Winter Pony

Lawrence, Iain. Winter Pony.

A white pony is taken from the wild and used in Robert Scott's 1910 expedition to reach the South Pole before his rival Amundsen. The conditions are brutal, but after several years with horse breakers who are very cruel, James Pigg, as the horse is called by the men on the expedition, is pleased to be treated kindly and ready to work hard for the men. In alternating sequences, the preparations and progress of the two explorers are detailed. The horses and men all battle the elements the best they are able, but the end result is grim and death-filled.

Strengths: The South Pole exploration is certainly a great story of survival and battling the elements, and I can't think of too many other stories on the subject. We live in a world where there are very few frontiers left to conquer, so reading a story of one such adventure from the point of view of a horse involved is innovative and interesting. I didn't think about this title originally for my survival readers, but it will be great for them.

Weaknesses: Hesitate to give this to horse-loving girls, since so many horses die! There's something about Lawrence's work that I have trouble connecting with. I can't promote his Wreckers books as much as one of our teachers does.

On a totally unrelated note, I am feeling rather pleased with myself. I've managed to have a post up on at least one book every single day since January 1!This is partly due to the fact that after six years I figured out how to schedule posts, which has been a tremedous help. This past weekened I really didn't read anything but a few short nonfiction books because I was too busy celebrating birthdays, working in the garden, and generally enjoying the decent weather. I don't find blogging stressful, and I certainly read enough to have new content most days, but it is nice to be able to take a day off now and then and still have something new for my loyal readers out there!

The Georges and the Jewels

I don't know how I missed this Jane Smiley horse series, but once I read True Blue, I knew that I would have to buy all of the books.


Smiley, Jane. The Georges and the Jewels. (#1)(2009)

Abby loves working on her family's horse farm in a small California town in the 1960s. She struggles with her father's insistence that she not become attached to the horses because the only way the family can survive is to train them and sell them. This explains the weird title-- all the male horses are called "George" and the females "Jewel". Abby's father is also extremely religious, to the extent that he has driven off Abby's older brother and is often at odds with what Abby is experiencing out in the wider world. Middle school is tough-- Abby must work very hard on the farm, and often goes to school smelling a bit of horses, so the snobs give her a hard time, and she has the typical middle school problems with her friends. When one of the horses she is working with is deemed untrainable by her father, Abby is afraid that the horse will be put down, so she overcomes her fear of him to make him into a horse her father can sell.
Strengths: LOTS of horse riding and ranch life details. THe horses mentioned all have distinct personality, which appeals to girls who love horses.
Weaknesses: Not much happens, and the descriptions of religion and religious life are a bit too strong and not really interesting.

Smiley, Jane. A Good Horse.(2010)
Abby is used to losing horses to new homes, but this time she may lose two. Black George is showing so well that he is sure to sell if Abby can continue to make him look good in the ring. Jack, a horse she rescued, is the foal of a stolen mare, and may be taken away from her as well. Abby continues to struggle with fitting in with her friends at school, although she enjoys being part of a play reading group, even though her mother is a bit disapproving of reading Shakespeare. When it looks like the man who owned the stolen mare is definitely going to take Jack back, Abby has to rely on her faith to get her through.

Strengths: Again, horse details can't be beat. Lots of information about equipment, training, showing, and qualities of horses.

Weaknesses: While these books are great for girls who are horse fanatics, I found them tough going as just stories. Abby's family was so strictly religious, and the events that do occur are very mundane.

While we're on the topic of animals, and have religious  characters in the books above,  I have to mention Rosoff's There is No Dog, mainly because it's gotten a lot of blog love, and people might buy it without reading it. If you are purchasing for a middle school library, I would read this before adding it to your collection. While I am all for being edgy and giving the Establishment philosophical wedgies, I don't think that young adult literature, and certainly not middle grade, is the proper forum. The reviews I have read think this is brilliant because it reimagines God as a teenage boy who is interested in a girl, and the problems that arise because of this. Okay, kind of clever. Still, I am the least religious person imaginable, and even I was vaguely offended by this: "God is dreaming of soapy sex with his fantasy girlfriend while the rest of the world drowns in the bathwater. His bathwater." (page 5). Use your own judgement.

Nonfiction Monday--Little Rock Girl

Nonfiction Monday was started by Anastasia Suen and is hosted this week at The Children's War. Stop by to see a great list of nonfiction reviews.

Tougas, Shelley. Little Rock Girl 1957: How a Photograph Changed the Fight for Integration.
EARC from Netgalley.com
Elizabeth Eckford knew that starting Central High School would not be easy for her or the other eight black students who were enrolling in the fall of 1957, but she might not have realized the impact that one photograph taken of her would have on the people who saw it. Starting with the circumstances under which the picture on the cover was taken, this book explores various aspects of the Central High School integration, from media coverage (including the man who took the photograph) to the long range implications of the event on the people involved as well as the nation in general. Well illustrated with period photographs, this offers an easier to read overview of the Little Rock events than Magoon’s Today the World is Watching You, which was completely excellent but a little too long. Students who read this book might want to go on to read Magoon’s wonderful book.
Strengths: The pictures reveal so much about the world of this time, and will help students understand the events a little better. Having one small moment, such as this picture, to focus on helps make a little more sense of a complicated event.
Weaknesses: The chronology goes back and forth a little more than I would like, being a very linear thinker, but makes sense given the way the book is laid out.

I have a large order of nonfiction books in the works, since the language arts classes are going towards the common core and reading less fiction. I'm trying to balance between titles that coordinate with the curriculum and those that will circulate well.

Landau, Elaine. American Quarter Horses Are My Favorite!
EARC from Netgalley.com

I would love to have the entire series of My Favorite Horses from Lerner Publications. This one was well illustrated, had a great diagram with the parts of a horse labeled, and had realistic information about owning a horse and taking care of one. However, at $17 for 24 pages, I don't think I will be buying any of these. I also want The Best Dogs Ever series; I've already read the Yorkshire Terrier and Poodle ones to Sylvie. Capstone has a series on horses that come in at 32 page each, but I want at least 64 pages of information for that price. Oh, well. I think the public library has them. Need to encourage students to get cards.

True Blue and randomness

Smiley, Jane. True Blue. (Sequel to The Georges and the Jewels and A Good Horse)
Abby Lovitt’s family lives on a California ranch in the 1960s. When a friend who runs a stable ends up with the horse belonging to a woman killed in a car accident, she offers the horse and its fittings to Abby, who gladly takes them. True Blue is a good horse, and well-trained, though apt to spook. The horse is a good addition to the family’s stables, and Abby gives lessons and goes to school, but is plagued by the ghost of the dead owner. Abby imagines seeing this ghost all over the farm. Abby breaks her arm, the family suffers some illnesses, but the activities of the stable continue and eventually Abby realizes there is no ghost.
Strengths: Don’t know how I missed this series, but will definitely be buying it. I have had a few girls who really like horses, and most of my horse books are really old! I really enjoyed the Elaine Clayton illustrations.
Weaknesses: The ghost story is rather weak, and the 1960s setting doesn’t really add anything to the story. There were also too many church details for my taste-- they slowed down the story.

Brocket, Jane. The Gentle Art of Domesticity.

Okay. Really, I was looking at a catalog for middle grade books and saw Spotty, Stripy, Swirly. Since I am always looking for good nonfiction, I investigated further at my public library (which didn't have any of the Jane Brock's Clever Concept Books from Lerner at all.) and found this. Which I had to have, for no particularly good professional reason.

I enjoyed it, but it made me feel a little bad. I've been quilting for 30 years, and knitting for 43 and could have done a blog like Yarnstorm and earned my living doing fun things like knitting tea cozies. Or, at the very least, have had a better blog name. Man. One of my big regrets.

I realized that I spend a HUGE amount of time reading, to the exclusion of doing the crossword, caring what the house looks like once it is clean and clutter free, talking to my children, and knitting.

So I knit a sweater for Sylvie. Really, it's only practical. When you are that low to the ground, if it snows, you end up with icy armpits.

Horses and Unicorns

Morpurgo, Michael. War Horse.
Albert's horse Joey is the delight of his life, so when his drunken father sells Joey to the army to help in World War I, Albert vows to find his friend. Joey travels widely-- he is sent to France to the front lines, where he befriends another horse and manages to survive many of his riders. He spends some time with a French family, hauls wagons for the Germans, and eventually ends up with an English unit again.

There are few books written about WWI, which always surprises me, since it was such a pivotal war from the point of view of weaponry, and was so devastating. This book is a good balance between descriptions of fighting, which the boys want to read, and details of how harrowing the every day life was and how difficult fighting in a battle really is. I was afraid that a book from the horse's point of view would be difficult to read ( like Kadohata's Cracker: The Best Dog in Vietnam), but Joey's perspectives are largely human. The scene where a German and English soldier flip a coin to see who gets Joey sent chills down my spine, and I must admit that I cried at the end (which was happier than one would suspect). I have this author's Private Peaceful, and do so wish that more of his titles made it to the US.

McKenzie, Nancy. Guinevere's Gamble. (Sequel to Guinevere's Gift)
Guinevere is still more interested in riding horses and meeting with Llyr, her guardian from the old ones, than she is in being a lady or marrying well, although her cousin Elaine is distraught at the marriage of King Arthur. When the two get a chance to visit the king, they're thrilled, but the king's sister, Morgan, takes a dislike to Gwen and makes things difficult for Llyr. Royal politics, intrigue abound in this excellent twist on Arthurian legend. One confusing point-- Guenwyvar of Ifray, the bride of Arthur, whom I do not remember from The Once and Future King. Gwen also marries Arthur, as a nice note in the back points out, and there are two more books coming in this series.

Coville, Bruce. Dark Whispers. (The Unicorn Chronicles, Book 3)
Warning: It helps to reread Song of the Wanderer (1999) and Into the Land of the Unicorns (1994) to get up to speed. Considering that I read both of those almost 3,500 books ago, most of my time was spent figuring out the characters and different worlds. This will not matter to students, who will also be eager for the conclusion to the series, The Last Hunt, due out 1 June 2010.

Beloved is still hunting unicorns because she thinks one killed her father, but Ian, Cara's father, has decided the unicorns are not evil and is trying to find Cara and free his wife from the Rainbow Prison, where Beloved has imprisoned her. Beloved is also trying to take over Luster, the land where the unicorns live. This is high fantasy, and very intense, but can't be beat for the unicorn lore.