Tag: living books

Navigating Early

I remember going to the bookstore years ago without a booklist. I didn’t have any title or book in mind, but I knew that I wanted something different… something that would be out-of-this-world good. And boy, did I find a gem in Navigating Early! Clare Vanderpool doesn’t just write… she crafts magically mesmerizing stories that just leave your heart so very full. She won the Newbery Medal for her debut, Moon Over Manifest, but Navigating Early is my favourite.

It is post-World War 2 and we meet Jack, who has been sent to a military boarding school in Maine. He and his father are still stunned from the death of his mother and clearly, neither has grieved properly. Adrift, Jack struggles to fit in and meets Early, a savant, who is an outsider, just like him. The two form a connection for Early also understands loss – his father has recently passed away and his brother, Fisher, is presumed dead from the war.

Early is a strange one – he listens to certain records only on certain days (if it’s raining, it’s always Billie Holiday), is obsessed with the Great Appalachian Bear and the number pi and is convinced that his brother is still alive. Early sees the numbers in pi as a story and it is reminiscent of the legend of Polaris and the Ursa Major constellation. According to Early, Polaris, whose mother calls him by the name “Pi”, wanders and gets lost among the stars. Early believes a similar fate has befallen his brother and resolves to locate him. Since pi is infinite, then Polaris/Fisher cannot possibly be dead.

As Jack and Early go on an odyssey in search of the great black bear, they encounter myriad characters – pirates, a damsel in distress, a bereft old woman waiting for her son, a lonely woodsman who harbours a deep longing and hurt, among others. Early continues to recount Pi’s saga as they journey and reality and fiction parallel each other. Boundaries begin to blur – like Jack, we start out thinking that Early is making up the story as he goes along. However, in a strange and surreal way, it is evident that he is really just retelling what he sees in the numbers.

I won’t say more except this: you have to experience this exquisite puzzle of a book for yourself. This is a story of adventure, friendship, discovery, redemption and transformation. Some have said that Navigating Early is a book that adults love and buy for their children, but that the kids themselves would not want to read. I completely disagree with this. You can see that my copy is now quite battered thanks to my daughter and her friends reading and rereading it.

Yes, you do need to really focus to weave through the different strands, but this book just pulls you in so you have little choice in the matter anyway! You MUST check it out!

One Green Apple

We have our pet authors and Eve Bunting is one of them. We have enjoyed Fly Away Home, The Memory String, Gleam & Glow, Pop’s Bridge, Smoky Night and Whales Passing. One Green Apple is about Farah, a Muslim girl who is new to America. Her headscarf and inability to speak English set her apart from her classmates, some of whom are friendly and some of whom have mentioned her home country in less than friendly terms. Her father has told her, “Our home country and our new one have had difficulties.” We are not told where Farah is from, but I suspect it must be Pakistan or Afghanistan from the word “dupatta” that the author uses for the shawl she wears.

On this day, Farah and her classmates are visiting a farm. She enjoys the sights and smells but is very anxious and feels “tight inside”. When she goes to pick an apple, she chooses a small green one that fits right in her hand. Farah likes it even though the others choose the sweet, red ones … it is different, like her. When they make the cider, her classmates protest as she adds this green apple into the vat of ripe red ones.

The barriers begin to break, tentatively, but surely. At first, a friendly girl, Anna, reaches out and then she joins in making apple cider by helping to operate the press. On the way back, she enjoys a lighthearted moment with her new friends. She finally has the courage to say her first “outside myself” word – “App-ell” and her friends applaud her.

Eve Bunting’s subtle storytelling makes this story a joy. What wonderful message – that we really do have a lot in common and that our differences add colour and flavour to the world. I just adore the illustrations – Ted Lewin… need I say more? I cannot gush enough about his winning work! In One Green Apple, his pictures are gloriously sun-drenched and so full of hope! I think many of us can relate to Farah’s fears and awkwardness – I cannot help but beam along with her when she eventually flashes a confident, triumphant smile.

The Roses In My Carpets

This book touched me deeply. A young Afghani’s recurring nightmare pulls us into this story – “It’s always the same. The jets scream overhead.” He dreams of running to escape the bombs together with his mother and sister, Maha. In his dreams, they weigh him down and always, he wakes up to his bare home in a refugee camp.

In quiet and almost grim tones, he tells us about his days. He lives with his mother and sister and they manage to eke out a living with the help of a sponsor. He prays and goes to school, but his most cherished activity is when he learns how to weave carpets. It is his lifeline – he hopes this skill will help provide for his family. It also allows him to visualise and carve out his dreams – a world of hope and beauty. The nameless protagonist uses red threads to honour the martyrs, blue for the sky, free of bombing jets, black for the night that hides them from the enemy and white for the shroud of his father. He uses no browns for he longs to escape the dirty brown huts in the camp.

Then one day, he is confronted with the possibility losing yet another member of his family… Will this make him or break him? Has his well of hope run dry?

I personally love this book – Ronald Himmler’s illustrations are always beautiful and in this case, he has sensitively captured the grief and quiet dignity of the family. [You might recognize his work in Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, Rudy’s Pond, Fly Away Home and The Well.] The contrast between the muddy walls and vibrant carpets bring home the themes of strife and hope.

I think it was brave of Rukhsana Khan to write a story about the very painful ramifications of war. Death, displacement, poverty and trauma don’t make for happy reading, but The Roses in My Carpet is masterfully told. Some may say that this book is too distressing for children, but I feel it is important that my children, who have been blessed with safety and stability, understand the agony that other children from war-torn countries have endured. Their feelings and well-being matter just as much.

The story ends on a hopeful note – the boy dreams again, but this time, his family finds a space away from the bombs, where the earth is strewn with red roses and where the sky is blue and free from the menacing jets.

The Salamander Room

I found The Salamander Room by Anne Mazer in a second-hand bookstore here in Islamabad and it is SUCH a treasure. This is a story about little Brian who finds a salamander and wants to keep it in his room. What follows is a series of gentle questioning from his mum – it’s really sweet that she doesn’t say “Euww! No way!”

She asks how he will cater to the creature’s needs – “Where will he sleep?” etc. Brian answers all of her questions and concerns with imaginative solutions:

  • make a bed for the salamander with leaves and moss
  • bring in crickets and bull frogs to lull it to sleep
  • collect wet leaves, stumps and boulders for the salamander’s play
  • bring in other salamanders for company
  • make a pool and bring in insects for the salamander’s food and drink
  • control the insect population by bringing in birds and bullfrogs
  • provide trees and ponds for the birds and bullfrogs
  • lift off his room’s ceiling so the sun can shine through, trees can grow and so the birds can fly freely

I love how Steven Johnson’s illustrations chart Brian’s grand dreams. As the story progresses with each addition, this creative child’s bedroom is transformed into a lush jungle paradise!

The Salamander Room is a wonderful example of how a living book can be a springboard to nature studies and science. Your little one will be introduced to topics like cause and effect, habitats, amphibians, rainforests, ecology and how we can do our bit to care for the environment.

Some activities you can do with your kids:

This review was first published on Imaan.Net in August 2005 and has been updated for this site.

Salamander image by @issa_user via Twenty20

The Day of Ahmed’s Secret

Back in 2009, my friend Suzanne, who teaches English (among other things!) met with me and our conversation invariably meandered to books. She just about gushed over The Day of Ahmed’s Secret written by the late Florence Parry Heide and her daughter, Judith Heide Gilliland. Of course, I needed very little encouragement to hunt the book down!

Before I talk about this book, I MUST talk about the illustrator, who is one of my favourites – Ted Lewin. I can’t draw or paint for toffee, but I have always longed for the ability because of amazingly talented artists like him. Ted Lewin has illustrated numerous books that my kids and I enjoy. He has an inimitable style that gives the stories warmth and life. His watercolours are remarkably detailed and in this book, he and the authors expertly capture the sights, smells and sounds of the markets and busy streets of Cairo.

Every single time I read a book he has illustrated, I feel as if I were looking at a photograph! I’ve discovered the secret to his realistic and vibrant pictures – he uses his friends and neighbours and their kids as subjects and directs them to ‘act’ out the story while he photographs them in the studio!

The Day of Ahmed’s Secret is about young Ahmed who rides through the streets of Cairo to deliver cylinders of butane gas (it is for cooking) to his father’s customers. He has a secret to tell his family, but it must keep till the evening for he has his job to do first. Ahmed seems rather young for such hard work (he looks no more than 10 or 11), but he does it patiently (there is not a hint of complaint from him) and quite obviously, out of a sense of love and duty for his family. We sense how mature he is in his quiet introspective nature and in how he understands why he has to grow up quickly to help ease his father’s burden.

As Ahmed weaves in and out of the city, we meet various characters – the food vendor who always has a word for him, the rose water man, the customers and all the folks who make up the hustle and bustle of Cairo that he is a part of. He reflects on how old the city is and talks of the desert in almost sentimental terms. Through it all, we are constantly reminded of the secret he is carrying.

I could talk about all kinds of learning points like Egypt, deserts, pyramids and what not, but I prefer to just bask in the gorgeousness of this book 🙂

When Ahmed finally returns to the warmth and comfort of home, he finally divulges his surprise. It is worth the wait – I was so proud of him and felt like thumping his back!

A keeper!

Fields of Home

Fields of Home by Marita Conlon-McKenna is the third and final volume of the Children of the Famine trilogy. (I have reviewed the first two books, Under the Hawthorn Tree and Wildflower Girl.)

It has been twelve years since the Famine struck Ireland and the O’Driscoll siblings are now young adults and are still trying to build better lives. Eily and her husband have two children and are living on a farm with her great aunt, Nano. Michael is happily working in the stables in the Great House and is even riding in races. Peggy (I have such a spot for this lovely girl!) is still struggling to find her place and dreams in a land that hasn’t quite embraced her.

Ireland is in turmoil – rents are escalating for tenant farmers like Eily and her neighbours and the threat of eviction is ever looming. We see much of this through the eyes of Mary Brigid, Eily’s daughter – landlords are heartlessly throwing tenants out of the only homes they have ever known and like Mary Brigid, we worry and wonder where they will go and how they will manage. Michael, in training to be a horseman, loves his work, but his happiness is short-lived. He finds himself on his own again when the property where he works is sold following a fire. He has no place to go except back to Eily’s farm. The O’Driscolls must now rely on their ingenuity if they are to survive in post-famine Ireland.

Peggy, meanwhile in Boston, is acutely lonely – she is trapped in drudgery and her two friends are moving on. Kitty, her fellow maid, has moved on to serve in another house and Sarah, her beloved friend is moving West to better her health and prospects. James, Sarah’s brother, proposes to Peggy and asks her to come along. Despite her dire circumstances, Peggy is unwilling to settle and wants a true soul mate.

You will find yourself rooting for these brave siblings. They are a tough lot – the kind who just grit their teeth and roll up their sleeves no matter what life throws at them. They are confronted with heartbreak and struggle at every turn and yet, even when they have barely anything to give, they reach out and help one another. This is what I found most heartwarming about this story – their undeniably strong love and their abundant hope.

This book may be for slightly older readers simply because the characters deal with more adult issues like politics, employment and marriage. My girls and I enjoyed the journey with the O’Driscolls and we formed such an attachment to the characters. This story ends on a beautiful note – there is finally the promise of better times!

The Mountain That Loved A Bird

I found this book while book hunting in Singapore last March… Bear was a wee month-old baby and was fussing up a bit at the bookstore, so I almost missed this treasure.

Beautifully written by the lovely late Alice McLerran and illustrated by Eric Carle, The Mountain That Loved A Bird is a beautiful tale that made my then 3-year-old Marz cry buckets! This book is good for kids 6 and above, but if your little preschooler enjoys a long story, then this is a keeper.

In this story, a lonely stone mountain lives in the middle of a desert. It is barren and thus, has never had company nor experienced anything beyond heat and cold. It has not much to see either – only the movement of the sun, the course of the moon and the stars when the skies were clear.

A small bird named Joy stops by one day. The mountain feels her sharp claws and her soft feathers and, overcome with amazement, asks her to stay. Unfortunately, Joy cannot comply – there is nothing that can sustain her there. However, she promises to make annual visits in spring and to name her daughter Joy, who in turn will name a daughter Joy and so on so that the mountain will always have a friend visiting once a year.

Ninety-nine springs come and go. Each time the separations become harder to endure. One day, unable to tolerate the loneliness, the mountain’s heart breaks. His tears are a stream which slowly but surely transform it and the land surrounding. Joy brings a seed and over time, the tears become tears of hope and happiness. Eventually, Joy brings not a seed, but a twig. Instead of her usual farewells, she tells the mountain that she has come to stay.

Eric Carle’s signature collages are simply superb! You will notice that the pictures become wonderfully vibrant as the story progresses. There are other versions of this book that you can check out on the author’s site.

For those in Pakistan, there is the Urdu version which the late Ms Mclerran was very happy about. This is what she said about it:

In the spring of 2003, even as Americans were invading Iraq, there was a new edition that seemed to me almost a miracle.  In Pakistan – a Muslim country with considerable ambivalence about the Iraq invasion by the US – a non-profit group of educators published a new edition of this story in Urdu, using gentle and pleasing collages by Adeel-uz-Zafar.  The printing costs of this book – a story written by an American, published at that point in history – were underwritten by a donation from an Arab oil company!

We have had so many lovely discussions and lessons centred around this book, like:

  • friendship & loyalty
  • keeping promises
  • hope
  • birds
  • mountains
  • climates
  • water, streams etc.
  • seeds
  • colours

You can also read Eric Carle’s The Tiny Seed as an accompaniment.

This review was first published on Imaan.Net in August 2005 and has been updated for this site.

Akimbo

Alexander McCall Smith was born in Zimbabwe and was educated there and in Scotland. A Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh, he is a best-selling author of adults’ books. He is a hugely prolific writer, probably best known for The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency featuring the delightful Precious Ramotswe – Botswana’s leading, and only, female private detective. He has other very popular series like The Sunday Philosophy Club and 44 Scotland Street.

Mr McCall Smith is also equally adept with younger audiences. A favourite in our household is the Akimbo series. Back in 2006, a kindred spirit told me about these books and so Marz and I went on a hunt. We were rewarded with a box set of the first three books that was in perfect condition! [The set features Akimbo and the Elephants, Akimbo and the Lions and Akimbo and the Crocodile Man. Two more books have been released since – Akimbo and the Baboons and Akimbo and the Snakes.]

Akimbo is a young, adventurous African boy who lives in a large game reserve where his father is a head ranger. He is passionate about animal conservation and goes through great lengths to protect them.

In Akimbo and the Elephants, Akimbo helps to bring down an elephant poaching ring. In Akimbo and the Lions, he helps to raise a lion cub and becomes attached to it. However he knows that Simba belongs in the wild. It is a heartbreaking moment when he releases Simba. (Oh how Marz cried!)

In Akimbo and the Crocodile Man, our resourceful friend is given the chance to accompany John the Crocodile man who is doing research on a batch of crocodiles. During the trip, John is attacked by an angry croc. It is a race against time as Akimbo braves dangerous waters to get help for his friend. Marz loved the bit where Akimbo hotwires a truck, drives it and barely misses crashing into a tree!

Akimbo is excited that he is finally able to visit his Uncle Peter’s snake park in Akimbo and the Snakes. A local village reports the sighting of a black mamba – the rarest and most deadly snake of all. Akimbo and Uncle Peter hope to catch it for the snake park, but Akimbo unexpectedly is trapped face to face with this deadly reptile!

Finally, Akimbo and his cousin, Kosi, join a visiting scientist, Jen, who is observing a pack of baboons in Akimbo and the Baboons. There is always danger in the wild and this time, a pack of leopards threaten the pack and Jen. Later, Akimbo notices that one of the young baboons is injured and resolves to help it.

I love his series just as much as Marz did. Young Akimbo is a such a likeable role model – he is plucky, cheerful and respectful … and he has perseverance in spades! Alexander McCall Smith manages to convey the importance of animal protection and ecological protection while still keeping the narrative accessible and upbeat. His descriptions are simple and yet incredibly detailed and will transport you to the beautiful African continent. Peter Bailey’s black and white illustrations are gorgeous – I don’t think we see enough of this sort of art.

We finished each book in one sitting. I’d recommend this for both boys and girls who are getting into chapter books and as read-alouds for younger ones. I think this book is a wonderful gateway to deeper studies of this fascinating continent.

A must-have for your home library.

We Must Have Books

A few years ago, back when the girls were still homeschooled, we’d get up to all kinds of shenanigans together. We’d make a day of book hunting and grocery shopping. It made sense that the two went together because the old bookshop, Vanguard Books, was just a minute away from the cash and carry, Best Price, at the F6 sector in Islamabad.

They say that location is everything and in my case, it was true – Vanguard always trumped Best Price for the lion’s share of my budget 🙂 This was because it was the first store on the street and so we would hit it first. Of course, by the time we were done and had to adjourn to Best Price, we’d have invariably used up a large portion of our money for our groceries.

I didn’t feel too guilty because I learnt a very important lesson. I learnt that we could do with fewer luxuries, but we could not do without books. (No child was harmed or deprived of sustenance, alhamdulillah… I had sense enough to not blow the entire budget! And of course, I almost always buy used books.)

“One more thing is of vital importance; children must have books, living books; the best are not too good for them; anything less than the best is not good enough; and if it is needful to exercise economy, let go everything that belongs to soft and luxurious living before letting go the duty of supplying the books, and the frequent changes of books, which are necessary for the constant stimulation of the child’s intellectual life.”
Charlotte Mason, (Parents and Children, p. 279)

She was right. The worth of the book isn’t in its price but in the value it imparts to the reader. I like to think that with prayer and good intentions, a good book can bring about not just knowledge, but wisdom, character and imagination and empathy. Imagine the benefit such a well-read person can bring to the world.

Books have comforted me when I was at my loneliest. They have taught me when I was at my lowest. I guess this is why I am so passionate about books. But I realise even as I write this that, at the end of the day, I have the funds and therefore, the luxury of choice. While I deliberate over what extras I can leave out, many others are only considering if they can bring home the staples.

In Singapore, where I am from, there is a public library in every neighbourhood and they are wonderfully stocked. I would love to see this in Pakistan, where I am currently based. I can’t speak for other cities, but the libraries in Islamabad are poorly managed. I’ll write more about my love for libraries soon, God willing, but right now, I’d like to suggest a few things you can do for the community that lacks access to good books:

1. Lobby for a library. This might be a frustrating endeavour, depending on the kind of people in office, but try!

2. Start sharing your books. I know. It’s hard. A friend of mine asked how it was that I was so willing to share my books. I told her that I do miss my books when they are gone because they are like my children (don’t laugh!), but it makes me truly happy to see kids reading and reading lots. You need not place your books in a common physical space and you need not stock only new books. A database of books set up with a good library app can do the trick and used books will mean more affordability and more volume! [My friends and I have used Boocshare  and it worked well for us.]

3. Start your own library. If the powers that be won’t give you a library, start your own for the community with like-minded friends. If you are concerned about folks not returning your books, start out with a reference/read only library.

4. Gift books. There are many organisations that will appreciate a donation. Seek them out and better yet, organise a storytelling session while you’re at it!

I’d like to leave you with a quote by Charlotte Mason who was a wonderful visionary. Let’s build a library and build one with the best of books…

A child’s intercourse must always be with good books, the best that we can find. We must put into their hands the sources which we must needs use for ourselves, the best books of the best writers. For the mind is capable of dealing with only one kind of food; it lives, grows and is nourished upon ideas only; mere information is to it as a meal of sawdust to the body.
Charlotte Mason

Photo by Huỳnh Đạt from Pexels