Review of
Manners in Public,
by Carrie Finn ISBN 9781404831537
Five out of five stars
There are many
simple ways in which a person can grease the operations of social cohesion, many
of them are called “manners.” This book covers many of the basic ones, such as
saying “please” and “thank you” to others. Other simple actions are taking your
proper place in line in public places, staying quiet in educational places such
as libraries and museums and always putting your trash into the proper receptacle.
Written at the
level of the early elementary school student and illustrated with people that
have large round heads with long and extremely skinny necks, this is a book
that will start the child on the road to being a good and kindly citizen.
Something that there can never be enough of.
Review of
Dolley Madison Saves George Washington,
by Don Brown ISBN 9780544582446
Five out of five stars
Courageous when others were not
One of the
unverified statements of history is that Zachary Taylor was the first person to
use the term “First Lady” to describe Dolley Madison, the wife of President
James Madison. The phrase supposedly appeared in Taylor’s eulogy of Dolley Madison,
one of the most popular presidential wives of all time. She was elegant,
dignified and worthy of the role.
However, this book
is about her courage and resilience. When the British were marching on
Washington, D. C. in 1814, the soldiers that were assigned to guard the capitol
had all fled, along with nearly everyone else. When a messenger on a horse came
charging in and said the British would be there shortly, she did not panic.
Instead she ordered men to break the frame holding the painting of George Washington
and entrusted the painting to two leading citizens. Only then did she leave Washington
to be burned by the British forces.
Dolley
disguised herself as a simple farm girl so that she could successfully evade
the British and avoid negative comments from Americans sick of the war. Once
the war was over, she went back to being elegant and dignified. One of the most
impressive women of American history, this book describes her courage under
fire, both literally and figuratively.
Review of
Noah Webster & His Words,
by Jeri Chase Ferris ISBN 9780544582422
Five out of five stars
The subject
matter of this book makes it highly educational, for it is something obvious
after the fact. Yet it is a topic that is rarely considered. It is the
existence of a unified system of how words are to be spelled and defined.
Noah Webster
was the author of the first comprehensive dictionary of American English and it
was responsible for codifying how words were written and used. Some of the most
popular dictionaries are still written under his name hundreds of years after
the publication of the first one. If you allow for the regular revisions,
Webster’s dictionary is the second most popular book ever printed in English.
This story of
Webster’s life and ambitions is very well written and illustrated. He was a man
with a mission, it took him decades to complete his dictionary, the first
edition was not published until 1828, after twenty years of editing and
proofreading. Yet, he always knew that he was writing a classic, a book that
generations of students would rely on and sometimes grow to hate. There were
many times when I was in elementary school that the teacher would tell us, “Look
in the dictionary.” Add this book to the list of those that are must reads for
elementary school children.
Review of
The Road Warrior,
starring Mel Gibson
Five out of five stars
This remains
one of the best action/disaster movies of all time. The climactic chase scene with
orchestrated mayhem involving all of the vehicles still amazes me after seeing
it more times than I have fingers and toes. I also consider it Mel Gibson’s
greatest performance as Mad Max, a man with apparently no heart and a killer
that remains an honorable man.
The setting is the
Australian outback in a post-apocalyptic world where brutal gangs rule,
pillaging and destroying all that is not part of their organization. Gasoline
is called “juice” and is the most precious commodity. Multiple lives will be
spent in order to acquire a few gallons.
The ultimate prize
is a permanent location over an oil well where the inhabitants are refining and
storing the fuel. A gang led by a man called Lord Humungus has the site under
siege and time is running out on the inhabitants. Their goal is to break out
and travel over 2,000 miles to a place of fresh water and greenery. To them, it
is paradise.
Even though the
performance of Gibson is first rate, the roles of the supporting characters are
strong and at times more effective than Gibson. Bruce Spence plays the gyro
captain, a man that flies a gyrocopter powered by a VW engine that is
air-cooled, which reduces the weight. While he is not much of a warrior, he is easily
overpowered by Max, he remains a man with a sense of humor and is in his own
way very capable. One of the best scenes is when he wipes his mouth in the
manner of a fine diner after eating dog food out of a can.
Another strong
performance is put in by Vernon Wells as Wez, a psychotic member of the
Humungus gang. When his boy toy is killed, he goes out of control to the point
that Humungus puts him in chains. To many, the most memorable character is the
Feral Kid, a young boy that lives near the permanent compound, communicates by
grunts and growls, moves in and out of the compound via tunnels and sports a
deadly metal boomerang.
This is a movie
that you can watch many times and suddenly spot a feature that you never noticed
before. As someone that has studied ways in which civilization can be restored
after a global disaster, I pay attention to ways in which the good side could
better fight back against the Humungus gang. A gasoline bomb catapult always
comes to mind.
Review of
Alice in Wonderland: An Illustrated
Journey Through Time, by Mark Salisbury ISBN 9781484737699
Five out of five stars
This is not a
history of the story of what is probably the most well-known fictional
character, it is a more targeted history of how she has been portrayed in Disney
productions. Using text and images that are both live and animated, the author
tells the story of how the original idea of making an animated Alice movie came
about and how the portrayals evolved and developed through several iterations.
The early days
of Disney are explained, when times were lean, and it was uncertain whether there
would ever be any Alice production at all. It is impossible not to be impressed
by the quality of the artwork. The reader also learns some of the specific
details of animation, there are images of live characters performing the
actions that will eventually be carried out in animation.
For example, on
page 77 there is a picture of a young actress playing large Alice inside the White
Rabbit’s home. On page 76 there is an image of two dancers performing
live-action reference footage for the Tweedledum and Tweedledee dance sequence.
This is an
excellent book about the history and technical aspects of the production of the
Alice movies by the Disney company. Some aspects of it could serve as instructional
material for courses in the making of animated movies.
Review of
Shoeless Joe & Me, by Dan Gutman ISBN
9780064472593
Five out of five stars
One of the
great unfortunate events of major league baseball is the case of the man known
as Shoeless Joe Jackson. While he was otherwise intelligent, he was completely illiterate
to the point of not even being able to sign his name. Yet, he was likely one of
the most naturally talented players of all time. His throwing arm may have been
the best to ever appear, there are confirmed legends as to how far he could
throw a baseball.
Even though no
one ever made a credible claim that Jackson did anything to throw the 1919
World Series, he was caught up in the scandal and banned from baseball for
life. His “crime” was having knowledge of the attempt to lose and not reporting
it. Which was incorrect, for he did report it to the owner of the White Sox at
the time, the notorious tightwad Charles Comiskey.
This story once
again has the title character (Joe Stoshack) capable of traveling back and
forth through time by clutching period baseball cards. His subject this time is
Shoeless Joe Jackson and his actual role in the Black Sox scandal. It is a
great history of this event, anyone with knowledge of the case understands that
a great injustice was done to Joe Jackson and he deserves to be in the baseball
Hall of Fame.
The Gutman
books are an excellent way to learn baseball history, they set aside the legends
and deal with the facts of the players. If you don’t come away from reading
this book thinking that Joe Jackson should be in the Hall of Fame, then you
have no heart. For it is clear that he was an innocent man caught up in a storm
of “throwing the rascals out.”
Review of
The First Strawberries,
by Joseph Bruchac ISBN 9780425287477
Five out of five stars
This Cherokee
fable is retold in a delightful and informative way. It has an Adam and Eve
type plot, but with a happy ending, even though it involves a fruit, specifically
strawberries. It opens with the sentence, “Long ago when the world was new, the
Creator made a man and a woman.”
When the man
comes home from hunting and supper is not ready because the woman is picking
flowers, he is angry. As a consequence, the woman simply walks away at a rapid
pace. Unable to match her speed, the man falls behind and the sun takes pity on
him. After several tries with known fruits and berries, the sun creates a new
fruit, the strawberry. Unable to resist the temptation, the woman stops to pick
and eat. All is forgiven and from that point on the Cherokee have a new source
of seasonal fruit.
The artwork is excellent,
and the text is written at the level of early elementary school. This book
would be an excellent addition to elementary school libraries, and I would have
read it to my daughter when she was young.
