Alexander the Great by Dominic Sandbrook

The life of Alexander the Great is a story of fierce battles, the determination to rule the known world and to discover new worlds to conquer. It is a story that has captivated so many, through the ages and it is brought wonderfully to life in Dominic Sandbrook's  Adventures In Time series.

One summer day in the 4th century B.C., Philip, a young prince from Macedonia, arrived on the island of Samothrace. He had come to experience for himself, "the annual festival, when newcomers entered the inner sanctum, bathed in the blood of the sacrifice and learned the mysteries of the underworld." This was in the Sanctuary of the Great Gods. During the festival, Philip saw a "raven-haired" girl named Olympias, whose father was king of Epirus. She captured his imagination.

In 359 B.C., when he was twenty-three years old, Philip became king of Macedon. In 357 B.C. he married Olympias. The night before her wedding, Olympias had a strange dream involved Zeus. In the summer of 356 B.C., she gave birth to a boy she named Alexandros or Alexander. On the day Alexander was born, his father King Philip captured the sea port of Potidea, his Macedonian army defeated the Illyrian tribes and his prize stallion won an Olympic race. These were all considered wonderful signs, but one event was viewed as an omen. The great Temple of Artemis, in the city of Ephesus, burned to the ground. To the temple priests, this "...foreshadowed disaster for all Asia."

In Alexander's early years, he was watched over by his nanny, Lanike and was taught by tutors chosen by Olympias. But when Alexander grew older, Philip chose Aristotle, son of Nicomachus as a tutor. He had studied with Plato and had authored books on many subjects including, plants, sea life, magnets, music and much more. 

Under Aristotle's tutelage in the village of Mieza, Alexander learned about the first Greek explorers and the wars between the Greek cities of Athens, Sparta, Thebus, and Corinth. He also learned about the battles between the Greeks and their arch-enemy, the Persians. Studying with him were the sons of Philip's commanders, Perdiccas, Ptolemy, Nearchus the Cretan, his closest friend Hephaestion, as well as Cleitus the Black, Lanike's brother.

Alexander and Hephaestion often ventured far during their hunting trips, the two young men eager to be part of war some day and gain glory. Alexander loved the stories of Perseus, Heracles and especially, Achilles whom he believed was one of his ancestors. 

When Alexander was twelve-years-old, he quickly tamed a large, black stallion whom the horse dealer Philonicus had brought to his father and whom no one could ride. Alexander realized the horse was afraid of his shadow and turned him to face the sun. He named the horse, Bucephalas or "Ox-head".

In the summer of 338 B.C., eighteen-year-old Alexander was with his father's army at Chaeronea. Since taking the throne, Philip had managed to unite the northern part of the Greek world. But in the south, in Athens and Thebes, the people, persuaded by the politician Demosthenes, refused to accept Philip as king. He was considered a "dirty Macedonian".  At Chaeronea, Philip won a decisive battle and travelled to Corinth, where he presented a plan to attack Persia to avenge their invasion a century earlier.

In the summer of 338 B.C., eighteen-year-old Alexander accompanied his father's army at Chaeronea. Since taking the throne, Philip had managed to unite the northern part of the Greek world. But in the south, in Athens and Thebes, the people had been persuaded by the politician Demosthenes to refuse to accept Philip as king. At Chaeronea, Philip won a decisive victory and at Corinth presented a plan to invade Persia and seek revenge for invading mainland Greece a century earlier. Philip was recognized as Supreme Commander of the League of Corinth. He felt even more certain of victory against the Persians after visiting the Temple of Apollo at Delphi and consulting the Oracle. There, the Fates told Philip, "Wreathed is the bull. The end is near. The one who will slay him is at hand." Philip understood this to mean that he would win Persia and that Darius, King of Persia would die.

The wedding of Alexander's sister, Cleopatra to the new king of Epirus, was held in the citadel of Aigai. There were guests from every city in Greece. As Philip prepared to enter the stadium for the wedding games, a man darted from the shadows, knifing the king. Philip was dead, murdered by a once-close friend, Pausania. As it turned out, the prophecy of the Fates was the foretelling of Philip's death, not his victory. Now it was Alexander's chance at glory, one he was determined to meet with strength and unwavering courage.

Discussion

Alexander the Great is an exciting account of one of the most well-known figures in history. Historical fiction author, Dominic Sandbrook has brought to life the adventures and times of Alexander, king, soldier and explorer in a way that is both engaging and informative.

This installment in the Adventures In Time series, traces Alexander's beginnings, starting with his father, Philip's military conquests and his marriage to Olympias and Alexander's early life in Pella. Sandbrook incorporates many interesting facts about life in Greece in 4th century B.C. Alexander is portrayed as a youth who dreamed of great adventures and conquests and who grew into a young man believing he could accomplish them. He also believed he was related to the great Greek hero Achilles and later on that he was the son of Zeus.

Alexander the Great succeeds in capturing the immensity of Alexander's accomplishments, his brilliant military battles and his quest to explore Asia, believing he could claim it for Greece. His campaign against King Porus of India with his fearsome elephants makes exciting reading. 

"On the flanks waited Porus's cavalry. But the Macedonians had eyes only for the centre, where the Indian king had stationed his war-elephants.
The elephants were a magnificent, awe-inspiring sight, their tusks strengthened with poison-tipped spikes, their bodies clad in sheets of chain mail. On each beast's back was strapped a carriage, carrying warriors bristling with bows and spears. 

One elephant, a giant towered above all the rest. In its carriage stood a man of colossal stature, clad in armour of silver and gold, his gaze proud and imperious. This was Porus."

In his Author's Note at the back, Sandbrook notes that he used five major sources from ancient historians in his research on Alexander the Great. He also drew on more recent books about Alexander as well as websites including Livius.org and the articles on Alexander (https://www.livius.org/articles/person/alexander-the-great/alexander-the-great-3/)  and much more. Very little has been passed down about Alexander's wife, Roxana or the children he had with her. Sandbrook noted that he resisted the impulse to add "colourful details" to his retelling and so doesn't expand on her life with Alexander. 

Although Sandbrook does include a map at the front of the novel, a much larger map or a series of more detailed maps might have been more helpful. It would have been wonderful to see a book like this illustrated as well, something no longer a feature of children's chapter books.

Overall though, Alexander the Great is a stellar account of this incredible and exciting historical figure. This biography will have much appeal to those young readers aged ten to seventeen, interested in learning about history and important historical figures like Alexander the Great.

Book Details:

Adventures In Time: Alexander the Great by Dominic Sandbrook
Canada: Particular Books   2022
322 pp.

Reaching For the Moon: The Autobiography of NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson

When Katherine Coleman was four-years-old she had a mission: to help her older brother Charlie with his math. Six-year-old Charlie was struggling to understand numbers, so Katherine decided to sit with him in class and help him! Charlie attended Mary McLeod Bethune Grade School where the Colored students of White Sulphur Springs were sent. His teacher, Mrs. Rosa Leftwich quickly realized that Katherine was indeed helping Charlie. Mrs. Leftwich eventually started a kindergarten class which Katherine attended and after that began school in the fall in second grade, a year ahead of Charlie. Katherine would eventually skip fifth grade. Her siblings, Horace and Margaret remained ahead of her in school. 

Before Katherine's family lived in White Sulphur Springs, her father owned a very large farm and log farmhouse in Oakhurst, which was located close by.  Their farm was called Dutch Run. Katherine's father had only a sixth-grade education but he was an industrious man. Katherine believes that a white man must have purchased the land their house in White Sulphur Springs was built on, as Colored people could  not buy land at that time. Education was very important to Katherine's father, which was why he moved the family into town.

In 1926, the Coleman family moved to Institute, West Virginia so the children could attend the West Virginia Colored Institute. When Katherine's father was unable to find employment he was forced to move back to White Sulphur Springs where he would live apart from his family for the next eight years, until all four Coleman children had graduated college. His family would visit during summers and holidays. 

Katherine entered high school at age ten and did well, often acing courses. During the 1920's Katherine and her siblings all worked at the Greenbrier Hotel, built at the local thermal springs. The hotel catered to wealthy white clients, although some amenities were available to the Colored population later in the evening. Horace, Charlie and Mr. Coleman worked as bellmen, while Margaret and Katherine worked in the valet shop, unpacking guest's trunks and pressing their clothes.

In 1932, Katherine graduated from high school and entered college. Because she had the opportunity to practice her French with the chef at the Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, Katherine thought she might like to major in French. However, Dr. William W. Schieffelin Claytor, head of the mathematics department urged her to reconsider. Katherine decided to major in both French and math. He also encouraged Katherine to become a research mathematician, and to that end he developed classes just for her, including a class about the geometry of outer space.

Katherine graduated from the Institute which was now called West Virginia State College, in 1937 with degrees in mathematics and French, summa cum laude. She graduated ahead of her brothers, Horace and Charlie, both of whom she thought were "slow learners". They were most definitely not!

Katherine then went on to teach math and music at Carnegie Elementary School in Marion, Virginia. Public schools at this time were racially segregated. "White Virginians thought that if Colored people became educated, they would challenge the existing social order, which was rooted in White supremacy - the belief that White people were genetically superior to non-White people, including Colored people." Marion, Virginia was predominantly white and Katherine knew that "the threat of violence was never far off." It was in Marion that Katherine met Jimmie Gobles, a tall graduate from Lincoln University in Missouri.  Katherine and Jimmie were married November 9, 1939.

Very soon after, during the summer of  1940, Katherine moved to Morgantown where she would begin graduate school at West Virginia University. Katherine was one of three Colored students chosen to integrate the school. However, Katherine didn't return to West Virginia University in the fall but instead returned to teaching with Jimmie at Carnegie Elementary. 

In December 1940, Katherine had the first of three daughters, named Joylette. Constance was born in April, 1943, and Katherine (Kathy) was born in April, 1944. Katherine and Jimmie moved to Bluefield, Virginia in 1947, where they both taught at Tazewell County  School. After losing their house in a fire, Katherine and Jimmie moved to the Newport News-Hampton Roads area. Katherine's sister Margaret and her husband had told Katherine about a secret government project on the Virginia peninsula where Colored women were working as "computers".  While Jimmie got a job as a painter at the Newport News shipyard, Katherine decided to try for a position as a mathematician at NACA (the forerunner of NASA). Eventually, Katherine was offered a job as a computer at NACA. It would be the beginning of a stellar career in the space industry, where she would have a profound impact on the Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle missions, and blaze a trail for women in science and engineering, especially African-American women.

Discussion

Reaching For The Moon is the inspiring story of Katherine Johnson, an African-American woman mathematician who led an extraordinary life. Johnson wrote her story in the hopes of inspiring young people to "reach for the moon in their own lives", no matter their circumstances. For Katherine Johnson, those circumstances were systemic discrimination based on race and gender.

As a young Black girl, growing up in racially segregated America during the 1920's and 1930's, Katherine experienced many serious challenges. Racial segregation and systemic racism meant fewer opportunities for African-Americans who struggled to obtain an education. When her father was born, about half of African Americans were unable to read. Katherine explains why White Americans were against educating Blacks and how the difficulty in obtaining an education made her father highly value an education.

Katherine writes how "...Colored people strove to educate themselves - organizing, creating self-help groups, running for office, fighting to change laws, founding schools, and so on."  Katherine's parents valued a good education so much they sacrificed to ensure their children were able to attend schools. Katherine notes of her father, "Because his own education had been prohibited, his children's was extremely important to him....Like many other Colored people of that era, he saw education as the pathway his children could follow to escape indignities and dangers, large and small." Repeatedly her father moved his family near good schools and even endured years of separation from his family, so that his daughters could receive a good education.

Katherine traces her own path through the years of the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. and the Space Race of the 1960's, set against the backdrop of the struggle by African-Americans for racial equality, desegregation, the right to vote, and the right to an education. She describes how schools for Black children were often deprived of funding, and the teachers poorly paid but how this situation also resulted in highly qualified teachers and well-educated Black students who went on to make significant contributions to America.

In Reaching For The Moon, Katherine describes the contributions she was most proud of at NACA and its successor, NASA. She attributes her success to her unprecedented habit of  asking questions of NASA engineers, so she could understand their thinking. This was to ensure her calculations were correct. It was something the other "computers" had never done, because it was expected that the women computers would not question the men engineers. "Having enough information to do my work accurately was essential; so I just ignored the social customs that told me to stay in my place. I would keep asking questions until I was satisfied with the results...Quietly the quality of my contribution began to outweigh the arbitrary laws of racial segregation and the dictates that held back my gender."

It is evident from Reaching For The Moon, that Katherine Johnson was a very gifted mathematician whose contributions were significant in both the Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle programs. But she was also a woman of determination, perseverance and courage.  Her life was not without tragedy, as she lost her beloved first husband, Jimmie Gobles in 1956 when she was thirty-eight years old. Katherine passed away in February of 2020 at the age of one hundred and one.

In Reaching For The Moon, Katherine repeatedly mentions the advice her father gave her, "You are no better than anyone else, but nobody else is better than you." It was advice she would remember all her life, giving her the self-confidence in a world that saw her as unequal. Katherine Johnson's autobiography is a must-read for girls and teens of all backgrounds, but especially those from marginalized communities and those contemplating a career in science. 

Book Details:

Reaching For The Moon: The Autobiography of NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson

New York: Atheneum Books For Young Readers   2019
248 pp.

Nathalie. An Acadian's Tale of Tragedy and Triumph by Debra Amirault Camelin

It is September 15, 1755 in  Grand Pre, Nova Scotia. Thirteen-year-old Nathalie Belliveau lives in a typical one-room Acadian house with her younger sister, ten-year-old Isabelle, her sixteen-year-old sister Agnes, and her brothers Isidore and Joseph, as well as her parents, Agnes and Charles and her Grand-mere Jeanne Lizzie.

Recently they have seen the arrival of British ships in the Minas Basin and the set up of a large number of tents. On this day all the village men and boys ten years old and up, from Grand Pre, the Minas, and the Canards, must attend a meeting at Saint-Charles-des-Mines Church in Grand Pre. Nathalie's brother Michel believes it would be best for them to simply leave Grand Pre and start over in Quebec, but Papa knows that they might not get permission to leave.

As it happens, Nathalie's father and brothers do not return from the meeting that night, nor the next day. Two weeks later, with their men still not home, Nathalie's family learns that Major-General John Winslow presided over the meeting in which he claimed the Acadians were disloyal to King George. As a result, their lands, homes and animals were to be confiscated. When the men pleaded to be allowed to leave Acadia and move to Quebec, instead "Winslow ordered the unmarried men and boys to be separated from their fathers and brothers. Then, in groups of fifty, surrounded by armed soldiers who pointed their bayonets at the prisoners, they were marched to the shore." Despite the pleas and cries of the young men they were placed on five ships which sailed away. Then the married men were placed on other ships in the bay.

As the women are telling what happened, soldiers arrive at Nathalie's home and order them to pack their belongs and leave. They are taken down to the shore of New Minas Basin where their neighbours and friends are forced into large dories. Witnessing families being separated, Nathalie links her arms with those of her sisters, Isabelle and Agnes. 

For three days Nathalie and her sisters and maman wait on the shore. On the third day they are told to get ready to leave on the Elizabeth. Nathalie's mother suddenly realizes that the prized bottle her mother had given her is not with their possessions. Nathalie decides to leave and run back to their home to retrieve the precious bottle. While she is searching for the bottle, Nathalie encounters Brigitte Boudrot and her older brother Basile from Riviere-aux-Canards. Brigitte tells Nathalie that she cannot return to the shore because it is now too dangerous. So they make their way to a hidden dory along the shore where a family friend had hidden supplies.

Once they retrieve the supplies, the trio head into the forest, away from the shores. However, because Basile has an infected wound on his arm, their progress becomes slower and slower. He was wounded saving his sister from a British soldier intent on raping her. Eventually Basile becomes feverish and is no longer able to travel. They are found by Mi'kmaw hunters on their way back to their camp after taking down a moose. Nathalie, Basile and Brigitte are taken to the Mi'kmaq camp further into the Sipekne'katik territory. There they find a camp of five birch bark wigwams located near a lake.

Basile is treated by an elderly woman named Musikisk Pukwik'l which means Sky Eyes because her eyes are blue. As Basile struggles to recover, Nathalie and Brigitte are welcomed into the tribe and participate in the feast celebrating Wowksis jij's feat of killing a moose. Nathalie soon develops a strong bond with a young Mi'kmaw girl, Nipk Amu who is of similar age.

After a week, with Basile now recovered and the Mi'kmaq preparing to move their camp further inland, Nathalie, Basile and Brigitte continue their journey southwest to the Cheboque River where they seek refuge. At Cheboque Point, Basile meets Alain Bain, the smithy and tells him they are refugees from the British who have rounded up the people from Riviere-aux-Canards, Grand Pre and Port Royal to Cobequid. The villagers have been deported to unknown destinations, possibly France and New England. Jacques Amirault and son Ange, meet Nathalie, Basile and Brigitte at the smithy. While Basile decides to continue his journey, it is arranged that Jacques Amirault and Ange will bring Nathalie into their family while his sister Brigitte will stay with Alain's mother and sisters.

As Nathalie grows to love the Amirault family, she never gives up hope of finding her own family again. But as a second deportation further south, separates her from her bretrothed, Nathalie is determined to not just survive, but reunite both with the man she loves and her family.

Discussion

Nathalie is a fictional story based on the real lives of two Acadian families, the Belliveaus and the Amiraults who were forcibly expelled from their homes in Nova Scotia in 1755. The author, Debra Amirault Camelin writes in her Author's Note that she is an "eleventh-generation Belliveau and ninth-generation Amirault, born in Canada. Nathalie Belliveau and Ange Amirault are my fourth great-grandparents." Amirault Camelin based her story, Nathalie, on "factual breadcrumbs mixed with educated fabrication."

Not much historical fiction has been written about the Acadian expulsion that seems now largely a piece of forgotten Canadian history.  The Acadians arrived from France in 1604 and settled  in the New Minas Basin - in the Bay of Fundy area, as well as the eastern edge of the Annapolis Valley. The area became known as Acadia, with its capital of Port-Royal. The Acadians were an industrious people who were able to turn the marshy areas into fertile farm fields through the use of dykes. Most Acadians were farmers. Unlike other European settlers, the Acadians formed a strong friendship with the Indigenous Mi'kmaq. 

But in 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht gave the French land in Acadia to the British. At first it seemed that as long as the Acadians remained neutral, all would be well. However, the construction of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island and Fort Beausejour on Isthmus of Chignecto angered the British who countered with their own forts. In the summer of 1755, Governor Charles Lawrence demanded that the Acadians take an oath of allegiance to the British. When they refused, he ordered the deportations. It is also likely the British coveted the well-developed and prosperous farms and fertile land of the Acadians. So on September 5, 1755, Colonel John Winslow rounded up the Acadian males over the age of ten and placed them aboard ships bound for the British Colonies. Although some resisted and fled into the forests, in the end about ten thousand Acadians were deported between 1755 and 1763. Thousands of Acadians died from drowning when their ships sank, from disease or starvation on board the ships that took them to the British colonies or the Caribbean. Many more suffered from poor living conditions in the colonies.

In Nathalie, Debra Amirault Camelin effectively portrays the plight of the Acadians who were forcibly removed from their homes, suffering the loss of their farms and most of their possessions, with women and children separated from husbands and fathers, and in some cases never reunited. Readers will come to understand just how devastating the expulsion was to the tight-knit Acadian families.  

But Nathalie is not only a portrayal of the brutality of the British but also of the tenacity and resilience of the Acadians. This is seen in many of  the  characters in the novel: Basile almost loses his life protecting his sister Brigitte, Ange and Dittou travel to the English colonies to find Nathalie's parents, and Nathalie signs on for extra years as a servant in order to protect Ludivine.

In what  seems to be an effort to appeal to teen readers, Amirault Camelin imagines the romance between Nathalie Belliveau and her betrothed, Ange Amirault. It involves a description of the Catholic couple engaging in a night of passion when they reunite on Captain Soudan's ship in 1763. Although entirely possible, it's also probably unlikely, as Amirault Camelin imagined it. Young couples were often well chaperoned during this era and it's likely this would have been the case when Nathalie was brought on board the ship. Captain Soudan would have felt himself responsible for protecting Nathalie, the daughter of a man with whom he had a strong friendship. 

In Nathalie, the latter chapters of the novel do focus on the young couple's relationship and in particular, Nathalie's mother's apparent understanding of her actions with Ange. This seems to be a case of applying twenty-first century morals and attitudes to an era that was very, very different from our own. This makes Nathalie a novel best suited for older teen readers.

Overall, Nathalie is a realistic portrayal of the tragedy and triumph of the Acadians, with a touch of romance that may appeal to older readers. The author has included several maps showing the main settlements of Acadia, the districts of the Mi'kmaq and the destinations of the two Acadian expulsions. There are also family trees of the Belliveau and Amirault lineage.

Book Details:

Nathalie. An Acadian's Tale of Tragedy and Triumph by Debra Amirault Camelin
Vancouver, B.C. : Ronsdale Press     2023

365 pp.