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Philbrick, Rodman. 2009. The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg. Scholastic. 224 pages.
My name is Homer P. Figg, and these are my true adventures. I mean to write them down, every one, including all the heroes and cowards, and the saints and the scalawags, and them stained with the blood of innocents, and them touched by glory, and them that was lifted into Heaven, and them that went to the Other Place.
I didn't know what to expect from this one. The cover, well, the cover didn't do much for me. But I enjoyed this one. A lot more than I thought I would. Especially considering the fact that this one is set during the Civil War. The jacket flap describes this one as a "story filled with adventure, humor, and danger" and they do actually get that right. (Sometimes they really don't.)
At the heart of this one is a young boy, Homer, on a quest. His older brother was "volunteered" for the Union army. Sold into by his mean guardian, their mean guardian. Upset--and understandably so--Homer sets off to find his brother. He runs away. But he doesn't get far when danger finds him. Still no matter what happens--no matter who he meets and where he ends up--he is always trying to find his brother. All that other stuff, well, it just happens. What he does to find his brother, to save his brother, well, it's not a stretch to call it a bit heroic.
There were many things I enjoyed about this one. One of the top things is the writing. I love some of the descriptions, the narrative. I found it very appealing, very reader-friendly. (I know sometimes historical fiction can be hard to sell to readers of all ages. But the truth is it doesn't have to be boring.)
Far as I'm concerned, taking a bath is sort of like drowning, with soap. Never could abide it, not since I was a little baby. (119)
The trouble with Phineas Michael Button began the moment she was born.
It continues,
"She had the expected two ears, two eyes, one nose, and dimpled cheeks, but in her father's mind there was a problem. He had twelve children, daughters all, and was convinced that number thirteen would be his long-awaited son. So on the twenty-fifth of September, 1755, when he drew another baby girl from the womb of his long-suffering wife, he declared the discovery of an unacceptable mistake."
Abandoned by her parents, left in an orphanage in Ebenezer, Georgia, Fin, our young heroine has no problem being tough and staying strong. She's needed to be her whole life. But she is not the person the Baab Sisters--especially Hilde--would have her to be. She's not ladylike enough. She's too manly, too strong, too wild in their minds. Maybe a little kitchen duty will do the trick...
At first Fin is angry that she's been thrust into the kitchen, and forced into apprenticing with the orphanage's cook, Bartimaeus. (She's jealous that her best friend, her would-be-could-be husband, Peter, gets the better deal, the better job. He gets apprenticed to a carpenter.) But she soon realizes that this may just be the best thing that ever happened to her. For Bartimaeus --though not a simple man or a perfect man--loves her like she's his own child, his own daughter. He's a man with a past, a history--a dark and tangled mess of a past. But he's a good man, a changed man*.
With increasing hostilities between the colonies and England, it's not an easy time for Fin to come of age. Not with Fin's temperament. Her quick temper leads to...well...a great big dangerous adventure**.
Historical fiction. Action. Adventure. Pirates. Orphans. And a little old war.
What did I enjoy about this one? So very much! I love historical fiction. Usually. And this was no exception. A bit violent at times, yes, but what else would you expect in a sea-adventure filled with pirates?! It was exciting, compelling, hard to put down. It's anything but boring! I cared about Fin from the start. And her companions--especially Jack, Knut, and Tan--became important to me as well. The characters definitely felt human--felt flawed--which is a good thing. I would definitely recommend this one. (Especially if you enjoyed The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.)
The story will conclude in a second book, Fiddler's Green. (I want it now!)
You can order a copy of The Fiddler's Gun book through Rabbit Room Press.
*I will say this part of the story was just awesome for me. Peterson was able to connect the story with George Whitefield. True, it's a very small--very tiny--part of the overall story. But still, it made me happy. **It probably helped that I love films like Pirates of the Caribbean, Captain Blood, and The Sea Hawk. I think having this background helped me visualize the fighting-at-sea scenes.
Great review! This sounds exciting. And I had to giggle about your comment about Whitefield--now I'm looking forward to seeing that small part in the book. I'm pretty sure this will be my first book purchase of the new year.
I completely agree...I love this book and can't wait for the next one. Have been recommending it to anyone who will listen (and a few who didn't want to).
I think it's blue because that's my favorite color.
I think it's soft like flannel sheets in the wintertime.
I think Peace is full-- like a stomach after a real good dinner-- beef stew and corn bread or shrimp fried rice and egg rolls.
Even better
Than some barbecue chicken.
I think Peace is pretty--like my sister, Lili.
And I think it's nice--like my friend Clyde.
I think if you imagine it, like that Beatles guy used to sing about?
Then it can happen.
Yeah, I think
Peace can happen.
--Lonnie Collins Motion, aka Locomotion
Peace, Locomotion is a wonderful novel, very beautiful. It's a companion novel to Locomotion--a novel that was a finalist in the National Book Awards. But I haven't read the first book, and I still was able to appreciate it. So I think it is able to stand alone. (Though reading this one made me want to read the other.)
Locomotion is a twelve year old boy in the foster care system. He is separated from his younger sister, Lili. She's in another foster home. They were not able to be placed together. But that doesn't mean that they've stopped loving (and needing) one another. The novel is his letters to his sister. They show how very much he loves her; how very important family is to him. The letters have it all--good, bad, happy, sad. They journal his emotions, his life.
A beautiful little novel about family, about life, and what it means to belong.
It is not a verse novel. Though the book does contain a few poems. (Lonnie considers himself to be a poet.) Definitely recommended!
Burnett, Frances Hodgson. 1905 (according to Wikipedia). A Little Princess.
Though it is a tad heavy when it comes to descriptions--just a tad--I found myself thoroughly charmed by the life and adventures of Sara Crewe. Sara, the daughter of a wealthy man, is placed in school--boarding school, I think, where she is cared for rather well. She has everything a girl could want--friends who love to hear her tell stories, a faithful doll named Emily, etc. But when tragedy strikes, little Sara's world changes overnight. During her birthday party, news comes in that her father is dead; he's died and he's without fortune. Sara goes from nice-but-rich girl to nice-but-poor girl. Sara was never a spoiled brat. What changes is all on the outside--no more nice clothes, no nice room, no nice bed with fluffy pillows and blankets, no maid, no horse and carriage, no more lessons. Now she's the maid-and-servant of all. Even the servants use her as a servant and look down upon her. But despite the harshness of her environment, little Sara is a gem of a girl.
It's a classic riches-to-rags-to-riches story. Sara and her friends make for nice companions. I'm glad I gave this one a try. I enjoyed it!
The movie version of this book was a staple for me as a little girl! Thanks for reminding me of one of my favorites! I've never read the book, but am adding it to my list now!
Hi Becky, What I rembember most about this book was that Sara was never vindictive. Even in her suffering she found a way to be kind to others. I loved the scene where she gave her bread to a beggar girl. I was reading aloud to my sons and they kept saying, "Why are you crying, Mommy?" Great memory!
Thanks for posting your review, it was great. I've been wanting to read this book for some time and hoped to before the end of the year, we'll see. I always enjoyed the Shirley Temple movie version and I love love love The Secret Garden, so I'm sure I'll enjoy this book.
Emily--like Anne Shirley--is an orphan. And like Anne, Emily loves words--loves to write. But their stories are different in some ways as well. (Emily's not prone to getting into scrapes as Anne. Emily lacks the calamity of Anne as we first meet her.) Emily is a heroine that is easy to love. She's a dreamer. Yet she can be very practical and straight forward. Very earnest. In the first few chapters, Emily loses her father--he's dying--and her fate is decided. One of her relations--someone from her mother's side of the family--will take her in and raise her. But which one? Emily doesn't know what to hope for. She doesn't know any of them, doesn't love any of them. Yet the family that takes her in--Aunt Laura, Aunt Elizabeth, Cousin Jimmy--will become her family through and through. The book follows her through her first few years at New Moon, the name of her new home. And it involves her adventures--her days at school, her friendships (with Ilse, Teddy, Perry, Lofty John, Dean Priest, etc.), her home life, her letters written to her dead father, her poems, etc.
The book is enjoyable. And Emily is a joy. A real kindred spirit.
When I went to Prince Edward Island a couple of years ago, I bought postcards of Maud's first editions, including the image you used. Love them!
Emily's books take readers to a deeper level than Anne's, don't you think? I can't just breeze through them ... I have to take deep breaths and be prepared to not read anything else for a while. They shake my world.
Mandy, I admit, was a childhood favorite of mine. There was just something so heartfelt, so vital, about this young orphan girl who was searching for something to make her feel complete and found it in having her own little secret garden and cottage. Her dreams, her determination, her stubbornness made Mandy work for me. It's not that you can't find those characteristics in other orphans--I can think of plenty and I'm sure you can as well. But I think the fact is that I personally "met" Mandy first. (I read it before Anne of Green Gables or The Secret Garden.) Mandy is very simply the story of a young girl, Mandy, growing up in an orphanage. A girl who is as happy as she can be--most of the time at least--but not as happy as she wants to be, needs to be in order to feel truly, deeply loved. She's a girl that longs for more, wants more. She discovers in part what she's looking for when she ventures over the wall surrounding the orphanage. She finds a forgotten little place--perhaps this place represents herself in her mind, I haven't really thought of it like that--that is crying out for love and attention. It's in sad shape. But Mandy is determined to "play" house quite properly. She wants to fix up the garden, fix up the yard, and fix up the house. And she'll stop at NOTHING to do it.
Mandy, unlike Anne in many ways, is a sad and lonely little girl. It's not that she couldn't make friends her own age at the orphanage, that she couldn't connect with others, it's that she doesn't want to. She's introspective, I suppose. Would prefer to be my herself in some ways, yet feels a terrible loneliness. A garden--of flowers and such--isn't going to take the place of a family, a friend no matter how much Mandy wishes it to.
I loved Mandy then, and I love Mandy now.
For those that aren't aware, Julie Edwards = Julie Andrews.
I just came across Julie Andrews' Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles in a used book sale. I have to admit, my first thought was "probably another celebrity author with a lame book." Now I wish I'd bought it, and serves me right! I am fascinated to learn from you that her kidlit career goes back nearly forty years at least, and impressed that she did not cash in on her name as a first resort. Good for her!
I adored Mandy. Still do (I have my childhood copy, and I reread it every year or so). I think it was her longing for a place of her own, and then the work she did on the cottage (especially the gardening), that resonated with me.
This was one of my childhood favorites as well! In fact, I recently picked up a copy at my library's book sale to read to my own kids. I know they'll love it too.
Last winter I worked for a while at an orphanage on a remote mountain in Brazil (down the dirt road from the Buddhist temple where I also stayed).
I was particularly impressed with Leo and Vanderson, two staffers at the orphanage, so I wanted to find out why they chose to dedicate their lives to working with kids. They both live full-time at the orphanage. In addition to taking care of the daily needs of the almost 60 kids, Leo teaches music, and Vanderson teaches capoeira.
A friend, Francine Assis, helped me translate them into English:
Leo: I like music too much. It’s very important to me. If it’s
important to me, it’s important to children too because I like to
teach them. And when I do, I know more too, I learn more. So I
love music, I love children too.
Vanderson: My objective is to rebuild the life that they (the children) didn’t
have outside, to change their way of thinking. Their way of thinking is very sad. It’s bad how they live on streets, and using capoeira I can modify this history, using the energy they have to do bad things so they use the same energy to do aerobatics, mortal jumps, to show some abilities they have.”
Interviewer: Who are these children?
Vanderson: They are children who have a lot of potential. I just encourage
them to know they are capable. There are many things they don’t know
they can do because there isn’t a qualified person to show them what
they can do. The energy and force they use to break a window or
the thoughts they have to steal something from someone, they have to
focus those and use their creativity to do good capoeira movements,
to do good aerobatics, using that same force they use to break a
window or something else in this cottage. This is the objective of
all capoeristas here in Brazil. The best capoeristas came from the low
and middle classes. It’s rare to see good capoeristas from rich
families.
There are a few people who are born with this gift. Generally they suffer in learning; they have difficulty in studies and their family relationships are difficult too. So with a sport like this, they are going to live side by side with good people. They’ll have a good capoeira family. Because the majority of capoeristas have
so many good things to teach, positive things, like to stop smoking if you are going to be a good capoerista because you need to have endurance and cigarettes cause tiredness. The fewer bad things you do with your body, the more you’ll be a good player and be able to have a better day. And when you wake up well, you can do such cool things. I believe the objective of capoeira is this.
0 Comments on Interviews at a Brazilian Orphanage as of 1/1/1990
For as long as I can remember, I have proudly worn my badge of honor regarding the fact that I have never attended a Tupperware party. “Put this on my tombstone,” I would tell my husband:
“PARTIED HEARTY, BUT NEVER AT A TUPPERWARE PARTY”
In all honestly I do have to 'fess up to this: once, years ago, I was part of a mothers’ group that got together every week. One week, the mother having the group tricked us all, and, lo and behold, there was a Tupperware hostess primed and ready to demonstrate the latest in keeping food fresh. I was furious and refused to participate. Never mind that I actually liked the sippy cups. There was no way I was going to ruin my record on living a life without doing the party scene for them. I had to leave. So I guess I should say I have never WILLINGLY attended a Tupperware party.
Why the intense disgust? Somehow the idea of throwing or attending a party whose main theme was plastic food storage containers was singularly upsetting to me. Hard to say why, except that I guess I fought organized and mundane domesticity with a fervor, and Tupperware just stood for everything about that kind of life that bored me out of my skull. It still does.
“Dixie’s Tupperware Party” which is running through June 17 at Ars Nova on West 54th Street.
The best part about this show: Dixie is a guy in drag doing his version of the supreme southern belle Tupperware gal. Even better, is that you can not only enjoy the humor, but you can actually buy the goods. Yes, you read that correctly: it REALLY is a Tupperware Party!
Oh, the pity!!! I do not think I can get down to NY to see this show before it closes. Damn! Isn’t that the perfect twist of fate that I deserve? Finally, I actually WANT to go to a Tupperware Party and I can’t!!
Of course, maybe I will get invited to a party like this one.
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YAY! So glad you loved it too!
Great review! This sounds exciting. And I had to giggle about your comment about Whitefield--now I'm looking forward to seeing that small part in the book. I'm pretty sure this will be my first book purchase of the new year.
This looks good!
I completely agree...I love this book and can't wait for the next one. Have been recommending it to anyone who will listen (and a few who didn't want to).