight in the company of peers who are not only kind, but interested in her, and see her as an equal.

And we're only on page 90 of 274!

Meggy isn't able to go to Flory in North Carolina right away. But as she slowly acclimates to Wilmington, and gets her land legs back, she starts to see the political tension that is building (and will eventually lead to the American Revolution). She is torn about her own feelings on the matter, though- she has friends on both sides. She understands why people would want to be loyal to the land and to their neighbors here in America. However, she wants to better understand the position of her former countrymen- how could Flory MacDonald and others who lost so much fighting the King at Culloden be willing to put the same force and passion into fighting for the king in America? Unlike many books written for children about the Revolution, this one paints both sides as genuine and good people. Usually, what you see is that all of the characters you like are Patriots, and the ones you don't like so much (like the stodgy old grandfather in the Felicity series) are the stuffy, unsympathetic loyalists.

Also, the close contact with indentured servitude (and lifelong servitude, in the case of plantation slaves) sheds light on this aspect of American history that children's fiction usually doesn't talk much about. There are some very cringe-worthy terms used for black slaves in this book, but they are historically accurate and not deliberately unkind.

Garram the Hunter: A Boy of the Hill Tribes, by Herbert Best

Garram is a young boy who lives with his tribe in the hills of Nigeria (the country is never explicitly stated, but certain cities and landmarks make it easy to identify). A quiet fellow, he prefers solitude, hunting in the wilderness with only his well-trained dog, Kon, as company. Warok, the tribal chief, is his father. The tribe has enjoyed a long period of peace and prosperity. Warok knows that his people have grown lazy and must fortify their borders and prepare against invasion, but when he tries to enforce dictates to this effect, Sura and his son Menud stir up the people against him. Sura and Menud were not born to the tribe, and resent those in authority. Menud has, through clever words which overshadow his lack of actions, established himself as a leader of the hunt among the youths. Similarly, Sura's cunning words have gained him a position of influence among the Hillmen despite the fact that he has done nothing to earn it.

It is well known among those wise enough to pay attention that Sura is working to eventually kill Warok and seize power. This means Garram's life is also in danger. His friend the Rainmaker warns him that the best way to ensure his safety, and that of his father, is to leave. He believes that Sura will not move against Warok if there is a threat that Garram is growing strong and angry elsewhere, and will return someday to exact his revenge.

So Garram decides to leave his tribe stealthily and head into the city of Yelwa, populated by the Fulani people. They are as baffled by him as he is by them- their clothing, language, and ways are incomprehensible to him. An Islamic society, the Fulani people in Yelwa are ruled by the Emir, who has a council of advisors. Due to a mishap with his dog, Garram is called before the Emir for judgment and immediately ingratiates himself to the ruler because Kon attacks a man attempting assassination. Garram eventually becomes a special friend to the Emir and his Captain of the Guard, but others in the palace are jealous of the straightforward and honest young man's influence and seek to oust him through a series of unfair accusations (one of which being his friendship with his dog- and unclean animal). Although Garram is eventually able to show this for the joke that it is, he knows that he doesn't belong among the Fulani. He has begun to feel that Warok is in danger, and begins the journey back to his people to help him.

I won't spoil the climax of the book or its ending, but rest assured that Garram did not make friends in vain, and his cleverness helps to save the day, restoring things to how they should be. This was a very easy read for being reasonably long, with adventure, danger, and humor. I found it to be rather enjoyable.

One thing I found very odd in this book is the lack of women. Garram takes place entirely in a man's world. No women are mentioned at all in the city of Yelwa, nor are they among Garram's peers in the hills. They are only mentioned as a group in the background of just a few scenes (in one case, giving voice together for a death wail, and in another, heaving rocks from a hill onto unwitting enemies below). How strange that no one in this story seems to have wife, sister, daughter, or mother (although the Emir has a young child- perhaps it materialized spontaneously from thin air).

Sadly, I was unable to find any information at all about Herbert Best, the author. I like to know a bit about a writer's experiences with his subject matter, but I'm hitting nothing but dead ends here. Please enlighten me if you have anything on him!

Queer Person, by Ralph Hubbard

Firstly, many thanks to the customer on Amazon who uploaded this picture of a book identical to the jacketless copy I read. Looking this one up online, every source seems to carry the same bland summary: "Relates the experiences of an outcast deaf-mute Indian boy as he grows to adulthood and eventually becomes a great leader." Pretty unhelpful, right? It also doesn't excite very much.

The book is named for the protagonist. As a young child, this deaf-mute boy wanders into a Pikuni camp in winter. He invites himself into various dwellings as and stays until the host's patience wears thin and he is evicted. Because he cannot hear or speak, he is dubbed Queer Person and assumed to be an idiot. He is also thought to be a bad omen and cursed, so he is shunned by the people. Eventually he finds his way into the tent of a poor old crone who, while not feeling much sympathy for him, is resigned to keeping him. Granny eventually grows fond of him and finds that he does show signs of intelligence, despite his disabilities.

Over time, Queer Person develops his own routines and finds a friend or two. He also grows into manhood. During his time alone in the wilderness he has a powerful vision and is told that he will become a powerful chief. The remainder of the book shows how this happens, and how he wins the heart of the chief's daughter. The book also holds a few surprises which it does not spoil with foreshadowing. I ended up liking it much more by the end than I thought I would at the beginning, so it was a pleasant surprise!

Reading a book about Native Americans is always difficult for me. I love a good story, but on the other hand, I am also woefully ignorant about all things indigenous. Because there is so little information online about this book and its author that I could find, I have no idea what his association was with this people group or how accurate his depictions of their society was. Much of it does seem in alignment with what I could glean from Wikipedia about the traditions of the Blackfeet Confederacy so perhaps I can relax a little and be glad to have enjoyed a really good story!

Funniest part of this book: coming across the phrase G-string. I wonder if it sent 1930's children into fits of giggles like it did when I was a kid. I had no idea the phrase was so old.

Sorry for those of you who are seeing this entry in your feeds again; Blogger deleted it during routine maintenance and I've had to repost.

The Cat Who Went to Heaven, by Elizabeth Coatsworth

It looks like children's books really started to improve in the 1930's. This is the second one I've read that has been reprinted recently enough that kids are still reading it. The edition I read was published in 1990, and I've included an image of that cover as well as an image of what I assume was the original cover just for historical interest.

What gives Cat such great appeal is that it's set in an undefined time, and told much like a fairy tale. I'm glad I didn't spend too much time reading the back cover before starting because it gives away entirely too much, and is yet vague and confusing. I'll admit that it also made me laugh out loud with its mention of "a special Buddhist miracle"- it just put me in mind of Christmas family programs where there's some special "Christmas miracle" we can come to expect. However, in this case, the Buddhist Miracle is a miracle that has actual significance in a religious sense, whereas Christmas miracles are usually some one getting a really great present they were certain Mom and Dad couldn't afford this year, or not dying because of the sheer magic of the snowy season and the tremendous power of love. Not that I'm bitter or anything.

Interestingly enough, none of the human characters in this story have names (well, Buddha and his wife excepted). The artist is poor and hungry, with threadbare clothes and a tired, empty home in Japan. But he loves his work. With him lives the housekeeper. One day she returns from the market, but instead of buying a small meal with the meager sum she had for the task, she purchased a cat to be company for their household. The artist is initially upset; he is very hungry, a cat is another mouth that he can't afford to feed, and cats are related to demons. However, upon seeing the cat, who is pure white with a black and a yellow spot on his side, he decides that she can stay. They name the cat Good Fortune, since three-colored cats are supposed to be lucky.

Within days, the artist receives a visit from a local temple priest, which is a rare and significant occasion. The artist is told that the temple wishes to commission a painting of the death of Buddha. The names of various local artists were written on slips of paper and left before the statue overnight, and the artist's slip was the only one that hadn't blown away by morning, so this was taken as Buddha's endorsement. The artist is given a significant advance and a significant responsibility- should his work be deemed good, he will be come famous and his style emulated and passed on beyond his death. Should he fail, his work will be burned and his reputation disgraced.

In order to properly set the tone, he spends three days meditating on the various parts of Buddha's life. Once he has imagined himself in all of these places, the artist feels prepared to paint Buddha. The most challenging part after this is to paint all of the animals who had come to pay their respects. He recalls the tales of Buddha's other lives in animal form and uses these as his inspiration to give them character when he applies brush to silk. Each day Good Fortune admires his work. She is always reverent and courteous and never distracts, but she seems to be hinting that she would like to be included.

Herein lies the struggle for the artist. It is well known in legend that the cat, because of her pride and independence, was the only animal not to pay respects at Buddha's death, and therefore the gates of Paradise are forever closed to her. The artist's conscience is torn in two ways- does he show mercy to his loving companion, or does he show respect and endeavor to please his sponsor?

I won't give away the "special Buddhist miracle" here but rest assured that all are satisfied at the end!