scrounge: /skrounj/ informal verb: to actively seek [books] from any available source
Henry's Freedom Box is the true story of Henry "Box" Brown, an enslaved man who mailed himself to freedom in 1849. This telling of that story is both devastating and triumphant, and as usual, Kadir Nelson's illustrations capture every emotion and event perfectly.
Henry grew up with a master who seemed to treat him well, relatively speaking. But then he was given to his master's son and sent to work in a tobacco factory. After he married and had three children, Henry's wife and children were sold away from him (this scene might be difficult for sensitive readers.)
Henry's method of gaining his freedom leads him into a wooden box which is carried on carts and a boat, and includes some rough handling, but it works. This book did a great job of breathing life into a story I'd heard before only in a vague and generalized sense, and gives the name and details to go with it.
Scrounged From: Our local library
Format: Hardcover
Author: Ellen Levine
Illustrator: Kadir Nelson
Pages: 40
Content Advisory: Henry's wife and children are sold away from him around the middle of the story.
Ada Lovelace has been my introduction to the Little People, Big Dreams series, books that tell short stories of the lives of people who changed the world for the better.
This is a preschool-level take on the life of Ada Lovelace. We learn about how different (and somewhat absent) her parents were, but that Ada found ways to exercise both her logical and imaginative sides. She was taught math and logic, which was unusual for girls in those days, and eventually met with inventor Charles Babbage, leading her to develop the first computer programming code.
It's a fascinating story that is good for young children but also encourages additional reading about an important historical figure, especially since the text here is sparse. There is a somewhat longer informational page at the end, and also a few book recommendations, which are helpful.
(Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.)
Scrounged From: NetGalley
Format: Kindle
Author: Isabel Sanchez Vegara
Illustrator: Zafouko Yamamoto
Pages: 32
Content Advisory: The text mentions briefly that Ada's father left when she was young.
When I recently came across a copy of Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie, I remembered it from the PBS show Reading Rainbow -- none of the details, but I knew it was a story about a father who asked his daughter to keep the lighthouse lights burning while he was away.
It turns out this is based on a true story that took place in my home state of Maine in 1856. Not only did Abbie have to keep the lights burning by herself for weeks while the storm raged and her father was unable to return to Matinicus Rock, but she also had to tend to her sick mother, feed (and rescue!) her chickens, and help her three sisters as they managed the household.
I still find this story moving even though it's written in reader style with fairly short, choppy sentences. Most of all, I love the story of Abbie's courage, and the simple father-daughter moment at the very end.
Scrounged From: A homeschool book sale
Format: Paperback
Authors: Peter Roop, Connie Roop
Illustrator: Peter Hanson
Pages: 40
Content Advisory: A bit of peril when Abbie is almost hit by a giant wave.
Barnum's Bones was a really neat story of a historical figure I'd never heard of before. Since my five-year-old is a dinosaur enthusiast, we both enjoyed this story about the man who discovered the first documented Tyrannosaurus skeleton.
Barnum Brown seems an almost larger-than-life figure as his obsession with fossils compels him to attend school, become a paleontologist, and spend his life searching all over the world for as many fossils as he can "sniff out." But what he really wants is to discover something new -- something that will make the American Museum of Natural History proud.
While it doesn't happen immediately (and the process is especially slow since it was limited to turn-of-the-twentieth-century technology -- horses, wagons, and trains), he does eventually discover the bottom half (ish) of a Tyrannosaurus, but it is several years later before he gets back to a nearby spot and finally finds the enormous head. What it must have been like to be an ordinary person in those days and be astounded at these new kinds of discoveries!
Scrounged From: Our local library
Format: Hardcover
Author: Tracey Fern
Illustrator: Boris Kulikov
Pages: 36
Content Advisory: None
I had never heard of Maria Sibylla Merian before, so this was a very interesting intoduction to her life and work. Merian was born in Germany in 1647, and spent her later life in Amsterdam, Holland. This book chronicles her artistic development as well as her scientific exploration. Her specialty was insects -- she would observe all the insects she could find and take notes on their life cycles. She also painted detailed, scientifically accurate pictures of many many insects and plants.
Around 1700, she and her daughter made a scientific voyage to Surinam to study, paint, and collect specimens of native plants and animals, something that was unheard of for a woman in those days -- as the book says, she was a woman "far ahead of her time." She and her daughters published several volumes of paintings, some of which ended up in the collections of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
This book includes many of her paintings (with detailed captions explaining the plants and animals in each one) as well as an overview of Maria Sibylla Merian's legacy at the end -- she's had several organisms named in her honor since her death. The book also includes a glossary and bibliography.
It is inspiring to read about the ways that scientific curiosity and exploration have compelled people (mostly men in those days) to observe, explore, and carefully record the world around them, even long before modern scientific framework or conveniences. It's especially inspiring to read about a woman doing the same thing even when it went against the social expectations of the day.
(Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.)
Scrounged From: NetGalley
Format: Kindle
Authors: Sarah B. Pomeroy and Jeyaraney Kathirithambi
Pages: 96
Content Advisory: There are a few descriptions of slavery and mistreatment of slaves in South America during this time period.
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