The Elephant Keeper

The Elephant Keeper

Juvenile nonfiction
"He wasn't nearly as strong as his father had been before his
illness, but Aaron worked hard. He carried bundles of reeds and
learned to thatch roofs. He hauled lumber, handed nails to the
carpenter and sharpened the ax. He hauled water from the wells and
did other hot jobs, such as burning debris and raking leaves."
When his father became too sick to work, Aaron, still a boy,
took over his job at a lodge. One day he arrived at work to see an
unusual sight. A baby elephant was in the lodge's pool, frantically
struggling. He was no fan of elephants. They ate his people's
crops. But he plunged (literally) right in to save its life.
Visiting the orphaned elephant, Zambezi, at an elephant
orphanage was a life changing experience for Aaron. He was able to
feed Zambezi, something the keepers had been unable to achieve. He
was invited to work at the orphanage. He'd have to live there,
sleeping with the elephants and only seeing his family on visits.
Can you imagine leading a life like that while still a child?
There really is an elephant named Zambezi who was rescued from a
pool and has been rehabilitated and released into the wild. The real
life Aaron is now an elephant keeper team leader.
Margriet Ruurs' The Elephant Keeper: Caring for Orphaned
Elephants in Zambia gives readers an up close and personal look at
those intelligent animals and the dangers they face, the humans who
rescue them when they are in danger, and the caring relationships that
can develop between human and beast.
On a personal note, yesterday at UMaine we did Tunnel Of Oppression.
It's an amazing activity to help bust stereotypes by which different
people are judged. Like all black people hate white people. Tour
guides took groups through a series of rooms where they saw
scenarios. I was in the mental health scenario. I played the part of
a college student whose roommate was concerned about me because of
something I'd written. I argued with her and flew off the handle when
she suggested I get help. I played that part 8 times and owned it. I
was proud to be part of such an important educational opportunity.
Plus I really miss acting which I gave up almost 3 years ago because
it took too much time from volunteering with students.
A great big shout out goes out to all who participated, especially
those who undertook the massive task of organizing it.
jules hathaway


Sent from my iPod

A Time To Act

A Time To Act

Juvenile nonfiction
"John F. Kennedy loved to read about history.
But history isn't just in books--it's happening all around us.
And the people who make history aren't just famous leaders or
characters in stories.
They're real people, just like you.
Sometimes, they ARE you."
That first page of Shana Corey's A Time To Act: John F.
Kennedy's Big Speech very nicely sets the tone of the book. Kennedy
is pictured not only as a president, but as a human being dealing with
all kinds of responsibilities and alliances and concerns.
When Kennedy was running for president segregation was creating
separate and inequal schools and restricting black people's
participation in facets of life--even voting, that quintessential
privilege and responsibility of citizenship. People were working for
change. Kennedy said:
"The aim of the next president of the United States must be
to...achieve equal opportunity for Americans regardless of race. This
requires equal access to the voting booth, to the school room, and to
lunch counters."
As president, Kennedy did many bold things. Acting on civil
rights was not one of them. The Freedom Riders tried to integrate
buses. Martin Luther King Jr. was jailed in Birmingham. Children and
teens marched in protest. Finally Kennedy sent a strong civil rights
bill to Congress only a few months before he was killed.
A Time To Act is a good book because it shows a very much loved
president as a human with strengths and weaknesses, facing problems
and challenges day by day...
...like all the rest of us.
On a personal note, here in Penobscot County we are seeing signs of
spring. The snow mountains are receding. We're getting balmy temps
in the 40's. Soon the people who complained about the cold will be
kvetching about the heat. I call them seasonal grinches. My life is
a dizzying (for me) round of school, homework, campus group
involvement, hunting for the GA or job that will finance grad school,
writing, reading books to review, cat care, cooking, and spring
cleaning.
A great big shout out goes to the gang in UMaine's Career Center who
are guiding me through the scary job hunt process. They are not only
professionally competent and perpetually poised, but optimistic that
despite my huge gap in paid work history (child raising, you know),
left behindness in computer literacy, and post traumatic stress
triggered by job hunting we will work something out.
jules hathaway


Sent from my iPod

Give Bees A Chance

Give Bees A Chance

Juvenile nonfiction
At last Bethany Barton has created a worthy sequel to her I'm
Trying To Love Spiders. (Recall we looked at that last year?)
A guy and his best buddy like most of the same things: board
games, dinosaurs, strawberries, honey... They part company when it
comes to bees. Best friend Edgar doesn't like bees.
Our intrepid narrator thinks that's subject to change. He
introduces Edgar to all kinds of bee info. When he mentions bees'
role in food production, he starts to win him over.
In a world where bees (essential for much of the food we eat)
are seriously endangered, kids and many adults need to learn why this
very much matters.
On a personal note, Saturday my church, Church Of Universal
Fellowship, went all out in the national marches against gun
violence. Our event was organized and led by our youth and supported
strongly by the rest of us. We met at church where we listened to
younger members speak of how the rise in school shootings effects them
and what we must do to keep them safe. Then we walked peacefully to
the UMaine campus where we joined the event there. There were over
125 of us ranging from tots in strollers to a WWII vet. I just wish
that groups that segregate by age could have been there. There was no
micro managing on the part of "adults", no disrespect or "What do you
know? You're only a kid?" Despite prejudice to the contrary, we can
work together across the age spectrum. Indeed solidarity across all
spectrums is the only thing that can save us, our fellow creatures
including pollinators, and the beautiful world we inhabit.
A great big shout out goes out to all people and dogs around the world
who participated in the marches.
jules hathaway


Sent from my iPod

Say Something

Say Something

Picture book
The narrator of Peggy Moss' Say Something doesn't join in
tormenting the kid the other kids pick on. She feels sorry for him.
She also doesn't mess with the kid everyone calls names or the girl
who sits alone on the bus.
She learns that isn't enough on a day her friends aren't in
school and she has to sit by herself in the cafetoria. Some kids
start harassing her. No one steps in to help even though kids she
knows are at the next table over.
It takes strength and courage for kids to stand up for peers. A
lot of parents convey the message that as long as their kids aren't
the bullies, that's all they really can do. This book can help start
conversations that can empower formerly silent bystanders.
On a personal note, I have hit the point of accepting being white
(culturally, not genetically defined BTW). I am doing all I can to
make white privilege a thing of the past. I read voraciously and
convey information that many people don't know with friends, in
groups, and in newspaper opinion pieces. I review insightful books
for you, my readers. And I share my poetry. Yesterday I had the
privilege of reading my Except Perhaps The Serpant (a poem about
racism being in the North as well as South) to my friends in Black
Student Union. They are my favorite group to share with. They always
give me the precious gift of feeling that my words matter. One cannot
choose to be white. But one can choose how to perform whiteness:
positively (fighting for justice), negatively (preserving the status
quo), or inertly.
A great big shout out goes out to my friends in Black Student Union,
Wilson Center, Active Minds, Mind Spa, and all the amazing UMaine
groups fighting for a better future.
jules hathaway


Sent from my iPod

My Beautiful Birds

My Beautiful Birds

Picture
Suzanne Del Rizzo's My Beautiful Birds had its genesis in its
author/illustrator's quest to find a way to talk to her own children
about the Syrian Civil War. When she read about a refugee camp boy
who was comforted by the wild birds he could see even there, she found
her story line. Her creation combines a powerful and poignant
narrative with the most amazing three dimensional art one can imagine.
"I remember filling my pigeons' food bowl, then--in a flash--my
neighborhood, and all that was home...gone.
And my beautiful birds?"
Sami, his family, and their neighbors must flee their bomb
demolished Syrian city. After several days walking they arrive at a
refugee camp. Family members and neighbors settle in the best they can.
Sami deeply misses his pigeons. He isn't ready to play with the
other kids. He can't enjoy stuff he formerly did. But then one day he
makes a beautiful discovery.
Del Rizzo used clay and other materials to create three
dimensional illustrations. Rocks, shrubbery, grains of sand, and the
fabric of clothing all give the illusion of texture. The skies are
especially spectacular. But the piece de resistance is the beautiful
birds, their feathers elaborately detailed, their faces oh so
expressive.
My Beautiful birds gives parents a touching way to explain to
children that Syrian refugees are not terrorists and future terrorists
who "hate our way of life, but families like their own caught in
terrible circumstances beyond their control. It's a lesson too many
adults have not yet learned.
On a personal note, last night at Wilson House we had a great dinner
and a talk about Citizens' Climate Lobby led by my friend, Gerry.
It's the most hopeful approach I've seen yet toward solving the
humungous peril of climate change.
A great big shout out goes out to the Citizens' Climate Lobby crew for
their ability to engage people on both sides of the political aisle
and develop a plan that will be good for us all (except maybe some
companies who won't any more be able to get away with screwing the
environment under it). You can find them online at www.citizensclimatelobby.org
jules hathaway



Sent from my iPod

B Is For Bicycle In Sustainability

B Is For Bicycle In Sustainability

Juvenile nonfiction
Do you find yourself caught in traffic jams? Do you slog across
what feels like a mile of hot tar because there are a gazillion cars
between you and the store or other destination of your choice? Are
you bothered by the increasingly unsustainability of the methods
people must use to extract gas as we burn through the low hanging
fossil fuel fruit?
Getting out of the mess we're in won't be achieved by a magic
bullet. It will take a lot of intersecting actions. One is using
more person powered propulsion. Two recent children's books I
discovered in the Orono Public Library are very inspirational.
Amsterdam is now considered the Bicycle Capital of the World.
It wasn't always. Allan Drummond's Pedal Power tells the story of the
campaign to put cars in their place.
Back in the 1970s buildings were being torn down to make huge
highways. Dark tunnels and very wide streets had no room for people
powered vehicles, making biking to work or school very hazardous.
Cars ruled the roads.
Not everyone found this state of affairs acceptable. People
began to protest in some very creative ways. The press gave them
great coverage. Then a girl was killed by a car while bicycling to
school and her journalist father revealed that she was one of five
hundred children killed on the roads. The protests got noisier and
more insistent.
Although Pedal Power is targeted to kids, it can powerfully
remind the rest of us that a community pulling together can pull off
some mighty awesome David vs Goliath feats.
Patricia Lakin's Bicycles introduces readers to a novel
concept: making them by hand as opposed to on an assembly line.
Aaron Dykstra does just that. He crafts bikes individually, guided by
customer measurements and the uses they will put them too. Readers
get to see one put together step by step. In a world of mass
production and planned obsolescence, that's a breath of fresh air.
Child readers are encouraged to think of ways they can be
creative and make things by hand. Imagine the wonderful skills and
insights they can develop. I know people who are aces at knitting and
crocheting winter wear to keep ears and fingers warm in frigid
weather. My cross stitch pictures warm people's hearts and make them
smile.
On a personal note, today, the first day of calendar spring, I see
swaths of snow outside my studio window. Another nor'easter may be on
the way. I signed the letter saying yes, I'll attend UMaine grad
school. I'm working to get a GA or job to afford to go. That is the
terrifying part for me. Eugene bought the ingredients for my home made
lasagna so that's what's for supper chez moi.
A great big shout out goes out to fellow Mainers and other folk who
are still awaiting flowers and robins and the other harbingers of
spring. We will cherish them all the more when they arrive.
jules hathaway




Sent from my iPod

Slacker

Slacker

Juvenile fiction
"Without putting down the controller, I got up, ran to the high
window, yanked away the pillow I'd jammed there for extra darkness,
and peered outside. All I could see were fire engines and guys in
heavy raincoats and rubber boots.
'What?' I exclaimed aloud, and this time it didn't mean 'Do not
disturb' or 'I'm busy.' It meant 'Why is the entire Sycamore Fire
Department parked on our lawn.'"
Fortunately Cam's house isn't on fire. The baked ziti he was
supposed to remove from the oven burned to a crisp, filling the house
with smoke. His parents are not amused. The walls are grimy and
sooty. And the front door, an unusual size that must be special
ordered, has been smashed by by firefighter axes.
Cam's parents make him an ultimatum: if he doesn't become
involved in an activity that involves real live human interaction
before the new door is on he'll lose his game system.
Cam is frantic. Getting ready for a gaming competition with a
substantial cash prize takes all his spare time. Activities take
time. But what if he can invent a fake school club, satisfying his
parents while staying on his favorite couch, controller in hand?
Only in no time flat the Positive Action Group is all over town
doing good deeds and being targeted by a Harvard aspiring high school
student who thinks they're undermining her school group.
And there's a beaver named Elvis.
Gordon Korman is brilliant at satirizing both school fads and
the foibles of the very inept adults in charge of running things. His
Slacker is a most excellent example.
On a personal note, after a slow paced spring break I'm back in
reality. Today I have packed with church and social justice
activities. And tomorrow I'll be back at UMaine.
A great big shout out goes out to the friends I'll be seeing for the
first time in nine days or so.
jules hathaway


Sent from my iPod