The First Dinosaur by Ian Lendler

The First Dinosaur tells the remarkable story of how scholars and scientists came to unravel the mystery of ancient life on Earth and to discover the dinosaur. The First Dinosaur traces the journey, step by step by telling the story of how the first four bones of the first dinosaur, Megalosaurus were found and ended up as part of a collection of fifteen bones in total. But within that story are multiple other stories of men and one woman who worked tirelessly to unravel the story of the Earth's past.

The Megalosaurus story begins with the discovery of a bone, two feet long and weighing twenty pounds by workers in a quarry in Oxfordshire, England in 1676. Dr. Plot, a chemistry professor at Oxford University, did not know that he was looking at the bone from an extinct animal that was in fact the first dinosaur, Megalosaurus. At this time, no one knew that reptiles of enormous size once roamed the Earth. The remains of animals, dug up out of quarries weren't really understood. They were called "formed stones" and people did not know where they came from, what they were or how they were formed.

To try to understand what he was given, Plot compared his bone with that of an elephant and saw that it was much larger. He believed it may have come from a race of giant humans. What he did do was record his observations for future scientists, measuring, describing and drawing the unusual bone in his book, The Natural History of Oxfordshire. 

In 1666, an enormous white shark was caught by fisherman in the Mediterranean Sea. Florence had become a learning center of science, so the Grand Duke of the city ordered it to be brought to his city. The Grand Duke Ferdinand de' Medici had created the Accademia del Cimento or "school of experiments" in 1657. It was the beginning of the Scientific Revolution and Florence was the center of new scientific endeavours. It embodied new way of thinking about the world. Previously "many European scholars believed that all human knowledge was contained in a few books, such as the Holy Bible." The students and professors of the Accademia  were the first to use Galileo's scientific method of observing and questioning.

Nicolaus Steno, a master dissectionist who dissected human cadavers to learn the secrets of the human body, was invited by Grand Duke Ferdinand to the Accademia. Steno, in his dissection of the shark head, noted that the teeth in the shark were similar to the "tongue stones" found by the thousands in Malta. In his book about the shark dissection, Steno wrote that the tongue stones were shark teeth, connecting the living animal with the remains of once living animals in the ground. He was the first to determine WHAT fossils are - the remains of animals and plants. And in fact, we now know that "tongue stones" are teeth from megalodons, giant prehistoric sharks that lived millions of years ago.

Robert Hooke, a scientist who improved many instruments such as the microscope, read Steno's book and was fascinated. Hooke was the first person to apply the scientific method by working in a laboratory and running experiments.  Hooke published a book, Micrographia, of his drawings of the natural world as seen through the microscope. His observations led him to theorize that fossils or "formed stones" might be the result of a process he called "Petrifaction".

In seventeenth century Europe and England, the idea of extinction, that entire species of animals and plants could die out was not considered possible. This was because the Bible was taken literally and it was thought that all the animals currently alive on the Earth had been there from the beginning of a world that was believed to be 6000 years old. However, Hooke, through his studies of fossils, began to consider the possibility that the past might look very different from the present and that fossils were the clue to helping understand the past. 

Collecting fossils was a pastime of the aristocrats that had begun several hundred years earlier. These fossils became a type of entertainment kept in a "cabinet of curiosities". Eventually a large museum, the Ashmolean Museum, housing a huge collection of fossils and "curiosities" opened at Oxford University and was overseen by Dr. Plot. The fascination with fossils created a booming industry in which fossils were dug up and sold by quarry workers in Oxford.

In 1699, Dr. Edward Llwyd saw a large tooth for sale in the window of a quarry worker's house in Stonesfield, a small town outside of Oxford. The quarries in this area were rich with fossils and this fossil tooth was different - it was the type of tooth used to rip flesh. It was in fact, the second Megalosaurus fossil and it came to be stored at the Ashmolean Museum. 

At this time many scientists were struggling to understand what was called "the Seashell Problem". Many fossilized fish skeletons and sea shells were found in rocks well above sea level, in mountains and even deserts. How could this be? To solve the seashell problem scientists needed to understand "Where do fossils come from?" and "Why are they found where they are?" Nicolas Steno in searching for answers to these questions went to Malta where the tongue stones were found and through observation developed what came to be known as Steno's First Law of Super-Position: "...rocks form in flat layers on top of one another." This meant that the oldest rocks formed the bottom layers. So how to account for younger rocks that contained seashells?

To answer these questions meant that scientists had to reconsider the time frame of the Earth. In the early 1700's calculations by James Ussher, an archbishop of the Church of Ireland determined that the Earth was formed on Sunday, October 23, 4004 B.C. But more and more, the evidence in the rocks did not support the biblical view of life on Earth. Scholars had turned to the Bible for answers and believed that Noah's Flood was the explanation.  However, some scholars began to think differently and offered strange and unusual theories to explain the seashell problem. 

By this time, the third fossil unknowingly belonging to the Megalosaurus was purchased by Sir Christopher Pegge. It was a large jawbone with some intact teeth and it too ended up in the Ashmolean Museum.

The next major development came with the birth of the Industrial Revolution and the use of coal to run factories. With the construction of canals to transport coal to factories in the cities, William Smith, an engineer was able to map the layers of rock that were exposed with each excavation. Smith came to recognize the same layers or strata as he called them, that he had noticed during his work in the Mearns Pit coal mine. Smith began mapping the strata all over England using the fossils he found in each layer and eventually created a geological map of England. This process took him 14 years. The importance of Smith's work is that he "understood that the strata and their fossils were telling a story" of the past in England.

Each new discovery simply generated more questions: "Why did each strata start and stop?...What causes these eras to come to an end?...What happened to the animals who were alive when the end came?..." From this point on, Lendler follows the story into France where revolution let to drastic social change and new ideas about the natural world. One key idea was proposed by renowned scientist Georges Culvier: life on Earth experienced extinctions on a catastrophic scale.

As more fossils were discovered, scientists began to realize the world was much older than they had ever thought, and that there was a world before humans and before that a world even before mammals. William Buckland, Mary Anning, Gideon Mantell, Richard Owen and Charles Lyell would all work in their own way to change forever how we think about the past.

It would be Culvier, with his brilliant ability to identify a collection of fifteen bones at the Ashmolean Museum, as a new type of land reptile that had never been seen before. This was the Megalosaurus. The discovery would be William Buckland's to announce to the scientific community. The age of dinosaurs had begun again....

Discussion

The First Dinosaur is detailed and fascinating account of how scientists came to discover dinosaurs. To do so required a monumental shift in how scientists viewed our world and our place in the world and how we viewed the past. 

Ian Lendler takes readers on a 200 year journey from the first known discovery of what would eventually be identified as a dinosaur bone to the coining of the word "dinosaur" by Richard Owen and and exhibition of the first dinosaurs at the Crystal Palace in London. Along this journey, young readers will meet many of the major players, who not only worked long arduous hours searching for fossils, but who often struggled for years to have their efforts recognized. In some cases, such as Mary Anning, their contributions would take centuries to be recognized. 

His portrayal of the main players offers interesting perspectives on characters such as William Buckland, Gideon Mantell, Richard Owen and Mary Anning. Young readers will find each person comes alive on the pages of The First Dinosaur. There is William Buckland whose over-the-top personality  included eating every kind of animal he could find. Gideon Mantell whose obsession with fossils saw him lose both money and family while making fantastic contributions to science. Richard Owen whose hatred of Mantell led him to actively work against this good man even after Mantell's death. And Mary Anning who discovered three of the dinosaurs on exhibit at the Crystal Palace but whose enormous contributions to paleontology went unrecognized for 200 years. Lendler also touches on the relationships many of these men had with one another and how the class structure in England influenced scientific endeavours.

One of the more interesting aspects Lendler features is the move away from a biblical perspective that early geologists and paleontologists had to make. In the seventeenth century man's place in the cosmos was based heavily on what was taught in the Bible. But the Bible is not a scientific work but rather an account of man's relationship with God. This was not the view of the Bible in the seventeenth century because it was considered a history of the world with the most important events recorded. Galileo was the first to challenge the way man would think about himself in the universe. For many scientists such as Richard Owen, there was no reconciling the biblical version with these new ideas. For others like William Buckland, who spent his life trying to prove Noah's flood, the new ideas prevailed.

Lendler touches on the effects revolutions played in the discovery of dinosaurs, including the Scientific Revolution, the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution. He shows how these revolutions changed society and brought about different ways of thinking.

While there is a much detail in this book that might bog down younger readers, Lendler entices his readers with plenty of interesting photographs, illustrations done in pen, ink and digital medium and sidebars of information. There is a Bibliography, an Index, and Lendler includes an Epilogue which tells what happened to the major players in the quest for the first dinosaur. The First Dinosaur is a must read for those who are interested in dinosaurs and the past. 

Book Details:

The First Dinosaur by Ian Lendler
Toronto: Margaret K. McElderry Books     2019
220 pp.

A Thousand Questions by Saadia Faruqi

Eleven-year-old Maryam (Mimi) Scotts has just arrived in Karachi, Pakistan for her summer holidays. (Her mother had lost her teaching job at the Houston Art Institute last year.) Mimi's father left them when she was five-years-old. Mim's dad is a journalist who travels internationally working on stories. She has followed him online and knows that recently he was working in China. On the flight to Karachi, Mimi decided she was going to "write" to her father about her trip by addressing entries in her journal to her father whom she misses terribly. 

After haggling over the fare, Mimi and her mother take a taxi to her grandparents' home which turns out to "a sprawling white house with a balcony on the second floor and huge windows covered with metal bars." She politely greets her grandparents in Urdu; while her Nana (grandfather) seems friendly and warm, Mimi is intimidated by her Nani (grandmother).

Sakina Ejaz lives with her amma, abba and younger brother Jamshed in a poor neighbourhood in Karachi. She rides every morning with her abba on the back of his motorbike to work at Begum Sahiba's house where she helps her father with his cooking duties. This day the house is expecting guests who happen to be Begum Sahiba's daughter and granddaughter - Mimi and her mother.

After greeting her Nana (grandfather) and Nani (grandmother) Mimi and her mother are taken upstairs by Sakina who is shocked when Mimi talks to her. People don't usually talk to her in Begum Sahiba's home and Sakina doesn't speak English very well. Her poor English is the reason she failed the admissions test to New Haven School. Fortunately, because of her high science and mathematics marks, she has been given another chance at the exam on July 27th. Sakina loves to read and has a small secret reading space in a half room behind their toilet in her family's small house. She's serious about going to school even though she has never attended and she knows her parents need the extra income she earns for their family to survive. But while she practices her other subjects, Sakina struggles to master English. She needs a teacher and Mimi might just be the person to help her.

The next day when Mimi complains about Pakistani fruit being boring, Sakina has her try mango and offers her a deal. Mimi agrees that mango is the most delicious fruit ever. She questions Sakina as to why she has never been to school. Sakina tells Mimi that she learned math, science and some English along with the children who were tutored in the home her abba previously worked at. Sakina makes a deal with Mimi to have her teach her English. 

Gradually the two girls begin to trust one another and become friends. Mimi helps Sakina improve her English while Sakina helps Mimi learn more about Karachi and Pakistani culture. Then Mimi overhears her mother and grandparents talking and learns her father may be working in Karachi. Deeply hurt at her mother's secrecy, Mimi's determination and desire to meet her father only intensify. Meanwhile Sakina's family faces a crisis when her father's diabetes becomes unmanageable and they are unable to afford his medication. This means even if Sakina passes the exam, their poverty may mean she will never attend. Can the two girls help each other achieve their most heartfelt desires?

Discussion

Set in the bustling city of Karachi, Pakistan, the hometown of author Saadia Faruqi, A Thousand Questions is a story about two girls whose misconceptions about each other's lives and cultures are challenged. Through friendship they learn about each other's culture, find what binds them together and work to help one another.

Mimi Scotts, a young American girl visiting her grandparents' home in Karachi appears to have a charmed life with her interesting American clothing and the opportunity to attend school. But Mimi is a girl who has been mourning the loss of her father ever since he abruptly left when she was five years old. We learn later in the novel that he left after being offered "...this really exciting assignment in Iraq, right in the middle of an insurgency. It would have killed my career not to go."  What followed was one assignment after another that Mimi's father felt he couldn't refuse. He abandoned Mimi and her mother. This absence becomes a huge hole in Mimi's life and is deepened when Mimi discovers that her mother has been keeping a secret from her while in Pakistan: that her father is living in Karachi. It's hard to accept Mimi's mother's excuse as to why she kept this secret from Mimi. While it's understandable that she would be angry with his abandonment, nevertheless Mimi has the right and the need to have a relationship with her father, no matter what she may think of her ex-husband. It's this lack of empathy and understanding that makes her the least likeable character in the novel.

Eventually Mimi confronts her mother about what she has done over the last few years. Mimi challenges her mother."You're just....hiding. That's it. You're hiding from everything painful in your life, not even caring that you don't have the right to keep information from other people." She tells her mother to stop pretending and to acknowledge her pain, that she has "...a hole in my heart where he used to be, and I can't just forget that." 

In contrast to Mimi is Sakina Ejaz who is a servant in Mimi's grandparents' home. Sakina has a mother and a father but her life is hard. Her family has no money for school and she works alongside her father who is cook for Mimi's grandparents. She wants to become a teacher and help others but struggles with deep internal conflict: her desire for an education and her responsibility to earn money for her family.  This conflict is especially heartbreaking as it is a very real one for many girls in the developing world, who are either married off young to pay off debt or who must work to support their families. 

At first Mimi sees Sakina as the servant girl in her grandparents' home. But her view of Sakina changes as she gets to know her better. She admires Sakina's maturity and responsibility.  "Her life is so different from mine, I suddenly think. She actually works for a living, contributes to her family, has an opinion about grown-up things." This is in contrast to Mimi's life where everything is provided for her. Mimi's view of Sakina's life changes again when she goes to visit her. She tells Sakina, "I used to think I was better off than you because I had more stuff, but it's not really true." While Sakina has less "stuff" she has an intact family, including a father who is involved in her life. Sakina too has her own misconceptions about Americans. She tells Mimi she's lucky to be rich and living in America but Mimi tells her "Rich? We have no money in Houston. It's only here that we seem rich."

Despite their differences in culture and opportunities, the two girls form a friendship and begin to work together to help each other: Mimi helps Sakina improve her English so she can pass an entrance exam into school and Sakina takes Mimi's journal to her father's office which leads to him reconnecting with Mimi. The story weaves itself between these two narratives, Mimi's desire to find her father once she learns he might actually be in Karachi and Sakina's desire to attend school despite her father's illness and their poverty. Both girls' situations evoke sympathy and this story serves to demonstrate that people everywhere, no matter culture or race experience troubles in life. The message is that we all need to work together to help one another. Faruqi offers a balanced story, having her characters point out that both America or Pakistan are countries with similar problems such as poverty and government corruption, although both are likely worse in Pakistan.

A Thousand Questions  offers young readers a contrast in cultures and shows that with empathy we can bridge the differences that exist. The novel ends on a hopeful note, with Mimi and Sakina both experiencing positive changes in their lives and looking forward to continuing their friendship. This heartfelt novel will be enjoyed by middle-grade readers. The author provides a glossary of Pakistani words as well as some information about the city of Karachi in her Author's Note at the back.

 Book Details:

A Thousand Questions by Saadia Faruqi
New York: Quill Tree Books       2020
310 pp.

Illegal by Francisco X. Stork

Illegal resumes the story of Sara and Emiliano Zapata where Disappeared left off. Sara is living at the Fort Stockton Detention Center. A mere three weeks ago she was a reporter in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Now she's applying for asylum. Sara's best friend, Linda Fuentes had suddenly disappeared. Sara's investigation uncovered Linda's location and State Police were able to free her along with other women. Linda had sent Sara Leopoldo Hinojosa's cell phone. Hinojosa was responsible for enslaving Linda along with many other women, so his phone likely contains sensitive and important incriminating evidence. Because of this, Hinojosa set out to kill Sara and her family. Her mother fled to the interior of Mexico to live with her sister, while Sara and her brother Emiliano crossed illegally into the United States - with Hinojosa's phone. 

In the desert they were attacked by two of Hinojosa's men. One fled while the other was seriously wounded. While Emiliano stayed with the injured man, Sara went to get help. She encountered Sandy Morgan, a park ranger whose father Wes Morgan is an attorney.  Under Wes Morgan's guidance, it was decided that Sara would apply for asylum at the Fort Stockton Detention Center while Emiliano with Hinojosa's phone would travel to Chicago to stay with their father.

Emiliano was taken in by rancher Gustave Larsson. He harbours resentment towards his father who abandoned their family and is conflicted about contacting  his father, especially since he finds life on the ranch with Gustave peaceful. But Emiliano's father, who is staying in a motel in Sanderson, only thirty miles away, has left three messages for him. Reluctantly, Emiliano connects with his father and arranges for him to come to Larsson's ranch to pick him up. He also contacts Yoya, the person Ernesto told him is able to open the phone. She tells Emiliano she will do some research into his situation and advises him to only use a burner phone to contact him and also to consider going to a metropolitan area for his own safety. This leads Emiliano to contact his father and arrange to travel back to Chicago with him.

Emiliano's father along with help from Gustave Larsson manage to get him through the Border Patrol checkpoint. His father is now remarried to a woman named Nancy who has a six-year-old son named Trevor. He works for Abe Gropper and has changed his name to Roberto (Bob) Gropper. Emiliano decides not to tell his father about Hinojosa's phone.

At Fort Stockton, Sara meets with Sandy Morgan who tells her that her father is appealing the decision to deny her bond. Sara learns that her father is going to pick up Emiliano that morning and she tells Sandy that when her father came to see her, he had told her that his wife and father-in-law were nervous about harbouring an illegal immigrant. Sara later learns that Wes Morgan attempted to see her but was turned away and has gone to El Paso to file a complaint with the commissioner of ICE in charge of detention facilities. Sara also learns that her brother has made it past the Border Patrol and that he likely has the phone.

In Aurora, where Bob and Nancy Gropper live, Emiliano struggles with his feelings of anger, guilt and loss of trust in his father. Through Yoya, Emiliano learns that Hinojosa was killed after he was arrested and that he was part of a Mexican-U.S. trafficking ring. Some of the women are kept in Mexico, while others are taken to the United States. As a result, Yoya believes it is Americans who are after Hinojosa's phone. It is likely the phone contains sensitive information that can identify the Americans. She believes Sara is safe for now at the detention center but advises Emiliano not to call her.

However, at Fort Stockton, Sara is taken to see Assistant Field Office Director Walter Mello who questions her as to how she got into the country and if anyone was with her. Mello's threatening questioning leaves Sara fearful. 

The next day Yoya tells Emiliano that Walter Mello requested the incident report on the attack in the desert as well as Lester's confession. Mello will now know that Sara did not cross the border alone. She is also able to learn that someone named Marko Lisica was responsible for the attack on them in the desert and knows that Emiliano has Hinojosa's phone. Lisica owns the Odessa Agricultural Cooperative, but Yoya doesn't believe he's the main player. Instead, someone above Lisica, whom she names as "Big Shot"  has more to lose if the contents of the phone are revealed. Their goal now is to determine if the phone's contents can be used by the police.

While canvassing the neighbours for work, Emiliano meets Irene Costelo who hires him to paint her house. Meanwhile in the detention center, Mello reveals to Sara that he knows she crossed the border with her brother and wants to know his location. Determined to protect Emiliano, she tells Mello he returned to Mexico and refuses to answer any more questions without her lawyer. Mello places Sara in isolation.

After several days, Emiliano receives a call from someone named Louie who tells him that Yoya has gone into hiding, escaping just before her home was raided. Louie informs Emiliano that Yoya has learned a few things from an intercepted email between Lisica and Mello. Sara's lawyer, Wes Morgan was killed during an attack that was made to look like a burglary and that his father's business card was found. Lisica has ordered Mello to work on Sara while they deal with the father in Chicago. He also tells Emiliano that Big Shot "coordinates with Mexico for the women, distributes them to ...influential men here in the U.S. He protects these men. That's why they want things done quietly, legally if possible." He advises Emiliano that if he wants to go through with keeping the phone he needs to find someone in law enforcement he can trust.

Mrs. Costelo overhears this conversation and knowing Emiliano is in some kind of trouble tells him to find an old friend of hers, Stanislaw Kaluza, a retired Chicago Police officer who can be found at St. Hyacinth Basilica in Chicago.

After her credible fear interview, Mello again attempts to coerce Sara into revealing Emiliano's whereabouts. She attempts to bluff Mello by telling him that Emiliano returned to Mexico, but Mello reveals that they now know that he is with her father. He tells her the easy way is for Emiliano to give up the phone and that she simply needs to call him. Sara agrees to do this. But what Mello, Lisica and "Big Shot" do not realize is that Sara and Emiliano are determined to do the right thing no matter the personal cost. 

Discussion

Illegal is an exciting, well-written novel that explores the illegal immigrant experience through the eyes of two young Mexicans who have stumbled upon a Mexican- U.S. human trafficking operation. Sara, a reporter and her brother Emiliano have fled to the United States after Sara is given the phone of Hinojosa, a main player in the Mexican trafficking ring. Although they haven't turned on the phone, both are certain it contains critical information that could break up the trafficking ring. With Sara in a detention center and Emiliano on the run with the phone, they must each make the difficult decision of what to do with the phone. Do they return the phone to protect themselves and their families, knowing they will be leaving the trafficked women to their fate? Or do they take the risk hoping that their actions will rescue the many Mexican women who have been enslaved and abused. The novel's storyline focuses on this conflict in a game of moves and counter-moves.

Sara, in detention, comes to a decision fairly quickly. Despite being in isolation, deprived of her attorney and emotionally and  physically abused, Sara knows she must be strong. At the beginning of her time in the detention center Sara tries to put aside her fear. "I had to reach out in the dark and borrow Linda's courage, the courage that prompted her to steal the phone from Hinojosa and send it to me. I had to remember Linda's suffering. It was up to me and now up to my brother to make sure what she went through was not in vain."

 In a letter to Emiliano that she knows he will never see, she writes,
"The one thing that is becoming clear to me is that I need to believe that my life has meaning regardless of how long it lasts. It has to have a purpose now and not only when I get out of here." Seeing the suffering of the women in the detention center has strengthened Sara's resolve to help not only them but the women who are being trafficked. She writes, "If I were cut off from the suffering and hopelessness of the other women, my soul would shrink and die." So while she agrees to phone her brother to tell him to give up the phone Sara uses the call to send Emiliano a very different message. It appears she is telling him to simply obey her as he did Brother Patricio in the mountains, but she is really telling him to do what is right, to "Do it for Linda."

For Emiliano the process is longer and more complicated. He's puzzled by Sara's words to him during his phone call when she reminds him of what he learned on the Tarahumara trip with Brother Patricio. This was a trip Emiliano, filled with anger over his father's abandonment and their family's poverty, had been forced to undertake after stealing a camera. The two-day hike was grueling, living with the Rarmuri and Emiliano finally "realized that there was no way out other than to keep going..." Brother Patricio told him he was learning endurance for hope. "Hardship creates endurance and endurance creates character and character creates hope. And hope is the conviction that what you're doing is worth doing regardless of the outcome."  Reflecting on this experience, Emiliano believes this was Sara's message. 

"I had come to Chicago so I could give the phone to Yoya's people and so they could use the information in the phone to save the women who had been enslaved by Big Shot. Wasn't that the thing that required my endurance and my hope? Wasn't that what I was being asked to do? What would my life be like if I ran away from what was being asked?"

Sara had told her brother to "Do it for Linda." This meant to fight for them, to fight "For the Lindas and the Saras and the Trevors of the world. For those who are hurt and for those who are good. Because life's not worth living as a coward. Because whatever little courage I had should be used for the benefit of others."

Sara's message helps Emiliano figure out what he needs to do and gives him the resolve to do it. He leaves his father's home, rejecting the offer his father's employer, Abe Gropper has made of ten thousand dollars if he brings the phone the next day. He flees his father's home and is helped by several people, including Stanislaw Kaluza and his daughter Sophie and his granddaughter Aniela, Detectives Jaworksi and Rogers.

Stork has populated his novel with many interesting and well-crafted characters. There is Sara Zapata, the journalist who is searching for the truth and who believes the most people have some goodness in them. This is seen many times throughout the novel when Sara tries to appeal to the good in the people who are trying to do her harm. For example, when she is taken to her credible fear interview, she appeals to Norma Galindez, her asylum officer, begging her to call her attorney, Wes Morgan. Sara made the appeal because, "I could tell in her voice that there was goodness in her." She tries to appeal to the good in Mario, her guard in isolation and asks him to check for messages for her and begs him to call Sandy Morgan which he eventually does. She even attempts to appeal to any goodness in Rosaura Martel, a guard known as La Treunta Y Cuatro.

There is Emiliano who tries to discern the right thing to do. He doesn't want to go to Chicago with his father who abandoned him, Sara and their mother for a better life in the U.S. But after talking with Yoya, he knows he has to do this to keep the phone safe. "Because all that Sara had done to save the missing girls, all that she had sacrificed, all that she was going through at the detention facility, all that could not be lost." He puts aside his feelings and does what he knows to be right. He continues to show fortitude, ingenuity and a strength of character that is in contrast to his father Bob Gropper.

Aniela, Stanislaw Kaluz's granddaughter serves as a budding love interest for Emiliano as well as a character who moves the story forward in a simple but very contrived way. Stanislaw Kaluz is the kindly grandfather figure whose help makes taking down the traffickers a real possibility. And there is Bob Gropper, Emiliano's father, who has given up almost everything including his identity to be successful.

Stork is a master storyteller who has written a novel with many interesting facets to explore. One example is the issue of forgiveness. It is Aniela who helps Emiliano begin to forgive his father. Emiliano tells her that when he was dying in the desert, he was able to forgive his father and himself "for all the stupid, selfish things I had done in Mexico." But in the real world he finds forgiveness  of his father and Mrs. Coselo's killer much more difficult. Aniela, who has also experienced abandonment by her father, tells him she has learned hatred is poison. "Hate turns you into something you're not meant to be." she advises Emiliano. She tells him that all the faults she saw in her father and in his wife she also saw in herself, "...the arrogance and the superiority and the way they used people, all that was, is, in me." Her admission causes Emiliano to consider that the same drive to succeed and to prove himself to others that his father has may also be a part of him. But Aniela explains, "The big difference,...is that I don't like those things about myself. My father and his wife take pride in them. I know what's in me and I try not to act accordingly." 

Besides the issues of illegal immigration, human trafficking, and the treatment of illegal immigrants in U.S. detention centers, Stork also weaves an element of faith and prayer into his story, inviting readers to consider the power of prayer in our lives. The conclusion, while not overly exciting, ties up loose ends and is one of hope and optimism. Illegal is one of the best young adult novels of 2020.

Book Details:

Illegal by Francisco X. Stork
New York: Scholastic Press   2020
291 pp.

Finish The Fight by Veronica Chambers and NY Times Staff

Finish The Fight tells the stories of the many women suffragettes who fought to secure for American women the right to vote. It would take almost a century to accomplish this for all women of all races who lived in America. Most have heard of Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul, Emmeline Pankhurst and Lucy Stone. But what about African American women like Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and Mary Church Terrell? Or Susette La Fleche a Native American woman? What about Asian American women like Mabel Ping Hua-Lee?

Chambers begins the story with a chapter on the social structure and culture in the Haudenosaunee, a confederacy of six Native American nations. In Haudenosaunee culture, women held significant power. They voted on matters involving war and peace, they held property in marriage. In their matrilineal society in which families were aligned into clans based on the mother's family,  the clan mother's held the power to determine the clan's chief. Women participated alongside men in debates. For the suffragists, the Haudenosaunee model seemed to provide proof that their goal of getting women the right to vote was important.

The Civil War and the fight to end slavery had a significant influence on the suffrage movement. A petition demanding voting rights for all citizens, regardless of race or gender was present to Congress in 1866. In 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment granted black men and women born in America citizenship while the Fifteenth Amendment passed in 1870 strengthened the right of black men to vote. This made the women suffragists furious and their bias towards black people began to show in racist attitudes and remarks. The result was a fractured suffrage movement. Suffrage groups began to mirror what was happening in society where black and white people were being segregated. The National American Woman Suffrage Association allowed segregation in its groups in southern states while black suffragists began to form their own organizations. 

Chambers profiles Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, a black woman born to free black parents in Baltimore in 1825. Watkins Harper was active in the abolitionist movement and worked with white suffragists Susan B. Anthony  and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. 

As the suffragist movement continued to grow, women realized they needed to spread their message and inform women about their work and why they needed to have more say in the affairs of the nation. This need led Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin to start the Women's Era, the first American newspaper by and for black women. Its intent was to let black women know that they could aspire to more than just homemaking. Josephine also encountered racism within the suffragist movement by white suffragettes who believed that linking up with their black sisters would harm their chances of winning the right to vote. Josephine was refused attendance as a delegate representing a black group, to the General Federation of Women's Clubs in Milwaukee.

Finish the Fight goes on to chronicle the success of the suffragist movement in the "Wild West" states and territories of the 1800's. For example, Wyoming Territory was the first to give women the right to vote in 1869 and kept this provision when they became a state in 1890. Further success was achieved in the West by Elizabeth Piper Ensley, a black woman and Carrie Chapman Catt who was white, and who worked together to get the vote for women in Colorado in 1893. 

Finish The Fight explores the efforts of Mary Church Terrell who worked to stop the crime of lynching, and to encourage suffrage organizations to include and work with black women. The book also briefly touches the work of women who may have been lesbians in the suffrage movement. There are also chapters on Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, a Chinese American  and  Native Americans, Susette La Flesche and Zitkala-Sa and their efforts to bring about change not only in the area of women's rights but also more equitable treatment for their own races in America. 

Discussion

Finish the Fight is a fascinating account of the almost one hundred year struggle to obtain the right to vote for women. In telling this story, Chambers and the New York Times staff include photographs, historical images and numerous portrait illustrations by a number of artists which serve to create an engaging and informative book. 

Perhaps what is most remarkable about Finish The Fight is that it not only tells the story of the numerous women activists who worked for the right to vote but it also highlights the discrimination Black, Mexican and Native Americans endured in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Women of these communities found themselves pushing back against the racism and inequity they encountered in their own lives and were therefore primed to become part of the suffrage movement. 

This connection between the fight against racial discrimination and the women's movement to get the vote was a surprise to the authors of Finish The Fight . As they observed in their Author's Note at the back, "suffrage was not a movement that was happening in isolation." While the suffrages began their fight for the right to vote and greater participation in all aspects of society for women, it also came to encompass the fight for racial equality for Black, Chinese and Mexican Americans.  For example, the book profiles Ida B. Wells-Barnett, a suffragist who was an advocate for racial justice for Black Americans. She penned impassioned articles against racial violence and worked to try to stop lynchings which were become more and more frequent. She also helped to found the National Negro Committee which would one day become the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

At the same time, Native Americans were fighting for the right to live according to their traditions on their ancestral lands while Chinese and Mexican Americans were fighting for their right to be full American citizens and to be treated fairly. Susette La Flesche, a member of the Omaha tribe faced discrimination when she tried to become a teacher on her own Omaha reservation. Refused permission to leave the reservation to write the teacher certification exam, Susette had to sneak off the reservation and then later threaten to go public when the white government official balked at accepting her certification.

Finish The Fight will leave readers with a sense of just how difficult and long the fight has been to bring about change. It tells the story in a chronological way, focusing on the important figures, revealing the racism and bigotry that existed within the suffragist movement itself, while also highlighting those women who worked together regardless of  their racial or political differences. The authors also show their readers that getting the vote not just for women, but for these marginalized communities was key to changing discriminatory laws and practices.

Each chapter opens with a colourful portrait of an important but mostly little-known suffragette along with floral and plant symbols, the relevance of which are explained in the Illustrator's Note at the back.

Readers will also find an Author's Note, a detailed Timeline, a list of Brave and Revolutionary Women You Should Know, a comparison of women's achievements in the last one hundred years with 1920 vs. 2020, an Illustrator's Note about the flowers and plants used in each chapter illustration and a detailed Further Reading list of books. There is also a Selected Bibliography and an Index.

Book Details:

Finish The Fight: The Brave and Revolutionary Women Who Fought For The Right To Vote by Veronica Chambers and the staff of the New York Times
New York: Versify/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt       2020
132 pp.

DVD: Mulan

Mulan, is a young girl living with her parents and younger sister Xiu in her village in China. Chasing a rogue chicken through the common space, when it flies onto the roof, Mulan thinks nothing of following the bird onto the roof, much to the shock of their neighbours. As the chicken flies off the roof and back into its coop, Mulan's father, Zhou along with their neighbours, watches as she slips on the tiles. However, Mulan easily saves herself, her strange display causing people to shake their heads.

That night Mulan's parents argue with her father saying Mulan is young while her mother reminds him a daughter's place is to bring honour to a family through marriage. While Mulan's sister Xiu will have no problems making a match, they will have trouble for an unconventional daughter like Mulan. Mulan's mother is concerned she will be considered a witch.

During her escapade on the roof, Mulan broke a wing off the phoenix located at the entrance to their shrine. Outside that night, sitting by the damaged statue, Mulan's father tells her that the phoenix is the emissary for their ancestors. In folklore, it is consumed by flame but emerges again. Zhou tells his daughter that although her "chi" is strong, it is for warriors and not daughters. He tells her she must "hide her gift away", and "silence its voice." 

Meanwhile, on the Silk Road in northwest China, a lone caravan driver encounters a strange woman, dressed in black. This woman, Xianniang takes on the man's form and travels to an outpost, easily walking inside. The outpost is then attacked by Rourans, who overrun the defenses. Xianniang, the black witch, emerges from her disguise, helping the Rourans to destroy the outpost. She assumes a soldier's form and now travels to the Imperial City in Central China where she appears before the emperor as the soldier.

The Chancellor tells the Emperor that to date six outposts along the Silk Road have fallen in coordinated attacks. This has disrupted all trade and could lead to the collapse of the kingdom. The surviving soldier (Xianniang in the soldier's form) states that the attackers are Rourans, led by Bori Khan who fights alongside a woman whose chi is "beyond imagining". When the Emperor states that he killed Bori Khan, the soldier reveals that it is Bori Khan's son who has taken his father's name and who leads the attacks. The Chancellor reminds him that it is illegal to use chi for evil, however the soldier tells the court that this mysterious woman has trained elite shadow warriors to aid Bori Khan. The Emperor decrees that every family in the kingdom will supply a warrior to create a vast army to protect the people. 

After delivering her message the black witch returns to the Rouran camp and confronts Bori Khan. But he stands his ground, warning her she needs him to get what she wants. Meanwhile at this time, Mulan is now a young teenager who returns one day from riding to learn her family has used the matchmaker to find her a husband. At the matchmaker's home, things do not go as planned when Mulan attempts to hide a spider to calm her sister Xiu who is deathly afraid of spiders. As her family leaves in shame from the matchmakers home, soldiers from the Emperor arrive announcing the edict. As each family's name is read out to receive their scroll, Mulan's family realize that Zhou, partially disabled will have to enlist. 

That night Li attempts to convince her husband to stay behind but he angrily refuses.  Later on Mulan watches her father prepare his armour and sword. He tells Mulan that the phoenix has followed him into battle before and will protect him again. The phoenix will tell their ancestors he has been loyal, brave and true. Mulan laments that if she were son, he would not have to fight. When everyone is asleep, Mulan, dressed in her father's armour, leaves to fight in her father's place. In the morning Zhou's missing armour, sword and scroll indicate that Mulan has left to fight. Unable to pursue Mulan as this would expose her and mean her death, Zhou appeals to the phoenix to watch over her.

With the phoenix's protection and her determination to be loyal, brave, and true, Mulan becomes a formidable warrior, strong enough to challenge the black witch and Bori Khan and change the fate of the kingdom, while bringing honour to her family and her village.

Discussion

Mulan was the much anticipated live-action retelling of the famous Chinese legend about a woman warrior. The film is very appealing visually, with its exotic costuming, rich cinematography, and exciting action scenes and two delicious villains. 

In this retelling, the two main female characters, Mulan and a black witch called Xianniang possess extraordinary "chi" or "life energy". With such a strong chi, they are physically able to do feats that are impossible for other humans. It is the classic battle between good and evil; Mulan who is young and virtuous with her life before her and Xianniang who has been shunned because of her abilities and has turned to evil.

In ancient China, as Mulan's father Hua Zhou warns her, chi is for warriors, not women and that only a son can wield chi. Using her chi will bring shame on their family and she will be considered a witch, so he tells her she must "silence its voice". This shame and banishment has already been experienced by Xianniang, who we learn, was driven out of her home "like a dog", her abilities scorned. 

When the two meet, during Mulan's first battle, it is a young Mulan facing defeat at the hands of a more experienced and powerful adversary. Xianniang tells Mulan that her lie - posing as a male warrior,  has violated the virtue of being "true" and has poisoned her chi. Mulan is not true to who she is - a young woman with a powerful chi, but instead has chosen to hide her powers as a man. This has already caused Mulan internal conflict but she is afraid to reveal her true self because she knows this will bring about disgrace to herself, her family and her village. Her motivation, to protect her father, while noble, has broken the warrior code of "loyal, brave and true." The black witch defeats Mulan in this first encounter, but the protection of the phoenix saves her from death. Mulan now makes the crucial decision to return to the Imperial army and reveal herself as a woman warrior, to be true to who she is. This being true to oneself is a popular message that resonates with many but does have consequences.

Fortunately, things go differently for Mulan than they did for the black witch. Although she is initially rejected by Commander Tung, her fellow warriors, Po, Honghui, Yao, Cricket and Ling stick by her. Mulan is allowed to lead a crack force of warriors to aid the Imperial city and save the Emperor.

An unexpected plot twist occurs during the battle for the Imperial City. Xianniang, seeing that Mulan has been accepted for who she is, brings about an unexpected plot twist in the movie - she changes sides, and saves Mulan's life by sacrificing her own. This action seems out of character, as she has been portrayed as a ruthless, cruel witch who kills at will and who is determined to overthrow the Emperor for her own power - although that's never been quite explained either. Her sudden reversal and her betrayal of Bori Khan, comes about, as the Imperial City is being attacked, her goal almost achieved. This action seems incongruous for the character, although one might argue that witnessing Mulan achieve what she wasn't able to, might be the reason. 

Mulan has thrilling action scenes with plenty of wire work by the stunt actors, to achieve the gravity-defying moves of scaling vertical walls and flying horizontally through the air. The movie is also exceptionally well cast; Yifei Liu is a sensitive, courageous Mulan, Donnie Yeo is tough and wise Commander Tung, Li Gong is the evil Xianniang, Jason Scott Lee is a deliciously wicked Bori Khan, and Yoson An plays Mulan's admirer, Honghui. Well known American actress, Rosalind Chao is Mulan's mother Hua Li, while veteran Asian American actor Tzi Ma plays Mulan's father Hua Zhou.

Sadly Mulan never made it into theatres due to the Covid-19 pandemic and it's probably just as well. It's difficult to support a movie filmed in China with its crackdown on Hong Kong protestors and human rights abuses involving the Uighurs, Kazakhs and other Muslim minorities.  In addition, the film was shot predominantly in Xinjiang, where there are concentration camps for Uighur Muslims. And actress Yifei Liu has come out in support of the suppression of demonstrations in Hong Kong. This movie was viewed on DVD from a library.

For this reason, viewers are advised to forgo watching this move and instead enjoy a far better retelling of this legend by reading the novel, Mulan by Sherry Thomas. The storyline is superb and there is just a hint of romance in the story, something the live-action Mulan stayed away from until the very end.

Punching The Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam

Seventeen-year-old Amal Shahid sits in the courtroom waiting to hear the jury's verdict after only a few hours of  deliberation.Amal is accused of beating up Jeremy Mathis, a white boy, "so bad the he can't wake up to tell the truth." While Amal may have thrown the first punch, he did not throw the last one. While the other three boys took a plea deal, Amal turned it down and pleaded not guilty.

At the trial there are many witnesses. Mrs. Rinaldi, Amal's art teacher tells the court she worked hard with him to "channel his anger into his art." There were witnesses from East Hill, the community on the other side of the tracks; a couple with a baby, a kindergarten teacher and a college student who recorded the incident.

Amal is found guilty of aggravated assault and battery and sentenced to juvenile detention. On the bus to the detention center Amal remembers the situation that got him where he is now; how his friend Omari who got him to go with him to the basketball courts for a two-on-two game and how he did not want to go because he didn't want to deal with the East Hill white boys. 

In jail, although Amal agrees to sign up for classes to work towards his high school diploma he becomes despondent and refuses to leave his cell. When he sees a special class on writing he is told he has to earn his way into it. Gradually, it is the support from his umi as well as a girl he likes, Zenobia Garrett and Amal's love of art that motivates him, gives him hope and transforms him. At the same time, things change on the legal front, offering Amal, hope and a second chance.

Discussion

Pushing The Air tackles a number of current issues related to race, the justice system and police brutality.  The issues of racial profiling, racial prejudice towards the black community, youth crime and the industrial prison system are especially important in light of recent police brutality and the shootings of American men of colour. For author Yusef Salaam, these issues are especially significant. Salaam experienced first hand the bias of the American justice system, when he along with four other black teens were falsely convicted of the aggravated assault and rape of a white female jogger in New York's Central Park in April, 1989. This happened despite the lack of any evidence connecting any of the "Central Park Five" to the crime, including critical DNA evidence.

Pushing The Air tells the story of seventeen-year-old Amal through the use of verse and rap. The authors employ the technique of telling a story within a story. The main narrative explores Amal's recent conviction and his struggle to survive in a juvenile detention center, while the secondary inner story highlights his struggles in school over the years as he deals with profound feelings of alienation. His sense of not belonging has resulted in Amal acting out; rebelling, fighting and not following rules in school. An example of his alienation is his experience as the only black student in Ms. Rinaldi's AP Art History class. The study of European art masters feels unrelatable to him,

"looking at slides of old paintings
and it was boring as f**ck
Muted and dull colors
Sad and pale rich white people
doing nothing but looking sad..."

Bored and frustrated, he pulls up his hoodie, disengages from the class, leading him to walk out and eventually fail the course. This consequence seems to stun Amal. Although Ms. Rinaldi probably tried in the only way she knew to help him, Amal feels she has never really "seen" him but sees only his paintings.

The main story however, is the injustice Amal encounters in the American judicial system beginning with his arrest, but also including his treatment by police, and the judicial system that assumes guilt based on skin colour or race. The other black teens who were arrested with Amal, all plead guilty and are sentenced to juvenile detention. While Amal admits to throwing the first punch, he knows he did not throw the last punches that sent Jeremy Mathis into a coma and so he refuses the plea deal and pleads not guilty.

Amal is angry that the people who truly know him were never called as witnesses. He states,

"Their words and what they thought
to be their truth
were like a scalpel

shaping me into
the monster
they want me to be

To the police, the witnesses and the court, black means something bad, white means something good. In the poem Blind Justice II, Amal states,

"We were
a mob
a gang
ghetto
a pack of wolves
animals
thugs
hoodlums
men

They were
kids
having fun
home
loved
supported
protected
full of potential
boys"

The white boys were seen as boys with a future, while Amal and his friends were seen as animals and were treated as such.To Amal and his friends, Lady Justice is not blind. She offers Jeremy Mathis the "American dream" and Amal Shahid jail or death. In the end,  the result is the same as those who pled guilty - a conviction and sentence to a juvenile detention center. It's like the facts and evidence do not matter.

Authors Zoboi and Salaam take readers through Amal's struggles in juvenile detention as he tries to come to terms with what has happened to him. The dehumanizing processing of those convicted is likened to the black slave trade. Amal compares being taken in hand cuffs and shackles to being chained on the slave ships. For example in the poem, Middle Passage, (the title a reference to the travelling of slave ships from Africa to America), the bus becomes the slave ship but with much more room,

"So this bus  this bus...
A ship headed for the new world
and we're all in here    in shackles
on our wrists         around our minds
                      around our hearts."

In juvenile detention, Amal struggles emotionally and psychologically. He must deal with new rules, mean guards and racial issues inside the center. Amal is left feeling confined and this lack of freedom makes him initially rebel. With the support of his family and friends, especially a girl he likes,  Amal gradually realizes he must change but he also hopes the world will change too. In solitary confinement Amal believes that his fighting, his "punching the air" was 

"... that maybe
I was punching
all the walls
they put up around me
around us." 

When he's given the opportunity to repaint a mural in the visitor's area, Amal takes it knowing 

"that this time
my punches will land on a wall
my punches will be paintbrushes"

His art may just be the way to break out of the box of alienation that others have built around him. And even though Amal's mural is whitewashed over, his art and his creativity bring him hope. 

Punching The Air offers readers the opportunity to consider the biases we all have that dehumanize another person and to work to change our world for the better. We all need to help one another and see others, no matter how different as a brother or sister. It is was the poem DNA II expressed: that when we lock our arms together, "in a circle arm in arm" when we are pushed, we don't stumble or fall. We all hold each other up and are unbreakable. This novel shows just how far we have to go and how much work needs to be done for that to be a reality.

Book Details:

Punching The Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam
New York: Balzar + Bray      2020
386 pp.

The Boreal Forest: A Year In The World's Largest Land Biome by Lindsey E. Carmichael

The Boreal Forest is a colourful picture book that takes readers through a year in the boreal forest in several countries. 

It begins the journey by setting the stage, explaining how the boreal forest came to be and what parts of the planet it covers. When the glaciers covering North America, Europe and Asia began melting as the climate warmed, the forest began migrating northward. 

The boreal forest became the planet's largest biome, stretching like a band through Canada, Iceland, Sweden, Finland, Russia and Alaska. Sixty percent of the boreal forest is found in Russia.

The journey into the boreal forest begins with the winter season in Russia where there are Siberian flying squirrels, deciduous trees and very cold winters. In Finland, readers learn there is a whole world beneath the snow as shrews, the boreal forest's smallest mammals struggle to survive. In Norway, the boreal owls hunt for food while the reindeer shelter in the woods. The Saami, an indigenous people who live in Norway, Sweden, Finland and western Russia use traditional knowledge to help them care for the reindeer they rely on to survive. In Canada, fish are able to survive in the cold boreal lakes while moles hunt for insects along the lake bottom.

From this point on, life in the boreal forest is described in the various countries, as the seasons change from spring, to summer and then fall. In presenting the boreal forest biome in this way, this colourful picture book is able to describe a variety of animals and their habitats, as well as some unusual features of the biome. For example, in Russia, bears experience diarrhea when they switch from a vegetarian diet to the rich diet of fresh salmon. To counter this, bears are able to sniff out clay and eat large quantities of it. 

Carmichael has also incorporated some of the traditional knowledge about the biome that Indigenous Peoples have acquired from living in the boreal forest for thousands of years. For example, the Gwich'in First Nation peoples who live in Alaska, Yukon and the Northwest Territories, use dzeh ant' at which is spruce sap as a natural bandage.

At the back of the book are pages about the carbon and water cycles, a Glossary of terms and a large selection of resources in the Author's Selected Sources that includes articles, websites and books. Accompanying the text are the richly coloured illustrations rendered in mixed media by Montreal artist, Josee Bisaillon. This is a lovely and very interesting picture book that will engage young readers interested in learning more about the boreal forest.

Book Details:

The Boreal Forest: A Year In The World's Largest Biome by Lindsey Carmichael
Toronto: Kids Can Press      2020

Open Fire by Amber Lough

Seventeen-year-old Ekaterina Viktorovna (Katya) Pavlova lives in Petrograd, Russia where she works in a factory making the M1914 stick grenade, filling each one with 320 grams of TNT. Katya's father, Colonel Pavlova is at the front fighting the Germans while her brother Maxim Victorovich is at home recovering from his wounds. Katya had been attending university studying to be a chemist, but  had dropped out to help with the war effort.

On February 23, 1941, Masha Gubina, Katya's best friend convinces her to attend the women's march on Nevsky Prospeckt, Petrograd's main street. Katya is not keen to attend but she agrees. At the march, Katya encounters Sergei Fyodorovich Grigorev, a friend from university. Sergei is a Bolshevik. Katya, whose father is a colonel in the Imperial Army, has been taught to be loyal to the Tsar. Despit this, at Sergie's urging, Katya attends the march.

Socialists along with grandmothers, mothers and school girls begin chanting "Free the people. Free the workers! Free the bread!" Then suddenly the Cossacks, cavalry in the Imperial Army appear. The Cossack leader tells them to end the march and go home. When the marchers do not disperse, and someone throws a rock at the Cossack commander, the soldiers aim their rifles and open fire. Katya is horrified that Russians would fire on their own people.

Katya reveals to Sergei that she knows about the Tsar through her father's connections. This leads him to attempt to enlist Katya to pass on information about the Tsar to the Bolsheviks who want the Tsar to abdicate so they can form a socialist government to run the country. However, Katya, still loyal to the Tsar, refuses.

At home Katya discovers that Maxim has gambled away the money she saved to pay off his debts. Maxim had been at the front for two years when he was injured during a battle in October. Now home recovering, he has nightmares and can't sleep and spends his time gambling. He is unable to work because once employed he will be sent back to the front. As a last attempt, he decides to write their father to ask for a discharge. Maxim's debts leave Katya no choice but to supply Sergei and the Bolsheviks with information about the Tsar.

To this end, Katya attends a dinner at General Yudenich and Elena Stefanova's home. General Yudenich's son, Ilya was killed in action November 9, 1915. Katya secretly loved Ilya. They had spent their childhood together; he taught Katya about military rules, how to march, and how to hold a gun and saber. At the dinner Katya learns about Sergeant Bochkareva who wants to form a women's battalion to shame the Russian men who are fleeing the front. She has obtained permission from General Kerensky, the Minister of War to do so.

The Women's March ends up bringing down the government, forcing Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate and the forming of a moderate provisional government. In the factory, Katya begins making gas grenades filled with chloropicrin. Masha's father has now left to fight at the front as does Maxim, whose father refused to get him the discharge.

In May, Katya and Masha attend a rally for the Women's Battalion of Death at the Mariinsky Theatre. At first Katya refuses to go, but when a telegram from her father arrives announcing that Maxim has deserted, she relents. There is now no reason for her to remain at home, since Maxim will never return. At the women's rally, Katya is inspired by Bochkareva's rousing speech and signs up. When she tells Sergei, he is furious that she has joined, telling her that it only means more people will die. Katya is determined to remain loyal to the Tsar and save her beloved country. But as Katya first trains to become a soldier and then is sent to the front, the realities of war and life under the Tsar come to bear.

Discussion

Open Fire is a historical novel, set in 1917 Russia, that offers a portrayal of a very interesting and little known aspect of World War II, the Women's Battalion of Death. In this respect, Open Fire is similar to several other recent historical novels about Russia and the world wars. In the novels, Night Witches and Among The Red Stars, the Soviet Union's female bomber regiment infamously nicknamed "the night witches", is portrayed. In Open Fire, readers learn about the formation of an all women's battalion whose goal was to humiliate Russian men into joining the war effort. 

Maria Bochareva

The Women's Battalion was the brain child of Maria Bochareva, a peasant woman who had distinguished herself as a soldier in earlier years of the Great War. Bochareva was born in 1889 and had a difficult life prior to serving in the Great War. Her home life growing up was abusive and impoverished, and she was abused by both her first and second husband. She fled her second marriage to join the army in 1914, obtaining special permission from Tsar Nicholas Alexander. 

In 1917, Russian soldiers were deserting in large numbers due to poor morale. In a meeting with General Kerensky in May of 1917, Bochareva received permission to create a special women's unit. Her speech on May 21 resulted in two thousand women volunteering, of which only five hundred were chosen. They were rigorously trained and followed a strict code. The women carried a small capsule of  potassium cyanide to take if they were captured by German soldiers.

The Women's Battalion of Death fought valiantly but in the end they were betrayed by Russian soldiers who refused to help the battalion at the front. There was a great deal of opposition to the women soldiers. As author Amber Lough notes in her Author's Note at the back, the women's battalions were officially disbanded once the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin came to power in Russia.

Lough does a good job of capturing life during the final days of Tsar Nicholas as Russia hurtled towards revolution. The novel covers a very short period of time, from February 23 to July 31, 1917. This period was the beginning of the end of Imperial Russia. During this time, Russia was involved in World War I, having been drawn into the war after Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, an ally of Russia. Russia had previously lost the Russo-Japanese War of 1904/05 and was ill-equipped and poorly trained. In addition the country was struggling with political and social unrest. Much of the population consisted of poor peasant farmers who had little representation in Russia's autocratic government. Cities were crowded and filthy. Factory strikes were common.

As World War I dragged on Russia began suffering tremendous causalities. By 1916, almost five million men had been killed, were missing, or prisoners of war. Russian soldiers lacked weapons, munitions and even proper clothing and boots. In some situations soldiers were sent into battle without weapons, told to scavenge weapons from dead soldiers. It was no surprise that morale was low and that  soldiers began to desert. It was in these circumstances that the Womens Battalion was formed.

In Open Fire, the story of Katya and the Women's Battalion touches on some of this through the experiences of the main character, Katya. Katya's father, a Colonel in the Imperial Army and their family are loyal to Tsar Nicholas II. With her mother having left the family years earlier and her father at the front fighting, Katya is determined to help with the war effort. To that end, Katya works in a munitions factory, having giving up studying chemistry at university. The work is dirty, tiring and pays poorly. A member of the upper class, Katya is working with women who are mostly peasants.

Her family's special status is first hinted at during the march when Katya thinks about how her family has "access to food stores not publicly available." Unlike other workers at the factory, Katya attends army wives' functions, such as Easter tea. She dresses up in beautiful gowns and pretends that life in Petrograd is going on as normal. Conditions in Petrograd and the civil unrest are only briefly hinted at. Readers are told, "The Tsar had put out a ration on bread, and since the city was already strained by three years of war and a bitter winter, the women were taking to the streets. I didn't blame the, given that the last loaf I'd bought had been gray, not white, and I'd had to wait in line for nearly an hour to get it." 

In contrast to Katya is her friend Sergei, also a former student and a Bolshevik, who believes revolution will bring about a "golden future" for Russia. "Once the Tsar abdicated and a socialist government took power, Russia's troubles would end. We'd all have what we needed, he said with conviction, and no one would be sponging their wealth off the backs of the poor. There would be equality and justice, for man and woman alike." But Katya believes "a revolution would be tart, biting back." 

Nevertheless, before she enlists, Katya finds herself conflicted over the war and her loyalty to the Tsar. She reluctantly agrees to supply Sergei with information about the Tsar and later on refuses to sabotage the Women's Battalion as he requests.

Katya enters the war determined to fight for Mother Russia. She wants Russia to win the war.But her war experiences, such as the death of her best friend Masha or bayoneting a man to death change Katya's perspective forever. After recovering from her wounds, Katya's view on the war, Russia and the revolution have changed. War does not solve problems. It doesn't solve the world's problems or a country like Russia's problems. She now understands why her brother Maxim deserted. "I wanted to find Maxim and tell him that I finally understood. He needed to find peace. There are worthy wars fought badly and unworthy ones fought well, and all of them are hell. They may save nations or break them, but they always take more than they give back." 

Unlike Sergei who remains a committed Bolshevik, Katya tells him, as they are setting up a chess game, that she will choose "Whichever side plays with the most honor." The novel ends with her determined to face the future with courage and hope.

The main strength of this novel is its portrayal of war. Lough, a U.S. Air Force veteran, was able to capture some of the terror and horror of World War I with her descriptive battle scenes. The novel's perspective is unique because it portrays women soldiers engaged in bloody battles at the Eastern Front. It portrays the gruesome ways soldiers die, the suffering and the debilitating effects of battle including the special risks the Women's Battalion encountered not just from enemy soldiers but their own men.

An interesting feature Lough has added into her story is a second story within a story; Katya recounts her father's telling of the legend of St. Olga of Kiev and her dealings with the Drevalians who murdered her husband, Igor. Before her conversion to Christianity, Olga is considered a true warrior queen who exacted a terrible revenge on the Drevalians for her husband's murder. As such St. Olga exemplifies the strong, dauntless Russian warrior: a fitting example for the daughter of a Russian officer and a soldier in the Women's Battalion.

Readers can learn more about the 1st Russian Women's Battalion in Lough's Author's Note at the back of the book. Maria Bochareva whose larger than life persona Lough attempted with some success to capture, is a historical figure few readers will know about. Bochareva was executed by the Red Army in 1920. She had worked to prevent the communist takeover of Russia and was seen as an "enemy of the people." Lough offers young readers Topics For Discussion section along with some recommendations to learn more about the events covered in her novel.

Maria Bochareva image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Bochkareva#/media/File:Bochkareva_Maria_LOC_ggbain_26866.jpg

Book Details:

Open Fire by Amber Lough
Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Lab        2020
255 pp.

Hiawatha and the Peacemaker by Robbie Robertson

Canadian musician Robbie Robertson tells the story of Hiawatha in this gorgeously illustrated picture book for children.

The story begins with Hiawatha losing his wife and three beautiful daughters when they are murdered by the evil Chief, Tadodaho. As Hiawatha recovers from his wounds, he can think only of revenge. Then one morning as the mist clears off the river waters, Hiawatha sees a man in a hand-carved stone canoe paddling towards him.

The strange person tells him he knows his pain and his loss. He has come to tell him of the "Great Law: Fighting among our people must stop. We must come together as one body, one mind, and one heart. Peace, power, and righteousness shall be the new way."

However, Hiawatha is doubtful as war and fear has always been the way the tribes have ruled. The stranger asks Hiawatha to accompany him to the land of the Mohawk to spread his message of peace. While his voice is soft and he does not speak well, he asks Hiawatha to speak for him. Hiawatha agrees.

Even though the white canoe was made of stone, they paddled off to Hiawatha's people, the Mohawk. With everyone, the Chief, the Elders and the Clan Mothers gathered around, the Peacemaker placed his hand on Hiawatha's back and Hiawatha was easily able to "speak his words". He tells the Mohawks that "Peace, power, and righteousness shall be the new way...All nations will become one family. Our people shall have one body, one mind, and one heart. This is the message of the Great Law."  

Although the Clan Mothers were in agreement, the War Chief wanted proof that this was true. So the Peacemaker and Hiawatha set off to the other nations, promising to "return with proof that our nations can join together."

And so Hiawatha along with the Peacemaker visited the Cayuga, the Seneca, the Oneida and the Mohawk nations with his message. With representatives from each of the nations, the Peacemaker and Hiawatha paddled to confront the Onondaga chief, Tadodaho. Can they convince Tadodaho to join the four nations and live in peace?

Discussion

Author Robbie Robertson, who is of  Cayuga and Mohawk heritage was often taken by his mother,  to the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford, Ontario. On one occasion, Robertson listened to a story in a longhouse, the traditional housing of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Nation, told by an elder. It was the story of the Great Peacemaker and Hiawatha. This story made a lasting impression on the young Robertson, who hoped someday to tell stories as this elder did.

In this picture book for readers of all ages, Robertson retells that story accompanied by the magnificent, powerful illustrations of David Shannon. As Robertson indicates in his Author's Note at the back,  Henry Wadworth Longfellow's poem, Song of Hiawatha, does not tell the true legend of Hiawatha. It is instead a different story of another Indigenous person.

There are many variations of the legend of Hiawatha and the Great Peacemaker but the essence of the story is that these two worked together to bring peace to the warring Indigenous nations living around the Great Lakes. In addition, one cannot ignore the many spiritual elements to the legend, especially of a loving Creator who wanted his people to live in peace.

Hiawatha and the Great Peacemaker are believed to have lived before the First Contact with European peoples. At this time, the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga and Seneca were constantly at war. There was not only fighting between the tribes, but also within villages and within families. 

The Great Peacemaker, was also known as Deganawida, whose birth was foretold in a dream to his grandmother. He was raised by his mother and grandmother. When he grew to adulthood, he was convinced that he was to bring a message of peace from the Creator to their people. To begin his mission, Deganawida sailed across the lake in a white stone canoe to bring a message of peace to the various tribes. 

There are variations in the legend as to how they met. In Robertson's version, The Great Peacemaker met Hiawatha after the latter had lost his entire family as a result of a raid by the Onondaga chief,  Tadodaho. In other versions, the two meet well after the Great Peacemaker has begun his mission. However, the main storyline is that the Great Peacemaker travelled from nation to nation, spreading the message of peace known as the Great Law of Peace. This law forbade cannibalism, human sacrifice and black magic. Hiawatha and the Great Peacemaker eventually confronted Tadodaho, telling him about the Great Law. Tadodaho was so evil that it manifested itself in his appearance: he was ugly, dirty and had snakes in his hair. Hiawatha and the Great Peacemaker cured Tadodaho of his evil ways and his appearance changed; they combed the snakes out of his hair.

Their weapons of war where thrown into the hole where a large white pine tree had been uprooted and the tree was replanted with an eagle placed on top to watch for any threats to this peace. Today it is recognized that the Five Nations, which became the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy with the addition of the Tuscarora nation in 1722, is the oldest participatory democracy on earth.

Robertson's telling of this remarkable story is beautifully enriched by the colourful illustrations of David Shannon. Shannon's artwork was painted using oils on hot press illustration boards. Included are a Historical Note providing some information about the legend of Hiawatha as well as an Author's Note which explains how Ronnie Robertson came to hear the story of Hiawatha and how it impacted his life.

Hiawatha and the Peacemaker is an excelling picture book to use as a starting point for learning about First Nations people, their culture and their oral tradition. Those who might want to learn more about the Haudenosaunee way of life can visit the Haudenosaunee Confederacy website.

 Image credit: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/09/books/robbie-robertson-of-the-band-tells-all-in-testimony.html

Book Details:

Hiawatha and The Peacemaker by Robbie Robertson
New York: Abrams Books for Young Readers   2015

The Tree Lady by H. Josephine Hopkins

The Tree Lady is a colourful picture book that tells the story of Katherine Olivia Sessions who grew up in the woods of Northern California. In the 1860's girls were not expected to be interested in science and the natural world but Kate was. Kate loved trees and felt at home in the woods.

In 1881, Kate graduated from the University of California with a science degree, something most women at this time did not do. She took a job as a teacher in San Diego, in southern California. At this time San Diego was a desert town with few trees. When Kate looked out of her classroom window over to City Park, she saw cattle grazing and a garbage pit. Kate decided to change that.

After two years, she left her teaching job and began to research the type of trees that would grow in San Diego's dry, hot desert climate. She wrote to gardeners all over the world requesting tree seeds. She travelled to Mexico to see the kinds of trees that survived there. She grew the seeds she received in a nursery and began planting trees throughout San Diego. People also bought trees from her nursery to plant in their yards.

By 1900, San Diego was a changed city. Kate continued to plant more trees especially in City Park which was now renamed Balboa Park, so that the park would be even more beautiful for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition. When the exposition opened, San Diego's beautiful gardens stunned visitors. Kate earned the title of the Mother of Balboa Park and received many awards for her beautification of the city.

 Discussion

The Tree Lady presents the life and work of Katherine Olivia Sessions, a horticulturalist whose foresight changed the city of San Diego from a desert city to one renowned for its trees.

Katherine Olivia Sessions was born on November 8th 1957 in San Francisco. Kate's family moved to a ranch in East Oakland in 1868. On the ranch Kate enjoyed the woods and rode her pony. She graduated from high school in Oakland in 1875 and then travelled to Hawaii (then known as the Sandwich Islands). In 1877, Kate was one of the first group of women allowed to study at the University of California at Berkley. She graduated in 1881 with a Bachelor of Science. 

 She accepted a teaching position at a primary school in Oakland and then moved to San Diego to teach at the Russ school.  After two years, Kate was invited to join her friends, Mr. and Mrs. Solon Blaisdell in purchasing and running the San Diego Nursery. This was the beginning of Kate's involvement in operating a number of nurseries and flower shops in the city. 

In 1892 she began to develop what would eventually be called Balboa Park. Kate leased land from the city in what was then called City Park, nothing more than a barren, dry mesa. In exchange, she promised to plant one hundred trees a year and to also provide trees for the city. It was at this time she also became the city gardener. By 1905, Kate had transformed the park into a lush, green park with many new types of trees. City Park became Balboa Park, a lush urban park.

Kate went on to teach school children about trees, shrubs and flowering plants and helped them in the school gardens. Kate Sessions, never married and died on March 24, 1940.

The Tree Lady is a biographical picture book that highlights a trailblazing woman who forged her own path at the turn of the 20th century. Kate Sessions developed a deep interest in trees and horticulture as a child. Her love of the natural world was likely considered "unfeminine" at a time when women were still encouraged to focus on domestic duties within the home. At this time it would have been unusual for a woman to earn an advanced degree in science and to work in her field of study.  Kate was fortunate to be able parlay her skill and knowledge into creating an urban park for the city of San Diego. Like most trailblazers, she had a unique vision and she worked to make it happen. Her story is one of perseverance and determination. Kate Sessions is a reminder to girls today, that their dreams are attainable.

Aiding in telling the story of Kate Sessions, are the vibrant green illustrations of Jill McElmurry which were rendered in gauche on 140 lb cold-pressed watercolor paper. These colourful panels give life to this story of a woman who in her own way made the city of San Diego a more vibrant and colourful place too!

Kate Sessions image: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/75383463/katherine-olivia-sessions/photo#view-photo=62217475

Book Details:

The Tree Lady by H.Josephine Hopkins
New York: Beach Lane Books      2013

If You Want to Visit a Sea Garden by Kay Weisman

This exquisitely illustrated picture book explains a sea garden. Do you know what a sea garden is?

To visit a sear garden you need to get up early. They can only be seen when the tide is at its lowest in the early morning. After tying up the boat in a safe spot, walk along the beach.

You will be welcomed by the "symphony of clams" as they squirt out water. There are rocks covered in barnacles, "tiny creatures that live inside sharp shells."

At the edge of the water, reefs of stone built by the First Peoples over many years, create new places for sea life to make homes.

There is a wealth and great diversity of sea life here: whelks, kelp, hermit crabs, and sea cucumbers. The warm waters inside the stone reef are perfect for clams. Some of the stone walls have existed for generations, helping First Peoples feed their families and providing opportunities to connect with their community.

Discussion

If You Want To Visit A Sea Garden is a nonfiction juvenile book about the sea gardens created by First Nations people on the west coast of Canada. They are an ancient aquaculture technique created by Indigenous peoples. 

Sea gardens on the northwest coast have been dated by Canadian archeologists as having existed for at least 3500 years. Some gardens have been used for thousands of years. Sea gardens, also known as clam gardens create a greater area for clams to grow by expanding their shallow water beach habitat.  These gardens have been found throughout the entire stretch of the northwest coast, from the state of Washington, along the coast of British Columbia to Alaska.

Aerial view of a historic clam garden.

A clam garden is created by building a stone wall of boulders parallel to the low tide line, then backfilling to create an area where clams can safely grow. The garden is then regularly tended, raking to remove detritus from the sediment as well as clam predators such as star fish. Clam gardens allowed a variety of clams to thrive, and as larger clams were removed, younger clams were free to grow. Clams were an excellent source of nutrition for Indigenous peoples living along the northwest coast.

The artwork of renowned Indigenous artist, Roy Henry Vickers is truly the highlight of this informative children's book about a little known aspect of First People's culture.His colourful panels capture the beauty and serenity of the coast and the sea gardens. The illustrations, created digitally, incorporate some of the Vickers' well known features such a his signature suns and his use of bright clean colours.

Kay Weisman has also included a detailed More About Sea Gardens at the back which includes pictures for young readers.

If you'd like to know more about clam gardens, check out the clam garden network website. 

Image credit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/august-3-2019-science-of-awe-blue-whales-and-sonar-chromosomes-and-sleep-and-more-1.5047142/clam-gardens-have-been-cultivated-by-indigenous-people-for-millennia-1.5047148

Book Details:

If You Want To Visit A Sea Garden by Kay Weisman
Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press      2020