Readalong: The High Wire Edition

A few years ago, I started a series called Readalongs. It fell to the wayside a bit, but I recently read a book that brought it right back to the forefront of my mind. 

As you probably know, I have two littles (10 and 5, respectively). It's fun to read beloved childhood classics with the kids in your life. But it can be even more fun is to pair books for kids and adults that have the same kind of stories. So, welcome to volume 3 of Readalongs!

Mirette on the High Wire was one of my favorite books as a little girl and I've read it with both of my children. Mirette lives with her mother in a boardinghouse. They often get interesting boarders, but Mirette is particularly intrigued by a sad man who used to be a famous high wire walker. She is determined to find out what happened to him and to convince him to teach her to walk the wire.

Older readers can find that love of high wire walking in Girl on a Wire by Gwenda Bond. Jules Maroni is a proud member of a circus family. But when the join the Cirque American, she discovers there is very bad history between the Maroni family and the Garcia family. Jules finds cursed objects in her costume and trailer and things start to go terribly wrong. Can she figure out who is trying to destroy the Maroni name and make her fall from the wire? 

Whether you are a kid or an adult, there is something alluring about living among the magic of the circus and climbing up to walk the wire each night. Are there other books about high rope walkers that you love?

            

Other Readalongs:
The Fox Edition
The Pirate Ship Time Travel Edition 

Readalong: The Fox Edition

Readalongs is a new feature here at Literary Lindsey. As you probably know, I have two littles (8 and 3, respectively). It's fun to read beloved childhood classics with the kids in your life. But it can be even more fun is to pair books for kids and adults that have the same kind of stories. So, welcome to volume 2 of Readalongs!


This is Sadie is written by Sara O'Leary and illustrated by Julie Morstad. This picture book follows a small girl through her day as she imagines herself on all sorts of adventures. She knows that the best way to spend a day is inside a story, whether she is reading one or using her imagination to make one from scratch.

Mr. Fox by Helen Oyeyemi is also a book about imagination. Our protagonist is St. John Fox, a novelist with a propensity for killing off his female protagonists before the final page. He has (of course) named his artistic muse Mary Foxe and she inspires him to put pen to the page...until she comes to life and forces him to reevaluate his writing and his relationships.

Both books use imagery of foxes throughout. Sadie loves foxes and careful readers will see that her stuffed fox and fox mask make several appearances throughout the book. In Mr. Fox, the names of the characters are obviously references. But foxes will make a few more appearances in the stories that St. John and Mary create.

The second similarity is that both books are about the nature and magic of story. Sadie boasts that she is never bored, because there is so much to do. She loses herself in the stories of Mowgli, Alice, and other beloved fairy tales. She has wings (of course) and proclaims that she loves to spend her days with her friends, both real and fictional. St. John is a writer, a creator of stories. Oyeyemi's novel looks at the responsibilities of a writer for his characters and tales and the ways that authors are irrevocably connected to their stories.


               

Readalongs: Pirate Ship Time Travel Edition

Readalongs is a new feature here at Literary Lindsey. As you probably know, I have two littles (8 and 3, respectively). It's fun to read beloved childhood classics with the kids in your life. But it can be even more fun is to pair books for kids and adults that have the same kind of stories. So, welcome to volume 1 of Readalongs!


The Map to Everywhere is recommended for children in grades 4-6, but my 2nd grader had no trouble with it. This story features Fin and Marrill, who team up to find a pirate map. They both want to use the map to get back to their families. My son said, "I think that both books have a lot of magic in them. They are just unbelievable. And the main characters (named Fin and Marrill) are. just. CRAZY AWESOME! Don't let this ship set sail without you!"

Grownups can find adventure traveling through time and space on a pirate ship too with The Girl From Everywhere. Nix has spent a lifetime traveling with her father. If he has a map of a place, he can travel there regardless of the year or location of the map. While she loves their life of travel, she knows that there is danger around every corner. The greatest danger may come from her own father, who is determined to find a map of 1868 Honolulu. He wants to be save his wife's life, but Nix wonders if that will mean she is never born.

This book has a lot of strengths. Nix is a great protagonist and she responds with all the fire and determination you want to see in an adventure. Ms. Heilig also does a great job of creating a sense of place; I would read all day about her descriptions of Hawaii, New York City, and the other places the crew visits. The story does feel a bit long in places, though. There are some really fascinating secondary characters that I would have liked to spend more time with, specifically the rest of the ship's crew. If you are a reader who loves journeying to new and exciting places in a book and you don't mind another love triangle in your YA novel, this would be a great book for you!

The best news about these two books? The Map to Everywhere already has a sequel, and another Girl From Everywhere book should be out next year!


               

Headstrong: The First Post

Happy Friday, everyone! I'm reading Headstrong: 52 Women Who Changed Science - and the World as part of the readalong at Doing Dewey Decimal. The book is written sort of like an encyclopedia, with a few pages about each woman. I feel like I am learning a lot, although I am so frustrated that this is the first time I'm hearing about the majority of these scientists.

The encyclopedia-like format is a great way to learn, but I'm finding it hard to keep track of who did what. In an effort to combat that a little bit, I've started telling my eight year old about some of these women. Teaching someone else is a really good way to retain information and I'm glad to know my son will know about scientists besides Einstein and Tesla.

The first few sections are about scientists who worked in the fields of medicine, biology, the environment, and genetics and development. Mary Putnam Jacobi disproved the idea that women couldn't work in science because of their periods, Alice Ball figured out a way to successfully deliver medication to patients with leprosy, Helen Taussig was the first pediatric cardiologist, and of course, Virgina Apgar was the scientist who determined that babies needed to be examine after birth and the namesake of the Apgar Test. Mary Anning was an early paleontologist, Ellen Swallow Richards fought for safe drinking water and healthy cooking, Rita Levi-Montalcini studied the spinal cord and nervous system, and Ann McClaren was a pioneer of in vitro fertilization.

Here are the discussion questions for this week:

1. What did you think of the obit beginning with Brill’s domestic accomplishments?                                                                                                                  I think it was really striking to see a literal rocket scientist celebrated for her parenting and cooking skills instead of her scientific accomplishments. It's horrifying, but I think it really exemplifies how women's accomplishments are ignored or credited to their male counterparts. 
2. How do you like the vignette style of this book?                                                                                                                                        It's a great way to dispense a lot of information, but I find myself forgetting the names of the women or exactly what each one did. I feel like I need to take some serious notes, just like cramming for a test in high school or college.                                                                      
3. Do you have a favorite story so far? If so, which one and why?                                             I don't think I have a favorite, but I am thrilled to be learning about so many amazing women and the incredible things they accomplished. I can definitely see having my daughter read this some day (you know, when she's older than 2 and can actually read...). 
4. Do you think something should be done today about the many female scientists who are known not to have received the credit they were due in their time, from paper authorships to Nobel prizes?                                                    Sure, although I'm not sure what that would be. I think, unfortunately, a superior taking credit for the work of someone else in their department is still pretty commonplace in the sciences and other fields.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    What do you think about the way women in the sciences have been treated? Do you have a favorite female scientist we should all be reading about?           

Hamilton Readalong: Chapters 1 - 5

 

 

I have to confess I was a bit nervous. I hadn't read anything by Chernow before, and a part of me thought that maybe Lin-Manuel had created a musical diamond from a coal sort of book. But I didn't need to worry. Even if I wasn't Hamilton obsessed, this is the kind of nonfiction I love.

Ron Chernow has done his research. It's really interesting to see the ways that the book and the musical diverge. For example, in the show, Hamilton meets his bffs Laurens, Mulligan, and Lafayette all at once. In real life, those meetings were quite spaced out. Even the best biographers can't uncover everything. There is a fair amount of "Hamilton and Laurens might have been in love" or "Hamilton either lied about his age or we are wrong about his birth year." Either way, I am learning new things on every page and doing that obnoxious thing where I read passages aloud to my husband.

This is evident in the musical too, but Chernow really delves into the ways Hamilton was a man made by both circumstance and personality. He happened to meet a lot of people who helped him out, but he kept impressing them by being so stinking smart and determined.

Also, a million kudos to Chernow for starting the book with Eliza. It is inspired for AHam and Eliza to have almost equal footing in the musical, but Chernow gets original credit for knowing how awesome she is.

Favorite line so far? "He had all the magnetic power of a mysterious foreigner and soon made his first friend: a fashionable tailor with the splendid name of Hercules Mulligan." Why, yes it is.  

Thank you, Miss Alice, for this most excellent readalong. On to the next chapters!