WWRW: Non-Fiction I Have Loved

The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia by Candace Fleming is an intense page turner.  Fleming braids three historical perspectives together in one book that I found engrossing as well as enlightening.

First, she provides an intimate look at the seven Romanovs themselves, the backgrounds of both Nicholas and Alexander, and many, many details of their lives. This is made possible by the release of primary sources, diaries, letters, etc. by the Russian government in 1991.

Secondly, she provides step-by-step explanations of Russian governments from the tsars through Stalin. This historical information provides the backdrop against which the Romanov tragedy plays out.  The reader is provided a view of the social and political conditions of early 20th century Russia that Nicholas and Alexandra either were not privy to (due to being surrounded by ministers who hid the nasty bits from them) or would not believe,which according to Fleming, happened quite a bit.

Lastly, the Romanov drama is contrasted with snippets of newspaper articles and journal entries of peasants, factory workers, and Russian soldiers from the same time period.

I would like anyone who reads this book to come over soon and dish with me over vodka drinks and caviar.

SO MUCH TO DISCUSS! How could Alexandra better fulfilled her grandmother's (Queen Victoria's) wish that she win the people's love?

What if Nicholas II had not abdicated? What if the White Army had reached Ekaterinburg before the executions/murders? Would his dynasty have been re-instated?

Are the Romanovs saints? According to some Orthodox Churches they are. They were certainly pious, though according to Fleming they were anti-Semites.

Marie Antoinette and the Romanovs. Similarities and differences. Go.

I am not familiar with the Russian Orthodox Church's canonization process. How does it differ from the Roman rite?

I was not aware that in some Orthodox churches, there are different kinds of saints, or degrees of sainthood.  The author takes pains to explain some of these "levels" at the end of the book.

Rasputin. All the mystery of Rasputin. Was he a madman? Was he possessed? Was he simply a con man and Alexandra his greatest "mark?" Could he actually hypnotize people by staring deeply into their eyes? I wrote my high school senior year term paper on Rasputin.  I still find him and his hold on the Russian royal family fascinating.

Did you know THEY FOUND THE MISSING ROMANOV BODIES in 2007? Did you know that the American team of DNA scientists and the Russian team disagree on which five Romanov bodies are interred in the royal vault in the cathedral in St. Petersburg?

I can't even tell you all of the good stuff in this book.

Yes. It is a "kid's book."

Shut. Up.

The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia won the Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Non-Fiction and was a Robert F. Sibert Honor Book.

The Robert F. Sibert Award is awarded "to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished informational book published during the previous year."

I haven't read all of the Sibert Award Winners and Honor Books (though I would love too), but I have read some such as:

Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon (Newbery Honor Book) by Steve Sheinkin

We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson

Secrets Of A Civil War Submarine: Solving The Mysteries Of The H. L. Hunley by Sally M. Walker

An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 (Newbery Honor Book) by Jim Murphy

The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler

I also read As the Waltz Was Ending by Emma Macalik Butterworth. It's not an award winner, but it was recommend by an old friend and it is a historical memoir.  It takes place during World War II which is my favorite time period.

 As the Waltz Was Ending is the memoir of a young Austrian girl in the 1930s. She is accepted into the Vienna State Opera Ballet School just as Hitler comes to power.  Her adolescence and ascendance through the ranks of the ballet academie and the spread of Nazi Germany are told in tandem.

As you may expect, Emma's story is a sad one. Sad but interesting enough.

SUPER SAD SPOILERS AHEAD!

Then I hit the last chapter where Emma and her friend get abducted by Soviets, they are raped in a farmhouse (disturbing but not detailed), from which Emma escapes but her friend is killed in the attempt.

oh. Her father kills himself too.

But, she marries an American guy, moves to the United States and lives happily ever after, then writes this memoir.

As the Waltz Was Ending is okay, but go forth and read The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia instead.

When you get your hot little hands on The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia , don't bother flipping to the index in the back of the book looking for the Prince or Princess Kuragin, recent guests of the Dowager Countess Grantham.

There is no index.

WWRW: Five for Summer Reading

I've been tearing through the 2015 Caudill nominees and here are soundbites about five that I've read recently.

1.

Saving Zasha by Randi Barrow is set in post WWII Russia, all the German shepherds and pretty much all the dogs in Russia have been destroyed.  Anti-German sentiment still runs high, but a fatherless family with three kids risks everything to save a German shepherd found in the forest.

This story starts out grim but turned out much less dark than I anticipated.  In fact, the ending was downright pleasant.  Plus, it's always interesting to read yet another perspective on World War II.

2.

The Clockwork Three by Matthew J. Kirby is The Invention of Hugo Cabret meets Oliver Twist and A Little Princess.  The Clockwork Three includes Frederick the orphan apprenticed to a clockmaker who is secretly making an automaton, a mechanical man, in the basement of his master's shop, Hannah, a servant in the grand hotel who by a lucky turn of events becomes the personal assistant to the wealthy Madame Pomeroy, and Giuseppe, a talented violinist who owes everything to the evil "Fagin" in charge of all the buskers.

Part steampunk, part fairy tale, part depressing Dickensian novel, The Clockwork Three is a mesmerizing tale or three whose plotlines all cross and become united at the end. Madame Pomeroy is a medium at a seance invoking the dead and she does a reading with tarot cards, and there is quite a bit of violence, lots of beatings, locking young boys in a cellar full of rats, and a murder threat hanging over the local man of the cloth.  Definitely for the mature student.

3.

Ungifted by Gordon Korman.  What would happen if a hyper possibly ADD kid accidentally caused a disatrous accident at his middle school and when he got caught by the superintendent his name was inadvertently added to the list of kids to be transferred to the local school for the gifted and talented?

Donovan Curtis may not be a genius on paper, but his impact on the Academy for Scholastic Distinction and its students is undeniable.  Not only does he change the students and the way they approach problems and take risks, but Donovan grows in sensitivity, protecting these nerds from ridicule from his homeboys back at Hardcastle Middle School.

4.

Tuesdays at the Castle by one of my favorite authors, Jessica Day George, is an adventure in a land of royalty and wizards, but in this story the Castle Glower itself is an important character.  Also of note is the loving pair of parents (the king and queen), and the three royal offspring who love and respect each other (even if they don't always agree).  A fun read for any competent reader.

5.

Never Say Die by Will Hobbs is about a GROLAR bear!  Yes, you read that right.  Part grizzly, part polar bear, this hybrid creature is the result of disappearing ice in the Arctic circle due to global warming.  I thought everyone knew that global warming isn't really a thing, but I digress.

Nick Thrasher is the half-white half-Inuit teen who discovered the grolar when packs of fresh caribou meat were ripped from his back while hunting.  Nick's half brother Ryan contacts him for the first time ever about going on an expedition on the Firth River for a month.

Ryan is thirteen years older than Nick, an expert outdoorsman, and a professional wildlife photographer for National Geographic. Ryan would surely love to snap a cover photo of a grolar.  Ryan and Nick meet disaster pretty early.  The fact that Ryan insisted Nick leave his gun behind is likely to come back to bite them.  But I can't say for certain, since I'm not finished.

Yes, there is a lot of politics mixed into this tale of wilderness survival.  Nick's mother and father were never married.  His father was also an adventurer, and died somewhere in the Himalayas one month after Nick was born, which is just one more reason why I will never mess around in the Himalayas.  If you can stomach the environmental and anti-gun sentiments, this book is appropriate for middle-school and up.

Since I review five books here, I just might link-up my link-up to Heather's Five Favorites, not that these are my favorite books...whatever.

An InLinkz Link-up

WWRW: Summer Reading Kick Off

Don't have time to read this summer?  

Have your kids write your posts!  

Summer reading programs are running in libraries all over the US right now.  Research shows again and again that "kids who participate in library summer reading programs significantly improve their reading skills."

Here are a few titles to start them off:

A Diamond in the Desert is the story of a 12-year-old boy, Tetsu, and his time in the Gila River Japanese Internment Camp during World War II.   A Diamond in the Desert is also the story of how baseball not only makes his life better, but improves morale for the whole camp.

There was one little part about this book that I didn't like.  On page 6, Tetsu hears the newlywed neighbors have an argument.  Fitzmaurice writes, "...much later, they went to bed having forgiven each other their harsh words and ... you know."  This scene is very vague and serves to illustrate the lack of privacy in the barracks where the families were housed.  But it occurred so early on in the story, I was unsettled, wondering if that type of scene was going to be a common event in the book.  I am happy to note that it was a one-time occurrence.

One little part about this book that I loved is the Author's Note at the end of the book, Fitzmaurice reveals her research process, which was largely based on interviewing actual detainees who played on the actual Gila River team.

At the end of her Note, she reveals the meaning of the Japanese word, gaman.  In her words, "Simply, it is enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity."

If I had to sum up the theme of A Diamond in the Desert in one word, that word would be gaman.

"Cleverness and bravery are absolutely necessary for good adventures."


Thus opens The Hotel Under the Sand, a beautifully written fantasy by Kage Baker.  Check your sense of reality at the door, because anything can and does happen in this whimsical adventure.

Emma has lost everything and is washed up on a beach during a storm.

It might have been a storm with black winds, with thunder and lightning and rising waves.  It might have been a storm with terrible anger and policemen coming to the door, and strangers, hospitals, courtrooms, and nightmares.  It might have been a storm with soldiers, and fire, and hiding in cellars listening to shooting overhead.  There are different kinds of storms.

See what I mean by "beautifully written?"

She befriends Winston, the ghost of a bellhop who used to work at the Grand Wendlocke Hotel, 100 years ago, before the Grand Wendlocke was buried under the sand.

Another storm comes and uncovers the magnificent hotel, in all of its glory.  Emma and Winston decide to make a go of re-opening for business, along with a cook, a spoiled young heir, and a pirate.  Time is manipulated like play-doh in this lovely, crazy story appropriate for readers of any age.

A few WWRWs ago, I mentioned that Edmund was reading Gary Paulsen's Mr. Tucket (The Francis Tucket Books).  In that post, Edmund gave us his thoughts on Mr. Grimes, the mountain man that rescued 14-year-old Francis Tucket.

Some background info:  Mr. Tucket is the 14-year-old boy that got captured by the Pawnee while his family was on the Oregon Trail.  Mr. Tucket is rescued from the Pawnee by Mr. Grimes.  Mr. Grimes is a mountain man who *SPOILER ALERT* brutally and unnecessarily scalps his enemy at the end of the book. At the end of the book, Mr. Tucket strikes out on his own to find his family in Oregon, rather than stay in the company of a murderer.

Edmund has since written a few sentences about his opinion of the young Mr. Tucket which are below:

Mr. Tucket was a good man and these are some reasons why.  Mr. Tucket was a nice guy because he didn't want to kill.  Also he was a good person because he walked away when Mr. Grimes scalped Braid.  He was a hard worker and he  made good choices.
That's my opinion of why he's a good person.

this is for your blog. FROM THE COOLEST KID IN THE WORLD EDMUND!!!!!!!

An InLinkz Link-up