Inside Jacket

In Leaving Gee’s Bend by Irene Latham, ten-year-old Ludelphia Bennett only knows one way of life and that is sharecropping and the people in her small town.  In fact, she’s never left the town at all or explored the surrounding communities.

Life is relatively simple and happy but not without its sorrow as her mother loses baby after baby or without poverty due in part to the Great Depression.  There is one thing that Ludelphia loves more than anything and that’s to quilt.  Her mother says she was born to quilt and she’s never seen without a scrap of cloth and needle in her pocket.  The act of quilting and the subsequent act of contemplation that it brings is a thread that binds this story together.

When Ludelphia’s mother delivers her new baby early and falls deathly ill, her family is told that there is nothing that can be done.  But Ludelphia won’t give up that easily and takes off on her own to Camden, a town forty miles away in hopes of bringing the white doctor back with her.

The journey is eventful and challenging and tests Ludelphia’s courage and resolve. Remember she’s never been beyond her town’s borders before nor even seen a white person.  But in her attempt to save her mothers life will she end up dooming the entire town of Gee’s Bend?   It’s certainly possible.

I enjoyed learning more about this real town of Gee’s Bend which is steeped in quilting history and was the inspiration for this novel.  The book felt a bit slow near the beginning of the book but once Ludelphia began her journey, everything began to move along and I was fully invested in her story.  Many in the town believe in witchcraft which I felt brought an intriguing element to  not only the story’s beginning but its end as well.

Ludelphia is a strong and memorable character and while she may not always be the smartest in certain situations, I like young girl characters who know what they want and how to hold their own.

I can’t think of anything better to say then what Steph worded so well in her review:

It offers a memorable character and a compelling story with several interesting twists. It also provides fertile ground for discussion of quilting and folk art, sharecropping, poverty, racism, courage, and compassion, among other things.

The cover is ultimately what drew me to this cover. I knew I wanted to read it before I knew what is about.

Leaving Gee’s Bend is part of my themed reading for the month of February which celebrates Black History Month.  Join me this month as I explore books that celebrate the history of African-Americans.
Links of interest:  Irene Latham website, blog and Twitter.
Genre:  Middle Grade Historical Fiction, approx ages 9-12.
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile.  January 7, 2010.
Hardcover, 230 pages. ISBN 0399251790
Source copy: Unsolicited review copy (meaning it mysteriously showed up in my mail)
Leaving Gee’s Bend is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

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Copyright 2009. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

Why do I love reading memoirs?  Because of books like War Child, A Child Soldier’s Story by Emmanuel Jal. What an incredible book that had me thoroughly engrossed.  I think using the word engrossed is supposed to be a no-no when reviewing books but how else can I describe a book that had me unable to put it down and talking about it to my husband whenever I wasn’t reading it?

Emmanuel Jal is truly an amazing person and one that makes me believe in the resilience of the human spirit.   A former child-solder at the young age of seven in the Sudanese civil war, he is now a hip-hop star who is using his music to share his message and to find peace for his people in Africa.

About Emmanuel Jal’s story (from the War Child movie website):

In the early 1980s at the age of seven, Jal was swept into Sudan’s civil war, becoming one of 10,000 child soldiers conscripted on both sides of the two decade long conflict. After being forced to do many unimaginably horrible things, he escaped the soldier’s camp and trekked for four months through Africa. He was eventually found and adopted by the now legendary British aid worker Emma McCune who had married Sudanese guerrilla commander Riek Machar and convinced him to not employ child soldiers. Shortly after she adopted Jal, McCune died in a suspicious car crash, leaving Emmanuel “orphaned” once again. Jal rose from ruthless child soldier to refugee to rap star. He found his own redemption and life mission through a message of peace that represents one of the 21st centuries’ most inspiring and hopeful journeys, and a metaphor for the broader African predicament.

What I find so surreal about Emmanuel Jal’s story is that he is my age (or nearly close to it as he doesn’t know exactly when he was born).  What was I doing in the comfort of my American home while he had to make decisions about whether or not to eat his dead friend in order to stay alive, or that he was sleeping with an Ak-47 and not only being trained at the age of eight as a soldier but also sent to the front lines to kill?

I was so mad at his father for giving him up.  For abandoning him when he was just a small child No child should have to raise himself at the age of seven or eight.  I was so mad that people could do such awful things to each other.  But I was so inspired with those who reached out to help.  I adored and loved Emma McCune.  She is a hero and sometimes I secretly wish that I could make a similar impact on somebody’s life.   I am so inspired by Emmanuel Jal himself.  For overcoming his war-torn childhood, not only surviving but thriving and using his life to  make a difference for others.

After I finished the book, I rushed out and watched the documentary about his life.  When he lived in the refugee camps, he was filmed by National Geographic.  He loved to talk when he was little so he became a natural spokesman for the children.  It was surreal to watch him as a little boy and put a face to the little boy that I read about.

Another trailer (does contain graphic images):

And then after I watched the documentary, I rushed out and got his CD which I have listened to no less than a dozen times.  His lyrics are so compelling and he’s really talented.  I love that he is using his music to make a difference.

I love this tribute song for Emma McCune, the woman who smuggled him out of the country, took him in, and put him in school:

I wanted to share this song as well, because he was told that if he wanted to be successful he should become more concerned with material things.  His response was that while his people suffered in Africa, those things are meaningless. Just goes to show what his character his like.

Emmanuel Jal tells his story in his own words.  Please stop a moment and take the time to watch:

One  year ago, Emmanuel Jal pledged to fast two meals a day until he raised enough funds to build a school for his people in Africa.  One year later and countless meals missed, he has not given up.  You can find out how’s he doing via the links below and help the cause.

I was so inspired from this book and learning about Emmanuel Jal’s journey that I chose this book for the Twenty-Minute Book Club on the That’s How I Blog, Blog Talk Radio Show hosted by Nicole at Linus’s Blanket, which I will be a guest on Tuesday, January 19th. (and if you’re into reading challenges – this book would fit nicely with the That’s How I Blog Challenge as well as the Social Justice Challenge).  I would love for you to read the book, watch the documentary, or listen to his album and join us on that show to discuss it.

Regardless, this is one of those books that when you read it, you have to tell everybody about it.  So this is me, telling you about it.  Read it.

Links of interest:  Emmanuel Jal website, Twitter, Facebook and on YouTube.  War Child documentary movie website.  Gua Africa, Emmanuel’s non-profit charity which he founded, which is currently raises funds for the Emma Academy, in honor of the woman who saved his life.
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press. February 3, 2009.
Hardcover, 272 pages. ISBN 0312383223
War Child is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Saying Grace: A Prayer of Thanksgiving by Virginia Krull and illustrated by Timothy Ladwig is a lovely new book on the importance of prayer and gratitude for our blessing.  Although saying grace or blessing our food wasn’t a new idea among early American settlers and the custom was practiced as early as biblical times, this author gives a fictional rendition of how prayer might have started in North America during the 1600’s with an early settler named Grace.

Eight-year-old Grace is worried about the upcoming harsh winter.  And for good reason, last winter many people died including her own grandmother, her mother gave birth while her father was lost in a blizzard.  Winter frightens her.  As the season is upon them, Grace reads Psalms in the Bible where God takes care of even the birds and that He will take even better care of his children.  With a child’s perfect faith she prays, “Please send us a gentle winter.”  Her prayers were answered, no blizzards came and before they knew it spring had  arrived.

Later that fall, during harvest time, a new settler told them of a custom to gather together as a community and to share a harvest feast.  For Grace and her family, it would be their first Thanksgiving.  After preparing pies, turkeys, pheasants and other delicious dishes, they all sit down and begin to dig in.  But Grace knows that something isn’t right and shouts, “Wait!  Shouldn’t we first say thank you to God and ask a blessing?” The next morning as they sat down to breakfast, Grace’s father says, “Say it Grace” from which comes the phrase “saying grace.”

The author’s  note at the beginning of the book provides a few prayers that are good for children as well as scripture references that also make wonderful prayers.  My family blesses our food before each meal and this will be a great book to solidify to my children why we call on God and thank him for our bounteous blessings, not only this time of year but all year long as well.

Links of interest:  Illustrator Timonthy Ladwig website, more book blogger reviews.   Saying Grace: A Prayer of Thanksgiving is a  fiction picture book Cybil’s nominee for which I’m a panelist.
Genre: Fiction Picture Book, approx age 4-8.
Publisher: Zonderkidz.  September 1, 2009
Hardcover, 40 pages. ISBN 0310712106
Saying Grace: A Prayer of Thanksgiving is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Okay folks.  Surely you’ve seen this book around haven’t you?  Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld.  I’d seen the cover before but had never taken the time to pick it up and so I was a tad excited when it was a book read by our fabulous librarians at our story time that I go to every week.

Duck! Rabbit! is the perfect read-a-loud book with its two narrators.  In fact, it was read very energetically by two librarians and it was well received by the kids.  When I got my hands on my own library copy, my husband and I both read it out loud together to the kids.  A fun book to read either on its own or in a group.

In Duck! Rabbit! the off page narrators debate whether or not the animal in question is a duck or a rabbit.  Where one sees ears, another sees a bill.  Where one hears rabbit sounds another hears duck sounds.  The illustrations vary little which I think is fantastic.

But really, no need for me to ramble on about it.   The video says it all:

A great book for kids to think about shapes in new ways.

Links of interest:  Amy Krouse Rosenthal website, Tom Lichtenheld website, more book blogger reviews.  Duck! Rabbit! is a  fiction picture book Cybil’s nominee for which I’m a panelist.
Genre: Fiction Picture Book, approx age 4-8.
Publisher:  Chronicle Books.  March 11, 2009.
Hardcover, 40 pages. ISBN 0811868656
Duck! Rabbit! is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

What in the world is a behemoth?  From Job 40:15 in the Bible, “Look at the land beast, Behemoth.  I created him as well as you . . . “  In addition to an animal being described in the Bible it also means something large in size or power.  It’s these two ideas that form Benny the Baffled Behemoth by Melissa Leembruggen and illustrated by Trish McKinney, a faith-based picture book.

Benny is a young Behemoth.  But he has a major problem.  In fact, it’s a very colorful problem.  In a black and white world, Benny is full of color and he doesn’t like to feel different.  For each emotion that Benny feels he turns a different color.  For example, “On Monday at the carnival, Benny’s friends didn’t share any cotton candy with him.  Benny turned bright red with anger and breathed furious fire from his mouth.”  A different emotion is conveyed for each day of the week and each night Benny goes to bed and wonders “Why was I created so colorfully?”

While at Sunday School, a wise old behemoth notices Benny’s sadness and reminds Benny that “Your King Creator made you to be a member of His family and to reflect His glory!  Every one of those colors will serve a purpose in your life.  You are a royal prince and never forget it.”  It was then that Benny’s heart glowed a bright and beautiful royal purple and the book ends with the scripture 2 Corinthians 3:15-18.

The illustrations by Trish McKinney are a combination of sketches and watercolor and matched the feeling of the book.  There were however two instances where the text flowed across the spread of two pages and I found it difficult to read without holding the book completely flat, which was difficult to do as I had one child in my lap and trying to show another one sitting on the floor.   At the back of the book is a page that encourages interaction and dialogue about how emotions are often paired with colors, how is the reader like or not like Benny and further study about the King Creator,  as well as background about the word Behemoth.

A portion of the profits from Benny the Baffled Behemoth goes to Heart for Africa, a faith-based humanitarian organization focused on bringing HOPE to Africans by targeting the areas of Hunger, Orphans, Poverty and Education.  If you would like to serve in Africa or get more information visit www.heartforafrica.org.

This is the second title of Melissa’s that I’ve reviewed, the first being The Sudan Project. Melissa is an author that is inspiring in that she her writing to make a difference. I’m THRILLED to have Melissa guest post for us today about writing with multiple purposes and you will find that post next!

(Remember that African Bookworms Carnival?  If all goes well, I should have it posted tomorrow.)

Links of interest:  Heart for Africa, also reviewed on the Maw Books Blog by The Sudan Project: Rebuilding with the People of Darfur, A Young Person’s Guide and an interview with Melissa Leembruggen.  Melissa serves as the president of Clay Bridges Communications and can also be found on Twitter @ClayBridges.
Genre:  Christian Picture Book, approx ages 9-12
Published:  Claybridge Communications, February 16, 2009
Paperback, 40 pages.  ISBN:  0615232043
Benny the Baffled Behemoth by Melissa Leembruggen is available from Powell’s and Amazon.