Author: Kathrine Ayres
Illustrators: Troy Howell and Laszlo Kubinyi
Publishing Year: 2000
Setting: Boston, spring 1908
Plot
Innocenza "Innie" Moretti's twenty-one-year-old cousin Carmela has exciting news: she has a new job decorating pottery at a settlement house. She'll earn seven dollars a week, and won't have to work at a factory anymore. Furthermore, Innie and Teresa (also Innie's cousin, Carmela's younger sister; in sixth grade like Innie) can also come to the settlement house two hours a week--after chores and school--and taking sewing and knitting classes, plus learn about life in America. Innie's annoyed that Carmela volunteered her for sewing lessons, but Carmela explains privately that the settlement house is more of a social club, and that it's starting a library. Innie loves reading, but has to share books at school. The thought of reading a book at her own pace, without waiting for two other girls to finish the page before turning it, delights her. She'll have to hide any library books she gets though; her more traditional uncle doesn't think girls should waste their time with leisure reading when they could be helping run a household (Innie's cousins live upstairs from her).
Innie and Teresa go to the settlement house the very next day, to help clean the room that will be the library. They meet Matela Rosen, a recent immigrants from Russia who is their age, but behind in school because she doesn't speak English well. She's been studying hard, and plans to continue doing so over the summer, and by autumn will be in the same grade as Innie and Teresa. It's a good thing that there are three girls to clean the library, because it's dirty not only from dust but also soot: there was a terrible fire in the neighboring city of Chelsea (a real historical occurrence; it burned for more most of a day and destroyed half the city and left 56% of the population homeless). Innie tries to not think about the fire. When she was two, her parents died in one. She can't remember anything about them, so on the one hand, she doesn't miss them, but on the other, she doesn't know them. Her grandmother, who is raising her, remembers too well, almost suffering PTSD when faced with fire.
But back to the settlement house. Now that it's clean, Innie, Teresa, and Matela find themselves very much enjoying the first meeting of their group, which congregates on Wednesday afternoon. Innie is intrigued by some overheard conversation about a missing packing box being recovered, but without the food it held or the heirloom teapot belonging to one of the settlement house leaders. She wonders if it's related to a book being misplaced. Speaking of books and things going missing, Innie disregards the rule to take just one book a week, and slips Louisa May Alcott's Little Men into her bag with Little Women (kinda long books there, Innie). While no one knows what Innie did, Matela comments that her mother would have blamed a ghost for the other misplaced things. The idea makes Innie nervous, but Teresa rolls her eyes at the thought of ghosts. The three girls are becoming fast friends, although Teresa and Matela admit that their fathers would prefer they be friends with people of their own religion and heritage.
But things at the settlement house aren't going so well. More items are going missing, and the leaders suspect Innie, with her reputation for misbehaving, might be involved. She accidentally broke an expensive pottery piece, and because she didn't tell the leaders right away--she was going to clean it up first--they figure she's a trouble-maker. Innie already feels alone the world, perceiving herself not quite accepted by her cousin's family and not a daughter to anyone living, this doesn't really help her self-esteem. But she does vow to herself, her parents, and the Blessed Virgin Mary that she'll be as perfect as possible to avoid any further suspicion--no more taking extra books, and no more being careless. Of course, she does arouse suspicion: she, Teresa, and Matela thoroughly clean the storefront where the settlement house sells pottery, so they can look for clues, and she finds one of the missing pieces of pottery. A settlement house leader comes in just in time to see her holding the item, which looks pretty bad when Innie's already just about considered guilty. The three girls explain themselves, and the settlement house leader agrees there's no real evidence that Innie's at fault, but promises to keep a close eye on her.
Matela thinks there is a ghost now; a poltergeist causing trouble--it's right near a graveyard, after all. She convinces the other two girls to stake out the place at night. They do indeed see someone inside, and because they know the building is locked, the person must be hiding there during the day or sneaking in somehow. A few days later, Innie finds time to try a neglected door in the building, and it reveals a foul-smelling room she figures must be where the thief hides: it has remains of stolen food, and a stolen pottery bowl. She comes back later with Teresa and Matela, and some candles. They discover that the room is actually a tunnel, leading up Copps's Hill, the graveyard (so that was the odor--hmm, that gets to me in a weird way). Innie knows that if she shows the settlement house leaders the passage without finding the thief, they'll think she's the one who's been coming in through it. Teresa refuses to come at night to watch for the thief, but Matela agrees to.
This prompts Innie to divulge a secret to Matela. Before Innie was born, her parents had several premature babies who were born too early to survive. When Innie was finally born healthy, they promised her to a life of Holy Orders, as a future nun. When Innie was two, she woke early one morning crying. Her grandmother took her for a walk, and while they were gone, the building burned and her parents were killed. Her grandmother repeated the promise, reasoning that Innie had been spared for a higher calling. Innie acts up to make the nuns think she's too sinful to accepted into the convent. Matela encourages her that in America, she is free to make her own decisions. She even volunteers to go the next nearest Catholic church with Innie, so she can a priest about the promises made for her--a big thing because the crosses on churches remind Matela of the uniforms the Russian soldiers wore when ransacking Jewish homes. Much to Innie's relief, the priest tells her that no, she's not beholden to her parents' and grandmother's promises. She might decide, when she's more grown up, to be a nun, but it should be her decision.
Back at home, there's some trouble. Innie's not allowed to return to the settlement house, as the leaders consider the thefts her fault. And her cousins Carmela and Teresa have been in foul moods and blame Innie's acting out. Innie's aunt starts to scold her, but when the story comes pouring out, her aunt comforts her instead. She asks Innie why she felt she had to go so far to ask her questions, and Innie explains that she didn't have anyone at home to ask. Innie's aunt tells her that she considers Innie just as much a part of her family as her sons and daughters, and any time something is troubling her, she can ask for help.
Shortly after, everyone's in a good mood, when Carmela passes her citizenship test (Innie and Teresa were born in America). The celebration is slightly tempered when Innie's uncle reveals that the building he wants to buy--which would house a business plus Innie and her extended family--comes with complicated legal paperwork that he doesn't understand. Innie points out that Carmela studied enough to become a citizen; surely she can help with the contract. Carmela's father and brothers scoff at this notion at first, and so does the grandmother, but Carmela and her mother remind them how much she studied. Her father agrees to let her look at the contract.
With that solved, Innie and Teresa meet up with Matela late Saturday night to watch the tunnel. When they arrive, a light's already on in the settlement house. They go in, and find a young Irish girl named Katie. She had come over to the US recently, and was working as a servant, sending her money back to her widowed mother and sisters. But after the Chelsea fire, she couldn't find the family she'd worked for. She didn't go to any of the aid societies because at thirteen, she's too young to be working. Furthermore, she's not sure she's in the US legally--the man who arranged her passage across the Atlantic wasn't clear on that. She needed a dry place to sleep, so she found a cave another servant had shown her, which turned out of course to the tunnel. Desperately hungry, she took some food (and the teapot, accidentally) plus a few dishes, intending to pay the settlement house back. While the girls are discussing how best to handle things, Carmela shows up. She'd noticed Teresa acting suspicious, and followed them. She takes the younger girls upstairs to the settlement house leaders' room. When they hear the whole story, they offer Katie a job in the settlement house! They also apologize to Innie, but frankly it's a pretty weak apology. Carmela and Teresa also learn of Innie's visit with the priest and her concerns about being a nun. Teasing a bit, Carmela asks if Innie will behave better now, knowing that she won't be forced into a convent. Innie counters that she'll act a little better--she wouldn't want to make her grandmother too suspicious of her behavior!
A Peek into the Past
As the United States became the new home for streams of immigrants in the early 1900s, settlement houses opened. They were designed to help immigrants adjust to their new lives. Helen Storrow started one in Boston, uniquely just for girls. She believed that immigrant girls could aspire to more than being a housewife or a servant, and offered them opportunities to learn different skills. She worked with Edith Guerrier and Edith Brown to provide them with instruction in culture, needlework, pottery, reading, and politics. Some families thought it was a waste of time; that their children should either be working at home or at a paying job once they were old enough, so sometimes children had to hide books from their parents (like Claudia Kishi?). Recognizing the desperate poverty many immigrants lived in, the women who lead the settlement house started Paul Revere Pottery, and girls who worked making valuable pieces could earn ten dollars a week, about the same as they could in a factory, but in much better conditions ($10 in 1908 would be about $250 in 2014). Many girls continued their success as they grew up, holding jobs as librarians or teachers. But integrating into American life meant losing touch with their cultures (in Boston at the time, about two-thirds of the immigrants were Italian Catholics and one-third Russian Jews who were escaping persecution like Rebecca Rubin's family). They were able to hang on to some of their traditional ways, and the north end of Boston still boasts many Italian stores today.
Misc
Dedicated to "Steve and Lisa and Matthew."
Innie and her family attend St. Leonard's Catholic Church, a real place built by Italian immigrants. It was dedicated in 1899 and is still in use today.
This is the third sentence of the book: "Mass seemed to have gone on for a long time this morning, and sitting still made Innie itch." Sometimes mass is long, and some homilies are boring (that one about tithing with regards to pre-tax income comes to mind). But you don't sit still much during a Catholic mass--during different parts people are standing, sitting, or kneeling; plus a bit of walking to go up for Communion. I sometimes joke that it's to keep us awake. This book is pre-Vatican II, but there would still have been some moving around.
Oh, I just love what Innie's aunt tells her: "You are not a child of my body, but you are a child of my heart." We would love to adopt a child, and this sentiment is really touching.
11/7/14
History Mystery #7: Trouble at Fort La Pointe
Author: Kathleen Ernst
Illustrators: Jean-Paul Tibbles and Greg Dearth
Publishing Year: 1999
Setting: La Pointe Island, Lake Superior, northern Wisconsin, 1732
Plot
Any day now, voyageurs--fur traders who bring pelts from the frontier to the cities--will be returning to Fort La Pointe from Montreal. They've been gone all winter. Suzette Choudoir is relieved that she didn't have worry whether her father, a Frenchman, would return or not this year. Sometimes the voyageurs elect to stay in Montreal, despite having Ojibwe family back at Fort La Pointe, and sometimes others die on the journey. But her father stayed in the Ojibwe village with Suzette's mother's family this winter, safe with his wife and daughters (Suzette's sister Charlotte is a baby). Suzette is hopeful that the return of the voyageurs will mean the end of a fur-trapping competition her father is participating in. By staying with his family, he's ended up in debt to the fur trading company, but winning the competition will allow him to pay his debt. As the family is crossing the lake to an island where Suzette's band of Ojibwe spends part of the year, the canoe starts taking on water, faster than Suzette can bail it out. Fearing he might need to throw some of the precious furs overboard, Suzette jumps in the cold water and holds on to the canoe, figuring she can swim while the furs can't. Since the water is so cold, it's hard for Suzette to swim and she nearly drowns, but her uncle and some other Ojibwe rescue her. Suzette's father and her uncle look over the canoe that they'd just inspected the night before, wondering why it was leaking so badly. Suzette's father suspects it was damaged on purpose.
But Suzette tries to put suspicion out of her mind. She's more focused on the fact that her family is safe, and the furs are safe. She's certain her father will win the competition. But when the voyageurs arrive the next day, the captain in charge of the fort reveals that furs were stolen out of the storeroom--including Suzette's father's--and due to the theft, the competition is cancelled. There's no way to be sure that any furs turned in for the competition aren't the stolen ones. Without the prize money, Suzette's father will have to go to Montreal with the voyageurs next winter.
Suzette is determined to find out who stole the furs and get the competition re-opened. Her tutor works at the Fort La Pointe store, and part of Suzette's schooling is helping him record the furs and goods brought to his store, to help her learn math. She notices that only two people were even close to her father in the competition: an Ojibwe man name Niskigwun and a Frenchman named Big Nicholas. If one of them stole as many furs as are missing to claim as his own, he could surpass her father's total. But Suzette doesn't have any actual evidence. And what's worse is that the Captain questions Suzette's father!
When Suzette is helping record inventory at the store, she spies a slip of paper in a corner. It's the record of the stolen bale of furs! They hadn't yet been recorded in the ledger, so without this paper there would have been no way to know which furs were stolen. Even better, the paper notes that some of the beaver pelts in the bale have unusual markings. Working quickly--because her father wants to take his family back to the mainland away from whoever has it out for him (the damaged canoe, the stolen furs, and his mysteriously lost crucifix)--Suzette sneaks into the camp of a new trader, and overhears that he's hidden the stolen pelts on smaller island nearby. She rushes back to tell the Captain.
But when she arrives, her father is being arrested. One of the beaver pelts was found hidden with a stash of furs, and her father's distinctive crucifix was with it. He even confessed as he was being led away, saying that Suzette's uncle, also a suspect, had nothing to do with the theft. Suzette knows the truth, and visiting her best friend Gabrielle, learns that none of her father's friends suspect him either. But how can she prove his innocence? The Captain has promised to banish the thief. Suzette's mother and grandmother can blend in among the Ojibwe, but she looks too French for that. And her father could go back to Montreal to make a living, but she looks too Ojibwe to be accepted. And what about Charlotte? More importantly, she doesn't her family split up. She has to do something.
Suzette and Gabrielle row to the smaller island and find the furs, but a storm traps them there briefly. Before they get out, Suzette finds some purple beads--an unusual color for the area. After they get home, Suzette starts to put the clues together, drawing on what she's learned by being both French (such as the information in the ledger) and Ojibwe (such as being able to find her way to the small island). She concludes that a man named Baptiste is the real culprit, and after a scuffle, he confesses. He was angry at the Captain, thinking he was treated unfairly for being Métis. Even if he was right--which everyone denies--it was no excuse to steal and then frame an innocent man. The Captain releases Suzette's father and thanks her for correcting the injustice.
The competition is back on. Suzette is disappointed to learn that Niskigwun edged out her father. But then the Captain, perhaps still feeling bad about arresting Suzette's father, tells him that he'll pay off the debt himself, and that he needs a new interpreter (Baptiste's old job) and hires him. Now he can stay with his family all year!
A Peek into the Past
When French fur traders reached the Great Lakes in 1609, the Ojibwe ("Chippewa") tribe had already been living there for hundreds of years. The two groups quickly became trade partners, the Ojibwe providing the furs that Europe desired and the French bringing manufactured goods. The French had already been trading with tribes further east for a century, and were happy to find more partners. Some Ojibwe married the French traders, and their children, called Métis, where very helpful to both sides of the trading, having an understanding both peoples' cultures. The two cultures didn't always mix well; some were disappointed in how the other's culture took over parts of their own. As more European settlers arrived, mixed marriages fell out of favor, and some Métis people found themselves accepted by neither the settlers nor the natives, and had to chose to live as one or the other instead of embracing both cultures.
Misc
Dedicated to "the many people who helped me peek back to the fur-trade era, including Linda Albers, Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin; Robert Powless and Dana Jackson, Odanah, Wisconsin; Steve Brisson, Michilimackinac, Michigan; and the interpreters at Old For William, Thunder Bay, Ontario. Miigwech! Thank you!"
Suzette's mother is half French, making Suzette a quarter Ojibwe and three quarters French. She has blue eyes unlike Métis she knows, and catches a bit of flack for this from one disagreeable boy she knows. She "gets back" at him when she finds out he's half Dakota (an enemy tribe), but feels pretty guilty about it. She later apologizes to him, and he to her, and reveals he had scraped some pitch off her father's boat--only wanting to cause a bit of trouble, not actually put anyone in danger, and apologizes for that as well.
Suzette's father reasons that since Suzette is part Ojibwe and part French, she's protected by both the spirits her mother worships and the Christian God he worships. Although he doesn't always remember Ojibwe customs, he makes an honest effort to learn and respect them. He also teaches Suzette to read and write, and has her take French lessons (Charlotte will have the same education opportunities when she's older).
Suzette has an Ojibwe name as well as her French one, A'jawac. meaning "carried safely over the water." (Suzette means "graceful lily" or "lily of the valley")
Suzette's grandmother far prefers traditional Ojibwe ways to French customs, but still refers to Suzette's father as "my French son."
Like in some of Kaya's books, the Looking Back section strikes me as a bit "noble savage."
Illustrators: Jean-Paul Tibbles and Greg Dearth
Publishing Year: 1999
Setting: La Pointe Island, Lake Superior, northern Wisconsin, 1732
Plot
Any day now, voyageurs--fur traders who bring pelts from the frontier to the cities--will be returning to Fort La Pointe from Montreal. They've been gone all winter. Suzette Choudoir is relieved that she didn't have worry whether her father, a Frenchman, would return or not this year. Sometimes the voyageurs elect to stay in Montreal, despite having Ojibwe family back at Fort La Pointe, and sometimes others die on the journey. But her father stayed in the Ojibwe village with Suzette's mother's family this winter, safe with his wife and daughters (Suzette's sister Charlotte is a baby). Suzette is hopeful that the return of the voyageurs will mean the end of a fur-trapping competition her father is participating in. By staying with his family, he's ended up in debt to the fur trading company, but winning the competition will allow him to pay his debt. As the family is crossing the lake to an island where Suzette's band of Ojibwe spends part of the year, the canoe starts taking on water, faster than Suzette can bail it out. Fearing he might need to throw some of the precious furs overboard, Suzette jumps in the cold water and holds on to the canoe, figuring she can swim while the furs can't. Since the water is so cold, it's hard for Suzette to swim and she nearly drowns, but her uncle and some other Ojibwe rescue her. Suzette's father and her uncle look over the canoe that they'd just inspected the night before, wondering why it was leaking so badly. Suzette's father suspects it was damaged on purpose.
But Suzette tries to put suspicion out of her mind. She's more focused on the fact that her family is safe, and the furs are safe. She's certain her father will win the competition. But when the voyageurs arrive the next day, the captain in charge of the fort reveals that furs were stolen out of the storeroom--including Suzette's father's--and due to the theft, the competition is cancelled. There's no way to be sure that any furs turned in for the competition aren't the stolen ones. Without the prize money, Suzette's father will have to go to Montreal with the voyageurs next winter.
Suzette is determined to find out who stole the furs and get the competition re-opened. Her tutor works at the Fort La Pointe store, and part of Suzette's schooling is helping him record the furs and goods brought to his store, to help her learn math. She notices that only two people were even close to her father in the competition: an Ojibwe man name Niskigwun and a Frenchman named Big Nicholas. If one of them stole as many furs as are missing to claim as his own, he could surpass her father's total. But Suzette doesn't have any actual evidence. And what's worse is that the Captain questions Suzette's father!
When Suzette is helping record inventory at the store, she spies a slip of paper in a corner. It's the record of the stolen bale of furs! They hadn't yet been recorded in the ledger, so without this paper there would have been no way to know which furs were stolen. Even better, the paper notes that some of the beaver pelts in the bale have unusual markings. Working quickly--because her father wants to take his family back to the mainland away from whoever has it out for him (the damaged canoe, the stolen furs, and his mysteriously lost crucifix)--Suzette sneaks into the camp of a new trader, and overhears that he's hidden the stolen pelts on smaller island nearby. She rushes back to tell the Captain.
But when she arrives, her father is being arrested. One of the beaver pelts was found hidden with a stash of furs, and her father's distinctive crucifix was with it. He even confessed as he was being led away, saying that Suzette's uncle, also a suspect, had nothing to do with the theft. Suzette knows the truth, and visiting her best friend Gabrielle, learns that none of her father's friends suspect him either. But how can she prove his innocence? The Captain has promised to banish the thief. Suzette's mother and grandmother can blend in among the Ojibwe, but she looks too French for that. And her father could go back to Montreal to make a living, but she looks too Ojibwe to be accepted. And what about Charlotte? More importantly, she doesn't her family split up. She has to do something.
Suzette and Gabrielle row to the smaller island and find the furs, but a storm traps them there briefly. Before they get out, Suzette finds some purple beads--an unusual color for the area. After they get home, Suzette starts to put the clues together, drawing on what she's learned by being both French (such as the information in the ledger) and Ojibwe (such as being able to find her way to the small island). She concludes that a man named Baptiste is the real culprit, and after a scuffle, he confesses. He was angry at the Captain, thinking he was treated unfairly for being Métis. Even if he was right--which everyone denies--it was no excuse to steal and then frame an innocent man. The Captain releases Suzette's father and thanks her for correcting the injustice.
The competition is back on. Suzette is disappointed to learn that Niskigwun edged out her father. But then the Captain, perhaps still feeling bad about arresting Suzette's father, tells him that he'll pay off the debt himself, and that he needs a new interpreter (Baptiste's old job) and hires him. Now he can stay with his family all year!
A Peek into the Past
When French fur traders reached the Great Lakes in 1609, the Ojibwe ("Chippewa") tribe had already been living there for hundreds of years. The two groups quickly became trade partners, the Ojibwe providing the furs that Europe desired and the French bringing manufactured goods. The French had already been trading with tribes further east for a century, and were happy to find more partners. Some Ojibwe married the French traders, and their children, called Métis, where very helpful to both sides of the trading, having an understanding both peoples' cultures. The two cultures didn't always mix well; some were disappointed in how the other's culture took over parts of their own. As more European settlers arrived, mixed marriages fell out of favor, and some Métis people found themselves accepted by neither the settlers nor the natives, and had to chose to live as one or the other instead of embracing both cultures.
Misc
Dedicated to "the many people who helped me peek back to the fur-trade era, including Linda Albers, Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin; Robert Powless and Dana Jackson, Odanah, Wisconsin; Steve Brisson, Michilimackinac, Michigan; and the interpreters at Old For William, Thunder Bay, Ontario. Miigwech! Thank you!"
Suzette's mother is half French, making Suzette a quarter Ojibwe and three quarters French. She has blue eyes unlike Métis she knows, and catches a bit of flack for this from one disagreeable boy she knows. She "gets back" at him when she finds out he's half Dakota (an enemy tribe), but feels pretty guilty about it. She later apologizes to him, and he to her, and reveals he had scraped some pitch off her father's boat--only wanting to cause a bit of trouble, not actually put anyone in danger, and apologizes for that as well.
Suzette's father reasons that since Suzette is part Ojibwe and part French, she's protected by both the spirits her mother worships and the Christian God he worships. Although he doesn't always remember Ojibwe customs, he makes an honest effort to learn and respect them. He also teaches Suzette to read and write, and has her take French lessons (Charlotte will have the same education opportunities when she's older).
Suzette has an Ojibwe name as well as her French one, A'jawac. meaning "carried safely over the water." (Suzette means "graceful lily" or "lily of the valley")
Suzette's grandmother far prefers traditional Ojibwe ways to French customs, but still refers to Suzette's father as "my French son."
Like in some of Kaya's books, the Looking Back section strikes me as a bit "noble savage."
11/6/14
History Mystery #6: Mystery of the Dark Tower
Author: Evelyn Coleman
Illustrators: Greg Dearth and Dahl Taylor
Publishing Year: 2000
Setting: Harlem, 1928
Plot
Bessie Coulter and her younger brother Eddie find themselves awakened by their father in the middle of the night, and leaving their house in North Carolina on a train headed to New York. They can't understand why they're leaving, and more importantly, why their mother isn't coming. Bessie and Eddie are heartbroken, thinking their parents have divorced. Their father tries to reassure them that their mother will join them later, but won't elaborate about anything else. Bessie, almost thirteen, can't stand being treated like an infant and not told any details. But it's no use; her father won't tell.
They arrive in Harlem to stay with their aunts. Bessie quickly befriends an immigrant girl from the British West Indies named Lillian. She's sometimes teased for her accent, so Eddie, who has a stutter, bonds with her too. She warns them about Miss Flo, a neighborhood woman who's rumored to practice voodoo. In spite of herself, Bessie finds that she likes some aspects of Harlem, like the lack of Jim Crow laws. But she's still angry with her father.
She also doesn't trust him much lately. He's out all the time, claiming to be working. But Bessie sees him with a rich woman, and once when she follows him, he goes to a party. And she overhears him talking about staying something called the Dark Tower. What is he hiding? Bessie's determined to find out, and Eddie and Lillian want to help. Bessie finds a note she assumes is from the woman, but just then her other aunt, the older, stricter one, arrives home. She tells Bessie and Eddie that their father has had to go away for a while. Now they really have to figure out what's happening.
It turns out that Lillian's mother owns a bookstore, and Lillian is able to get Bessie and Eddie jobs. That way, they can get out of the house more to look for the Dark Tower. At first it seems like a dead end--the Dark Tower is a newspaper column about literature written by people of African descent (they discover this at the library, where Lillian also shows the Coulter siblings the display of such books, which astounds them: back home, they weren't even allowed in libraries). But a man overhears them talking, and tells them the Dark Tower is also a physical location, and gives them the address.
Before they get a chance to check out the Dark Tower, Bessie's father disappears. Her aunts aren't saying anything, but Bessie thinks if she can find that rich woman, she'll have her answers. She goes to Miss Flo for some magic to conjure the woman, but she only gets a notebook and a pen, with a note that Miss Flo is friends with Bessie's aunts, and since Bessie enjoys reading poetry perhaps she can write some of her own to sort through her emotions. Angry that she's being brushed aside for being a kid, Bessie tries to make her own potion, but of course it doesn't work. A letter does arrive from Bessie's parents, though. The aunts won't let Bessie and Eddie read it, since the matters in most of the letter are for adults, but they learn that their parents aren't getting a divorce and that they need to stay with their aunts for a while longer. However, Bessie recognizes the paper the letter's written on. It's her aunts' stationery. She, Eddie, and Lillian make plans to find out about the Dark Tower.
Since the Dark Tower, whatever it is, is an adult venue, Bessie decides to use her aunts' makeup and Lillian's mother's shoes (since they're the right size) to disguise herself as an adult. Eddie will pretend to be Lillian's mother and ask for Bessie to come over (so the aunts on't wonder where she is) while on the other side of the fence the two families share--when he sings, he has no stutter, and Lillian and her mother have an accent that's "sing-songy." It works, and Bessie slips into the Dark Tower.
Inside, she finds a fancy social club. After some confusion, it's eventually revealed that her father had been commissioned to paint a Madonna and Child, and he modeled the painting after Bessie (as a baby) and her mother. Tonight is the unveiling, and since Bessie there, the rich woman she'd seen her father with--discussing the painting--gives her the check her father earned. For $3000 (more that $41,500 in 2014). Bessie also learns that her mother has tuberculosis, and her father took Bessie and Eddie away so they wouldn't catch it. Now her mother is on the mend, so he's gone back to nurse until she's fully well. When she's strong enough, she'll join the family in Harlem. Bessie gets these last few details when she arrives at her aunts' house, having been found out. The aunts admit they've kept too much from the children (and the letter was fake, written to try to assuage the children's worries). Now that they know what's really happening, Bessie and Eddie can finally relax and enjoy all that Harlem has to offer.
A Peek into the Past
In the early 1900s, Harlem was known as the "capital of Black America" because so many African-Americans lived there. It became a sort of haven for people escaping prejudice areas. It became a wellspring of cultural advancements, from well-know poets like Langston Hughes to the invention of jazz. Racism still existed, of course. During the time the book takes place, people were very fearful of tuberculosis, a dangerous and very contagious lung disease. White victims of TB were treated in sanatoriums, while black victims languished on sanatorium waiting lists, usually dying before making it in. For this reason, some families hid sick members, making sure they were quarantined and receiving treatment.
Misc
Dedicated to "the six siblings of my mother, Annie S. Coleman, who all died of tuberculosis in the days when it was considered a shameful disease. And to Bessie Coral Coble Scott, a high school classmate of mine, who despite an illness in our senior year still graduated with honors. Bessie, you were one of the bravest people I knew in high school!"
Illustrators: Greg Dearth and Dahl Taylor
Publishing Year: 2000
Setting: Harlem, 1928
Plot
Bessie Coulter and her younger brother Eddie find themselves awakened by their father in the middle of the night, and leaving their house in North Carolina on a train headed to New York. They can't understand why they're leaving, and more importantly, why their mother isn't coming. Bessie and Eddie are heartbroken, thinking their parents have divorced. Their father tries to reassure them that their mother will join them later, but won't elaborate about anything else. Bessie, almost thirteen, can't stand being treated like an infant and not told any details. But it's no use; her father won't tell.
They arrive in Harlem to stay with their aunts. Bessie quickly befriends an immigrant girl from the British West Indies named Lillian. She's sometimes teased for her accent, so Eddie, who has a stutter, bonds with her too. She warns them about Miss Flo, a neighborhood woman who's rumored to practice voodoo. In spite of herself, Bessie finds that she likes some aspects of Harlem, like the lack of Jim Crow laws. But she's still angry with her father.
She also doesn't trust him much lately. He's out all the time, claiming to be working. But Bessie sees him with a rich woman, and once when she follows him, he goes to a party. And she overhears him talking about staying something called the Dark Tower. What is he hiding? Bessie's determined to find out, and Eddie and Lillian want to help. Bessie finds a note she assumes is from the woman, but just then her other aunt, the older, stricter one, arrives home. She tells Bessie and Eddie that their father has had to go away for a while. Now they really have to figure out what's happening.
It turns out that Lillian's mother owns a bookstore, and Lillian is able to get Bessie and Eddie jobs. That way, they can get out of the house more to look for the Dark Tower. At first it seems like a dead end--the Dark Tower is a newspaper column about literature written by people of African descent (they discover this at the library, where Lillian also shows the Coulter siblings the display of such books, which astounds them: back home, they weren't even allowed in libraries). But a man overhears them talking, and tells them the Dark Tower is also a physical location, and gives them the address.
Before they get a chance to check out the Dark Tower, Bessie's father disappears. Her aunts aren't saying anything, but Bessie thinks if she can find that rich woman, she'll have her answers. She goes to Miss Flo for some magic to conjure the woman, but she only gets a notebook and a pen, with a note that Miss Flo is friends with Bessie's aunts, and since Bessie enjoys reading poetry perhaps she can write some of her own to sort through her emotions. Angry that she's being brushed aside for being a kid, Bessie tries to make her own potion, but of course it doesn't work. A letter does arrive from Bessie's parents, though. The aunts won't let Bessie and Eddie read it, since the matters in most of the letter are for adults, but they learn that their parents aren't getting a divorce and that they need to stay with their aunts for a while longer. However, Bessie recognizes the paper the letter's written on. It's her aunts' stationery. She, Eddie, and Lillian make plans to find out about the Dark Tower.
Since the Dark Tower, whatever it is, is an adult venue, Bessie decides to use her aunts' makeup and Lillian's mother's shoes (since they're the right size) to disguise herself as an adult. Eddie will pretend to be Lillian's mother and ask for Bessie to come over (so the aunts on't wonder where she is) while on the other side of the fence the two families share--when he sings, he has no stutter, and Lillian and her mother have an accent that's "sing-songy." It works, and Bessie slips into the Dark Tower.
Inside, she finds a fancy social club. After some confusion, it's eventually revealed that her father had been commissioned to paint a Madonna and Child, and he modeled the painting after Bessie (as a baby) and her mother. Tonight is the unveiling, and since Bessie there, the rich woman she'd seen her father with--discussing the painting--gives her the check her father earned. For $3000 (more that $41,500 in 2014). Bessie also learns that her mother has tuberculosis, and her father took Bessie and Eddie away so they wouldn't catch it. Now her mother is on the mend, so he's gone back to nurse until she's fully well. When she's strong enough, she'll join the family in Harlem. Bessie gets these last few details when she arrives at her aunts' house, having been found out. The aunts admit they've kept too much from the children (and the letter was fake, written to try to assuage the children's worries). Now that they know what's really happening, Bessie and Eddie can finally relax and enjoy all that Harlem has to offer.
A Peek into the Past
In the early 1900s, Harlem was known as the "capital of Black America" because so many African-Americans lived there. It became a sort of haven for people escaping prejudice areas. It became a wellspring of cultural advancements, from well-know poets like Langston Hughes to the invention of jazz. Racism still existed, of course. During the time the book takes place, people were very fearful of tuberculosis, a dangerous and very contagious lung disease. White victims of TB were treated in sanatoriums, while black victims languished on sanatorium waiting lists, usually dying before making it in. For this reason, some families hid sick members, making sure they were quarantined and receiving treatment.
Misc
Dedicated to "the six siblings of my mother, Annie S. Coleman, who all died of tuberculosis in the days when it was considered a shameful disease. And to Bessie Coral Coble Scott, a high school classmate of mine, who despite an illness in our senior year still graduated with honors. Bessie, you were one of the bravest people I knew in high school!"
11/5/14
History Mystery #5: Secrets on 26th Street
Author: Elizabeth McDavid Jones
Illustrators: Robert Sauber and Greg Dearth
Publishing Year: 1999
Setting: Chelsea district, New York City, autumn 1914
Plot
Eleven-year-old Susan O'Neal has a lot on her plate. While she'd love to have leisure time to read and even entertains the idea of college occasionally, she knows she has to be realistic. She's of Irish descent and her family lives in poverty. In a few years she'll be someone's maid.
Susan's the oldest of three girls (Helen is eight and Lucy is three) and her father died of pneumonia last year. Her mother works twelve hours a day, six days a week at a shipping office, so it's up to Susan to take care of nearly everything. Even with the work, the O'Neals are four months behind on rent. Their slumlord is threatening to evict if they can't pay by the end of the month--next Thursday. They're taking in a boarder to make ends meet.
When Susan and Helen arrive home from school after picking up Lucy from the neighbor's, the boarder is already there. Susan is resentful at first--the boarder is taking over the bedroom her parents used to share--but the boarder has laid out practically a feast for dinner, and is so friendly that Susan and her sisters take to her right away. She's from England, Beatrice Alexis Victoria Rutherford--Bea. Bea gets on well with Susan's mother too. Susan helps Bea unpack. When she sees the ornate things Bea has, like silk nightgowns and more clothes than the dresser has space for, she wonders why Bea is choosing to rent a room in a dingy tenement, rather than somewhere nicer. But it would be rude to ask, so she holds her tongue--and continues to when a letter slips out of a book inscribed "must be kept secret for now."
Bea's presence seems to make everything better. Susan's mother even laughs sometimes, something she hadn't really done since being widowed. But money is still tight, and there's not enough to pay all four months' back rent. Susan takes advantage of her bob haircut and disguises herself as a boy to get a job shining shoes after school and on Saturdays. She's good at it, too, and starts earning money pretty quickly. She keeps it secret for the meantime, knowing that her mother wouldn't approve of her using deception to get the job. She'll wait until she gives her mother the money for rent, and then quit if her mother insists. One day she sees Bea, far from where she says she's working. And chatting with the slumlord like they're old friends. Susan reflects that she only met Bea a few weeks ago, and doesn't really know her. Plus, her mother and Bea have been sort of fighting. A coworker of Susan's mother was fired for marching in a suffrage parade, and Bea admonishes Susan's mother for not standing up for the woman. Susan's mother counters that she'd be fired too, and even if every woman did the same thing, they could be replaced in half an hour. It's too dangerous to stand up for causes in desperate situations.
One day at work, Susan ends up shining her slumlord's shoes. She takes a little more time than necessary, because he's talking about his plan to get several suffragists arrested at Saturday's rally, with the help of some corrupt cops and politicians. Susan makes up her mind to go to the rally. She takes Helen and a neighbor boy, Russell, with her (her mother is gone to visit Susan's paternal great-aunt who is ill, and Lucy stays with Russell's mother). Susan gets caught up in a speech by Alice Paul (a real person) when the crowd turns. The slumlord's plan is starting, and soon things start getting violent. Helen gets separated from them briefly, but all three get away from the riot. As they leave, Susan notices that those being arrested aren't just the people who were fighting--it's the suffragists who were just making speeches, too. When everyone gets home, Susan is worried to find that Bea isn't back yet. The factory where she works closed for the day a little while ago, so she should be back. Even after the girls eat dinner, she's still not home and neither is Susan's mother. Susan asks Russell to check on Bea at the factory (Lucy and Helen are asleep). Bea comes back a while later, with a slight limp, and explains that she hurt her ankle at work and is very tired, so she'll go straight to bed. Not long after that, Russell returns. He was talking with the factory foreman. No Beatrice Rutherford has ever worked at the factory.
The next day brings more confusion. Susan's mother is still gone. The slumlord comes by for the rent, too, and Susan, remembering Bea's advice about acting confident, bluffs that her mother has the money, but forgot to tell Susan where she'd put it before she left. The slumlord says he's only looking for this month's rent, as Bea paid off the balance, and wasn't it nice of her dad's cousin to come help the family? Susan recovers from the shock well enough that the slumlord doesn't suspect anything, and he says that he'll come back for the money in a few days.
Monday comes with no word from Susan's mother. It's very worrisome, because her mother doesn't even like the family member she's visiting, and wouldn't risk losing her job by staying away so long. Susan spends some of her tip money to send a telegram to her great-aunt asking after her mother, but at the end of the day there's no reply. When she gets home, Bea announces that a telegram arrived and her mother is safe, and staying a bit longer. But Helen tells Susan that she saw Bea read the telegram, and it was clearly bad news. Susan and Helen work out a scheme to get the telegram and also the letter Susan saw when helping Bea unpack. But there's no information about their mother in either. The telegram appears to be from Bea's estranged grandfather (her only living family member), refusing to send money because of a falling out they had. And the letter is from Alice Paul, asking for help with the suffrage movement. Intriguing, but nothing that helps Susan know where her mother is. And the next morning brings word from Susan's great-aunt. Susan's mother isn't there, nor was she asked to come, nor is her great-aunt ill. So not only has Bea lied, but Susan's own mother has as well.
Susan and Helen skip school that day, trying to figure out where their mother is. Susan ends up following Bea to a law office, and confronts her after overhearing some conversation. It turns out that Bea has come to the US to organize the working class to rally for women's suffrage, and Susan's mother had agreed to help. But during the riot, Bea and Susan's mother got separated, and Bea doesn't know what happened to her. Susan thinks Bea is lying again, and goes to the county jail with her shoe-shine money to bail her mother out (Russell offers some of his too). At first it seems like another dead end, until Susan tries the stage name her mother had wanted to use for vaudeville. She's there, and Susan and Russell bail her out. Susan's mother is sore and tired, but otherwise fine.
Back at home, all the truth finally comes out. Susan's mother was offered a job with the suffrage movement, for better pay than her old job. But she needed to take a day off from work, so she made up the story about the sick relative. She told the same story to her daughters in case someone checked up on her. Bea apologizes to the girls for not coming clean about their mother's whereabouts earlier--although she truly didn't know she was in jail, she could have told them about the rally and ensuing riot, and then maybe Susan could have helped sooner (Bea had asked her grandfather for money for bail or medical expenses, but being against suffrage, he refused). Susan's mother and sisters consider it water under the bridge, but Susan isn't quite there yet. She'd thought she had a special bond with Bea, and finding out how much Bea had kept from her hurts. Bea talks with Susan and makes a heartfelt apology, and promises to not keep any more secrets. Susan accepts the apology, and joins her sisters and mother in treating Bea as a member of the family.
A Peek into the Past
The historical section is about the movement for women's right to vote in the US. The suffrage movement took more than six decades to finally reach its goal. Powerful political lobbies feared that women voters would take power away from them, and were instrumental in defeating several attempts to pass an amendment. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were influential figureheads in the 1800s, but when they died much of the passion seemed to leave the suffrage movement. A breath of fresh air arrived in the form of British suffragists. Finally, the nineteenth amendment was ratified on August 26, 1920, allowing women the right to vote in the United States.
Misc
Dedicated to "my husband, Rick, and my children, Mandy, Lindsay, Whitney, and Michael."
With Bea in one bedroom and the three girls in the other, Susan's mother sleeps on a cot in a closet off the kitchen (pantry?). I guess the girls' room could be cramped, but I'd rather sleep in my daughters' room than a closet if at all possible.
Annoyingly, the book doesn't reveal how much or even if Susan got tipped when she shines the slumlord's shoes (she's paid in tips and has to give half to her boss).
Illustrators: Robert Sauber and Greg Dearth
Publishing Year: 1999
Setting: Chelsea district, New York City, autumn 1914
Plot
Eleven-year-old Susan O'Neal has a lot on her plate. While she'd love to have leisure time to read and even entertains the idea of college occasionally, she knows she has to be realistic. She's of Irish descent and her family lives in poverty. In a few years she'll be someone's maid.
Susan's the oldest of three girls (Helen is eight and Lucy is three) and her father died of pneumonia last year. Her mother works twelve hours a day, six days a week at a shipping office, so it's up to Susan to take care of nearly everything. Even with the work, the O'Neals are four months behind on rent. Their slumlord is threatening to evict if they can't pay by the end of the month--next Thursday. They're taking in a boarder to make ends meet.
When Susan and Helen arrive home from school after picking up Lucy from the neighbor's, the boarder is already there. Susan is resentful at first--the boarder is taking over the bedroom her parents used to share--but the boarder has laid out practically a feast for dinner, and is so friendly that Susan and her sisters take to her right away. She's from England, Beatrice Alexis Victoria Rutherford--Bea. Bea gets on well with Susan's mother too. Susan helps Bea unpack. When she sees the ornate things Bea has, like silk nightgowns and more clothes than the dresser has space for, she wonders why Bea is choosing to rent a room in a dingy tenement, rather than somewhere nicer. But it would be rude to ask, so she holds her tongue--and continues to when a letter slips out of a book inscribed "must be kept secret for now."
Bea's presence seems to make everything better. Susan's mother even laughs sometimes, something she hadn't really done since being widowed. But money is still tight, and there's not enough to pay all four months' back rent. Susan takes advantage of her bob haircut and disguises herself as a boy to get a job shining shoes after school and on Saturdays. She's good at it, too, and starts earning money pretty quickly. She keeps it secret for the meantime, knowing that her mother wouldn't approve of her using deception to get the job. She'll wait until she gives her mother the money for rent, and then quit if her mother insists. One day she sees Bea, far from where she says she's working. And chatting with the slumlord like they're old friends. Susan reflects that she only met Bea a few weeks ago, and doesn't really know her. Plus, her mother and Bea have been sort of fighting. A coworker of Susan's mother was fired for marching in a suffrage parade, and Bea admonishes Susan's mother for not standing up for the woman. Susan's mother counters that she'd be fired too, and even if every woman did the same thing, they could be replaced in half an hour. It's too dangerous to stand up for causes in desperate situations.
One day at work, Susan ends up shining her slumlord's shoes. She takes a little more time than necessary, because he's talking about his plan to get several suffragists arrested at Saturday's rally, with the help of some corrupt cops and politicians. Susan makes up her mind to go to the rally. She takes Helen and a neighbor boy, Russell, with her (her mother is gone to visit Susan's paternal great-aunt who is ill, and Lucy stays with Russell's mother). Susan gets caught up in a speech by Alice Paul (a real person) when the crowd turns. The slumlord's plan is starting, and soon things start getting violent. Helen gets separated from them briefly, but all three get away from the riot. As they leave, Susan notices that those being arrested aren't just the people who were fighting--it's the suffragists who were just making speeches, too. When everyone gets home, Susan is worried to find that Bea isn't back yet. The factory where she works closed for the day a little while ago, so she should be back. Even after the girls eat dinner, she's still not home and neither is Susan's mother. Susan asks Russell to check on Bea at the factory (Lucy and Helen are asleep). Bea comes back a while later, with a slight limp, and explains that she hurt her ankle at work and is very tired, so she'll go straight to bed. Not long after that, Russell returns. He was talking with the factory foreman. No Beatrice Rutherford has ever worked at the factory.
The next day brings more confusion. Susan's mother is still gone. The slumlord comes by for the rent, too, and Susan, remembering Bea's advice about acting confident, bluffs that her mother has the money, but forgot to tell Susan where she'd put it before she left. The slumlord says he's only looking for this month's rent, as Bea paid off the balance, and wasn't it nice of her dad's cousin to come help the family? Susan recovers from the shock well enough that the slumlord doesn't suspect anything, and he says that he'll come back for the money in a few days.
Monday comes with no word from Susan's mother. It's very worrisome, because her mother doesn't even like the family member she's visiting, and wouldn't risk losing her job by staying away so long. Susan spends some of her tip money to send a telegram to her great-aunt asking after her mother, but at the end of the day there's no reply. When she gets home, Bea announces that a telegram arrived and her mother is safe, and staying a bit longer. But Helen tells Susan that she saw Bea read the telegram, and it was clearly bad news. Susan and Helen work out a scheme to get the telegram and also the letter Susan saw when helping Bea unpack. But there's no information about their mother in either. The telegram appears to be from Bea's estranged grandfather (her only living family member), refusing to send money because of a falling out they had. And the letter is from Alice Paul, asking for help with the suffrage movement. Intriguing, but nothing that helps Susan know where her mother is. And the next morning brings word from Susan's great-aunt. Susan's mother isn't there, nor was she asked to come, nor is her great-aunt ill. So not only has Bea lied, but Susan's own mother has as well.
Susan and Helen skip school that day, trying to figure out where their mother is. Susan ends up following Bea to a law office, and confronts her after overhearing some conversation. It turns out that Bea has come to the US to organize the working class to rally for women's suffrage, and Susan's mother had agreed to help. But during the riot, Bea and Susan's mother got separated, and Bea doesn't know what happened to her. Susan thinks Bea is lying again, and goes to the county jail with her shoe-shine money to bail her mother out (Russell offers some of his too). At first it seems like another dead end, until Susan tries the stage name her mother had wanted to use for vaudeville. She's there, and Susan and Russell bail her out. Susan's mother is sore and tired, but otherwise fine.
Back at home, all the truth finally comes out. Susan's mother was offered a job with the suffrage movement, for better pay than her old job. But she needed to take a day off from work, so she made up the story about the sick relative. She told the same story to her daughters in case someone checked up on her. Bea apologizes to the girls for not coming clean about their mother's whereabouts earlier--although she truly didn't know she was in jail, she could have told them about the rally and ensuing riot, and then maybe Susan could have helped sooner (Bea had asked her grandfather for money for bail or medical expenses, but being against suffrage, he refused). Susan's mother and sisters consider it water under the bridge, but Susan isn't quite there yet. She'd thought she had a special bond with Bea, and finding out how much Bea had kept from her hurts. Bea talks with Susan and makes a heartfelt apology, and promises to not keep any more secrets. Susan accepts the apology, and joins her sisters and mother in treating Bea as a member of the family.
A Peek into the Past
The historical section is about the movement for women's right to vote in the US. The suffrage movement took more than six decades to finally reach its goal. Powerful political lobbies feared that women voters would take power away from them, and were instrumental in defeating several attempts to pass an amendment. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were influential figureheads in the 1800s, but when they died much of the passion seemed to leave the suffrage movement. A breath of fresh air arrived in the form of British suffragists. Finally, the nineteenth amendment was ratified on August 26, 1920, allowing women the right to vote in the United States.
Misc
Dedicated to "my husband, Rick, and my children, Mandy, Lindsay, Whitney, and Michael."
With Bea in one bedroom and the three girls in the other, Susan's mother sleeps on a cot in a closet off the kitchen (pantry?). I guess the girls' room could be cramped, but I'd rather sleep in my daughters' room than a closet if at all possible.
Annoyingly, the book doesn't reveal how much or even if Susan got tipped when she shines the slumlord's shoes (she's paid in tips and has to give half to her boss).
11/4/14
History Mystery #4: Voices at Whisper Bend
Author: Katherine Ayres
Illustrators: Dahl Taylor and Greg Dearth
Publishing Year: 1999
Setting: near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, spring 1942
Plot
The United States entered World War II a few months ago, and twelve-year-old Charlotte Campbell wants to do something to help. She's helping tend the victory garden and has saved up to buy defense stamps, but it doesn't seem like enough, especially when her brother Jim enlisted in the Navy. On the way to school one morning, a piece of litter inspires her: a scrap drive! Her teacher has Charlotte announce her idea to the class, and the whole school seems on board. Charlotte's sixth grade class will collect scrap metal, the seventh graders will start a newspaper drive, and the eighth graders will bring worn tires to be recycled. Younger students will help older siblings and friends. When Charlotte's younger brother Robbie proudly announces the drive to the family, Charlotte's mother has her own announcement: she's entering the work force. She'll be helping make plate steel for different military machines (Charlotte's father has a boat that he uses to ferry supplies to a steel mill). Charlotte will need to help more at home, doing some of the things her mother normally would. It'll be tricky to collect scrap metal and keep house. She and Robbie, plus Charlotte's best friend Betsy, find a big haul in a neighbor's yard. The elderly woman, Mrs. Dubner, has piles of junk and is happy to let the kids clean up her yard for free (except for gladly parting with her things, the description of her house makes her seem like a hoarder).
Thanks in large part to Mrs. Dubner, Charlotte's class fills up a storage room at her school with metal. The steel mill is ready to send a truck to collect it, but over the weekend someone breaks in and steals it all (it could be sold for a nice bit of cash). Charlotte is devastated and furious, but then proud of her classmates when they agree to start over. She wants to find the thief, but is happy that in the meantime the scrap drive will continue. But it seems like everyone's a suspect--the new teacher with the Italian last name, the single man who didn't enlist, the mean kid in class; someone even accuses Betsy because her great-great-grandparents were from Germany. And then someone steals the newly-collected metal.
One day while collecting metal, Robbie cuts his hand badly enough to need stitches. This means Charlotte has to help on her father's boat, on a day that it's raining. Charlotte nearly drowned a while back, having fallen off the boat in a rainstorm, and is still terrified of being on the high water. Jim rescued her back then, but he's not around to do that now. As luck would have, two coal barges come loose further upriver, and Charlotte has to help get them. She succeeds and regains some confidence, but still doesn't want to go back on the river in the rain again. She wants Jim home, to help on the boat, and so the family won't be so tense with worry.
A short time later, Charlotte, Robbie, Betsy, and Paul (a boy from class Charlotte initially didn't like but has turned out to be okay) find a huge stash of scrap metal. They go for a closer look to haul it to the school and discover that it's the pieces stolen from the school--Charlotte recognizes a baby buggy that she'd gotten out of Mrs. Dubner's basement. They leave quickly, in case the thief is coming back. They decide to go back at night to see who comes to the stash (minus Betsy, who needs to help with things at home).
They have to approach by boat, and of course it's raining that night. Charlotte, Robbie, and Paul wait in the dark and finally hear another boat approach. A trio of kids gets off it and heads for the scrap pile. Just as Charlotte and the boys confront the thieves, the school janitor appears to do the same thing (some people thought he did it too). Everyone agrees to go back to Charlotte's house so the trio can explain things. On the way back, Robbie falls in the water. Charlotte goes after him, but the oldest of the scrap thieves rescues him, and Paul helps Charlotte back on the boat. So Charlotte gets over her fears.
Once at Charlotte's, the story comes out: the three are Joseph, Tommy, and Tessa, siblings. They were orphaned a few weeks prior, when their mother died after a long illness. Their father left about a decade ago to look for work and never returned (like Stirling's father). Joseph has been doing odd jobs to earn money for his younger siblings, and Tommy (in eighth grade) will start working at a grocery store in the summer. Joseph was going to sell the metal to tide them over. Charlotte's mother asks why Joseph hasn't gotten a proper job, which are plentiful and pay more. But Joseph is 18, and if he gets a regular job the draft board will know he's 18. If he goes off to war, who would take care of Tommy and Tessa? He wants to serve, but he has to take care of what's left of his family. That's also why the siblings haven't gone any charities--if they make it known that they're orphans, they might be split up. To avoid their status being let out, they even left their mother's body anonymously on the steps of a church, so that she could have a decent burial without her children being sent off to orphanages.
The janitor has a solution: Joseph can get an extreme hardship exception to the draft. He's the only parental figure Tommy and Tessa have. And especially if he can get a defense job, the draft board should grant the exception. The janitor knows the head of the draft board, and can put in a good word for Joseph. Furthermore, Charlotte's father needs help on the boat...Seems like things are looking up for the siblings. Charlotte agrees to reclaim the metal anonymously, but will inform Betsy and the school principal. Robbie even knows where they can live: with his hand hurt, he's been spending time getting to know Mrs. Dubner. Her sons died in World War I, and she's lonely. And her house is cleaned out now. He knows she'd love the company. Joseph is relieved and grateful. Getting caught might be the first good thing to happen to them in a while.
A Peek into the Past
The historical section covers a lot of the same information that Molly's books did, about rationing and scrap drives. It also mentions that letters from the war fronts were heavily censored so that people receiving them at home had little idea where their loved ones were or what they were doing.
Misc
Dedicated "for Elena, for Rachel, my daughters, my friends."
The man who "suspiciously" didn't enlist? He was classified 4-F, due to a weak heart from having had rheumatic fever as a child. My maternal grandmother had the same heart problem.
The title of the book refers to a part of the river near the stash, where the acoustics work so that you can hear conversations on the shore as if the people were in your boat with you.
Illustrators: Dahl Taylor and Greg Dearth
Publishing Year: 1999
Setting: near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, spring 1942
Plot
The United States entered World War II a few months ago, and twelve-year-old Charlotte Campbell wants to do something to help. She's helping tend the victory garden and has saved up to buy defense stamps, but it doesn't seem like enough, especially when her brother Jim enlisted in the Navy. On the way to school one morning, a piece of litter inspires her: a scrap drive! Her teacher has Charlotte announce her idea to the class, and the whole school seems on board. Charlotte's sixth grade class will collect scrap metal, the seventh graders will start a newspaper drive, and the eighth graders will bring worn tires to be recycled. Younger students will help older siblings and friends. When Charlotte's younger brother Robbie proudly announces the drive to the family, Charlotte's mother has her own announcement: she's entering the work force. She'll be helping make plate steel for different military machines (Charlotte's father has a boat that he uses to ferry supplies to a steel mill). Charlotte will need to help more at home, doing some of the things her mother normally would. It'll be tricky to collect scrap metal and keep house. She and Robbie, plus Charlotte's best friend Betsy, find a big haul in a neighbor's yard. The elderly woman, Mrs. Dubner, has piles of junk and is happy to let the kids clean up her yard for free (except for gladly parting with her things, the description of her house makes her seem like a hoarder).
Thanks in large part to Mrs. Dubner, Charlotte's class fills up a storage room at her school with metal. The steel mill is ready to send a truck to collect it, but over the weekend someone breaks in and steals it all (it could be sold for a nice bit of cash). Charlotte is devastated and furious, but then proud of her classmates when they agree to start over. She wants to find the thief, but is happy that in the meantime the scrap drive will continue. But it seems like everyone's a suspect--the new teacher with the Italian last name, the single man who didn't enlist, the mean kid in class; someone even accuses Betsy because her great-great-grandparents were from Germany. And then someone steals the newly-collected metal.
One day while collecting metal, Robbie cuts his hand badly enough to need stitches. This means Charlotte has to help on her father's boat, on a day that it's raining. Charlotte nearly drowned a while back, having fallen off the boat in a rainstorm, and is still terrified of being on the high water. Jim rescued her back then, but he's not around to do that now. As luck would have, two coal barges come loose further upriver, and Charlotte has to help get them. She succeeds and regains some confidence, but still doesn't want to go back on the river in the rain again. She wants Jim home, to help on the boat, and so the family won't be so tense with worry.
A short time later, Charlotte, Robbie, Betsy, and Paul (a boy from class Charlotte initially didn't like but has turned out to be okay) find a huge stash of scrap metal. They go for a closer look to haul it to the school and discover that it's the pieces stolen from the school--Charlotte recognizes a baby buggy that she'd gotten out of Mrs. Dubner's basement. They leave quickly, in case the thief is coming back. They decide to go back at night to see who comes to the stash (minus Betsy, who needs to help with things at home).
They have to approach by boat, and of course it's raining that night. Charlotte, Robbie, and Paul wait in the dark and finally hear another boat approach. A trio of kids gets off it and heads for the scrap pile. Just as Charlotte and the boys confront the thieves, the school janitor appears to do the same thing (some people thought he did it too). Everyone agrees to go back to Charlotte's house so the trio can explain things. On the way back, Robbie falls in the water. Charlotte goes after him, but the oldest of the scrap thieves rescues him, and Paul helps Charlotte back on the boat. So Charlotte gets over her fears.
Once at Charlotte's, the story comes out: the three are Joseph, Tommy, and Tessa, siblings. They were orphaned a few weeks prior, when their mother died after a long illness. Their father left about a decade ago to look for work and never returned (like Stirling's father). Joseph has been doing odd jobs to earn money for his younger siblings, and Tommy (in eighth grade) will start working at a grocery store in the summer. Joseph was going to sell the metal to tide them over. Charlotte's mother asks why Joseph hasn't gotten a proper job, which are plentiful and pay more. But Joseph is 18, and if he gets a regular job the draft board will know he's 18. If he goes off to war, who would take care of Tommy and Tessa? He wants to serve, but he has to take care of what's left of his family. That's also why the siblings haven't gone any charities--if they make it known that they're orphans, they might be split up. To avoid their status being let out, they even left their mother's body anonymously on the steps of a church, so that she could have a decent burial without her children being sent off to orphanages.
The janitor has a solution: Joseph can get an extreme hardship exception to the draft. He's the only parental figure Tommy and Tessa have. And especially if he can get a defense job, the draft board should grant the exception. The janitor knows the head of the draft board, and can put in a good word for Joseph. Furthermore, Charlotte's father needs help on the boat...Seems like things are looking up for the siblings. Charlotte agrees to reclaim the metal anonymously, but will inform Betsy and the school principal. Robbie even knows where they can live: with his hand hurt, he's been spending time getting to know Mrs. Dubner. Her sons died in World War I, and she's lonely. And her house is cleaned out now. He knows she'd love the company. Joseph is relieved and grateful. Getting caught might be the first good thing to happen to them in a while.
A Peek into the Past
The historical section covers a lot of the same information that Molly's books did, about rationing and scrap drives. It also mentions that letters from the war fronts were heavily censored so that people receiving them at home had little idea where their loved ones were or what they were doing.
Misc
Dedicated "for Elena, for Rachel, my daughters, my friends."
The man who "suspiciously" didn't enlist? He was classified 4-F, due to a weak heart from having had rheumatic fever as a child. My maternal grandmother had the same heart problem.
The title of the book refers to a part of the river near the stash, where the acoustics work so that you can hear conversations on the shore as if the people were in your boat with you.
11/3/14
History Mystery #3: The Night Flyers
Author: Elizabeth McDavid Jones
Illustrators: Paul Bacham, Greg Dearth and Nenad Jakesevic
Publishing Year: 1999
Setting: North Caroline coast, 1918
Plot
Eleven-year-old Pam Lowder misses her father. He's in France, fighting in the Great War (no one then suspected they'd need to specify which world war the history books would refer to). It's so hard to focus on schoolwork when her father takes up all her thoughts, but she knows she has to try, to make him proud. Trouble is, she's already behind because she needs to spend so much time working on her family's farm. And yet her parents expect her to go to high school. She's hardly even been past the outskirts of her little town! The neighbor girl, Mattie, thinks it's a waste of time for Pam to go to school at all. Mattie doesn't attend; she has to help too much at her farm, and she figures with all the work she and Pam have to do, neither have time to keep up with the kids in town. In fact, no one in Mattie's immediate family can read or write, including her father who's stationed with Pam's.
There's not too much time to dwell on her embarrassment about not doing well in school. Someone new has moved to town--very rare in those days. Especially considering he has a German accent. Pam's seen the propaganda posters featuring nasty caricatures of German soldiers and just about hates them for forcing her father to travel across an ocean to fight them. And he was asking after the homing pigeon Pam and her father have. Pam loves spending time with animals, especially her pigeons. She understands animals and connects with them. No awkwardness there. When Pam's chores are done, she goes to her pigeons. The half-wolf dog she's been taming barks into the darkness. At first Pam thinks the dog is just misbehaving, but a man steps out from the shadows to reveal himself. It's the German!
The man introduces himself as Mr. Arminger. He has questions about the homing pigeons, so Pam's mother sent him to find Pam with her flock. Pam reminds herself that her mother said he's done nothing to prove he's an enemy spy, and shows him around. She finds him easy to talk to, and loves that he treats her like an equal. Mr. Arminger is especially curious about the fact that her pigeons can home at night. He offers to buy them all for two hundred dollars (just over $3,400 in 2014). With that much money, Pam's mother wouldn't have to work in the town drugstore anymore. They could hire someone to help with the farm. But Pam just can't part with the pigeons she's raised. They mean too much to her. Mr. Arminger asks Pam to think about his offer, and says he'll get in touch with her again. Pam's mother is fine with the decision, and adds that they really don't know anything about Mr. Arminger nor why he'd want to pay so much money for birds.
Pam misses school the next when she and her mother have to help their cow through a difficult labor. When she goes back the day after, she learns Mr. Arminger came asking for her! Naturally, the schoolhouse is buzzing with what the strange man wants the pigeons for. Things escalate into the son of Pam's mother's boss accusing Pam's father of being a spy, and Pam punches him in the face. They end up fighting, and sent home from school. The boy, Henry, taunts Pam that her mother will be fired. Maybe Pam should take the $200. But Henry's father isn't at the drugstore, and his older sister tells their father the truth later anyway.
Back at home, Mr. Arminger comes calling again, this time offering $200 for just one mated pair. Before Pam can wrap her head around the idea, Mr. Arminger makes a sudden movement and Pam's dog goes for his leg. Fortunately, Mr. Arminger isn't hurt--the dog mostly got his pants. Plus, Pam had warned him that the dog wasn't fully tamed yet, so Mr. Arminger doesn't hold it against Pam. The commotion draws Pam's mother out of the house and when Pam explains that Mr. Arminger offered to buy the pigeons again and she refused to sell again, her mother asks Mr. Arminger to stop coming to visit Pam. He seems like a decent man, and is settling into town nicely, but he can't keep coming after Pam.
The next morning starts horribly: one of Pam's pigeons is missing. Henry aggravates Pam again, but in front of her mother so she just barely keeps her temper. But then when she goes to her pigeons later in the day, her best one is also missing. She's sure Mr. Arminger took the birds. She sets out for the plot of land Mr. Arminger recently bought. But it's deserted. Only the run-down shack that's always been there indicates anyone ever lived there, and not in some time. Pam is certain this means Mr. Arminger is a German spy. She tells her mother her fears when she returns home, and while she agrees it looks suspicious, her mother cautions Pam against making such a serious accusation yet. Then Pam's mother breaks her own bit of news: the dog has to go. She's never been fond of keeping a wolf hybrid, and now with the new calf and the leg-biting...If Pam doesn't take to dog out into the woods herself, her mother will "take care" of the dog.
So Pam sadly but dutifully takes her dog deep into the woods. When the dog gives chase to a rabbit, Pam sprints away, swimming through a pond to throw the dog off her scent. She keeps running, fueled by anger and sadness, until she finds herself somewhere she doesn't quite recognize. And there's a freshly-cut path just in front of her--and the smell of a pigeon loft. Suddenly a truck drives past on the path. Pam hides and can see the driver is Mr. Arminger, with two other men. She decides to camp nearby (she brought a homing pigeon and sends her mother a message about this) and steal out before dawn to get her birds back--they must be on the property. But there are literally dozens of birds there, and before Pam can find hers, Mr. Arminger sees her prowling in the loft. She tries to run, but he grabs and takes her inside the cabin.
A short time later, the truth comes out: Mr. Arminger and his companions are training homing pigeons to fly at night, so they can deliver messages in war zones at any time. Pam doesn't believe him at first, but he shows her the first page of some classified documents. He also explains that his accent isn't exactly German. It's Pennsylvania Dutch. He was raised Amish, and learned to train homing pigeons when he was younger. The US government considers him such an expert that they hired him for the project. Finding that Pam already had night-flying pigeons was a boost. He makes one final offer, this time to buy the eggs of Pam's pigeons, if she'll train the babies and not tell a soul what she's doing, other than her mother. Pam is a little sad she won't be able to tell her schoolmates that she can do something important even if she isn't a good student, but loves the idea of helping her father.
But Mr. Arminger doesn't have Pam's pigeons. Who does? As Pam makes her way home, she figures it must be Mattie's brother Buell, who has some homing pigeons and might have want to sell hers to raise money for his family. Before she can look for evidence that it might be him, she see her dog is back--and growling at someone.
It's Henry! He yells that the dog is trying to kill him and Pam's mother comes running. Pam calms the dog down, and can see that he hasn't touch so much as a hair on Henry (which prompts her mother to let her keep the dog). But something is in his pocket--one of Pam's homing pigeons. Pam and her mother make immediate plans to talk with Henry's parents to see where the other pigeons are, despite Henry's insistence that he didn't take them. Even if he didn't, his parents need to know that he was planning to steal this one.
And it turns out that Henry is innocent of the previous thefts. It's not long before Pam realizes what really happened to her pigeons: Mattie. She confronts Mattie, who admits she took one of Buell's pigeons to try to sell to Mr. Arminger, but the bird was sickly and not a night flyer, so he didn't accept the offer. The bird died on the way back home, and she took one of Pam's, since she had so many, to replace it. She noticed the pigeon seemed lonely and took another to keep it company. Mattie enjoyed having something all to herself so much that it was hard for her to part with the pigeons, though she did intend to. Pam accepts her apology, privately thinking that without Mattie's theft, she would never have the chance to train birds for the government. She even comes up with an idea: Mattie is going to help Pam raise a few baby pigeons, to keep as her very own.
A Peek into the Past
The United States entered World War I in 1917. By then the war had been going on for a few years already. Trench warfare was common, a brutal and dangerous way to live (although troops were rotated out of trench duty regularly). Pinned down in unsanitary tunnels and ditches, soldiers risked disease as well as death from enemy fire. Communication was difficult; radio and telephones were unreliable in the best of conditions. Homing pigeons became very important and even saved lives by alerting of the need for extra firepower. The US even trained some pigeons to home at night, a difficult task that seemed at first impossible, but getting knowledge to and from the front lines was crucial to winning the war, so it had to be done. The "bad guys" that the US and its allies were fighting against were the Central Powers, most readily identified as German (although other countries were in the Central Powers as well). In the US, anything German quickly fell out of favor. German measles, also known as rubella, became liberty measles, sauerkraut became liberty cabbage, dachshunds became liberty pups. Other aspects of the anti-German sentiment were less amusing. German immigrants were suddenly suspected of being spies, although very few were. They were sometimes run out towns or even murdered. When World War I ended, the victors felt the need to punish Germany for starting a war that caused so much bloodshed and imposed heavy sanctions on the country. Many historians point to the resulting poor German economy and morale as a key reason a charismatic Austrian named Adolf Hitler later came to power.
Misc
Dedicated to "my husband, Rick, and my children, Mandy, Lindsay, Whitney, and Michael."
Pam's neighbor has twin babies. It seems she has some trouble nursing them. The doctor suggests she drink lots of (cow) milk. When I had supply issues nursing my first, the pediatrician's nurse told me that dairy fat helps lactation.
I like that Pam isn't a top student. It's realistic that some people will struggle in school.
When Pam swims through the pond to throw the dog off her scent, it reminded me of Uncle Solomon's advice in Meet Addy.
Illustrators: Paul Bacham, Greg Dearth and Nenad Jakesevic
Publishing Year: 1999
Setting: North Caroline coast, 1918
Plot
Eleven-year-old Pam Lowder misses her father. He's in France, fighting in the Great War (no one then suspected they'd need to specify which world war the history books would refer to). It's so hard to focus on schoolwork when her father takes up all her thoughts, but she knows she has to try, to make him proud. Trouble is, she's already behind because she needs to spend so much time working on her family's farm. And yet her parents expect her to go to high school. She's hardly even been past the outskirts of her little town! The neighbor girl, Mattie, thinks it's a waste of time for Pam to go to school at all. Mattie doesn't attend; she has to help too much at her farm, and she figures with all the work she and Pam have to do, neither have time to keep up with the kids in town. In fact, no one in Mattie's immediate family can read or write, including her father who's stationed with Pam's.
There's not too much time to dwell on her embarrassment about not doing well in school. Someone new has moved to town--very rare in those days. Especially considering he has a German accent. Pam's seen the propaganda posters featuring nasty caricatures of German soldiers and just about hates them for forcing her father to travel across an ocean to fight them. And he was asking after the homing pigeon Pam and her father have. Pam loves spending time with animals, especially her pigeons. She understands animals and connects with them. No awkwardness there. When Pam's chores are done, she goes to her pigeons. The half-wolf dog she's been taming barks into the darkness. At first Pam thinks the dog is just misbehaving, but a man steps out from the shadows to reveal himself. It's the German!
The man introduces himself as Mr. Arminger. He has questions about the homing pigeons, so Pam's mother sent him to find Pam with her flock. Pam reminds herself that her mother said he's done nothing to prove he's an enemy spy, and shows him around. She finds him easy to talk to, and loves that he treats her like an equal. Mr. Arminger is especially curious about the fact that her pigeons can home at night. He offers to buy them all for two hundred dollars (just over $3,400 in 2014). With that much money, Pam's mother wouldn't have to work in the town drugstore anymore. They could hire someone to help with the farm. But Pam just can't part with the pigeons she's raised. They mean too much to her. Mr. Arminger asks Pam to think about his offer, and says he'll get in touch with her again. Pam's mother is fine with the decision, and adds that they really don't know anything about Mr. Arminger nor why he'd want to pay so much money for birds.
Pam misses school the next when she and her mother have to help their cow through a difficult labor. When she goes back the day after, she learns Mr. Arminger came asking for her! Naturally, the schoolhouse is buzzing with what the strange man wants the pigeons for. Things escalate into the son of Pam's mother's boss accusing Pam's father of being a spy, and Pam punches him in the face. They end up fighting, and sent home from school. The boy, Henry, taunts Pam that her mother will be fired. Maybe Pam should take the $200. But Henry's father isn't at the drugstore, and his older sister tells their father the truth later anyway.
Back at home, Mr. Arminger comes calling again, this time offering $200 for just one mated pair. Before Pam can wrap her head around the idea, Mr. Arminger makes a sudden movement and Pam's dog goes for his leg. Fortunately, Mr. Arminger isn't hurt--the dog mostly got his pants. Plus, Pam had warned him that the dog wasn't fully tamed yet, so Mr. Arminger doesn't hold it against Pam. The commotion draws Pam's mother out of the house and when Pam explains that Mr. Arminger offered to buy the pigeons again and she refused to sell again, her mother asks Mr. Arminger to stop coming to visit Pam. He seems like a decent man, and is settling into town nicely, but he can't keep coming after Pam.
The next morning starts horribly: one of Pam's pigeons is missing. Henry aggravates Pam again, but in front of her mother so she just barely keeps her temper. But then when she goes to her pigeons later in the day, her best one is also missing. She's sure Mr. Arminger took the birds. She sets out for the plot of land Mr. Arminger recently bought. But it's deserted. Only the run-down shack that's always been there indicates anyone ever lived there, and not in some time. Pam is certain this means Mr. Arminger is a German spy. She tells her mother her fears when she returns home, and while she agrees it looks suspicious, her mother cautions Pam against making such a serious accusation yet. Then Pam's mother breaks her own bit of news: the dog has to go. She's never been fond of keeping a wolf hybrid, and now with the new calf and the leg-biting...If Pam doesn't take to dog out into the woods herself, her mother will "take care" of the dog.
So Pam sadly but dutifully takes her dog deep into the woods. When the dog gives chase to a rabbit, Pam sprints away, swimming through a pond to throw the dog off her scent. She keeps running, fueled by anger and sadness, until she finds herself somewhere she doesn't quite recognize. And there's a freshly-cut path just in front of her--and the smell of a pigeon loft. Suddenly a truck drives past on the path. Pam hides and can see the driver is Mr. Arminger, with two other men. She decides to camp nearby (she brought a homing pigeon and sends her mother a message about this) and steal out before dawn to get her birds back--they must be on the property. But there are literally dozens of birds there, and before Pam can find hers, Mr. Arminger sees her prowling in the loft. She tries to run, but he grabs and takes her inside the cabin.
A short time later, the truth comes out: Mr. Arminger and his companions are training homing pigeons to fly at night, so they can deliver messages in war zones at any time. Pam doesn't believe him at first, but he shows her the first page of some classified documents. He also explains that his accent isn't exactly German. It's Pennsylvania Dutch. He was raised Amish, and learned to train homing pigeons when he was younger. The US government considers him such an expert that they hired him for the project. Finding that Pam already had night-flying pigeons was a boost. He makes one final offer, this time to buy the eggs of Pam's pigeons, if she'll train the babies and not tell a soul what she's doing, other than her mother. Pam is a little sad she won't be able to tell her schoolmates that she can do something important even if she isn't a good student, but loves the idea of helping her father.
But Mr. Arminger doesn't have Pam's pigeons. Who does? As Pam makes her way home, she figures it must be Mattie's brother Buell, who has some homing pigeons and might have want to sell hers to raise money for his family. Before she can look for evidence that it might be him, she see her dog is back--and growling at someone.
It's Henry! He yells that the dog is trying to kill him and Pam's mother comes running. Pam calms the dog down, and can see that he hasn't touch so much as a hair on Henry (which prompts her mother to let her keep the dog). But something is in his pocket--one of Pam's homing pigeons. Pam and her mother make immediate plans to talk with Henry's parents to see where the other pigeons are, despite Henry's insistence that he didn't take them. Even if he didn't, his parents need to know that he was planning to steal this one.
And it turns out that Henry is innocent of the previous thefts. It's not long before Pam realizes what really happened to her pigeons: Mattie. She confronts Mattie, who admits she took one of Buell's pigeons to try to sell to Mr. Arminger, but the bird was sickly and not a night flyer, so he didn't accept the offer. The bird died on the way back home, and she took one of Pam's, since she had so many, to replace it. She noticed the pigeon seemed lonely and took another to keep it company. Mattie enjoyed having something all to herself so much that it was hard for her to part with the pigeons, though she did intend to. Pam accepts her apology, privately thinking that without Mattie's theft, she would never have the chance to train birds for the government. She even comes up with an idea: Mattie is going to help Pam raise a few baby pigeons, to keep as her very own.
A Peek into the Past
The United States entered World War I in 1917. By then the war had been going on for a few years already. Trench warfare was common, a brutal and dangerous way to live (although troops were rotated out of trench duty regularly). Pinned down in unsanitary tunnels and ditches, soldiers risked disease as well as death from enemy fire. Communication was difficult; radio and telephones were unreliable in the best of conditions. Homing pigeons became very important and even saved lives by alerting of the need for extra firepower. The US even trained some pigeons to home at night, a difficult task that seemed at first impossible, but getting knowledge to and from the front lines was crucial to winning the war, so it had to be done. The "bad guys" that the US and its allies were fighting against were the Central Powers, most readily identified as German (although other countries were in the Central Powers as well). In the US, anything German quickly fell out of favor. German measles, also known as rubella, became liberty measles, sauerkraut became liberty cabbage, dachshunds became liberty pups. Other aspects of the anti-German sentiment were less amusing. German immigrants were suddenly suspected of being spies, although very few were. They were sometimes run out towns or even murdered. When World War I ended, the victors felt the need to punish Germany for starting a war that caused so much bloodshed and imposed heavy sanctions on the country. Many historians point to the resulting poor German economy and morale as a key reason a charismatic Austrian named Adolf Hitler later came to power.
Misc
Dedicated to "my husband, Rick, and my children, Mandy, Lindsay, Whitney, and Michael."
Pam's neighbor has twin babies. It seems she has some trouble nursing them. The doctor suggests she drink lots of (cow) milk. When I had supply issues nursing my first, the pediatrician's nurse told me that dairy fat helps lactation.
I like that Pam isn't a top student. It's realistic that some people will struggle in school.
When Pam swims through the pond to throw the dog off her scent, it reminded me of Uncle Solomon's advice in Meet Addy.
11/2/14
History Mystery #2: Hoofbeats of Danger
Author: Holly Hughes
Illustrators: Paul Bachem and Greg Dearth
Publishing Year: 1999
Setting: Red Buttes Station, Wyoming, 1860
Plot
Eleven-year-old Annie Dawson is between a rock and a hard place. Her friend Bill Cody, a rider for the Pony Express, is accused of neglecting the horses...by her father, a Pony Express station master. But Annie's father is disappointed that she's not a boy, and doesn't hide it, and he's extra hard on Annie's six-year-old brother, Davy, who isn't his dream son either. The horse is Magpie, Annie's favorite. Her relief when her mother says the horse will be fine is short-lived: during a rainstorm that night, Magpie starts acting crazy. Something's clearly wrong with the animal. Someone says Magpie is reverting from tame to wild, and that the only thing they can do is shoot her. Annie objects, reminding her father how gentle Magpie has been until just this moment. She asks to get Redbird Wilson, a half-Shoshone half-white teenager whose (Shoshone) grandfather has been teaching her the ways of a healer. Some of the men, including Mr. Dawson's boss, caution against this, citing how dangerous the "Injuns" are. Bill backs Annie up, saying that only a few tribes are aggressive toward the settlers, and the horse is probably just sick or injured. Mr. Dawson won't risk being fired by consulting Redbird, but also will wait until morning to see if Magpie needs to be put down.
Annie spends some time in the horse barn, trying to find evidence of what could be making Magpie act so bizarrely. She's able to get Magpie to trust her for a bit, long enough to give her a cursory inspection for obvious injuries. But soon the horse is acting up again (and not because Annie touched a sensitive area, at least not evidently). Her father hears the horse rampaging and comes out to see what's happening. He confides in Annie that he's worried he'll lose his job. He's new to being a station master, and doesn't have the best resume--a failed prospector, rather than an innkeeper or another more reputable job like most station masters. Mr. Dawson thinks his boss is just waiting for him to make a mistake so he can justify firing him. Annie reflects to herself that her father's boss makes him feel unwanted the same way Annie feels unwanted. She's also sure that she can help her father keep his job, and that curing Magpie is the answer. Taking advantage of having to sleep in the barn (as station master, the Dawsons also board stagecoach passengers, and the house is full) to slip out to Redbird's, riding one of the other horses.
Bill sees her, and tries to talk her out of going in the rain. Annie counters that he'd get fired. They talk a bit, and Bill intimates that he thinks someone might have deliberately hurt Magpie (and that whoever did is responsible for the supposed neglect he was accused of). He thinks she was poisoned. Annie reasons that it must be someone staying in house: while other mail delivery services or hostile Native American tribes might have motive, they wouldn't have had the opportunity. But she's more concerned with getting Magpie well, and heads for Redbird's.
Even though Annie comes in the middle of the night, Redbird quickly agrees. Her mother, the daughter of a healer, understands that healers must go when needed. Her father...well, Redbird didn't bother to wake him. The two girls make it back to Magpie (and safely return the other horse to his stall) under cover of darkness, but before they can coax Magpie to them, Mr. Dawson and a man working with his boss see what's happening. The other man, Mr. Ambrose, shoots at the "Injun" and frightens Magpie, who ends up kicking Mr. Dawson in the head. He slumps immediately to the ground, and Magpie bolts into the woods. Mr. Ambrose tries to apprehend Redbird and says he'll have to fire Mr. Dawson, but Mrs. Dawson puts him in place: it's his fault her husband is gravely injured and a valuable horse escaped, and Redbird has shown no evidence of any sort of guilt, and is a family friend who is needed to help Mr. Dawson.
Trusting her father to Redbird's expertise, Annie goes with Bill to find Magpie. They're supposed to shoot her (it would be a kinder death that having her get injured and starve to death), but they both think they might be able to help Magpie get well. Plus, if someone is deliberately sabotaging the Pony Express, that person must be found out. Redbird thought that Bill's guess of poison was right, and from Annie's description of Magpie's behavior, that the horse needs to keep moving to work the poison out of her system. They find Magpie much sooner than anticipated, but caught in some brambles, unable to move. They get her free, and among the scratches the thorns gave her, they see Magpie has a very deliberate cut. Mr. Dawson had seen it the day before, and scolded Bill for not treating the arrow wound, thinking Magpie had been wounded by a hostile Native American. But while Bill did encounter a few of the Blackfeet tribe, they only shouted at him. There were no arrows. Plus Annie hadn't seen the cut when she brushed Magpie down. Someone must have cut the horse to look like an arrow wound, and put poison in it.
Redbird arrives then, having followed the path the rampaging horse left. The three agree that Bill will stay with Magpie while Redbird and Annie return to the Dawsons'. Back at home, Davy shows Annie a knife he found. One of the stagecoach passengers must have forgotten it (the stagecoach just left). Annie sees some bloodstains and horse hair on it, and Davy says he found it outside Magpie's stall. This must be the weapon! Annie and Davy look carefully around the barn and find some clues: a bootprint with a peculiar pattern, a bit of clothing torn off on the rough wall, and a vial of belladonna nearly drained. Annie knows it was full yesterday, and that while a few drops can help a horse with certain ailments, too much can be fatal. With some information from a Pony Express rider, who pinpoints Magpie's symptoms as belladonna poisoning, Annie figures out that Mr. Ambrose is behind the crime. He was fired from a competing mail service after sabotaging some Pony Express equipment in California, and vowed revenge. Now it seems he's working for the Pony Express under a slightly different name to bring it down from the inside.
Just then, Bill comes in, asking for Redbird. Magpie is getting worse. Annie's suddenly torn in three directions: should she stay with her father, go to Magpie with Redbird, or help Bill catch the stagecoach with Mr. Ambrose on it? Her mother, Davy, Bill, and Redbird agree that it's best she accompany Bill: nothing can be done for father but wait for him to wake up, Redbird can handle Magpie, and Bill will someone to corroborate his story, plus Annie's a fast rider. They find the stagecoach fording a river, and not well. Bill swims out to help it across. Mr. Ambrose is downstream, flailing in the fast water. Bill goes after him too and rescues him. On shore, Mr. Dawson's boss asks Mr. Ambrose why he swam away. Annie and Bill jump in: he was trying to escape. They show the boss their evidence and Mr. Ambrose gleefully confesses, figuring Magpie is already dead, and saying he'd gladly do it all again, including the part with Mr. Dawson getting kicked. Mr. Dawson's boss arrests Mr. Ambrose, and promises Annie that he will be sure her father keeps his job. He also reassures her that if a horse can keep moving for twenty-four hours after belladonna poisoning, the horse will most likely survive.
Annie returns home (Bill, soaked and chilled, is resting at a nearby inn). Her father finally comes to, and seems to have no lasting damage. Annie and Davy tell him about the excitement he's missed. Just then. Redbird comes back to the house with Magpie. Both are tired, but the horse is well again--and Mr. Dawson is proud of both of his children.
A Peek into the Past
The Pony Express only lasted 18 months, meeting its end with the advent of the telegraph. But during that year and a half it was the fastest and best way to send news across the US. It was expensive--more than $30 in today's money for a letter--but mail arrived more than twice as fast than other methods. Riders earned good wages, because riding across the wilderness with only pistols, a knife, and the horse's speed as weapons was dangerous. Still, only one rider died. One famous rider was Bill Cody, a friendly and amiable man who capitalized on his fame to become the showman Buffalo Bill Cody in later life. He's part of the reason the short-lived Pony Express is so well-known today.
Misc
Dedicated to Grace.
Annie was born in the back of a covered wagon during her parents' journey from Vermont to the West.
Page 29 of this library copy has what appears to be a smeared drop of blood, as if a reader had a nosebleed and tried to wipe the drip off the page. Lovely. (What makes me think nosebleed? I'm prone to them, and own at least one book with a similar stain...and some pillows.)
I wonder if this book has the shortest time frame of any American Girl book. It barely covers 36 hours.
Illustrators: Paul Bachem and Greg Dearth
Publishing Year: 1999
Setting: Red Buttes Station, Wyoming, 1860
Plot
Eleven-year-old Annie Dawson is between a rock and a hard place. Her friend Bill Cody, a rider for the Pony Express, is accused of neglecting the horses...by her father, a Pony Express station master. But Annie's father is disappointed that she's not a boy, and doesn't hide it, and he's extra hard on Annie's six-year-old brother, Davy, who isn't his dream son either. The horse is Magpie, Annie's favorite. Her relief when her mother says the horse will be fine is short-lived: during a rainstorm that night, Magpie starts acting crazy. Something's clearly wrong with the animal. Someone says Magpie is reverting from tame to wild, and that the only thing they can do is shoot her. Annie objects, reminding her father how gentle Magpie has been until just this moment. She asks to get Redbird Wilson, a half-Shoshone half-white teenager whose (Shoshone) grandfather has been teaching her the ways of a healer. Some of the men, including Mr. Dawson's boss, caution against this, citing how dangerous the "Injuns" are. Bill backs Annie up, saying that only a few tribes are aggressive toward the settlers, and the horse is probably just sick or injured. Mr. Dawson won't risk being fired by consulting Redbird, but also will wait until morning to see if Magpie needs to be put down.
Annie spends some time in the horse barn, trying to find evidence of what could be making Magpie act so bizarrely. She's able to get Magpie to trust her for a bit, long enough to give her a cursory inspection for obvious injuries. But soon the horse is acting up again (and not because Annie touched a sensitive area, at least not evidently). Her father hears the horse rampaging and comes out to see what's happening. He confides in Annie that he's worried he'll lose his job. He's new to being a station master, and doesn't have the best resume--a failed prospector, rather than an innkeeper or another more reputable job like most station masters. Mr. Dawson thinks his boss is just waiting for him to make a mistake so he can justify firing him. Annie reflects to herself that her father's boss makes him feel unwanted the same way Annie feels unwanted. She's also sure that she can help her father keep his job, and that curing Magpie is the answer. Taking advantage of having to sleep in the barn (as station master, the Dawsons also board stagecoach passengers, and the house is full) to slip out to Redbird's, riding one of the other horses.
Bill sees her, and tries to talk her out of going in the rain. Annie counters that he'd get fired. They talk a bit, and Bill intimates that he thinks someone might have deliberately hurt Magpie (and that whoever did is responsible for the supposed neglect he was accused of). He thinks she was poisoned. Annie reasons that it must be someone staying in house: while other mail delivery services or hostile Native American tribes might have motive, they wouldn't have had the opportunity. But she's more concerned with getting Magpie well, and heads for Redbird's.
Even though Annie comes in the middle of the night, Redbird quickly agrees. Her mother, the daughter of a healer, understands that healers must go when needed. Her father...well, Redbird didn't bother to wake him. The two girls make it back to Magpie (and safely return the other horse to his stall) under cover of darkness, but before they can coax Magpie to them, Mr. Dawson and a man working with his boss see what's happening. The other man, Mr. Ambrose, shoots at the "Injun" and frightens Magpie, who ends up kicking Mr. Dawson in the head. He slumps immediately to the ground, and Magpie bolts into the woods. Mr. Ambrose tries to apprehend Redbird and says he'll have to fire Mr. Dawson, but Mrs. Dawson puts him in place: it's his fault her husband is gravely injured and a valuable horse escaped, and Redbird has shown no evidence of any sort of guilt, and is a family friend who is needed to help Mr. Dawson.
Trusting her father to Redbird's expertise, Annie goes with Bill to find Magpie. They're supposed to shoot her (it would be a kinder death that having her get injured and starve to death), but they both think they might be able to help Magpie get well. Plus, if someone is deliberately sabotaging the Pony Express, that person must be found out. Redbird thought that Bill's guess of poison was right, and from Annie's description of Magpie's behavior, that the horse needs to keep moving to work the poison out of her system. They find Magpie much sooner than anticipated, but caught in some brambles, unable to move. They get her free, and among the scratches the thorns gave her, they see Magpie has a very deliberate cut. Mr. Dawson had seen it the day before, and scolded Bill for not treating the arrow wound, thinking Magpie had been wounded by a hostile Native American. But while Bill did encounter a few of the Blackfeet tribe, they only shouted at him. There were no arrows. Plus Annie hadn't seen the cut when she brushed Magpie down. Someone must have cut the horse to look like an arrow wound, and put poison in it.
Redbird arrives then, having followed the path the rampaging horse left. The three agree that Bill will stay with Magpie while Redbird and Annie return to the Dawsons'. Back at home, Davy shows Annie a knife he found. One of the stagecoach passengers must have forgotten it (the stagecoach just left). Annie sees some bloodstains and horse hair on it, and Davy says he found it outside Magpie's stall. This must be the weapon! Annie and Davy look carefully around the barn and find some clues: a bootprint with a peculiar pattern, a bit of clothing torn off on the rough wall, and a vial of belladonna nearly drained. Annie knows it was full yesterday, and that while a few drops can help a horse with certain ailments, too much can be fatal. With some information from a Pony Express rider, who pinpoints Magpie's symptoms as belladonna poisoning, Annie figures out that Mr. Ambrose is behind the crime. He was fired from a competing mail service after sabotaging some Pony Express equipment in California, and vowed revenge. Now it seems he's working for the Pony Express under a slightly different name to bring it down from the inside.
Just then, Bill comes in, asking for Redbird. Magpie is getting worse. Annie's suddenly torn in three directions: should she stay with her father, go to Magpie with Redbird, or help Bill catch the stagecoach with Mr. Ambrose on it? Her mother, Davy, Bill, and Redbird agree that it's best she accompany Bill: nothing can be done for father but wait for him to wake up, Redbird can handle Magpie, and Bill will someone to corroborate his story, plus Annie's a fast rider. They find the stagecoach fording a river, and not well. Bill swims out to help it across. Mr. Ambrose is downstream, flailing in the fast water. Bill goes after him too and rescues him. On shore, Mr. Dawson's boss asks Mr. Ambrose why he swam away. Annie and Bill jump in: he was trying to escape. They show the boss their evidence and Mr. Ambrose gleefully confesses, figuring Magpie is already dead, and saying he'd gladly do it all again, including the part with Mr. Dawson getting kicked. Mr. Dawson's boss arrests Mr. Ambrose, and promises Annie that he will be sure her father keeps his job. He also reassures her that if a horse can keep moving for twenty-four hours after belladonna poisoning, the horse will most likely survive.
Annie returns home (Bill, soaked and chilled, is resting at a nearby inn). Her father finally comes to, and seems to have no lasting damage. Annie and Davy tell him about the excitement he's missed. Just then. Redbird comes back to the house with Magpie. Both are tired, but the horse is well again--and Mr. Dawson is proud of both of his children.
A Peek into the Past
The Pony Express only lasted 18 months, meeting its end with the advent of the telegraph. But during that year and a half it was the fastest and best way to send news across the US. It was expensive--more than $30 in today's money for a letter--but mail arrived more than twice as fast than other methods. Riders earned good wages, because riding across the wilderness with only pistols, a knife, and the horse's speed as weapons was dangerous. Still, only one rider died. One famous rider was Bill Cody, a friendly and amiable man who capitalized on his fame to become the showman Buffalo Bill Cody in later life. He's part of the reason the short-lived Pony Express is so well-known today.
Misc
Dedicated to Grace.
Annie was born in the back of a covered wagon during her parents' journey from Vermont to the West.
Page 29 of this library copy has what appears to be a smeared drop of blood, as if a reader had a nosebleed and tried to wipe the drip off the page. Lovely. (What makes me think nosebleed? I'm prone to them, and own at least one book with a similar stain...and some pillows.)
I wonder if this book has the shortest time frame of any American Girl book. It barely covers 36 hours.
11/1/14
History Mystery #1: The Smuggler's Treasure
Author: Sarah Masters Buckey
Illustrators: Greg Dearth and Troy Howell
Publishing Year: 1999
Setting: New Orleans, summer 1814
Plot
Eleven-year-old Elisabet Holder has just arrived in New Orleans from Boston. Her father was captured by the British five months ago while on his cargo vessel (her mother died when Elisabet was very young) and her maternal aunt and uncle have offered for her to stay with them. It's going to be a difficult transition: her father was very wealthy before his capture and Elisabet was used to having anything she could need or want. When the cargo was taken by the British, her father's lawyer had to liquidate the Holder estate to pay the merchants who lost money. Elisabet ended up with only a few sets of clothes and some mementos like the family Bible and her treasured doll. As she's preparing to depart the boat, one of her fellow passengers gives her his business card, just in case she ever needs help.
Elisabet gets a shock when she sets foot in New Orleans. Her aunt's bakery assistant, an orphan girl her age named Marie, comes to fetch her rather than any family. Her uncle died suddenly while Elisabet was on her way south, and her aunt had to go take care of her adult daughter, who is ill. Furthermore, Elisabet is expected to work in the bakery. She's very used to servants and the idea will take some getting used to. She almost wonders if she should return to Boston, but reasons that the ship her father's on is said to be in the Gulf of Mexico, so she might be closer to him here. She's underwhelmed by the neighborhood bakery at first, but the workers are kind. One of them, Raoul, mentions a ghost and implies it might be the ghost of her uncle, but the baker, Claude, scolds him for spreading rumors.
The next morning Marie wakes Elisabet up before dawn and helps her learn the ropes of the bakery. Elisabet is resentful of suddenly being on the other side of serving counter, and looks for an opportunity to slip away to the docks. Maybe someone's heard if the ship her father is on is near. But business is so brisk there's no chance. At one point a man identifying himself as McCain comes in, threatening that Elisabet's aunt better pay him the money he's owed--or else. Marie confides that Elisabet's late uncle was a smuggler, but seven years ago gave it up for an honest life, married a widow (Elisabet's aunt), gave his riches to the church, and opened a bakery. When he collapsed suddenly a few weeks ago, he gasped out that his map could be found and something about upstairs and the night, but died before making it clear. It's unknown whether it's a map of the routes he used to take to avoid detection or something more valuable--like some treasure he kept hidden. McCain was only bluffing; he was trying to scare the information out of Elisabet.
A week passes, and Elisabet starts to settle into the routine of working at the bakery. She listens carefully to the customer's conversations, eager for news that could lead her to her father. Finally, she hears that the ship he's being held on is docked about two days' journey from New Orleans. She slips out of the bakery while the rest of the crew has a siesta and goes to the office of the man who gave her the business card. He's a lawyer named Mr. Robinson. The infamous Jean Lafitte's brother is one of his clients, accused of piracy (Jean is thought by some to be a pirate as well). Mr. Robinson is sympathetic to Elisabet, but without ransom money there's not much he can do, and Elisabet certainly doesn't have two thousand dollars (more than $26,500 in 2014). Elisabet thinks that if she finds her late uncle's map, she can free her father.
When she returns to the shop, the other workers are angry with her for leaving them in the lurch. They didn't know where she was, so Raoul and Marie went to search for her, making the bakery even more behind. Raoul and Claude see that she was motivated by trying to rescue her father, and forgive her as long as she won't run off again. But Marie is another story. That night she blows up at Elisabet for slacking off when she's been given this great gift of a bakery to inherit. Elisabet corrects Marie that she has no desire to stay in New Orleans at all, much less inherit the bakery. She just wants to find her father and go home. Marie softens, apologetic for the accusation--and to her credit Elisabet also apologizes for running off. Marie tells Elisabet that she was left on an orphanage doorstep as an infant and raised there until she was seven, when Elisabet's aunt and uncle came looking for someone to help in the bakery. They've treated her like their own child, and she dreams of owning her own bakery someday. Elisabet says they should put aside their differences--after all, they're practically cousins. Then they hear something downstairs, footsteps and door opening. A thief? The ghost? But in the morning there's no sign of anyone having been in the bakery (they sleep upstairs from it), and a search of the locked and off-limits section of the house where Elisabet's aunt stays proves fruitless.
A couple days later, Mr. Robinson comes into the bakery. He tells Elisabet that her father is indeed on the nearby ship--but not only will it probably leave soon, the captain is demanding three thousand dollars for ransom. That evening, Elisabet and Marie return to the off-limits section, and this time find the "ghost"--it's Raoul, hoping to discover the map and claim the reward money Elisabet's aunt had promised, although he denies having been in the place during some of the times the girls heard noises. They find a piece of paper with a Bible verse on it ("And this shall be a sign unto you: you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." Luke 2:12). There's a Madonna and Child statue in the room, but a careful search of it turns up nothing.
The next night the girls realize the sign must be the important thing and investigate the bakery's signage. In a hidden compartment, they find a leather pouch that holds the smuggling map! Just then, McCain appears out of the shadows with a knife, demanding the map. Marie feigns handing it over, but instead throws it far away as she blows out the candle, calling for Elisabet to grab it. McCain leaves Marie alone and tries to pursue Elisabet, but she knows the bakery better than he and darts away, McCain hot on her heels. She runs for Mr. Robinson's office, and McCain catches up to her just as she arrives. Mr. Robinson's dogs (that she met on her previous visit) defend her, jumping and snapping at McCain. Two rough-looking men appear out of the darkness and take both people and both dogs into Mr. Robinson's parlor. Elisabet tells him what happened. Mr. Robinson has a guest who tells the rough men to take care of McCain The guest also offers to advise Elisabet what to do with the map. He says she could sell it to the British, to the governor of New Orleans, or to him--and he'll help get her father back. Elisabet knows her father would never help the British learn anything that could be useful to them in the war, and the guest estimates the governor would only give her a thousand dollars for the map, so she agrees to sell it to him. Mr. Robinson has a servant escort Elisabet back, where all three bakery workers are waiting. Claude surmises she must have sold the map to Jean Lafitte, and assures that while the man might be a pirate, he's widely known as a man of his word. They put the thousand dollars he gave Elisabet in a safe for her aunt to disperse--it was her husband's map, after all.
Days pass with no word from Elisabet's father, Mr. Robinson, or Lafitte (although Elisabet's aunt will be returning in about a week). Elisabet's heart sinks, thinking she sold the map to a pirate and now there's no hope of her father returning. News that the British have attacked an island off the coast of Louisiana seems to prove this, and that Lafitte is working with the British. When things seems their darkest, a customer enters the shop asking for Boston brown bread--Elisabet's father! Lafitte gave the British the map for his freedom--but as Elisabet's father quickly explains, it was a copy of the map, with strategic errors that will trip up the British more than if they had no map to start with. What's more, the Boston lawyer cheated Elisabet and her father: the cargo was insured, and he just pocketed all the money from the sales. They'll head for Boston soon, and get back what's theirs. Elisabet and Marie promise to stay in touch, and perhaps even try to visit some day.
A Peek into the Past
Conveniently, most of this book's historical section is like the ones in Caroline's books and some of the Marie-Grace and Cécile books. It expands some on the important role that New Orleans played in the War of 1812, being a port that was impossible to execute a sneak attack on, thanks to the bayous surrounding it. There's also mention of Jean Lafitte, a real person who pretended to go along with a British invasion plan but in reality helped the US.
Misc
Dedicated "in memory of my parents, Margaret and Parke Masters, with love and gratitude."
The pages of this book and the other History Mysteries aren't as smooth as the other American Girl books I've read. They feel more like regular book pages instead of smooth.
Elisabet is proud of herself for not getting seasick on her voyage to New Orleans. I'm proud of my cast-iron stomach too--and happy about it. I hate throwing up.
Elisabet's father was born in London, but is now an American citizen.
Marie's method of throwing the wanted item away from the threatening man and herself is smart: if you're ever unlucky enough to be in the position where someone is threatening you or a loved to get you to hand over car keys or a wallet or whatever, throw the item and run in opposite direction you threw it.
Illustrators: Greg Dearth and Troy Howell
Publishing Year: 1999
Setting: New Orleans, summer 1814
Plot
Eleven-year-old Elisabet Holder has just arrived in New Orleans from Boston. Her father was captured by the British five months ago while on his cargo vessel (her mother died when Elisabet was very young) and her maternal aunt and uncle have offered for her to stay with them. It's going to be a difficult transition: her father was very wealthy before his capture and Elisabet was used to having anything she could need or want. When the cargo was taken by the British, her father's lawyer had to liquidate the Holder estate to pay the merchants who lost money. Elisabet ended up with only a few sets of clothes and some mementos like the family Bible and her treasured doll. As she's preparing to depart the boat, one of her fellow passengers gives her his business card, just in case she ever needs help.
Elisabet gets a shock when she sets foot in New Orleans. Her aunt's bakery assistant, an orphan girl her age named Marie, comes to fetch her rather than any family. Her uncle died suddenly while Elisabet was on her way south, and her aunt had to go take care of her adult daughter, who is ill. Furthermore, Elisabet is expected to work in the bakery. She's very used to servants and the idea will take some getting used to. She almost wonders if she should return to Boston, but reasons that the ship her father's on is said to be in the Gulf of Mexico, so she might be closer to him here. She's underwhelmed by the neighborhood bakery at first, but the workers are kind. One of them, Raoul, mentions a ghost and implies it might be the ghost of her uncle, but the baker, Claude, scolds him for spreading rumors.
The next morning Marie wakes Elisabet up before dawn and helps her learn the ropes of the bakery. Elisabet is resentful of suddenly being on the other side of serving counter, and looks for an opportunity to slip away to the docks. Maybe someone's heard if the ship her father is on is near. But business is so brisk there's no chance. At one point a man identifying himself as McCain comes in, threatening that Elisabet's aunt better pay him the money he's owed--or else. Marie confides that Elisabet's late uncle was a smuggler, but seven years ago gave it up for an honest life, married a widow (Elisabet's aunt), gave his riches to the church, and opened a bakery. When he collapsed suddenly a few weeks ago, he gasped out that his map could be found and something about upstairs and the night, but died before making it clear. It's unknown whether it's a map of the routes he used to take to avoid detection or something more valuable--like some treasure he kept hidden. McCain was only bluffing; he was trying to scare the information out of Elisabet.
A week passes, and Elisabet starts to settle into the routine of working at the bakery. She listens carefully to the customer's conversations, eager for news that could lead her to her father. Finally, she hears that the ship he's being held on is docked about two days' journey from New Orleans. She slips out of the bakery while the rest of the crew has a siesta and goes to the office of the man who gave her the business card. He's a lawyer named Mr. Robinson. The infamous Jean Lafitte's brother is one of his clients, accused of piracy (Jean is thought by some to be a pirate as well). Mr. Robinson is sympathetic to Elisabet, but without ransom money there's not much he can do, and Elisabet certainly doesn't have two thousand dollars (more than $26,500 in 2014). Elisabet thinks that if she finds her late uncle's map, she can free her father.
When she returns to the shop, the other workers are angry with her for leaving them in the lurch. They didn't know where she was, so Raoul and Marie went to search for her, making the bakery even more behind. Raoul and Claude see that she was motivated by trying to rescue her father, and forgive her as long as she won't run off again. But Marie is another story. That night she blows up at Elisabet for slacking off when she's been given this great gift of a bakery to inherit. Elisabet corrects Marie that she has no desire to stay in New Orleans at all, much less inherit the bakery. She just wants to find her father and go home. Marie softens, apologetic for the accusation--and to her credit Elisabet also apologizes for running off. Marie tells Elisabet that she was left on an orphanage doorstep as an infant and raised there until she was seven, when Elisabet's aunt and uncle came looking for someone to help in the bakery. They've treated her like their own child, and she dreams of owning her own bakery someday. Elisabet says they should put aside their differences--after all, they're practically cousins. Then they hear something downstairs, footsteps and door opening. A thief? The ghost? But in the morning there's no sign of anyone having been in the bakery (they sleep upstairs from it), and a search of the locked and off-limits section of the house where Elisabet's aunt stays proves fruitless.
A couple days later, Mr. Robinson comes into the bakery. He tells Elisabet that her father is indeed on the nearby ship--but not only will it probably leave soon, the captain is demanding three thousand dollars for ransom. That evening, Elisabet and Marie return to the off-limits section, and this time find the "ghost"--it's Raoul, hoping to discover the map and claim the reward money Elisabet's aunt had promised, although he denies having been in the place during some of the times the girls heard noises. They find a piece of paper with a Bible verse on it ("And this shall be a sign unto you: you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." Luke 2:12). There's a Madonna and Child statue in the room, but a careful search of it turns up nothing.
The next night the girls realize the sign must be the important thing and investigate the bakery's signage. In a hidden compartment, they find a leather pouch that holds the smuggling map! Just then, McCain appears out of the shadows with a knife, demanding the map. Marie feigns handing it over, but instead throws it far away as she blows out the candle, calling for Elisabet to grab it. McCain leaves Marie alone and tries to pursue Elisabet, but she knows the bakery better than he and darts away, McCain hot on her heels. She runs for Mr. Robinson's office, and McCain catches up to her just as she arrives. Mr. Robinson's dogs (that she met on her previous visit) defend her, jumping and snapping at McCain. Two rough-looking men appear out of the darkness and take both people and both dogs into Mr. Robinson's parlor. Elisabet tells him what happened. Mr. Robinson has a guest who tells the rough men to take care of McCain The guest also offers to advise Elisabet what to do with the map. He says she could sell it to the British, to the governor of New Orleans, or to him--and he'll help get her father back. Elisabet knows her father would never help the British learn anything that could be useful to them in the war, and the guest estimates the governor would only give her a thousand dollars for the map, so she agrees to sell it to him. Mr. Robinson has a servant escort Elisabet back, where all three bakery workers are waiting. Claude surmises she must have sold the map to Jean Lafitte, and assures that while the man might be a pirate, he's widely known as a man of his word. They put the thousand dollars he gave Elisabet in a safe for her aunt to disperse--it was her husband's map, after all.
Days pass with no word from Elisabet's father, Mr. Robinson, or Lafitte (although Elisabet's aunt will be returning in about a week). Elisabet's heart sinks, thinking she sold the map to a pirate and now there's no hope of her father returning. News that the British have attacked an island off the coast of Louisiana seems to prove this, and that Lafitte is working with the British. When things seems their darkest, a customer enters the shop asking for Boston brown bread--Elisabet's father! Lafitte gave the British the map for his freedom--but as Elisabet's father quickly explains, it was a copy of the map, with strategic errors that will trip up the British more than if they had no map to start with. What's more, the Boston lawyer cheated Elisabet and her father: the cargo was insured, and he just pocketed all the money from the sales. They'll head for Boston soon, and get back what's theirs. Elisabet and Marie promise to stay in touch, and perhaps even try to visit some day.
A Peek into the Past
Conveniently, most of this book's historical section is like the ones in Caroline's books and some of the Marie-Grace and Cécile books. It expands some on the important role that New Orleans played in the War of 1812, being a port that was impossible to execute a sneak attack on, thanks to the bayous surrounding it. There's also mention of Jean Lafitte, a real person who pretended to go along with a British invasion plan but in reality helped the US.
Misc
Dedicated "in memory of my parents, Margaret and Parke Masters, with love and gratitude."
The pages of this book and the other History Mysteries aren't as smooth as the other American Girl books I've read. They feel more like regular book pages instead of smooth.
Elisabet is proud of herself for not getting seasick on her voyage to New Orleans. I'm proud of my cast-iron stomach too--and happy about it. I hate throwing up.
Elisabet's father was born in London, but is now an American citizen.
Marie's method of throwing the wanted item away from the threatening man and herself is smart: if you're ever unlucky enough to be in the position where someone is threatening you or a loved to get you to hand over car keys or a wallet or whatever, throw the item and run in opposite direction you threw it.
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