Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team by Steve Sheinkin

Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team by Steve Sheinkin

Roaring Brook Press

Rating: 5 stars

I'm a big, huge fan of this author. Steve Sheinkin writes nonfiction middle grade books that are well-written, well-researched, fast-paced and informative--I really wish they were around when I was growing up. My favorite of his is Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon. C'mon, with a title like that, how can you not pick it up?! 

Undefeated is about Jim Thorpe, a Native American athlete who dominated almost any sport he attempted (baseball is the notable exception, as documented in the book). Born around the turn of the century, when Native Americans were being herded onto reservations and assimilated into white American culture, Thorpe was forced to go to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The story centers around the meeting of and relationship between Thorpe and Pop Warner. Warner, in case, like me, you're not a football fan, was a football mastermind who hailed from the top of society, having graduated from, then coached in, the Ivy League.

These two men could not have had more different backgrounds.

Yet, Pop Warner realized Jim Thorpe was the most gifted athlete he had ever seen. He knew that within moments of meeting Thorpe, after watching him outrun a pack of Warner's well-trained and well-seasoned football players. And so the two began their relationship, which has been lauded the "most winningest" combination in sports history.

Sheinkin chronicles Thorpe's rise in football, and how he crossed over to track and field to take advantage of his speed. From there, he volunteered to give decathlons a try. Turns out he was a shoo-in for such a demanding sport, and he represented the United States in that sport and the pentathlon in the 1912 Olympics. He was the first Native American to earn a gold medal. (Later, due to the fact that he accepted payment as a minor league baseball player, Thorpe was stripped of his medals.)

In addition to Thorpe's fascinating life and sports career, Sheinkin reports on the history of Native Americans in the United States. The chapters about how Native Americans were forced to schools such as the one at Carlisle, stripped of their birth name and given a "white" name, and then punished for remembering or practicing anything from their native tribes is eye-opening and humbling. In addition, Sheinkin writes about the early years of football. I'm pretty much the opposite of a football fan (don't tell my Seahawks-crazed neighbors that), but found that part of the book really interesting.

Clearly, this is not a book for really young children. But it is an excellent choice for curious, history-minded readers age ten or older, and could be read aloud to a slightly younger child (so that younger readers could have their inevitable questions about Native American policies answered right away).

Thomas Jefferson Grows a Nation by Peggy Thomas

Thomas Jefferson Grows a Nation by Peggy Thomas, illustrations by Stacy Innerst
Catkins Creek: An Imprint of Highlights

Rating: 5 stars

I'm one of those geeky parents who stays on top of what my children are learning in school and tries to augment the lessons at home. I figure if I'm going to be a full-time mom, I'm going to be a great one.

Lorelei is going to start a big Lewis and Clark unit in social studies this Spring. It comes at a particularly interesting time because this summer we'll be making our own trek across the continent as we move from Virginia to Washington State. Lewis and Clark met wild savages along with a whole lot of Great Unknown; I'll just be driving with three kids. We both have some challenges on our journey...

When I saw Thomas Jefferson Grows a Nation at the library, I grabbed it. It was Kiefer who wanted it read as a bedtime book, but Lorelei heard me read the title, so she ran in to join us. It's a long, necessarily wordy, nonfiction picture book. I had to pause every other page for a little bit of background or just explain something. But both Lorelei and Kiefer were curious, and learned a lot about one interesting, complicated, hugely important figure in our country's history.

The book begins: "Thomas Jefferson loved to grow things." He literally grew plants and vegetables at his home in Monticello, but he also planted seeds of freedom, the idea that America was just as important as Europe, several crops that worked elsewhere but failed in America (he remained optimistic through failure), and a nation through the acquisition of land from France.

There are many illustrations in the book that help young readers understand the text. My favorite is an illustration of Jefferson and Hamilton in a tug of war between farms and cities--would American be a nation of cities and factories or a nation of small towns and family farms?

As President, he began to plan an expedition across the continent, even before France sold the land west of the Mississippi River in what became known as the Louisiana Purchase. (This was news to me; I hadn't realized he would have authorized the journey even it wasn't American territory.) Jefferson wanted to know what was out there--Lewis and Clark sent dozens of reports back to Jefferson about the fauna, wildlife, topography of the newly acquired land. After his White House years, Jefferson returned to Monticello to savor time in his garden and fields growing things--not figuratively this time, but literally.

This book helped Lorelei have a better understanding of why the Lewis and Clark journey took place by teaching her about Jefferson and the events in his life hundreds of years ago. This is a great book to have on the shelf in a classroom, or just a perfect bedtime book for any overachieving mom to read to her naturally curious kids.

Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear by Lindsay Mattick

Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear by Lindsay Mattick, illustrated by Sophie Blackall
Little, Brown & Company

Rating: 5 stars

Last year two books about the origin of Winnie-the-Pooh were published. I saw both at our local library but only selected one, Winnie: The True Story of the Bear Who Inspired Winnie-the-Pooh, to check out, read, and review. For whatever reason, it was only last week that I got around to checking out Finding Winnie. And it was only yesterday, the day after it won the Caldecott, that I got around to reading it.

I was truly blown away--mostly by Sophie Blackall's artwork, but also by the way this version of the story unraveled. Here's how it goes:

A little boy and his mother sit together. "Tell me a story, a true one, about a bear," the little boy requests. The mother obliges, and she starts this one:

"I've decided to name her Winnipeg, so we'll never be
far from home. Winnie, for short."

Once upon a time there was a soldier, a veterinarian-soldier, named Harry Colebourn, who traveled far from his home in Winnipeg to help in the war. He rode in a train with many men just like him. The train "rolled right through dinner and over the sunset and around ten o'clock and into a nap and out the next day" until it finally stopped at a train station in White River.

Harry got out to stretch his legs. While walking around, he saw a trapper and a bear cub. He knew the bear's fate was dark and the cub tugged at his heart. Harry bought him for $20, thus boarding a train with a bear cub that he argued would be his squad's mascot. The bear, quickly named Winnipeg, which was quickly shortened to Winnie, was a fun mascot and much-needed diversion from the reality of war. Harry and Winnie trained together, slept together, and even traveled across the Atlantic to England together to fight in the war.

But Harry realized a war would be too dangerous for a cub, so he gave Winnie up and signed her over to the London Zoo.

Thirty ships sailed together, carrying about 36,000 men, and
about 7,500 horses...and about one bear named Winnie.

"The story is over?" the boy asked.

His mother answered, in a great, wise, sentence I'll repeat for a long, long time: "Sometimes one story must end so another can begin."

Once upon a time there was a little boy with a stuffed teddy bear who needed a name. The boy and his father walked together to the London Zoo, where a real bear stood behind a gate. It was Winnie. The boy not only named his teddy after Winnie, calling the stuffed bear Winnie-the-Pooh, but he also played with real, yet tame, Winnie--going right inside the fenced yard!

The boy's name was Christopher Robin, and his father's name was Alan Alexander Milne. His father write many books about his son and the bear, books inspired by a real boy and a real bear.

Harry drove all the way to the Big City.

I loved Finding Winnie, then turned the page and was yet again surprised and impressed by it: The mother in the story is the author, and also the great-granddaughter of Harry Colebourne! The boy in the story is named after him--his name is Cole. A beautiful family tree illustrates the connection very clearly. The back pages of the book turn into an album that includes pictures of Harry as a young soldier, the journal in which he writes that he bought a bear, pictures of Winnie and her soldiers. Then, there are pictures of Christopher Robin, playing with Winnie, with his father looking on in the background.

This is a keeper of a book--a lovely reminder of many things. That acts of kindness often reap large, unseen rewards. That loving an animal is a worthwhile endeavor. That inspiration for stories can come from a single trip to the zoo. And my favorite, that sometimes one story must end for another to begin.

Congratulations to Lindsay Mattick and Sophie Blackall, for creating such a fantastic, gorgeous book! Congratulations to Sophie Blackall for winning the 2016 Caldecott!

Marvelous Cornelius: Hurricane Katrina and the Spirit of New Orleans by Phil Bildner

Marvelous Cornelius: Hurricane Katrina and the Spirit of New Orleans by Phil Bildner, illustrated by John Parra

Chronicle Books

Rating: 4 stars

Cornelius Washington is not a typical subject for nonfiction picture books. He was a garbage man in the French Quarter in New Orleans before and when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. He once was written about in the Times-Picayune and described as "a wizard of trash cans."

Cornelius did his job as a garbageman, usually thought of as nasty but necessary, with flair. He seemed to have fun with it, but also take it very seriously. The people in the Quarter knew him and waved as Cornelius danced with lids, threw trash bags into formation, and kept the streets "sparkling."

When Hurricane Katrina hit, Cornelius was devastated to see the city he loved so devastated. Water flooded the city; the city was "a gumbo of mush and mud." New Orleans was destroyed. Cornelius was overwhelmed with the amount of work to do--there was so much to clean up and rebuild. Cornelius, like many others, dried his eyes and got to work. The same people who waved to him weeks and months and years before pitched in to help--the people of New Orleans all helped. And others from far away came to help, too.

(He leaves out the looting and lawlessness--probably a good idea for this age group.)

The story ends the way all picture books do: happily. The city is rebuilt to its former glory in a couple dozen pages. Even though Cornelius Washington passed away soon after Katrina, Bildner writes that he symbolizes the spirit of New Orleans--the determination, flair, and friendliness that will always be a part of the city.

Without getting too stuck in the murkiness of history, I think Bildner does a great job of shining the spotlight on a person who doesn't normally show up in picture books. The quotation at the beginning of the book by Martin Luther King, Jr., sets the scene well:

Even if it's called your lot to be a street sweeper, go out and sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Handel and Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to phase and say, "Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well."

Whatever you are, do it well. And Cornelius seems to have done this.

I think it's important to note that Phil Bildner admits to taking some liberty with the true story of Cornelius. He first becomes interested in Cornelius because he sounded like a legend, like a myth, like a story from the American folk tradition. He admits to exaggerating the facts he has about Cornelius in order to carry on the spirit of his story. I hope Cornelius' surviving family supports the book.

Dare the Wind: The Record-Breaking Voyage of Eleanor Prentiss and the Flying Cloud by Tracey Fern

Dare the Wind: The Record-Breaking Voyage of Eleanor Prentiss and the Flying Cloud by Tracey Fern, illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully

Farrar Straus Giroux

Rating: 5 stars

Ellen Prentiss wasn't like other girls. She fell in love with sea at an early age. Her father, loving and appreciating that she loved the water as much as he loved it, taught her all that he knew about hoisting sails, steering a schooner, and most important of all: navigating. Every chance she got, she was practicing one of these skills with her father's trading schooner.

She loved racing any and all ship around her. Her father's advice was always the same: "A true navigator must have the caution to read the sea, as well as the courage to dare the wind."

Decades later, when Ellen found a man who loved the sea as much as she did and who encouraged her sea skills as much as her father did, she married him. The two soon were charged with navigating the Flying Cloud on a fifteen-thousand-mile journey from New York City down to Cape Horn and up to San Francisco. The Gold Rush was on, and they were hurrying to get passengers and cargo to America's West Coast.

If they could make the trip faster than any other ship, they would receive a bonus and the world record. Ellen was excited--and determined.

Ellen pushed the Flying Cloud hard at the start of the ship, covering hundreds of miles each day. But she pushes it too hard and the mainmast rips. The damage humbles Ellen, and makes her reconsider how hard she pushed the ship. The next few weeks she sets a cautious course, catching only gentle breezes. Then she remembers her father's advice and thinks "There is no glory in second place. Now is the time for courage."

And so, Ellen dares the wind and leads the Flying Cloud through dangerous waters, a frightening storm, and around the cliffs of Cape Horn. They charged north again, once again covering hundreds of miles each day. After eighty-nine days at sea, they reached San Francisco in world-record time.

This is an exciting true story--an example of how history really does churn out the best stories around. (Congratulations to Tracey Fern who writes the story with such suspense.) I really want to imprint Ellen's father's words in all of my kids' brains. You must have caution and courage, I want them to see, and the wisdom to know when to use which. Caution and courage, caution and courage, caution and courage.

Magic Treehouse Survival Guide by Mary Pope Osborne

Magic Treehouse Survival Guide by Mary Pope Osborne
Random House Children's Books

Rating: 4.5

There is so much to love about the Magic Tree House series! Mary Pope Osborne has been churning them out since 1992, taking her characters and my own children (and probably yours, too) on adventures all over the world and throughout history. Through research and clues, their own smarts and courage, Jack and Annie solve mysteries anywhere and everywhere.

In 2000, Mary Pope Osborne began writing nonfiction companion guides with her husband, Will Osborne, and sister Natalie Pope Boyce. Together, they wrote books chock full of information about animals, authors and events so that kids could “track the facts” in the fiction books Osborne had already written. Then there’s the Merlin series, started a few years later. These are longer and more challenging for kids whose reading level is higher. There’s even a Broadway play based on one of the books!

There really is something for everyone. Lorelei especially has thoroughly enjoyed the series. But when I saw this Survival Guide…I thought it was something altogether unique and cool and separate, and I was excited to grab it, read it, and tell you all about it. The cover alone is pretty fantastic; there’s a compass embedded into it, Jack is jumping from a shark and Annie is dangling by a rope over an alligator. Yikes!

Jack and Annie explain in the introduction that they’ve gone on some incredible adventures and, along the way, they’ve picked up a whole lot of useful survival skills. “Chances are,” they point out, “you’ll never need them, but in case you do, here they are.”

In the five different chapters, your child will read about:

• Wilderness skills (e.g., how to tell time without a watch, how to find water, what to do if you get lost)

• Animal attacks (e.g., how to survive a lion attack, a gator encounter, a stampede)

• Extreme weather (e.g., surviving extreme cold, preparing for power outage, staying safe in a thunderstorm)

• Disasters (e.g., surviving a tsunami, avalanche, fire)

• Incredible survivals, or things that are highly unlikely but still fun to read about (e.g., surviving T-Rex encounter, a shipwreck, zero gravity)

Each survival tip starts with a reference to one of Jack and Annie’s many adventures, and they explain a little bit about where they were at the time and why they had to learn how to, for example, survive a lion attack. For my oldest daughter who has read every single book, it was a reminder of a story she read years ago. For my son who hasn’t gotten through all of the Magic Tree House books yet, it was a helpful synopsis and an invitation to read more.

The book is geared to 7-10 year olds, and the text includes a lot of parental connection—Osborne reminds kids to check with their parents or heed parental guidance frequently throughout the book. I think that’s wise and, as a parent, I sure appreciate the reminder. While Jack and Annie are right—kids will likely never need more than “how to prepare for a power outage”—how fun it is to travel beyond kids’ mostly easy existence to situations that require serious courage and grit. How fun for kids to have a little more knowledge about what it takes to be in one of these situations.

I really hope my trio doesn’t ever have to sustain themselves on a diet of spiders. But if they do, I have Mary Pope Osborne to thank for their preparation!


(The original review was done for Washington FAMILY Magazine. Click HERE to access it.)

Miracle Mud: Lena Blackburne and the Secret Mud that Changed Baseball by David A. Kelly

Miracle Mud: Lena Blackburne and the Secret Mud that Changed Baseball by David A. Kelly, illustrated by Oliver Dominguez
Millbrook Press

Rating: 5 stars

I love books like this--well-written, true stories that answer the question: What's the story behind ___? I don't know about your kid, but my kids listen to a story like this with a nice dose of disbelief and amusement, and a light switch seems to get turned on inside them. It's the wonder or curiosity switch. And we all know that when a child wonders or gets curious, good things happen.

David A. Kelly has researched and written a fascinating book about the story of "miracle mud." He starts the story around 1900, when a guy named Lena Blackburne tried to play professional baseball, but he just couldn't cut it. Still, he loved the game and wanted to stay involved. So he became a coach.

One day, an umpire complained about the baseballs to Lena Blackburne. The balls were too soggy and soft, making them difficult to throw and even harder to hit. They were soggy because players often soaked the balls in water to make them less shiny and slick. Other players tried to reduce the shine by using shoe polish. That made the balls black. Still other players used spit or tobacco juice. That made the balls stink.

One day, an umpire complained to Lena about the baseballs.

Lena didn't know the answer until he went fishing along the Delaware River in New Jersey. He stepped in thick brown mud that was smooth and gritty. A lightning bulb went off in his head. Lena grabbed a bucket of mud and went back to his team.

He took some baseballs, wiped mud all over them, then wiped them off. They weren't soggy, black, or stinky--but they'd lost their slick shine to them. The players noticed the difference.

And so Lena became a mud farmer--who knew that was a thing--and never told anyone where he got his mud. Still today, this "Lena Blackburn's Baseball Rubbing Mud" is the only thing allowed on major-league balls. Talk about having a corner on the market!

I was pretty incredulous after reading this story. Really? Really?! Kiefer wanted to know if Lena Blackburne was still alive. There's a great Author's Note in the back of this book that helped me out. Nope--Lena died in 1968. His son Jim Bintliff owns, runs, and keeps the secrets of the business today. July is mud-harvesting season. Jim and his crew go out to a spot that's STILL a secret and scoop up the mud, then store it in barrels during the winter.

And...really? They use it today? Yup. The official rules of Major League Baseball (rule 3.01(c)) states that "before a game, an umpire should, among other things, ensure the baseballs to be used are regulation baseballs and 'that they are properly rubbed so that the gloss is removed.'" Usually one of the home team's clubhouse attendants rubs the seventy-two balls with mud before each game.

Here's a neat video about the Texas Rangers, explaining the use of mud in today's baseball games:

My kids are wondering what else they don't know about this game of baseball that our family loves. That's wonder, that's curiosity, that's also the stuff of magic.

Boy: Tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl

Boy: Tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl
Puffin

Rating: 5 stars

Well, it's a fact: My childhood was a snooze-fest compared to Roald Dahl's exciting one. Then again, perhaps I should count my lucky stars that I wasn't one of a huge brood, that I didn't get shipped off to boarding school a little too young, that I didn't get beaten for tiny infractions, and that I didn't grow up in a world stricter than strict!

I've wanted to know more about Roald Dahl for a long time, and this autobiography of his youth was incredibly satisfying. It was also a riot! I loved it--laughed out loud several times while reading it, not caring if I looked like a loon while laughing in public at a beat-up library book that is probably meant for children. 

As a child I read a lot of Roald Dahl books, and I remember vividly my mother reading The Witches out loud to me--and having it be creepy and hilarious at the same time. That's quintessential Dahl for you... This would be a fun book to read out loud with kids, too, but also a fine one for them to read on their own. Either way, I think it's most appreciated after you or your child read a few Roald Dahl books. 

In Boy, Dahl writes about the part of his life where the idea for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory  came from (at boarding school Cadbury would give chocolate bars to boys and ask them to test them, and Dahl realized that the chocolate creators, those inventors of all things sweet and rich and chocolatey, took their jobs very, very seriously...). Also, it's clear from the horribly funny run-ins with The Matron at his boarding school where the inspiration of the headmistress in Matilda came from! 

An early chapter reader might enjoy The Enormous Crocodile or a other short stories. Lorelei read James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Danny Champion of the World several times on her own when she was six or seven. I won't let her read The Witches--I want to read it out loud to her, like my mom did! When I was telling her about Boy: Tales of Childhood, I love that she was annoyed with me: "Mom, why did you return it without giving it to me?!" 

Yup, this book is good enough to pass around from one generation to another. Enjoy chuckling at a childhood far more entertaining than my own!

Winnie: The True Story of the Bear Who Inspired Winnie-the-Pooh by Sally M. Walker

Winnie: The True Story of the Bear Who Inspired Winnie-the-Pooh by Sally M. Walker, illustrated by Jonathan D. Voss
Henry Holt & Company

Rating: 4 stars

Several months ago I came across a middle grade nonfiction book on a publisher's website that I just had to read. Soldier Bear by Bibi Dumon Tak is the story of a bear adopted by the 2nd Polish Corps during World War II. I was fascinated to learn how a group of soldiers fell in love with a bear, and it became a contributing, participating part of their unit. (Read my Goodreads review here.)

And still, I didn't know that Winnie-the-Pooh was inspired by the same type of unit, this time a British, not Polish unit, during World War I. This time a company that included Harry Colebourn who was stationed in Canada at the time. Harry was part of the veterinary corps and saw a little bear on a platform at a train stop. He rushed out to see her, ended up buying her from the hunter who killed the bear's mother before he saw her baby. When Harry rushed back onto the train with a bear cub in his hands, his friends and captain were dumbstruck.

Winnie's favorite game was hide-and-go-seek...

"I had to save her!" Harry protested. And he named her Winnipeg, after their company's hometown. Her name was shortened to Winnie by the time the company reached their destination.

As you'd probably expect, Winnie was a funny little member of their tribe. She played games with the men and diverted their attention from the reality of war they faced. She also got into a lot of trouble by...well, just being a bear. But all the men loved their new mascot.

Winnie traveled with Harry's company when they moved from Canada back to England. But when he received orders to care for horses injured from battle in France, Harry knew that Winnie shouldn't go along. He contacted the London Zoo, which had a brand-new place called the Mappin Terraces built exclusively for bears.

The real Harry with the real Winnie.

After a tearful good-bye, Winnie began her second life at the zoo. "We've never had a friendlier bear as Winnie," the zookeepers said. They even allowed children to ride on the bear!

One day, a man with a young boy visited Winnie at the London Zoo. The boy hugged Winnie and gave him milk. The boy's name was Christopher Robin; his father was A.A. Milne, a well-known author. That evening at bedtime, Christopher Robin wanted to hear stories about his stuffed animal bear, whose name he changed to Winnie-the-Pooh.

And the bear at the London Zoo became a little more famous.

This is one of two picture book biographies of Winnie-the-Pooh published this year--the duplication is no doubt caused by the fact that last year was the 100th anniversary of the birthday of the real bear that inspired Winnie-the-Pooh. I grabbed it off the new book shelf because I realized the bear's history when I saw a soldier hugging the little cub on the cover. And look, we all ended up learning a little more about one very famous little bear.

Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla by Katherine Applegate

Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla by Katherine Applegate
Clarion Books

Rating: 5 stars

In case you haven't heard, there's this book that has been on the New York Times Bestseller list for 108 weeks called The One and Only Ivan. Ivan is a gorilla who spends his time drumming his fingers and watching passers by at a shopping mall, where he's been sitting in a very small cage for a very long time. The story is fiction but it's based on a true story. There was a real gorilla Ivan who was purchased and plucked from a jungle and placed in...a shopping mall in Washington State.

This picture book, Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla, is the nonfiction account of Ivan's life.

Brace yourself, because it's not always a fun life to read about. But Applegate, who also wrote The One and Only Ivan, does a great job of unfolding his sad story in digestible bits, and the entire story illustrates one of my favorite maxims: "It all turns out okay. If it's not okay, it's not the end." And Ivan's life does turn out okay in the end. (It's a picture book--it's got to have a happy ending. What a relief!)

He'd grown into a silverback gorilla.
In the jungle, he would have been ready to protect his family.
But he had no family to protect.

Ivan starts his life in the jungle, born to a band of gorillas. He plays with, listens to, and closely observes other gorillas...he learns everything from them. And then one day, he is caught by poachers. He and another little gorilla baby are thrown into a dark crate and shipped to Tacoma, Washington.

Once there, they are treated as exotic baby-pets--everyone thinks these small animals are cute and interesting. But one gorilla baby dies and only Ivan is left. When Ivan grows out of the cute, small phase, his new owner doesn't know what to do with him. Soon, he is placed in a cage in the mall with a TV and an old tire and little else.

He spends twenty-seven years away from other gorillas, in that small cage. (Heart-breaking!)

Finally, after protests and petitions, Ivan is sent to Zoo Atlanta. After helping him adjust to his new environments, Ivan is released into a new band of gorillas. He lives there, happily it seems, until he finally dies at age 50 in 2012--and one year later, The One and Only Ivan won the Newbery.

So why read this book to your child? Is the lesson here simply "animals should stay in the wild" or "poachers should be stopped?" Sure, those lessons are great ones for kids to learn; the jobs in that field are certainly noble ones.

But I think there's a deeper message here about reinventing yourself, or starting a new chapter in life--it's so obvious that Ivan's life was sad and small, but then it changes. He starts a new chapter, and his life becomes big and full. Because a bunch of people cared, took the time, made the effort to help him get to a better place. Maybe some kids (and the grown-ups reading this book to them) can relate. Maybe some kids (and those grown-ups) have felt small or been in dark places, but because they took the time to care about themselves or others made the effort to help, maybe they're in a better place now. Maybe they're in the process of starting a brand new chapter in their lives. Maybe Ivan's story strikes a chord in them and gives them hope.

The One and Only Ivan is "on deck" as Lorelei says for us to read together next--I'll let you know how it goes. (We're reading Wonder now.) She was open to reading it last year, but after reading this picture book, she's very curious and eager to start. That makes two of us.

Little Melba and Her Big Trombone by Katheryn Russell-Brown

Little Melba and Her Big Trombone by Katheryn Russell-Brown, illustrated by Frank Morrison

Lee & Low Books

Rating: 5 stars

Author Katheryn Russell-Brown starts out with a big promise in this nonfiction picture book: "Spread the word! Melba Doretta Liston was something special!"

She is definitely right. Little Melba definitely was something special.

Melba loved music, lived for music, breathed music--even when she was asleep and dreaming. She watched her aunties dance, she cupped her ear to the Majestic, she daydreamed of notes and chords. She signed up for a music class at seven, but that wasn't enough. When she stepped into her first music store, she saw a long, funny-looking horn. A trombone. She didn't really know what it was or how to play it--she just thought it looked cool. It was enormous for the small girl, but she insisted. Her mother couldn't say no. So, Melba got her first trombone. And Melba started playing.

She tried to push out the slide, but her arm was too short.
She had to tilt her head sideways and stretch out her right arm.

She needed help playing it at first; Grandpa John had to help her hold it. Before long, though, she taught herself to play and was strong enough to hold the trombone and play it on her own. She was only eight when the local radio station invited her to play a solo on air. (How cool is that?!)

Hard times hit her family in 1937 and Melba and her mother moved from Kansas City to Los Angelos. She found a talented band of kids to join, but jealousy ran in some of the kids' veins and they said rude things. Yet Melba still played.

When she was seventeen, she was invited to tour the country with a new band led by trumpet player Gerald Wilson. She visited cities all over and received rave reviews. She was the only female in the band, and some of the men were often rude to her, pretending as if she wasn't there. She visited towns unfriendly to "people with dark skin" and Melba sometimes had to sleep on her tour bus. Yet Melba still played.

Finally, the world knew of her greatness--her "something special"--and she toured the world and dazzled audiences by herself.

The illustrations by Frank Morrison are really my favorite part of this book. They are gorgeous and convey such a sense of movement and richness...I'm not sure how he does it but he really did Melba a huge service by illustrating her with such charisma and cool.

It was fun to walk in Melba's shoes for a little while as my kids and I read this book together. I found some clips on youtube to play for my kids as they ate their breakfast on a dark winter morning before school. None of us could imagine making an instrument sing so well at such a young age--or any age, for that matter. "Wow," was just about all we could say as we listened quietly and respectfully to one woman who definitely was something special.

Mama Built A Little Nest by Jennifer Ward

Mama Built A Little Nest by Jennifer Ward, illustrated by Steve Jenkins

Rating: 5 stars

If you've got a nature-loving kid somewhere near you, this book needs to be in his or her hands. We were all blown away by how many facts we learned from a book that appeared to be a simple rhyme with gorgeous illustrations.

Ward gives us a gift of a book jam-packed with great information about a bunch of different birds--from the more well-known emperor penguin and falcons to more unique birds such as the weaverbird (the yellow bird pictured on the cover), falcon, grebe, and shorebird.

This is a grow-with-me book, or a book for a household like ours--with one strong, curious reader; one emerging, interested reader; and one bird-loving, letter-finder. On each two-page spread is a succinct, one-stanza rhyme about the bird illustrated on the page. There are also several sentences about the bird written in a smaller, different font for readers like Lorelei to read on her own or for me to read to Ben (he can read most of the words in the actual poem himself).

Mama built a little nest / inside a sturdy trunk.
She used her beak to tap-tap-tap / the perfect place to bunk.

Each page not only shows the reader what the bird looks like, but what the nest is like. The diversity of each bird--from what it looks like to how it makes its nest--impressed me greatly and was fun to point out to my kids. The birds and their neat nests grabbed my kids' attention and set off their imaginations.

Here are some of my favorite facts about the birds and their nests in this book:

• A hummingbird makes the smallest cup-shaped nest out of spiderwebs so the nest will stretch as the chicks grow.
• The male cactus wren makes many dome-shaped nests to attract a female. If impressed, the female will choose one and then continue to add to its structure.
• Grebes create a floating nest on the water and anchor it to water plants.
• The swiftlet makes an edible nest (!!) using tube-shaped saliva, which hardens in the air. Swiftlet nests are used in bird's nest soup, a Chinese delicacy.

My kids love this type of bird feeder!

This is a wonderful, one-of-a-kind book that pairs nicely with the kind of bird feeder we have attached to our window...click HERE for link to purchase.

A Boy and a Jaguar by Alan Rabinowitz

A Boy and a Jaguar by Alan Rabinowitz, illustrated by Cátia Chien

Rating: 5 stars

Once upon a time, a little boy about four years old walked with his father to the Bronx Zoo. This boy stood in front of the cage of a giant, wild jaguar. The jaguar paced before the boy, seeming frustrated at his confined situation.

The boy understood how the jaguar felt. He was a stutterer; thoughts were confined to his head, unable to get out. Usually when he tried to "use his words" he grew red in the face and his body convulsed with the his inability to transform his thoughts into coherent sounds and launch them successfully into the conversation.

But today, in front of this great cat, he whispered without a single stutter, "One day, if I figure out how to speak, I will speak for you, too." There was something magical between them. With this wild creature, he could speak.

On the days between visits to that jaguar in the Bronx Zoo, the little boy endured harsh sentences--he heard grown-ups tell him he was broken, and he was sent to a school for disturbed children. Like that jaguar, he felt caged and misunderstood.

"If I try to push words out, my head and body shake uncontrollably."

Years went by and this little boy grew up and went to college in an experimental program that embraced his debilitating stutter, and grown ups encouraged him to be a "fluent stutterer." He worked hard to finally speak without stuttering. He found his voice.

But he still feels broken on the inside, still feels damaged and different and unsure how to use that voice. He studies black bears in the Great Smoky Mountains, then travels to Belize to study jaguars. He starts to feel connected to his voice, and he wants to use it to fulfill the promise he made to that one jaguar on that one day so long ago.

He begins to follow and capture jaguars for study before releasing them. He successfully argues for the world's first and only jaguar wildlife preserve. He becomes Dr. Alan Rabinowitz: a zoologist, a conservationist, a passionate advocate for the 36 big cat species of the world, what Time calls the "Indiana Jones of Wildlife Conservation." And today, he says he is grateful for his stuttering, because that disability led him to what he is most passionate about: jaguars.

This is an incredibly moving true story about working hard, keeping promises, finding your passion, and making the world a better place.

P.S. The illustrations by Cátia Chien are phenomenal, too!

Shackleton's Journey by William Grill

Shackleton's Journey by William Grill

Rating: 5 stars

The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Ernest Shackleton. 1914. The Endurance. The greatest survival story ever. Reading more about it is on my to-do list; I'm aiming to get to that when the kids are in late middle school, so that I can teach them lessons about this extraordinary man while also drawing on his courage and perseverance as I face my kids' teenage years.

In all seriousness, I'm just not sure I can do this book justice.  I found it on a list of Caldecott hopefuls, and I've been blown away ever since.

Funding and recruitment

William Grill has created a masterpiece here. In thirty-two short chapters--most just a double spread long--he shows rather than tells of the expedition that made Shackleton one of the best explorers ever. He begins by telling us a little about Shackleton and his background, then discusses the funding and recruitment for such a voyage.  By highlighting fascinating tidbits ("Shackleton quizzed candidates on their practical skills, but also about more unusual things, like if they could sing well.") and providing detailed drawings--such as the line of people who stood to apply to go with Shackleton--Grill hooks kids in to his unusual style.

Grill goes on, page after huge page, to illustrate the adventure.  He illustrates the equipment and supplies. He captures the excitement in the moment of "bon voyage." The expedition map shows Shackleton's route and the ice he's up against. I'm as impressed as the kids with the pack ice they ram through, complete with videographer hanging from the stern to film it. And then they're stuck! The entire crew stays where they are for years, eating and living and entertaining themselves.

Meanwhile on Elephant Island

"Extraordinary detail" doesn't begin to describe how great Grill's drawings are. Each little sketch is a story of itself, worthy of many minutes' study. And Grill uses colored pencils as his medium--just colored pencils. The book makes me think of those huge DK books that show the inside of a castle. But it is also a story, with one of the biggest, most unbelievable, completely TRUE plots ever!

I am confident this book will capture the imagination of at least one person in your house. The recommended age for this book is 7 to 11, and I agree with that, although having a picture book in your hand in these later years is definitely odd for some kids.

Then again, at 38, I have no problem having a picture book in my lap...especially one as extraordinary as Shackleton's Journey.

The Streak: How Joe DiMaggio Became America's Hero by Barb Rosenstock

The Streak: How Joe DiMaggio Became America's Hero by Barb Rosenstock, illustrated by Terry Widener

Rating: 4 stars

Of course I'm a sucker for a baseball book.  And, like I've written so many times, baseball is a wonderful vehicle for teaching about life--history, character, decision making, consequences...  You name it, you can explain it through baseball.  None of this is very helpful for those of you with kids who dance or play hockey, but... This one goes out to all of you who have, like we do, bats and gloves and balls either in use or planted in the middle of the yard, ready at a moment's notice.

This isn't my favorite baseball book, but it does teach a wonderful American history lesson and provides insight into one of the greats, Joe DiMaggio.

In the summer of 1941, Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees began a hitting streak in which America happily got swept up. In one game after another, DiMaggio came to bat and earned hit after hit.  Thousands became followers of this streak, and they didn't have to love the Yankees. Why? Well, it's not like they had a ton of distractions like we do today, and Americans were happy to be distracted that summer because the country was readying itself for war. Up to this point, the biggest streak in American baseball stood at George Sisler's 41 games and Wee Willie Keeler at 44 games. When DiMaggio tied and then surpassed these streaks, everyone took notice.

Now the papers shouted Streak loud and clear,
pushing back news of the war marching overseas.

Rosenstock writes in a thrilling way, and she builds suspense well. This suspense builds nicely to the problem in the book, when DiMaggio's lucky bat, named Betsy Ann, goes missing. Up to this point, she writes as if the streak was a partnership, with equal responsibility going to man and bat. She doesn't talk of the superstition in baseball--or in all sports--but I'm guessing many kids understand the need for a certain bat, a certain hat, certain shoes or certain socks that they need in order to win. She remains missing throughout the game, and the streak looks dead in the water until "DiMaggio went to work anyway." And he got the job done.

It's a good story and I like that baseball is placed accurately in the context of a war that kids will soon learn about.  Even if kids don't fully appreciate the difficulty--the near impossibility--of a streak of 56 runs, this is a fun book to read to any baseball-loving kid (and his big sister). The end of the book is filled with statistics and a longer Author's Notes for parents or kids who want more information.


Baseball books are some of my favorite to review. For a list of all reviewed baseball books, click HERE.

Papa Is a Poet: A Story About Robert Frost by Natalie S. Bober

Papa Is a Poet: A Story About Robert Frost by Natalie S. Bober, illustrated by Rebecca Gibbon

Rating: 4.5 stars

Sometimes I think I'm overdoing it just a bit.  I mean, how many serious-ish nonfiction books do kids really want to read?  I rationalize my filled-to-the-brim-with-books household by telling myself that I pick out books and leave them lying around, available, in case curiosity motivates one or two or all of my children to pick it up and read it. I also let them choose plenty of books on their own; they are not left to my nerdy selections.

Papa Is a Poet is long and wordy and serious, so it is definitely in that last category.  Bober tells the story of Robert Frost--as told from the perspective of Lesley, one of his daughters.  She tells us, the reader, of the day they returned from a two year, poetry-writing stint in England, when her father saw at a newsstand a published collection of his works, North of Boston.  He was surprised! Frost hadn't been told by any American publisher of its creation, but was overjoyed to have met success on this side of the Atlantic.

Lesley thinks back to simpler times, before her family sold their farm to raise the funds to go to England.  They lived on a farm, and Robert Frost was a poultry farmer.  Theirs was a nature-filled childhood, with streams and flowers and trees and each other to play in and around and with. Robert and his wife home schooled their children, and their life was full of books.  Their days were "ordinary but meaningful. The cupboard was often bare, yet life was filled to the brim."

Poetry--playing with words, finding the humor or beauty in simple things, and creating metaphors--ran through his veins, but he felt that it wasn't an acceptable pastime for a father of a large family.  He felt he was a "disappointing failure" in the eyes of neighbors and family, so they sold the farm and moved. They flipped a coin to decide where to go. The coin landed on heads, so they went to England--if it had landed on tails, they'd have gone to Vancouver. Choosing to be a full-time poet was a crazy, almost reckless decision, but he did it. And look, he did it so very well.

Why tell this story, read this book to young girls and boys like Lorelei (age 7)?

1. Robert Frost is one of the greatest American poets, and now she has a little background, a little context to the lesson she'll soon get from a teacher. She'll know he was a dad and had kids and made up little rhymes for his family, and maybe...maybe his poetry will be not be so intimidating.
2. I don't love how Bober sprinkles in Frost's poetry.  I think she feels obligated to, and I appreciate her attempt. While I don't think it usually works, I love that his most famous lines (see below) are in there, and that Lorelei knows about them and we can talk about them when making choices.
3. Speaking of choices, I really like that this story is about one man struggling to make a choice--and it's a tough one for a man with poems in his head but mouths to feed.  I'm always telling Lorelei and her brothers that there are lots of choices, but no perfect one, but you have to trust your gut, take a risk, and then give that choice your all. Robert Frost did that.
4. Personally, poetry didn't make a lot of sense when I was in school.  I realize now how fun it can be, how poets play with words and say things in tricky ways that challenge the reader to think, and I want to introduce that concept to my kids little by little, stanza by stanza.
5. Their days were "ordinary but meaningful." The book is worth it for just that--a reminder that we don't need lots of gizmos and gadgets.  The simple things, especially when done with humor and appreciation, sure do mean a lot.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Other books on poetry you might want to check out:
Guyku: A Year of Haiku for Boys (Raczka)
Poem-Mobiles: Crazy Car Poems (Lewis)
Runny Babbit (Silverstein)
And pretty much anything by Dr Suess, of course!

Satch & Me (A Baseball Card Adventure) by Dan Gutman

Satch & Me (A Baseball Card Adventure) by Dan Gutman

Rating: 4.5 stars

Ben is a sports nut.  This is not news for those who know him.  He knows right where the nonfiction sports section is in the library, and he spends most of his library time there, in his happy place.  He happily checks out the same books on baseball, soccer, football, and rugby again and again and again.

In the juvenile fiction section, he goes right to the CHR section, where he chooses a few Matt Christopher books to "read" by himself.  (We've read one together, The Lucky Bat.  Read that review here.)  But when I came across this Baseball Card Adventure series, I couldn't help but share it with him.  He quickly chose one to read together with me at night; I was thrilled he chose Satch & Me.  After reading Something to Prove: The Great Satchel Paige vs the Rookie Joe DiMaggio I wanted to know more about Satch.

The Baseball Card Adventure books all have the same premise: Joe Stoshack, or "Stosh," can travel through time by holding baseball cards from the year to which he wants to travel. In each book, Stosh has a unique reason to want to travel to meet that particular ball player.  In Satch's case, he and his Little League coach want to track the speed of Satch's famous pitch: Just how fast can this guy throw?

Though Scholastic suggests this book for kids in grades three through five, I thought it was completely appropriate for Ben, who enters kindergarten in a little over a month.  There were many things I loved about the book:

• The story started strong at the first page, and Ben was hooked quickly.  He learned the word "cliffhanger" because many of the chapters really did leaving him begging for me to read just one more chapter…that's always a good sign!
• Stosh tells the story in the first person.  He's a normal kid and a likable character as he makes mistakes and weighs decisions and sometimes gets in a bit of trouble.
• As always, I'm awed and grateful by how much I can teach Ben through baseball.  Stosh goes back in time and witnesses segregation and prejudice and bigotry first-hand, and Gutman doesn't shy away from pointing out injustices through Stosh's eyes.  I never once had to change the wording to explain something. I did, however, stop to explain things and answer Ben's many questions...
• Gutman does an excellent job of having his older characters--in this case, Satch and Flip--instill some wisdom in young Stosh.  And, in some instances, Satch teaches Flip a thing or two (mostly about women "The things you do for women you wouldn't do for anything else.  Same with money").  And Stosh has some advice for readers, too, even though he's still mighty young himself.  My favorite line of his: "Sometimes you just have to take a chance and hope you made the smart decision."
• Satchel Paige was an interesting character both in the book and in real life--and an important one.  In the back of the book, Gutman spends a few pages spreading the facts out for the reader.  Paige was the first player from the Negro League to be inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and most players who played with him believe him to be the best pitcher in the history of baseball.
• I loved sharing Ben's passion a little every night.  I hear about it all day, yes, but learning about one of the great ball players with him was my kind of fun, and after a phone call with my ball playing grandfather, Ben and I were equally floored to hear that Grandpa played against Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson (another player who pops up in the book).  Neither of us can wait to get the rest of the story from Grandpa!

Things you might want to know before reading this with your child:

• Stosh's parents are divorced.  This fact surfaces a little in each book that we've read (we're reading Jackie & Me now).  They have a good co-parenting relationship, but are not overly chummy.
• In this book, Stosh takes his 70-something, single Little League coach, Flip, back in time with him, and Flip meets a girl and they fall in love. She runs away from her father to catch up with Flip and Stosh, and Stosh considers leaving Flip in the past so he can be with her.  This little romance is appropriate for older kids, but I edited out a few sentences for Ben. (I couldn't do this with Lorelei, who corrects me when I'm reading!

Yesterday I took the kids to the bookstore and let them choose two books or games (or, in Kiefer's case, a mean-looking Lego policeman alarm clock…something that this smiley child who wakes up around 5:30 most mornings definitely does NOT need…).  Ben went right to the "G" area of "Middle Grade Fiction" to see which books from the Baseball Card Adventure series were there.  Only one: Babe & Me.  "That's the one I wanted!" Ben exclaimed with Willy-Wonka gold ticket excitement.

So, looks like I'll soon be reporting back about Babe, too…!

President Taft is Stuck in the Bath by Mac Barnett

President Taft is Stuck in the Bath by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen

Rating: 4.5 stars

This is a book for kids who are completely SURE, absolutely POSITIVE, completely CONFIDENT that they hate books.  Because I dare--triple dog dare!--those kids to keep their arms folded in disgust and resist picking up this book.  It is just too big an invitation to partake in serious silliness.

You know the story: President Taft was a hefty fellow who allegedly got stuck in his own bathtub.  Poor guy, his most embarrassing moment is what parents and educators use to lure our kids into learning more about Presidents of the past...

Mac Barnett has taken that simple allegation and transformed a wild and silly romp of a story about Taft's time in the tub and how he gets out.  "Is this true?!" Lorelei and Ben asked, over and over, as we read the book.  They were reacting less to the story than the fantastic, colorful, hilarious illustrations created by one of our favorite illustrators, Chris Van Dusen.

According to this story, which I explained to my kids was "inspired by a true story," President Taft calls in different people to help him out, and they all have solutions to match their expertise.  The Secretary of Agriculture churns butter to help grease him out (Taft quips: "As soon as I'm out of the bath, I'll need a bath!"). The Secretary of State suggests a diet.  ("Blast it! I need something fast!") In each of these meetings, President Taft is naked in a surely cold bubble bath, his chubbiness exposed to those in the room and those reading the book.

Finally, with a big heave-ho, seven people pull him out and he catapults through the window, finally free but still very naked.  Bubbles help protect the innocent readers…  As everyone congregates and congratulates on the White House lawn, Taft meekly requests his bathrobe.

A wild and funny book, for sure!


(Confession:  To be honest, I really dislike watching embarrassing things.  There was a touch of that in the book for me, and I also felt a little badly hearing my kids laugh at a man's obesity.  I know, I know…way to bring a party down, Kate…!)

The Tree Lady by H. Joseph Hopkins

The Tree Lady: The True Story of How One Tree-Loving Woman Changed a City Forever by H. Joseph Hopkins, illustrated by Jill McElmurry

Rating: 5 stars

Katherine Olivia Sessions lived in Northern California in the 1860s.  In a time when girls were supposed to be prim and proper, clean and courteous, Kate roamed the redwoods, collected pine needles, and got dirty.

(Don't you like her already?)

She was one of few girls interested in science, and she left home to study plants and soil and water at the University of California.  In 1881, she and a handful of other women held a degree in science.

(Hooray for Kate!)

She moved to Southern California, to San Diego, for a job after graduation.  Unlike her childhood in the north, she was now surrounded by desert and a landscape without trees.  She was a teacher at a local school for a few years, but missed science.  She missed trees, too.  She became determined to find trees to grow in her new home. Few believed this was possible.

(Kate had determination and faith and smarts…enough to solve any problem.)

Her friends worried Kate wouldn't find trees to live in dry
soil with lots and lots of sunshine.
But she did.

It took years of tree hunting to find trees that would grow, but found trees, planted trees, and then opened a nursery to sell trees. All of the trees grew, enriched the landscape, and made city leaders believe that Balboa Park needed trees to become a better setting for a fair that would soon be held there. They turned to Kate, and Kate turned to the community for volunteers to help.  Together, they planted trees and created a lush backdrop for the fair.

I admit that I got this book and a few others like it at the start of Lorelei's nature science camp as further inspiration for her curiosity and interest in the camp.  I read a while back that around the age of seven, girls have a significant decline in their interest of science and math.  Something happens, and I'm not expert enough to understand the nuances of how girls act in school in these subjects in most schools, or what happens psychologically as girls develop and approach things that are Typically Boy and Typically Girl.

But.

I do know that I have a daughter who gasped at the cover of this book and said, "That could be me!" before even opening it.  She identified with Kate Sessions; both girls find solace and wonder among nature and trees.  Both are curious and capable, and care enough about things besides themselves to make a difference in others' lives.  So yes, I want this book lying around to quietly and beautifully remind Lorelei: Individuals matter.  And girls can do great things.

(I believe that Lorelei can.  And will!)

Thomas Jefferson: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Everything by Maira Kalman

Thomas Jefferson: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Everything by Maira Kalman

Rating: 2 stars

It's never a good sign when you wait until the day a book is due to read it.

For a bunch of small reasons, this new book about a President I respect a whole lot sure didn't work for me.  I know why it didn't get much attention from Lorelei (who, besides me, is the main reader of this type of nonfiction picture book in our house): there is no story. I know that she read it, but there is no tale or rise and fall and resolution pattern that is what is usually needed to grab a child's interest.

I know this next reason I didn't like it is a random quibble, but the font is also a very strange choice: it's a mix between Times New Roman and a casual, handwritten-like font that includes a whole lot of cursive.  In schools around us, cursive is taught in third grade.  But this is a book allegedly aimed for 5 to 8 year olds.  Hmm.

Thomas Jefferson: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Everything is, basically, a long list of the things in which Thomas Jefferson was interested.  Though Kalman never uses this term, it is an explanation of how he was a renaissance man.  He read on many subjects, spoke half a dozen languages, cared for his farm, designed his own house, practiced the violin three hours a day, wound the clock in his kitchen daily.

Monticello, which means "Little Mountain" in Italian

Kalman also boldly includes how Jefferson, who wrote how horrid slavery was, also owned slaves.  She even--this surprised me very much--talks about how, after his beloved wife died, he allegedly "had children with the beautiful Sally Hemings," one of his slaves.

Kalman includes her own parenthetical musings every few sentences.  After she paraphrases one of Thomas Jefferson's long-winded quotations as "Don't be lazy," she includes "(It is boring to be lazy.)" After she reports that Thomas Jefferson's favorite vegetable was peas, she includes "Peas are really wonderful and fun to count." After explaining how Thomas Jefferson had fierce tribal shields on his walls that could give you nightmares she writes "(Ugh. Nightmares. Why do we have them?)"

I'm baffled by this book.