Finding Narnia: The Story of C.S. Lewis and His Brother by Caroline McAlister

Jack and Warnie were two brothers who were very different.  Jack used his imagination to create new worlds while Warnie preferred to create worlds that were like the real world and how it worked. Warnie would pretend to be an Indian raja whose world was like the real world with trains. Jack pretended he was a brave knight in a world ruled by a mouse king.

Despite their differences the two brothers were close and spent time playing together, often in each other's worlds.

When they moved to a new house, the two brothers discovered an old wardrobe in a room next to the attic. It smelled strongly of moth balls. Jack wondered, as he felt into the deep, large wardrobe, if it had no end!

When Jack and Warnie's mother became very ill, the two boys created their own imaginary world which they called Boxen. The brothers each created specific parts of Boxen's kingdom.

Sadly their mother died, leading their father to send them away to boarding school in England. Jack didn't like his time in England. Instead of being able to read, he spent much time working on math problems. When war came, both Jack and Warnie enlisted but were sent to separate regiments. After the war, while Warnie stayed with the army, Jack gave lectures as a teacher at Oxford. 

When Warnie retired from the army, he came to live with Jack in a spacious house that contained the same wardrobe from their home in Ireland, years ago.

When a second war broke out, the English sent their children to the countryside to be safe. To help the displaced children, Jack and Warnie took in two girls. One day while exploring their new home, the two girls found the wardrobe and wondered, "What was on the other side of the door?"

So did Jack! Soon his imagination was filed with ideas: a lamppost, a faun, two boys and two girls who entered a strange world through a wardrobe, a place covered in snow called Narnia and a white witch.

Discussion

Most readers know C.S. Lewis for his Chronicles of Narnia series or his many books exploring Christian and philosophical ideas including The Screwtape Letters and Mere Christianity.  In Finding Narnia, McAlister provides young readers with the background story of Lewis and how his love of imagination created one of the world's most beloved stories. 

Born Clive Staples Lewis in 1898, he adopted the name of Jacksie after the death of his beloved dog of the same name. Eventually that would be shortened to Jack. His older brother Warren Hamilton Lewis (Warnie) was Jack's best friend and childhood playmate.

As a child Jack loved fantasy and especially loved Beatrix Potter's stories. With Warnie he created a fantasy world called Boxen that featured talking animals but also Warnie's technology.  As a teenager, he read Norse and Greek mythology as well as Irish mythology. This love of fantasy and mythology led him to become a Fellow and Tutor of English Literature at Magdalen College. In 1954 he became the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Magdalen College at Cambridge University. 

Eventually, Jack would meet J.R.R. Tolkien, author of the Hobbit and creator of the Lord of the Rings saga and the world of Middle Earth. Jack, along with Warnie were members of a literary group called The Inklings that met at Oxford. Tolkien was to be a profound influence on Jack, helping him to rediscover Christianity and inspiring Jack to further develop his Narnia world. This is the one very important influence lacking in McAlister's account: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien's friendship was to result in two of the most important works of fiction written in the 20th century.

McAlister's picture book provides readers with the integral points about Jack and Warnie; their deep friendship that bound the two brothers together and their creativity and imagination that led Jack to write the Narnia stories. However, in her Author's Note, McAlister fleshes out the story of Jack and Warnie Lewis's lives in more detail, offering readers

McAlister's biography is illustrated with the watercolor artwork of Jessica Lanan. A unique feature of this picture book biography is the comprehensive Illustrator's Note at the back in which Lanan goes through each illustration and explains specific details. For example, on pages eight and nine, the famous wardrobe that inspired the magical wardrobe in the Narnia chronicles is portrayed. Lanan writes that although, "It is darker in color than I have depicted here, ...I tried to be true to the size and decoration of the original."

Finding Narnia is a great addition to any unit on C.S. Lewis and for those who are reading the Narnia Chronicles and may want to learn something about the author and how his imaginary world came to be.

Book Details:

Finding Narnia: The Story of C.S. Lewis and His Brother by Caroline McAlister
New York: Roaring Book Press     2019
39 pp.

Path To The Stars: My Journey From Girl Scout to Rocket Scientist by Sylvia Acevedo

Sylvia Acevedo is the current Chief Executive Officer of the Girl Scouts of the USA. She is also an accomplished engineer and businesswoman. In Path To The Stars, Sylvia tells her own story about growing up in New Mexico during the social changes of the 1960's and how she found her own path to the stars.

Sylvia was born in South Dakota while her father was stationed at Ellsworth Air Force Base. Her father's family was from Mexico but he had grown up in Texas and spoke fluent English. Her mother grew up in Parral, Mexico, in the the state of Chihuahua and could not speak English. For Sylvia's Mami, life with two small children in a strange country was lonely and very different.

When Sylvia's father was discharged from the army, her family moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico.There they moved in with her father's older sister, Tia Alma and her family. The home was crowded but filled with children to play with. Sylvia's father found work at New Mexico State University as a chemist in the physical science labs. Sylvia's mother, who had a sixth grade education, stayed at home to look after the children but also worked cleaning homes in El Paso, Texas.  Eventually Sylvia's family moved to another house on Solano Street. Her aunt, her mother's younger sister, Tia Angelica came to stay with them because her mother was expecting a baby. Soon, Sylvia's younger sister, Laura was born.

Shortly after Laura's birth, Sylvia's father was fired from his job because he did not take his work seriously and often made mistakes. He found a new job at the White Sands Missile Range as an analytical chemist, a job he took much more seriously.  The family moved again, this time to Griggs Street. In Las Cruces, Sylvia's Mami loved the close knit community and knew many of the families.

When Mario was six-years-old and Sylvia was four-years-old, they began taking lessons from Hermana Amelia Diaz who taught them English. Sylvia's Mami wanted them to be able to understand the language before they began attending Bradley Elementary School. Sylvia learned the Pledge of Allegiance, and learned to read in English but not Spanish.

Sadly, tragedy struck when Sylvia's younger sister Laura was only nineteen months old. She contracted meningitis and was hospitalized for months. Laura survived the illness and eventually returned home, but much changed. She had been a boisterous, happy child who chattered, but now she was quiet, withdrawn into her own world. Initially her vision had been affected by the meningitis, and she was unresponsive, unable to walk or talk. Although she would mostly recover, Laura's illness changed Sylvia's family in many ways. Her father stopped going to church, her mother decided to learn how to drive, reasoning that if she had been able to, they might have gotten Laura medical treatment sooner. Her mother also decided that they needed to move away from their poor neighborhood where the streets weren't paved, the houses close together with feral dogs wandering around.

Before attending Grade One at Bradley Elementary School in the fall, Sylvia was enrolled in the Head Start program, despite many neighbors being wary of the government program. However, Sylvia flourished in the program, learning to read books, and becoming a confident speaker to her classmates.

Sylvia's family moved again, this time across town to a house on Kay Lane in a neighborhood where everyone spoke English and there were few Mexicans. This move meant attending a new school, Alameda Elementary School where Sylvia found it difficult to fit in. Initially she was placed in the remedial grade two class, which shocked Sylvia even though she quickly moved out of the class. Sylvia found it difficult to make friends, feeling sad and fearful, afraid she would be moved back in class if she gave the wrong answer.  One aspect of attending school at Alameda was that Sylvia was not the only girl who played on the swings and monkey bars.

But Sylvia's life was about the take a very different path because of one classmate who reached out to her. One day after school, Sylvia was invited by a classmate, Sylvia Black to attend Brownies, a part of Girl Guides for younger girls. With her mother's permission, Sylvia accompanied her classmate to Brownies. For Sylvia, Brownies offered her hope from the very first meeting. When she was quickly and firmly corrected on how to safely pass scissors, Sylvia was so impressed that she decided she really wants to be a part of Brownies. The skills and attitude towards life, she would learn in Brownies and later on in Girl Guides would stay with Sylvia and help guide her towards the goals and life she envisioned for herself. Ultimately, these skills would help her reach for the stars and further than she could have ever foreseen.

Discussion

Path To The Stars chronicles Sylvia Acevedo's journey from a young girl uncertain about her future but determined to have "adventures" to an industrial engineer at NASA. After graduating from the University of New Mexico with a degree in industrial engineering, Acevedo worked as an engineer for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Projects she participated in included the Solar Polar Solar Probe and the Voyager 2 flyby mission to Jupiter.  Voyager is still operational as of this post! Eventually Sylvia went on to obtain her Masters in Systems Engineering from Stanford, one of the first Hispanic-Americans to do so.

While doing an interview about Stanford in the mid-2000's, Acevedo remembered how her Girl Scout experience positively impacted her life, giving her the skills and confidence to succeed. Acevedo came full circle when she was nominated to serve on the national board of the Girl Scouts.

Path To The Stars portrays Sylvia as an intelligent, determined, resourceful child who grew into a confident young adult. The first signs of her determination and resourcefulness are shown when Sylvia is determined to save for her first library card. Although her older brother Mario did not have to save money for a library card, Sylvia did. Instead of buying treats with the leftover change from errands, Sylvia would save the change. She eventually saved more than eight dollars. When she was placed in the remedial class for second grade, she writes, "...By the end of my first day, I'd made up my mind that I would not stay the worst student in the worst second-grade class. I didn't know how I'd do it, but I'd find a way to move up." She did just that with her strong reading skills.

Joining Brownies had a profoundly positive influence on Sylvia's life. At her first meeting she learned two things. The people in Brownies, "...care about how to do things correctly and safely, and they wanted to teach me these things too. And, I realized, that meant they cared about me...Brownies could tell me how to do things the right way." Her sister Laura's illness had made Sylvia feel as though she had no control over events in her life. Brownies offered Sylvia that possibility.

From her Brownies experience of selling cookies to raise money for a camping trip taught Sylvia "how to plan and save for the future." This was an important lesson for her because her family's precarious financial situation meant that unanticipated expenses often caught her parents by surprise. "Selling cookies completely changed the way I thought about my life. I had learned invaluable skills: how to sell and how to create opportunity for my Girl Scout troop -- and for me. I could create possibilities for myself. That gave me confidence and the courage to dream big dreams."

Earning badges in Brownies gave Sylvia the courage to learn how to bowl."Because of the badges, I knew that I could teach myself to fulfill a goal and work as a member of a team. "  Brownies also opened up to Sylvia the path she would choose later on as a young adult. Her Brownie leader, Mrs. Beeman noticed Sylvia's love of the stars and suggested to her that work on the Observer badge from the older Cadette Girl Scouts. Resourceful and determined, Sylvia sent away for a rocket kit and with the help of older brother Mario, launched her rocket. Her cooking badge taught her that she could do science.

"At the end of my time in Junior Girl Scouts, I loved the way my sash looked, with its rows of colorful badges. I was proud of what the badges represented, each one showing that I'd mastered a new skill. Every badge reminded me of the community to which I belonged.... Whether those skills belonged in the kitchen or to the outdoors, we were all gaining confidence in our own abilities."

As a young teen, Sylvia began to understand that her parents were not good planners and often weren't prepared for emergencies. After several serious incidents which placed Sylvia and her family in either life threatening or serious situations, she came to the realization that she would have to be the "one who did the planning ahead for my family...Over and over in Girl Scouts, I had learned that planning ahead and doing things properly could help you get what you wanted."

Sylvia grew into a teenager who knew what she wanted. In Junior High School she signed up for a free class on car maintenance and learned how to change the oil, something she did for her family on a regular basis after that. Once again life lessons learned in Girl Scouts were the driving force. "It was just as the Girl Scouts had taught me: be prepared, and you can take control of your life. Cars and furnaces don't have to break down, and people don't have to be stranded in the desert." This determination was to stand her in good stead later on as she experienced resistance from universities in entering her chosen field of industrial engineering. She was questioned merely because she was a woman interested in what was a mainly male scientific field.

Sylvia's local library was also instrumental in influencing her life. A book about Clara Barton that her parents purchased for her, intrigued Sylvia because "It was the first time I'd ever read about a woman who did important things, even helping to win a war." In the library Sylvia liked to read "biographies about the childhoods of famous people". At times the local library was a place of refuge, such as when her mother planned to leave her father.

Sylvia also touches on the different expectations for her and her brother Mario from their father. "Papa expected me to get good grades in school, but it was never with the same interest that he took in my brother. Papa never asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, the way Mami did. I knew he expected me to get married, have children, and keep house, just like Mami. He even said so sometimes." Her desire to attend college led Sylvia to refuse attending the home economics class in high school. Sylvia stood up to her father who felt that this was a class she needed. "But now, I refused to go every day to a class that was preparing me to be a homemaker. I was going to college, and I needed to learn other things besides cooking and sewing. And that's what I told Papa." At first her father refused to sign the paper exempting her from the class but eventually gave in. Sylvia took an extra math class.

Sylvia Acevedo's biography is fascinating and well told. Her story is that of  a girl who grew up with big dreams and found a way to make them happen. She was part of that generation of young women who forged a new path, overcoming obstacles, pushing themselves to be the best they could be, and taking risks. She was given the skills through her experiences in Girl Guides and certainly took to heart the motto, "Nothing is impossible if you work hard and develop the skills you need to succeed."

Path to the Stars should be read by any girl wanting a career in science, by any girl with big dreams. Her experiences entering university and the work world are familiar to those women, myself included who had to deal with discrimination simply because we are women. A well written and engaging story for all young readers!

image credits: https://money.cnn.com/2017/05/19/news/girl-scouts-new-ceo/index.html

Book Details:

Path To The Stars: My Journey from Girl Scout to Rocket Scientist by Sylvia Acevedo
New York: Clarion Books       2018
309 pp.

Some Writer! : The Story of E.B. White by Melissa Sweet

Some Writer! traces the life of Elwyn Brooks White, the author of the much loved children's storybooks, Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little.

White's own story began in 1899 in Mount Vernon, New York. White knew at an early age that he loved to write. He was the youngest child in a family of six children and spent many idyllic summers in Belgrade Lakes, Maine. His father rented several cottages at Snug Harbor and the family would travel to Maine every summer. During the summer White learned to canoe, and he spent time swimming in the lake and studying the things many young boys find fascinating: turtles, toads and tadpoles.

White began sending his writing in for publication at the age of nine! His poem, "A Story of a Little Mouse" won him his first literary prize. In high school White wrote for the school newspaper, the Oracle. Throughout White's teen years, World War I raged and he lamented about not being able to enlist (he did not meet the weight requirements).

White attended Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. There he was nicknamed Andy after the first president of Cornell by his classmates. He wrote for the Cornell Sun, eventually becoming editor. White worked as a counselor at Camp Otter located on Otter Lake near Dorset, Ontario during the summers of 1920 and 1921. Camp Otter was a summer camp for boys, owned by the director of physical education at Cornell. In the summer of 1921, he was accompanied by a friend Howard "Cush" Cushman.

In 1922, White along with Cushman traveled westward, across America, arriving in Seattle, Washington six months later. After a brief stint as a reporter for the Seattle Times, White headed to Alaska and Siberia and then returned home to New York. He lived with his parents for a time while working in advertising in Manhattan. Then in 1925, White began writing for a new magazine, The New Yorker. This was the real beginning of White's literary career.

White was a well-known writer and essayist when Anne Carroll Moore, a children's librarian at the New York Public Library wrote him suggesting he write a children's book. He decided to create a story out of his notes he had made years earlier of a dream about a mouse. While working as a writer at the New Yorker, White once experienced a dream when travelling on a train. The dream was about a dapper little mouse who wore a hat and carried a cane. He wrote down the details of the dream and over time added more chapters. It was this story E.B. White reworked and ultimately submitted to his new editor, Ursula Nordstrom at Harper and Brothers. While Ursula loved the story of Stuart Little, librarian Ann Carroll Moore did not. Although it was published in 1945, Stuart Little was not approved by some librarians and the book was even banned in some libraries. Children, however, loved the book.

But White's best was yet to come - inspired in part by life on his farm in Maine.

Discussion

Melissa Sweet has written a biography of E.B. White that is chockful of fascinating facts and insights about the author of one of the best books ever written for children. Some Writer! is a visually appealing book, filled with maps, photographs, artwork and collages created by Melissa Sweet. Also  included are much archival information: photographs of E.B.White, copies of his journal pages, poetry, correspondence and drafts of his work for Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web, as well as photographs of his wife and son and his farm.

Although most of White's writing was for adults, he is probably best remembered for what it considered his finest work - Charlotte's Web, a story about the meaning of friendship in which a spider saves the life of a pig. It is also an unusual in that as a children's book, Charlotte's Web asks children to think about death and how one goes on after the loss of a special person in life. The death of White's pig Fred on his farm, was the driving force behind this story, one in which White wanted a miraculous way to save a pig!

In Some Writer! we learn the origins of two of the most beloved storybooks for children, Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web. Sweet discusses the controversy that erupted over Stuart Little's "birth" and how unbelievably this led to librarians banning the book. It was White who wrote "...children can sail easily over the fence that separates reality from make-believe. A fence that can throw a librarian is nothing to a child." It's revealing to read how White struggled to write the opening for Charlotte's Web and how illustrator Garth Williams worked to create the face of Charlotte, a grey spider identified as Aranea cavatica.

Although Some Writer! is a biography written for young readers, adults will find Sweet's book a fascinating read with all of the artwork and bits of information about Elwyn Brooks White. Melissa Sweet has included an Author's Note, a Timeline, a Notes section, a Selected Bibliography and an Afterword written by Martha White, the grand daughter of E.B. White who fully endorses this bibilography.  Sweet's Some Writer! truly captures both his personal life and the impetus of his creative work, providing readers with a window into this most amazing and versatile writer.

Book Details:

Some Writer!: The Story of E.B. White by Melissa Sweet
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt      2016
162 pp.