Category Archives: Travel

Blogs of visits around the world.

Jun4

JUST LOVED READING: My America: Hope in My Heart, Sofia’s Ellis Island Immigrant Dairy, Book One.

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JUST LOVED READING: My America: Hope in My Heart, Sofia’s Ellis Island Immigrant Dairy, Book One.

Just Loved Reading:

My America: Hope in My Heart, Sofia’s Ellis Island Immigrant Dairy, Book One.

Middle Grade Novel

Lasky, Kathryn. My America: Hope in My Heart, Sofia’s Ellis Island Immigrant Dairy, Book One. New York: Scholastic, 2003.

 

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she

With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Emma  Lazarus

 

            Sofia Monaris and her family leave their native Italy for America. It’s a long uncomfortable journey on board a ship teeming with people yet Sofia’s heart skips a beat when she spies the Statue of Liberty on the horizon.

As the ship draws closer to New York harbor, she positions herself to get a better look. A cinder gets in her eye. When the family goes through customs, Sofia is diagnosed with trachoma and quarantined.

Separated from her family for the first time in her life, speaking very little English, Sofia feels isolated and alienated in America. She has company, though. In the state-run hospital, she meets Maureen who is from Ireland and Madame Coco from France. Madame introduces the girls to Rafi, a gypsy stow-away. The four befriend each other during their ordeal as they face mean anti-immigrant bureaucrats and which lasts longer than any of them would like.

Sofia’s life in America had just begun.

WHY I LOVED READING THIS BOOK:

Although my immigrant ancestors didn’t arrive until years after Sofia and her family came to America, I heard many of their stories. Many struggled in their first years and many came illegally. They had to navigate America’s ever-changing immigration laws but they became found work, became American citizens and raised their families.

Not every story was about those struggles; some of their stories were funny and uplifting. Sofia is a spunky character who could probably survive many difficult situations and it was easy to relate to her and her adventures on Ellis Island.

Further Reading:

The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island:

https://www.libertyellisfoundation.org

https://www.libertyellisfoundation.org

Italy:

www.italia.it

Italy:

www.italia.it

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Apr16

JUST LOVED READING: Catherine, The Great Journey

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JUST LOVED READING: Catherine, The Great Journey

Just Loved Reading:

The Royal Diaries: Catherine, the Great Journey

Middle Grade Novel

Gregory, Kristiana. The Royal Diaries: Catherine, the Great Journey. New York: Scholastic, Inc., 2005

 

“I am a princess. All girls are; even if they live in tiny old attics, even if they dress in rags, even if they aren’t pretty or smart or young, they’re still princesses.”

 

Sophie Augusta Fredericka is a minor princess, the daughter of Prince Christian August of Anhalt-Zerbst and Princess Johanne Elizabeth of Holstein-Gottrop.

Princess Sophie displayed a lively adventurous intelligence early in life as well as an argumentative spirit. The latter trait would suit her later in life.

Johanne Elizabeth’s family was related to the imperial family of Russia through marriage. When Peter the Great died without declaring a successor, his daughter Elizabeth took over as ruler and named Karl Peter Ulrich of Holstein-Gottrop, son of her younger sister as her heir.

Sophie’s mother lobbied to arrange a marriage between her daughter and the newly renamed Grand Duke Peter. In 1744, Princess Sophie and her mother traveled to Russia. In St. Petersburg, Sophie met with the royal court and moved on to Moscow where she met the Empress Elizabeth. She made the right impression.

Sophie converted to the Russian Orthodox faith and we renamed Ekaterina Alexeyevna.

The next day she became engaged to Peter. They were married on August 21, 1745 in the Church of the Virgin of Kazan in St. Petersburg.

She was only 17 years old and on her way to becoming Catherine the Great.

WHY I LOVED READING THIS BOOK:

It was fascinating to read of the transformation of Princess Sophie into Empress Catherine although the novel stops short of detailing her long reign. What struck me about the life of Catherine/Sophie was the sheltered life she led as have so many other princesses. She was tutored in various academic subjects and learned French and the refinements of the French court yet she was sheltered from the political intrigues (although it is likely she heard about them). She learned the fundamentals of Lutheranism. When she was a child, she was forced to wear a brace for four years which certainly taught her fortitude.

Inspite of her pampered life, she left her old life behind and embraced the culture and religion of Russia. She also learned to successfully maneuver the political intrigues of the Russian court and become Catherine the Great.

 

FOR FURTHER READING:

https://thelonelyplanet.com/russia

https://www.britannica.com/place/Russia

https:russiapedia.rt.com/russian-history

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Apr10

JUST LOVED READING: The Royal Diaries: Mary, Queen of Scots

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JUST LOVED READING: The Royal Diaries: Mary, Queen of Scots

Just Loved Reading:

The Royal Diaries: Mary, Queen of Scots

Middle Grade Novel

Lasky, Kathryn. The Royal Diaries: Mary, Queen of Scots, Queen without a Country. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2002

 

“I am a princess. All girls are; even if they live in tiny old attics, even if they dress in rags, even if they aren’t pretty or smart or young, they’re still princesses.”

 

Mary Stuart was crowned Queen of Scots when she was nine months old after the death of her father King James V.  When she was 5, political conflicts forced her to leave her mother and flee Scotland. Mary went to live in the royal court of King Henry and Queen Catherine de Medici of France.  In order for Scotland to forge an alliance with France (and send a message to England), the powers-that-be betrothed Mary to Francis, the sickly son of Henry and the treacherous Queen Catherine de Medici.

Mary’s journal begins in 1553 when she is 11 years old and ends a year later.

The diary relates a year in the life of Mary, Queen of Scots a year packed with parties, visits to castles, playing with her Ladies-in-Waiting (all four of whom are also named Mary) and her betrothed, Francis, academic and music lessons and court intrigue. She muses about marriage to Francis and her attraction to her royal Scots guardsman. Mary is smart, athletic and loves the arts. She is also impulsive and we get a hint of the trait which will ultimately lead to her demise at the hands of her cousin, Elizabeth I of England.

WHY I LOVED READING THIS BOOK:

      The story of Mary Queen of Scots takes place during two important historical periods: the Renaissance and the Reformation. Both movements influence Mary’s life and thoughts as she grows into womanhood. A devout Catholic, she becomes aware of the influence John Knox and the Protestant Reformation has on her native Scotland. She muses if she will exercise tolerance of religious dissent when she returns to her native land. Yes she tells herself but we now know only time will tell.

Living in the French royal court affords Mary many of the refinements of the arts: music lessons, poetry and more. She is not unaware of this when she reflects that in Spain none of these refinements are found in its royal court. Indeed, the Spanish seem obsessed with the Inquisition and nothing else she writes in her diary. Mary gives credit to Queen Catherine for bringing many of the arts from Italy.

We will never know what the real Mary Stuart thought and felt at the age of eleven but the Royal Diaries gives us an idea especially since history tells us how the rest of her life transpires.

FOR FURTHER READING:

https://www.scotland.org

https://www.visitscotland.com

www.localhistories.org/scotland.html

https://topdocumentaryfilms.com/history-scotland

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Mar11

JUST LOVED READING: Secrets at Sea

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JUST LOVED READING: Secrets at Sea

Just Loved Reading:

Secrets at Sea

Middle Grade Fiction

Peck, Richards. Secrets at Sea. New York: Puffin Books, 2011.

Upstate New York in the late nineteenth century is the background for Secrets at Sea.  The protagonists are a family of mice who leave the comforts of their middle class home and sail across the Atlantic ocean to England.

Helena Cranston is the oldest of her siblings now that their parents and oldest sisters have passed. It isn’t easy being the matriarch of this family. Her sisters, Beatrice and Louise sneak out late at night (Helena thinks they are meeting members of the opposite sex) and their brother, Lamont, plays hooky from school.

The owners of the big house they live in, the Cranstons of Hudson Valley, decide to travel to England to find a husband for their daughter, Olive.

Even though mice are afraid of water, the siblings decide to go with them and hide in one of the Cranstons’ large trunks. Why not? It is the eve of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.

Once on ship and out of the trunk, siblings discover an aristocratic society of mice. There are as many crooks and crevices in the luxury liner as there were in their Hudson Valley home if not more.They dine in splendor and enjoy high tea. They even meet the Mouse-in-Waiting to Queen Victoria’s daughter, Princess Louise.

As is common with the novels of Richard Peck, one humorous adventure leads to the other including romances for the sisters.

WHY I LOVED READING THIS BOOK:

Only master of fiction for children and Young Adults can write about a family of mice and make it an enjoyable read.  I hate mice but I loved reading about the Cranstons of Hudson Valley.

 

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Mar4

JUST LOVED READING: A Way Down Yonder

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JUST LOVED READING: A Way Down Yonder

 

  Just Loved Reading:

A Year Down Yonder

Middle Grade Fiction

Peck, Richard. A Year Down Yonder.  New York: Puffin Books, 2000.

      A Year Down Yonder is the sequel to A Long Way from Chicago and just as touching and funny.

Siblings Joey and Mary Alice have spent several summers staying with Grandma Dowdel in her rural Illinois town. In 1937, however, they go their separate ways. Joey has joined the Civilian Conservation Corps and is heading west with them. Lucky Mary Alice gets to spend a whole year with her tough crusty grandmother while their parents try to reverse the economic hardship brought on by the Recession of 1937.

A bored Mary Alice joins Grandma Dowdel in a series of madcap adventures and misadventures. As the year winds down, fifteen-year old Mary Alice discovers that her rough and tough grandmother harbors a deep affection for her granddaughter which is grudgingly reciprocated.

WHY I LOVED READING THIS BOOK:

Peck’s characters carry the plot along and the plot is often one series of – sometimes improbable ­­- events after the other. His humor enhances the narrative and adds a dimension to the characters and their behavior.

RURAL ILLINOIS 1930’s

http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/illinois/small-town-1930-il/

http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/teaching_packages/hard_times/home.html

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Feb25

JUST LOVED READING: Ghosts I Have Been

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JUST LOVED READING: Ghosts I Have Been

Just Loved Reading:

Ghosts I Have Been

Middle Grade Fiction

Peck, Richard. Ghosts I Have Been. Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers, 1994.

Blossom Culp is a troublemaker. Understandably, no one in Bluff City wants to cross her especially when she recently revealed that she has Second Sight. This only serves to increase her isolation from the town folks but that doesn’t stop Blossom or shut her up, either.

She was bluffing…or was she? It turns out that she does have Second Sight! Blossom “sees” a car accident, a future moon landing and finds herself on the Titanic … after it sunk! While she is on the famous ship, she witnesses the drowning of a British boy and his crossing over to the Other World. But what happened to bring Julian Poindexter to his death on board the Titanic? Why wasn’t he one of the survivors?  Blossom the Ghost can find out if anyone can.

Returning home, her revelations of her adventures make her a local and national celebrity. Heck – soon she becomes known as far away as England where she travels to see herself in wax at Madam Tussaud’s and meets the Queen. Life will never be the same for Blossom Culp.

WHY I LOVED READING THIS BOOK:

Blossom Culp packs a lot into her spunky young life. Her adventures are fun to read and want the reader looking for more. Ghosts I Have Been is a fast-paced read, evocative of its era and funny (even though a boy drowning isn’t funny).

It’s a little surprising that Blossom Culp isn’t as well-known a heroine as Pinkalicious, another fictious character who marches to her own drum beat.  However, Peck has written other Blossom Culp novels: Blossom Culp and the Sleep of Death and The Dreadful Future of Blossom Culp so fans of Blossom Culp can continue to follow her adventures.

For More Information on the Titanic:

www.history.com/top www.history.com/topics/titanic

https://www.thoughtco.com/little-known-facts-about-the-titanic-

www.titanicpigeonforge.com

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Feb11

JUST LOVED READING: A Long Way from Chicago

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JUST LOVED READING: A Long Way from Chicago

Just Loved Reading:

A Long Way from Chicago

Middle Grade Fiction

Peck, Richard. A Long Way from Chicago. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1997.

In A Long Way from Chicago, the protagonist reminisces about his annual trips as a child from Chicago to his grandmother’s house in a small town in rural Illinois during the Great Depression. Joey  (9) and Mary Alice’s (7)  mother informs them that they will be spending a week every August with Grandma Dowdel – as it turned out, every year from 1929 to 1935.

The narrative consists of eight short stories with Joey, Mary Alice and Grandma Dowdel at the center of the action. Grandma Dowdel is gruff, practical and has no problem telling people where to go. Her unique outlook on life merely embodies her small town values and her insistence on living in another era. Her adventures run the gamut from newspaper reporters to Civil War veterans.

Joey and Mary Alice share each of those experiences thanks to Grandma Dowdel.

WHY I LOVED READING THIS BOOK:

A Long Way from Chicago is an easy read. The characters Peck draws are real and funny and will remind the reader of the odd-ball characters we may all know in our own lives. Peck is a master at infusing humor into his novels, able to make a serious narrative lighthearted and poignant. He is also a master at evoking the era in which A Long Way from Chicago takes place. The last chapter, “The Troop,” will bring a lump to the reader’s throat.

A Long Way from Chicago was  – justifiably – nominated as a National Book Award finalist.

 FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT CHICAGO:

www.cityofchicago.org

https://www.choosechicago.com

https://www.facebook.com/places/Things-to-do-in-Chicago-Illinois

 

 

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Feb4

JUST LOVED READING: A Christmas Memory

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JUST LOVED READING: A Christmas Memory

A Christmas Memory

by

Truman Capote

Middle Grade/Fiction

 

Capote, Truman. A Christmas Memory. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1956.

Seven-year old Buddy and his older cousin and best friend live with other cousins of his mother’s in Monroeville, Alabama. He also has a dog named Queenie.

The story begins one cold morning when the cousin declares that it is time to make fruitcakes for Christmas. They have spent a whole year saving their money to buy the ingredients which includes whisky made by a Native American named Haha Jones. They give the cakes to people they have met once or twice or not at all like Franklin Roosevelt, President of the United States.

The effort to make the cakes takes four days including distributing and mailing them.

When that task is completed, they take a walk far into the woods and cut down a pine tree and enough boughs to make several wreaths for the windows. The family is poor so Buddy and his cousin make the decorations for the tree.

Their next effort is to make the Christmas gifts for each other and the other relatives. Every year Buddy and his cousin make kites for each other and this year is no different even though they want their gift to be a surprise.

Christmas morning, they try to eat the flapjacks and other treats made for the holiday but they are too excited. They want to open their gifts.The usual gifts of clothes and hand-me downs disappoint Buddy but he loves his kite. Later, he, his cousin and Queenie go out to the pasture and fly their kites and eat oranges. Queenie buries the bone they bought for him for Christmas.

Ominously, this is the last Christmas the three will spend together.

WHY i LOVED READING THIS BOOK:

A Christmas Memory is based on Truman Capote’s childhood memories living with his mother’s relatives in Monroeville, Alabama during the Great Depression. Few people were immune from its effects and the repressive atmosphere of Jim Crow that pervaded the South. But this story is really about two outcasts who loved and supported each other during difficult times.

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Jan29

JUST LOVED READING: Tru and Nelle: A Christmas Tale

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JUST LOVED READING: Tru and Nelle: A Christmas Tale

Tru and Nelle: A Christmas Tale

by G. Neri 

Middle Grade/Fiction

 

Neri, G. Tru and Nelle: A Christmas Tale. New York: HMH Books for Young Readers, 2017.

Tru moved away from his mother’s cousins home in Monroeville, Alabama. He thought living in New York with his mother and step-father would be fun but after a stint in a military academy, Tru runs away.

He hops on a train with other hobos and heads back to Monroeville. He becomes friends again with Nelle who lives next door to his cousins. It’s the Christmas season but events happen which dampen everyone’s spirits: the house the cousins live in burns down and they move in with Tru’s aunt and uncle on their farm outside Monroeville.

Nelle’s father takes on a case of two black men accused of robbing a store and killing its owner. Nelle blames herself for arrest. Reminiscent of the case in To KIll A Mockingbird, this case doesn’t end happily, either.  The story does reaffirm the better side of the human spirit when Tru and his family and Nelle and her father celebrate Christmas with the accused in the local jail.

WHY I LOVED READING THIS BOOK:

In a surprising twist, Tru’s cousin, Sook, invites a member of the KKK to the celebration. Only his son, the local bully, shows up and demonstrates how beautifully he plays piano.  It doesn’t turn everyone into good friends but the incident highlights how complex race relations were during the Jim Crow era in the South.

Tru and Nelle: A Christmas Tale is the continuing narrative of the friendship between Truman Capote and Harper Lee which continued into adulthood (until Truman Capote became jealous of Harper Lee’s literary success).

Monroeville, Alabama was founded in 1815 on lands ceded by local Native americans. It was later formally incorporated in 1899 and named after President James Monroe. Monroeville is the seat of  Monroe County, Alabama. In 1997, the Alabama legislature designated Monroeville as the “Literary Capital of Alabama.”

https://www.monroevilleal.gov./

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/whats-changed-what-hasnt-in-town-inspired-to-kill-a-mockingbird-180955741

www,monroecountyal.com

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Jan21

JUST LOVED READING: Tru and Nelle

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JUST LOVED READING: Tru and Nelle

Tru and Nelle

by G. Neri 

Middle Grade/Fiction

Neri, G. Tru and Nelle. New York: HMH Books for Young Readers, 2016.

Tru and Nelle introduces the reader to the Deep South at the beginning of the Great Depression. The Klu Klux Klan’s influence is at its’ height. Tru  is 7 and Nelle is 6. Tru is living with his mother’s cousins in Monroeville, Alabama, next door to Nelle’s family. Nelle’s father is an editor and a lawyer. She has two sisters and a brother; Tru is an only child largely unloved by his mother and often neglected by his father.

Monroeville is a small town surrounded by forests and farms. Even in prosperous times, there wouldn’t be much for children to do. (There was a movie theatre and a public whites-only swimming hole in the book.) Tru and Nelle play games like pirates and detectives especially detectives like Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. When they discover that someone robbed the local drug store, they put their amateur sleuthing skills to the test. Their attempts at solving the crime gets them into some serious trouble.

Why I Loved Reading This Book:Capote

Neri’s characters ring true to life as they play and interact with adults and other children. He used letters, books and other documents to allow the reader a glimpse into the personalities of Truman Capote and Harper Lee as children and recreates some of their real-life experiences. Many of the characters in To Kill a Mockingbird are also found in Tru and Nelle including Boo Radley ( a character based on an eccentric neighbor) and Atticus Finch (based on Harper Lee’s father).

Children of every generation play games of detective and pirates although nowadays children tend to play games on the computer, X-Box,  iphone, or other technological devices.

But children growing up in the Depression, regardless of class, had little to play with. The Depression hit everyone, some more than others. Tru and Nelle had their love of books, a handful of toys and their imaginations. When they made up their detective stories, they wrote them down (one would dictate and the other would type the stories on Mr. Lee’s Underwood typewriter). Tru especially, constantly wrote (and continued to write stories that he imagined long after he left Monroeville) and like Nelle, they went on to become two of the twentieth century’s greatest writers.

Do today’s children create stories out of their imaginations, act them out and write them down?  Can this book inspire them to do so? Perhaps. Or do technological devices get in the way of children’s imaginations?

Tru and Nelle is a fun book to read even for young readers who don’t know about Truman Capote and Harper Lee. Tru and Nelle get into a mess of trouble and children of all ages like stuff that.

Monroeville, Alabama was founded in 1815 on lands ceded by local Native Americans. It was later formally incorporated in 1899 and named after President James Monroe. Monroeville is the seat of  Monroe County, Alabama. In 1997, the Alabama legislature designated Monroeville as the “Literary Capital of Alabama.”

https://www.monroevilleal.gov./

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/whats-changed-what-hasnt-in-town-inspired-to-kill-a-mockingbird-180955741

www.monroecountyal.com

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