Review of
Daddy’s Little Girl: For Dads and Little
Girls of All Ages, by Donna Reed
Five out of five stars
This
heartwarming story is a common one. A loving father is forced to work long hours
in order to pay the bills and therefore his daughter rarely sees him as she is
growing up. It is something that is always foremost in her mind and she is now
older.
Forty years
have passed, and she has acquired two tickets to the University of Iowa versus
Purdue University basketball game. Instead of asking a friend, she calls up her
dad and asks him to go with her. He agrees and their sharing of the activity
rekindles and reinforces a bond between them.
The story then
quite correctly points out that little girls of all ages need much more than
food on the table and a better way of life. However, this point of emphasis
does leave a bit of reality behind. It is easy to point this out, yet for many
it is much harder to carry it out. For a large number of people, not working
those extra hours means that decisions have to be made regarding what bill is
not paid that month.
This book was
published in 1994 and for the majority of people in the United States, their
wages have stagnated since then. It is not their fault and they are often faced
with two options. Bankruptcy or working longer and harder. Loving parents will
always choose the latter.
Review of
Child Ward of the Commonwealth,
by Eileen Cleary ISBN 9781599487465
Four out of five stars
One of the
realities of the world is that there are some children that simply should not
remain in the custody of their parents. Almost anything is better than the
environment they are living in. Unfortunately, the alternatives that they often
find themselves in are not much better. While most have improved from the
conditions many years ago, orphanages are still in general rather dismal
places. Granted that foster care is generally better, it can often be a stark
existence where the child is tolerated rather than loved and cared for.
The author of
this collection of poems had a childhood that was an incident of that reality,
and the short segments of verse describe some of her experiences. There is
nothing horrific such as an explicit sexual assault documented in this
collection, although it is clear that there was the potential. Many of the
poems describe an emptiness, the child survives to adulthood, yet the childhood
years were not ones of happiness and healthful play.
For example,
the short poem on page 31:
“We carry, like a dead baby, our unfinished love. A
thing outlived. Holy. Yet dreadful. Through awkward centuries of November,
shapeless days assemble.”
The poems in
this collection are not uplifting, or even a song of triumph over childhood adversity.
They are metaphorical allusions to a childhood that is remembered, but not
fondly.
Review of
The Joys of a Simple Life,
by Elmarie Novak
Four out of five stars
The author grew
up in the area of Spillville, Iowa and this book is a collection of short
recollections she has of her life in the years 1924-1934. She is of Czech
Catholic heritage, which is fitting for Spillville is the home of the oldest
Czech Catholic Church in the United States. Her family lived on a farm and
while they had a personal electric power system run by batteries and a
recharging generator, the house was heated by woodburning stoves and water was
derived from cisterns for storage and hand pumps for delivery.
Like all such
farm families, the people worked very hard, yet they always ate very well and
enjoyed life. There was a tight bond of family and community among the people,
one of the essays is about when an entire family was stricken with the flu and quarantined.
The author’s family did their farm chores as well as those of the stricken
family and bought their groceries, setting them on the porch in order to avoid physical
contact.
Like the title,
the writing is also fairly simple, there are errors and some repetition. Yet,
the points are well made, although they lacked a lot, the family and the
community described in this book had many things that modern people no longer
have. I would describe their lives as “uncomplicated” rather than simple.
Review of
On the Ropes: A Novel,
by James Vance and Dan E. Burr ISBN 9780393351224
Five out of five stars
This graphic
novel is based on a lot of history, much of which is no longer heavily
emphasized in the educational curricula. The setting is the United States in
1937, where the Depression is still heavy and even the employed struggle to
make ends meet. Large corporations do not hesitate to hire thugs to beat up
union organizers and some of those doing the beating wore police and National
Guard uniforms. Major newspapers, the only real mass media outlet at the time,
often took the side of the companies, claiming that people fighting for a union
and decent wages were “Reds,” the common term for communists at the time.
The main
character is Fred Bloch, a young man that lost his leg in a train accident and
has found what passes for a home in a traveling circus funded by the WPA. He is
apprenticed to Gordon Corey, an escape artist that has shackles put on his arms,
a hangman’s rope around his neck and then at the count of five the trap door
under his feet is opened. Although Gordon is clearly a man on the edge of
self-destruction, he always manages to carry out his daring escape.
There is a
great deal of labor strife and Fred is associated with a national organization
of labor organizers. He is a message runner and is being stalked by two
ruthless men employed by the corporations. They will not hesitate to kill to
carry out their mission, and that includes the brutal slaughter of women that
go contrary to their wishes.
This is a tough
graphic novel, yet it revisits the days of the Depression when workers striking
for union recognition and higher pay were killed, some of which were women marching
in solidarity with the men. It is also important for the current generations to
understand that the Depression was an extremely tough time and standing up for your
worker rights could mean getting beaten or shot. It is a book that could be
used in history classes in order to provoke discussion and further research and
a reminder of the past struggles of labor.
Review of
Snap Me Perfect! The Darrell Porter Story,
by Darrell Porter with William Deerfield ISBN 0840753675
Four out of five stars
This
autobiography of Darrell Porter, an admitted alcoholic and drug addict, appears
to have a happy ending, as it ends with him clean and a born-again Christian.
Out of curiosity, I investigated his life after this book was written and
learned that he died in 2002 at the age of 50. An autopsy revealed a level of
cocaine in his body “consistent with recreational use.” Therefore, it is clear
that he was never able to defeat demon coke.
Although Porter
played 17 seasons in the major leagues and had some outstanding seasons, a
strong argument can be made that he would be in the Hall of Fame if he had not
been under the influence most of the time. In 1979 he led the majors with 121
walks and scored and batted in over 100 runs. Feats where the only other
catchers to accomplish them are in the Hall of Fame.
This would be a
better book of Porter had not descended to the level of seeking pity, often
blaming his father for being unloving. Some of that is no doubt due to the fact
that Porter never had to experience the issues of struggling for money. Many
children of working-class parents that struggle to make ends meet resent their
parents until they themselves are in that situation. Only then, do the appreciate
what their parents did and sacrificed for them. Porter signed for a major bonus
right out of high school, so lack of income was never an issue for him.
As you read
this book, you are amazed that Porter was able to function as a star at the
major league level. He claims that he strictly controlled his intake, but that
is a delusion that is easy to see through. He describes being so paranoid and
delusional that he kept a loaded shotgun near his bed and found conspiracies
against him in chance encounters with people.
A natural
athlete that was so gifted that he received multiple offers from NCAA football
powerhouses as a quarterback, Porter could have been one of the greatest of all
time. Yet, his significant feelings of insecurity and inadequacy were so strong
that they were the stepping-stone to his drug use in an attempt to cope. This book
is one that will make you sad, even more so because his story is not unique.
Review of
A Coloring Book of Ancient China,
Bellerophon Books ISBN 0883880776
Five out of five stars
This is both
educational and a challenging coloring book for adults. The images are from works
created in ancient China and are composed of many tiny details, giving the
artist an essentially infinite number of possibilities to develop. Most of the pictures
are copies of museum pieces and there is a short caption of text giving the message
of the image as well as the origin and current location.
There are many
ways in which to study history and learn about other cultures. While this book
is not for everyone, it certainly is a worthy object of study and artistic activity.
Review of
The Blue Ribbon Day,
by Katie Couric ISBN 0385501420
Five out of five stars
The theme of
this children’s book is how to bravely face failure and use it as a learning
experience and as a way to move on to other things that may be more suited to
your physical and mental skills. Ellie McSnelly and Carrie O’Toole are friends
at Brookhaven School. They get very excited when they see a sign announcing
tryouts for soccer.
When the
workout is in progress, Ellie demonstrates significant skills at the game while
Carrie has trouble making contact with the ball. When the roster is announced,
Ellie has made the team while Carrie has not. After shedding tears of
disappointment, Carrie decides to enter the school science fair. Her project is
the use of sugar solution to make blue rock candy, and her project does so well
that she wins a blue ribbon. Demonstrating to the reader that there are many
types of skills, what a person needs to do is discover which ones they have and
learn how to leverage them to success.
The text is
written in four-line segments, where lines 1 and 2 and then 3 and 4 rhyme. All rhymes
are simple and can be understood by the student in the middle of elementary
school. The illustrations are colorful and depict a lot of action with intense
facial expressions.
This is a good
book for children, the theme is about life and how the manner in which we face
and respond to disappointment determines whether we will be successful or not.
I strongly recommend it for all children.
