Sitting Bull: Lakota Warrior and Defender of his People written and illustrated by S. D. Nelson

After seeing all the references to Sitting Bull while reading In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse by Joseph Marshall III, I decided to to read S.D. Nelson's Sitting Bull biography.  Unlike most biographies narrated by a third person, Sitting Bull: Lakota Warrior and Defender of his People is told to us by the spirit of Sitting Bull himself.

Born in 1831, a member of the Hunkpapa band, one of the seven Lakota tribes of the Great Plains, Sitting Bull's was originally named Jumping Badger.  At age 10, he killed his first buffalo, and at 14, he earned his first eagle feather after a successful raid on their Crow enemy.  That's when his father gave him the shield and lance of a Lakota warrior, and the name Sitting Bull, "symbolizing a powerful buffalo that holds his ground and never backs down." (pg 6)

By the mid-1800s, wasichus, or white men, were beginning to cross through Lakota territory heading west.  It didn't take long for them to begin taking over the Great Plains.  But, Sitting Bull tells us, the white man came to [their] land with two faces - talking about peace, but taking whatever they wanted.  Fighting started to break out between Lakota warriors and white soldiers.  It became clear that the seven Lakota tribes needed a leader, and, as their greatest warrior, Sitting Bull was asked to lead his people against the wasichus, who were then joined by Arapaho and Cheyenne warriors

But as the land and the way of life of the Lakota tribes was impinged on more and more by armed soldiers, by settlers in covered wagons heading to Oregon, by steamboats on the Missouri River and later railroads from east and west bringing trade, and by the discovery of gold on tribal land, many bands of Lakota were forced to live on reservations created by the US government, who said they would be taken care of, but again spoke with two faces.

After their victory over Lt. Colonel George Custer at Little Bighorn, a battle Sitting Bull did not take part in, people wanted revenge.  Sitting Bill and his band of Hunkpapa fled to Canada for safety.  But starvation drove them back to the Great Plains, where they were considered  to be hostile Indians by the US government and were eventually forced to submit to living on a reservation.  Sitting Bull found himself and his family at the Standing Rock Agency in the Indian reservation with his freedom gone, his failures at farming and guarded by armed Lakota police, what must have felt like the ultimate betrayal.

Little wonder, Sitting Bull decided to travel with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show in 1885, remaining with the show for one summer, before returning to the reservation.  This brave warrior was assassinated by Lakota who were now American policemen, and worse, probably denied a proper Lakota burial, though no one really knows what became of Sitting Bull's body.

Sitting Bull: Lakota Warrior and Defender of his People is a fascinating look at the life of an American Indian whose name I was familiar with, but whose actual life I knew nothing about.  And I knew even less about Lakota culture and traditions, such as why a warrior paints his body and his horse with symbolic designs before going into battle.

S.D. Nelson, who is himself a tribally enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of the Dakotas, has created a narrative voice of Sitting Bull feels so authentic as he recalls the pivotal and terrible life-changing events that he lived through, you almost believe he is there speaking to you directly.

Laced through this picture book for older readers are archival photographs and large print quotations from different Lakota sourced heading some pages.  But most striking of all is the artwork.  Using a ink and colored pencils in a soft but colorful palette, the illustrations were then digitally reproduced to capture all the details, because Nelson has done the book in what has come to be known as ledger book art style.  When American Indians were in military base jails, they were given old used ledger books to draw on.  At first insulting that American Indians weren't worthy of clean sheets of paper, their designs were so extraordinary that ledger book art stands as an art form in its own right for telling "a people's story and...stand as splendid visual testaments."

S.D Nelson's images done in ledger book style

Back matter includes a Select Time Line of Lakota history, an Author's Note (always a reading must), end notes and a select Bibliography.  There is a map of detailed map of the Great Plains on the front end papers that will also help situate the reader.

Sitting Bull: Lakota Warrior and Defender of his People is a book that should be read by everyone interested in Native American history and in those parts of American history not usually included in textbooks.

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL

2016 Multicultural Children's Book Day: I Want Cake! by Daniel Kairys, M.D., illustrated co-authored by Jo Ann Kairys

Today is Multicultural Children's Book Day (#ReadYourWorld)

And to help celebrate this event, I read a book called I Want Cake!  Now, it just so happens that my very favorite thing to eat in this world is a chocolate devil's food cake with white icing - every birthday, every celebration, every chance I get.  So when Leen woke up one morning and told her sister Ya Ya that she wanted cake for breakfast, I was right there with her.

First, they decide to ask their dad, a doctor who is busy packing up crates of medical supplies.  But, there is not cake to be found anywhere in to crates.

With little brother Jaden tagging alone, Ya Ya and Leen decide to ask Mom if she has cake.  She tells them it's too early for cake and offers them some lambi ak jon jon or snails with mushrooms instead.

Perhaps their neighbor Yucely has cake.  Sadly she only has uno llanta de bicicleta, a bicycle tire, and besides that, she's busy collection worms.

When they ask Maman, their grandmother tells in Haitian Creole "Ay, pit a men!" You never want good food, but maybe Ya Ya, Leen and Jaden could help fold her clothes from the clothesline.

Instead, they go find their Grandpop.  But he's busy moving his books and only has some vegetable knishes to offer if they will help him.

Now there is no one left to ask.  Will Leen ever get some cake for breakfast?  Maybe big sister Ya Ya has one more idea left.

Like so many kids nowadays, Ya Ya, Leen and Jaden come from a family and live in a neighborhood that is really a microcosm of multiculturalism.  And as the kids go from person to person on the quest for cake, the are offered something traditional from the family member's culture and the opportunity for further discussion about each one.  One of the best things about this book, though, is how well the siblings get along.    

I Want Cake is based on the storytelling author Daniel Kairys's noticed his own children making up and who he writes in his Dedication, are the icing on his cake.  So, perhaps the reason this book will capture the imagination of young readers is because this story comes right from minds of kids themselves.

The illustrations is quite striking.  Artist Jo Ann Kairys took photographs of what I assume are the Kairys children Ya Ya, Leen and Jaden and are layered over brightly colored painted and collage illustrations.  From these, these mixed media illustrations off depth and lots more detail that should really spark some conversations.

YaYa, Leen, Jaden and Mom

Kids will surely delight in seeing themselves in this book, whether in the illustrations, or in the quest for cake.  And you will find a delicious recipe for a Vegan Vanilla Cake courtesy of Papa Ganache Vegan Bakery in Matawan, NJ.  And as much as I loved devil's food cake, some of the best cakes I have ever eaten have been vegan.

More about Multicultural Children's Book Day:

Our Mission: The MCCBD team’s mission to spread the word and raise awareness about the importance of diversity in children’s literature. Our young readers need to see themselves within the pages of a book and experience other cultures, languages, traditions and religions within the pages of a book. We encourage readers, parents, teachers, caregivers and librarians to follow along the fun book reviews, author visits, event details, a multicultural children’s book linky and via our hashtag (#ReadYourWorld) on Twitter and other social media.The co-creators of this unique event are Mia Wenjen from Pragmatic Mom and Valarie Budayr from Jump Into a Book/Audrey Press. You can find a bio for Mia and Valarie here.

Our Sponsors:

Multicultural Children’s Book day 2016 Medallion Level Sponsors! #ReadYourWorld

Platinum: Wisdom Tales Press * StoryQuest Books*Lil Libros

Gold: Author Tori Nighthawk* Candlewick Press

Silver: Lee and Low Books* Chronicle Books* Capstone Young Readers

Bronze: Pomelo Books* Author Jacqueline Woodson* Papa Lemon Books* Goosebottom Books* Author Gleeson Rebello* ShoutMouse Press* Author Mahvash Shahegh* China Institute.org*

Our Co-Hosts: 

Multicultural Children’s Book Day has 12 amazing Co-Host and you can meet them here.

Two Friends: Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass by Dean Robbins, illustrated by Selina Aiko and Sean Qualls

There was a time when all women and all African Americans had two things in common - neither group had rights and both groups had someone working hard to get them the rights they deserved according to the US Constitution.

In this meeting of suffragette Susan B. Anthony and former slave, abolitionist, and newspaper editor Frederick Douglass at her home in Rochester, NY,  author Dean Robbins imagines what the two pioneers in the fight for equal rights might have talked about when they sat down for afternoon tea one cold snowy winter's day.  The two were already friends with much in common - both defying society's expectations of them - she wears bloomers, he wears the clothes of a gentleman - and both just wanting the right to be free, and the right to vote.  As Robbins points out, some people agreed with their ideas, but some people didn't.

As the afternoon wears on, the two friends talk and the reader begins to understand what the lives of women and African Americans was like in the 19th century, as well as how and why Anthony and Douglass were trying to change things.  Both fighters had taught themselves how to give speeches, and throughout the book, there are steams of their own words from those speeches surrounding them.

At the end of the afternoon, the two friends promised to help each other "so one day all people could have rights."

"Let's Have Tea"statue in Susan B Anthony Square Park
Rochester NY

Robbins' text is simply, but to the point.  It shouldn't be forgotten that what went on that afternoon is imagined by him, but I am guessing it is pretty close to reality, given how passionate Anthony and Douglass were about their equal rights campaigns.

The emotional folk-art style illustrations are done with paint, colored pencils and collage in a palette of bright blues, reds and yellows.

Two Friends is a wonderful read aloud for young kids just beginning to learn American history.  Be sure to read the Author's Note to learn more about these two fighters for equal rights, and the Bibliography for sources to learn more about these true American heroes.

Two Friends: Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass would pair nicely with Nikki Grimes's picture book Chasing Freedom: The Life Journeys of Harriet Tubman and Susan B. Anthony, in which she imagines a meeting of these two women for afternoon tea and conversation about their lives.  And yes, Frederick Douglass does come up in their talks.

This book is recommended for readers age 4+, but I think it is more appropriate for readers age 6+
This book was sent to me by the publisher, Orchard Books, Scholastic

A Song for Ella Grey by David Almond

A group of teens living in Tyneside in northern England, tired of winter's cold and wanting some freedom, decide to spend their upcoming Easter holiday camping on Bamburgh Beach in Northumberland.  Best friends Claire and Ella have been inseparable since they first met at age 5, but Ella was adopted and her parents think she spends too much time with Claire.  As the time comes closer to leave for Bamburgh Beach, Ella's parents forbid her to go, citing falling grades blamed on Claire and their friends.

Claire and the others head to the beach anyway, armed with tents, food and wine for a week.  It's there, after a few days, that a mysterious, rather otherworldly young man carrying a lyre suddenly shows up.  He says his name is Orpheus and he plays the most captivating music they have ever heard, so beautiful that even birds, seals, snakes and dolphins come near to listen to him play and sing his songs.  Wanting to share the experience with Ella, Claire calls her and holds out her phone for Ella to listen.  Orpheus and Ella speak and he ends the call by singing a song for he into the phone: "it was the song of everything, all life, all love, all creation. It was his song for my friend Ella Grey."   Though they haven't met, it is clear that Ella and Orpheus are in love with each other.

Back in school the next week, Ella is a changed person, much to Claire's unhappiness.  When Orpheus shows up outside the school, Claire leaves in the middle of class and goes out to him.  By half-term, they have decided to marry, on Bamburgh Beach, surrounded by Ella's friends.  Sadly,  two poisonous snakes are also there.

David Almond used the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice as the basis for A Song for Ella Grey.  If you are familiar with this myth, you know the significance of the snakes; if you don't know this story from ancient Greece, it doesn't matter; either way you are in for a reading treat (and if you are really curious, don't skip Almond's letter to his readers for more information at the beginning of the book).

A Song for Ella Grey is narrated in the first person by Claire.  She is the one who's left behind, to tell the tale, really, to sing the tragic song of Ella Grey, to bring Ella "into the world for one last night, then let her go forever" (in ancient Greek drama, tragedy is a song).  To tell the tale of Ella, Claire makes and wears the mask of Orpheus, a device also used in Greek tragedy, in order to "let him sing his tale through me."

I read this as an ebook, so I wondered why I was seeing Chapter One, Chapter Two, etc. more than once throughout the book. When I looked at the Table of Contents, I noticed the story was divided up into 6 parts, just as Greek tragedy is.   In fact, Almond has included a number of conventions from Greek drama, including the structure of the book (there's a good paper topic for high school).
 
When I first began reading A Song for Ella Grey, I have to admit that I wasn't totally taken in as quickly as I have been with other David Almond books.  But now, having finished it and thought about it, I can honestly say, this is one of the best books I've read by him.  In fact, I think that Almond is one of today's most lyrical writers, and the story of Orpheus and Ella so beautifully told, the feelings of young love and yearnings is so palpable, it will perhaps remind you of your own first serious love.  And it is easy to understand why he was awarded the 2015 Guardian Children's Fiction prize.

This book is recommended for readers age 12+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL

The Impossible Voyage of Kon-Tiki written and illustrated by Deborah Kogan Ray

When Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl proposed a theory that ancient Incans had traveled by raft from South America to the islands of the south pacific - a distance of approximately 4,300 nautical miles - everyone thought it was simply impossible.

So when Heyerdahl was asked if he would be willing to try the voyage himself on a flimsy balsa wood raft, he rose to the challenge.  Heyerdahl had based his theory on the resemblance between statues made by ancient peoples in South America to those of the mythic Tiki found on the Polynesian island of Fatu Hiva.

On April 28, 1947, after building a raft which he called the Kon-Tiki, Heyerdahl set off from Peru with a crew of five men - four Norwegians and one Swede.  Not only did Heyerdahl want to prove his theory, but he was also asked to test survival gear by the United States Navy.  Carrying very little food with them, the crew mainly lived on what they could catch everyday, and the flying fish they found on the deck each morning.  They carried a radio to report on weather and other meteorological conditions, but everyone aboard the Kon-Tiki knew that if they ran into trouble, there was no possibility of rescue.

Almost immediately, the south Pacific Ocean proved itself to be a forceful obstacle to the voyage of the Kon-Tiki, with its powerful winds and towering waves.  Did the Kon-Tiki prove itself to be sea worthy?  Did the raft make it to the south pacific islands with all men intact and prove Heyerdahl's theory?

The route taken by the Kon-Tiki

I was very curious to read this wonderful picture book for older readers.  I had read Heyerdahl's book, Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific by Raft in high school and had found it fascinating.  It is nice to see that this exciting story is now made accessible to younger readers.

Deborah Kogan Ray has organized the story of the Kon-Tiki so that each two page spread, headed by a quote from Heyerdahl's book, shows another step in the voyage of that simple raft.  Ray's realistic illustrations are done using watercolors in a soft palette very tropical blues, greens and browns.  The illustrations are at once beautiful and powerful, often demonstrating the mountainous waves of the Pacific in relation to the small raft, as well as other perils the men of Kon-Tiki faced.

Ray has included a map (above), a short biography of Thor Heyerdahl and an Bibliography for further exploration.

Most people don't think much about the voyage of the Kon-Tiki anymore and this is a nice reminder of the brave men who undertook that trip.

This book is recommended for readers age 7+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL

This is book 1 of my 2016 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge hosted by Alyson Beecher at KidLitFrenzy

It's Monday! What are you reading? #21

It's Monday! What are you reading? is the original weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, but is now hosted by Kathryn at Book Date.  It's Monday! What are you reading? - from Picture Books to YA is a kidlit focused meme just like the original and is hosted weekly by Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers .  The purpose is the same: to recap what you have read and/or reviewed and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. Twitter for #IMWAYR

What I read and reviewed

Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt

I also read the following finalists for the Round 2 Middle Grade Fiction Cybils award:

Footer Davis is Probably Crazy by Susan Vaught
Blackbird Fly by Erin Entrada Kelly
The Blackthorn Key by Kevin Sands

More on these after the awards are announced on February 14, 2016

And some wonderful picture books:

1- Lost. Found. by Marsha Diane Arnold, illustrated by Matthew Cordell - when bear loses his bright red scarf in the forest, a number of animals find and play with it, each in their own way.  Will bear get his scarf back?

2- Lemonade in Winter: A Book About Two Kids Counting Money by Emily Jenkins, illustrated by G. Brian Karas - even though it's cold and snowy outside, siblings Pauline and John-John decide to invest their savings in opening a lemonade stand.  Pauline uses the stand as an opportunity to begin teaching her younger brother about money.  Will anyone buy cold lemonade in the middle of winter?  Maybe. 

3- Big Bear, Little Chair written and illustrated by by Lizi Boyd - this is a fun book that helps kids understand size using comparisons of big, little and even tiny.  The book compares disparate objects, but repeats bear and chair in various way, keeping continuity, while offering the opportunity for kids to make their own size comparisons.

4- Farewell Floppy written and illustrated by Benjamin Chaud - what do you do with a best pal pet you think you have outgrown?  Here, the narrator takes his pet bunny into the woods so that Floppy can live out his days in the wild, but when his plan appears to have succeeded, the boy realizes how much he still cares for his bunny.  Will he be able to find him in the woods? 

5- At Night written and illustrated by Jonathan Bean - one night, after everyone in her house is asleep, a young girl just can't get to sleep.  Then, she feels a breeze in her room, takes her pillow and blanket and heads to the roof of her building, where she makes a cozy place to sleep in one of the chairs there.  Not to worry, her mom isn't asleep either and shadows her daughter the whole way.

6- Ninja Baby by David Zeltzer, illustrated by Diane Goode - from the moment she was born, and karate chopped the doctor, Nina was a ninja baby -  and diaper changing was a simple matter of hand to hand combat.  But when the Kung-Fu master shows up in the form of a younger brother, Nina learns a valuable lesson about sibling rivalry and sibling bonding.

7- Job Wanted by Teresa Bateman, illustrated by Chris Sheban - when an old dog asks a farmer for a job and a home, his is immediately turned down.  Dogs, the farmer tells him, do nothing be eat and don't give anything back.  Can the old dog prove his worth to the stubborn farmer?  You bet he can, and what fun watching him do just that.

This week, I plan to finish reading the two remaining books for the Middle Grade Fiction Cybils award and see what I haven't read when the Youth Media Awards are announced.

That's what I've been reading.  What are you reading this week?

Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt

After spending time in a high-security juvenile facility from which he ran away, Joseph Brook, 13, is placed in a foster home in rural Maine.  The Hurd's have a small farm and along with their son Jack, 11, Joseph is expected to get up early in the morning and do chores before school.  Soon, Joseph has won over Rosie, a cow who moos her love for him whenever he comes to milk her.

But while life with the Hurd's may be better for Joseph than a juvenile facility, school is another thing, especially after the other kids find out the he has fathered a child at his age, a 3 month old daughter named Jupiter he is forbidden to ever see.  Jack, who has been a model student, suddenly starts acting out out solidarity with Joseph, and a tenuous bond begins to form between the two boys.

It's clear that Joseph had been badly abused at the juvenile facility he was put into, though he refuses to talk about it.  But little by little, Joseph begins to feel more comfortable in the Hurd household, and he even finds support among some of the teachers at the school he attends with Jack, though there are plenty of faculty who take an instant dislike to him and students who seem to enjoy bullying him, sometimes physically.

And, little by little, Joseph begins to open up to Jack about the events that led up to Jupiter.  How he met Madeleine, also 13, a wealthy girl often left home alone and how they fell in love with each other.  Now, all he wants now is to see Jupiter, and be her father.  But Madeleine died in childbirth and child services want Joseph to give up his parental right so that Jupiter can be adopted.  Joseph has no intention of doing that and when he finally decides to find Jupiter, Jack is right there helping him.

But when Joseph's real father shows up with a lawyer, insisting that Joseph is a minor and he is the only one who can sign away any parental rights, it becomes clear that he isn't acting out of concern for Joseph, but only in the hope of extorting a lot of money from Jupiter's wealthy maternal grandparents, money he feels he's entitled to.

It is a scenario that can only lead to tragedy.

The story is narrated in the first person by Jack, so that the reader gets a relatively straight-forward, but rather naive version of Joseph's story, nicely unclouded by any moral judgement. Jack, who was pretty excited to finally have an older brother to hang around with, was from the start on the side of Joseph, and unlike most of the people in Joseph's life, Jack sticks by him no matter what.

Orbiting Jupiter was recommended to me by so many people, I couldn't wait to read it.  It is a short book, so well written, that extra words, explanations, descriptions would have cluttered it up and diminished its impact.  I was riveted from the start, reading it on one sitting.

I found it to be a sad, sobering look at how we treat children who are dealt a rotten hand from the start and are caught in unhappy, dangerous circumstance they are, for the most part, powerless to change.  Wherever Joseph should have found support and trust, he had only found neglect and abuse until he meets Madeleine and later, the Hurds.  By the end of the book, my sadness had turned to anger - at the adults who were responsible for Joseph's life before he got to the Hurds.

Orbiting Jupiter is a heartbreaking story of betrayal and neglect, but also one of friendship, hope, and trust - and Jack leads the way.

This book is recommended for readers age 12+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL

Author Gary Schmidt talks about Orbiting Jupiter in this short video:

Remembering Andrea Cheng (1957-2015)

I was so saddened to read that author /poet /illustrator Andrea Cheng has passed away on December 26, 2015 after a long illness.  She was only 57 years old, and although she left two finished manuscripts, I suspect she had a few more books and poems that wanted to be written.

Andrea was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she continued to live.   Her parents were Hungarian immigrants and Andrea grew up speaking Hungarian and English; in college, she studied Chinese and later married Jim Cheng, the son of Chinese immigrants, with whom she has three children.  Andrea's love of language and different cultures is certainly reflected in the books she wrote, but she was also a teacher, teaching English as a Second Language at Cincinnati State College.

Andrea was a very prolific writer of children's books and she will most certainly be missed.

2016 Resolutions? I think not!

2016 has arrived and I have been thinking about reading challenges and resolutions.  Resolutions were easy to think about since I am making the same resolutions I always do - none!  Resolutions seem to be a set up for failure for me, so I stopped making them a long time ago and life has actually been much less stressful and I've even managed to accomplish more than I would have without that R word hanging over my head.

Which leads me to reading challenges.  I started to blog in June 2010 when most 2010 reading challenges were already in full swing.  So I patiently waited till the 2011 reading challenges were posted and signed up for a bunch - most, but no all, of which I never finished completely.  2012 came and I signed up for a bunch again and the results mirrored those of 2011.  Same thing happened for 2013 and 2014.   I was beginning to think this wasn't my thing, so in 2015, I signed up for fewer reading challenges and, surprisingly, did better with them.

I read 10 books for Alyson Beecher's Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge and I plan on doing this challenge again in 2016.

I got a pitiful 7 points for my 2015 Newbery Reading Challenge hosted by Smilin' Shelves, which is an improvement over my 2014 Newbery Reading Challenge that was a whooping zero and I  still hang my head in shame for that.

My 2015 #Readakkah Reading Challenge sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries was pretty good - I read four books over the eight days of Hanukkah.

This year I have decided to set some reading and blogging goals.

Reading goals:

1- Even though the name of this blog is Randomly Reading, I am going to try to be more organized in 2016 and randomly reading within that - I hope;

2- To read more chapter and YA books, both of which I enjoy but tend to not read in favor of Middle Grade books;

3- To read more diverse books;

4- For the first time, I am going to participate in the 2016 Goodreads Reading Challenge with a modest 150 books (that read and reviewed, not just read);

5- I am definitely signing up to do the 2016 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge again (as soon as it is announced) and this year I am aiming to read 25 nonfiction picture books;

6- I would like to read more Newbery and Caldecott books, so I am going to sign up for the 2016 Newbery Reading Challenge again, and I hope to read 25 Newbery and 25 Caldecott winners and honorees;

7- I can't wait for the next #Readakkah;

Blogging goals:

1- To participate in It's Monday! What are you reading? more regularly;

2- To participate in Poetry Friday more regularly;

3- To write shorter reviews (I am nothing if not loquacious);

4- To do something about my sad Facebook page.

5- Clean up my labels and update my indices.

My New Year's Wish for You...

Wishing Everyone a Happy, Healthful, and Peaceful NewYear!