Juv Fiction: Ranger in Time: Long Road to Freedom, Kate Messner

Ranger in Time: Long Road to Freedom 

Kate Messner

ISBN: 9780545639217

Ranger is a flunked-out search and rescue dog with a magical first aid kit collar that sends him through time to people who need to be found or rescued - or both!

This is the first of this series I've read, and it appears to be the third or fourth book. Vague references are made to what seems like a gladiator/Roman setting, and perhaps the American West?  This one is set in the days of the underground railroad and of slaves escaping to try to avoid the brutality of the developing cotton market in the deep south.  Ranger pops back into time on the day that Sarah learns that her owner is selling her little brother Jesse down south, because he's not valuable to him any more.  Sarah decides to take matters into her own hands and take them both north to freedom.  Messner presents an incredibly accurate book (granted it's light on the gory details, and overall it's more positive and uplifting than a lot of accounts actually were) that focuses attention on the agency of the former slaves saving themselves, with the assistance of kind people across the country - white, black, free, and slave.  An even more powerful Author's Note at the end goes into details about the people and places in the story which are real, and about the resources and museums available.     

Glamourist Histories: Of Noble Family, Mary Robinette Kowal

Glamourist Histories, Book 5 (final of the series)
Of Noble Family
Mary Robinette Kowal
ISBN: 9780765378361
The couple get dragged to Antigua, to Vincent's estranged family lands, and find corruption and simmering hatreds.

This book is the last in the series, and Kowal doesn't hold back.  By now we expect that things will go as poorly as they possibly could for Jane and Vincent, so I suppose the failure was mine, in not imagining quite how bad that could really be.

Vincent's older sibling contacts him - his father has died, and there are administrative duties at the plantation that must be handled by a male heir - would Vincent please go?  A grudging acceptance is quickly regretted as Jane is revealed to be pregnant again on the journey, and even more unwelcome surprises await the couple once they arrive.

The conditions and realities of life on a slave-holding sugar plantation are not avoided nor are they glossed over.  They actually become one of the key points of the plot, as the very modern and kindhearted sensibilities of Jane and Vincent are confronted with the sad and horrible conditions that faced slaves of all sorts.

This was a much darker book than any of the others, and there is a lot of emotional and even physical trauma dealt out with a liberal hand to everyone.  Still, the setting and characters hold true (even new ones) and there are flashes of humor and even whimsy - our regularly-scheduled Doctor Who cameo is joined by a Princess Bride reference!  These lighten up the whole without trivializing the serious nature of the problems to be surmounted, and once more, I feared for the characters.

I'm sad to see the series ending, as I'm quite in love with Jane and Vincent, but I am impatiently waiting the next project coming down the line!

Nonfiction: Liar Temptress Soldier Spy, Karen Abbott

Liar Temptress Soldier Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War
Karen Abbott
ISBN: 9780062092892
Read September 25, 2014

This was an impressive undertaking, but I think that the author slightly shot herself in the foot narratively by limiting her quotations to actual letters or family recollections.  That meant there was a lot of text about what was going on around the characters, and a lot of text about what the women were doing, but not as much from their "voices," which, while I understand her wanting to keep her history as pure as possible, isn't really the best narrative choice when you've got four women to switch back and forth from, and despite your attempt in the title to differentiate, ALL of them at one point are spies.

Other than that difficulty, which did make it occasionally difficult to keep straight between Rose and Elizabeth, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Our "heroines" are:

Belle Boyd, a teen with more passion than sense, "spying" for the Confederacy in a contested portion of Virginia (then West Virginia).

Emma Edmondson (later Edmonds) who ran from an abusive father in Canada before joining the North as private (and courier, and mail carrier and nurse and aide-de-camp and spy) Frank Thompson.

Rose O'Neal Greenhow, a Confederate lady living in Washington, spying for the Confederacy through brazen flirtations with political officials on both sides.

Elizabeth Van Lew, staunch Abolitionist living in Richmond Virginia, in the heart of the new Confederate capital, rescuing Union prisoners and creating a massive spy ring that included a house servant who cleaned up Jeff Davis' own personal study.

We run chronologically through the war, staying with whoever was experiencing the more interesting events, or in busy times, jumping back and forth through the months to follow each of them in detail.  because Belle and Emma were so different from each other in their personalities and jobs, this didn't create much trouble, but as mentioned before, did get occasionally confusing between Rose and Elizabeth, each doing essentially the same things for the different sides.

There were also a few tonal missteps, the most jarring during a scene where Rose O'Neal Greenhow, the Confederate spy, was taken to court on suspicion of treason.  Her words blaze all down both pages, recounted most likely from the court transcriptionist, and they are heavy and oh so genteel.  At the bottom of the page the author has her return home to her daughter who begs for a story in yet another direct quotation, and then in the author's words, Rose obliged, "making it all up as she went along, and letting the good guys win" (emphasis mine).  The "good guys" is your word choice?  Really?  After that stunning example of the English language and formal behavior, "the good guys win?"  Just really stunningly out of place.  There were a couple of moments like that.

More confusingly, there were places where the meaning was unclear: both Belle and Emma recount, and Abbott carefully transcribes, events that could not possibly have taken place, but in each case, the recounting (both in quotations and in authorial writing) is extensive and vividly recounted, just as all the other events.  Either before or after, the demurral exists, but is always faint or opaque, leaving me confused about the actual events.  This really bugged me.  Again, the dedication to "truth" in historical record makes the resulting narrative confusing.  That isn't good.  If your sources are making shit up, make it crystal clear in the narrative in the moment that they are fabricating, rather than mentioning it in passing in the note before the text.

Other than those few minor niggles, I enjoyed the stories of these brave women greatly.  We need more history like this, including everyone from the past who experienced the events, not just the privileged members.

As a final note, I must say that General McClellan is about the most worthless field general (and the most personally egotistic) I have ever heard of.  Useless man.  I hope he never realized how much death and suffering resulted from his lack of ability.

Molly Bannaky, Alice McGill, Chris K. Soentpiet

Molly Bannaky, Alice McGill, illus Chris K. Soentpiet.  ISBN: 039572287X

Read Oct 4, 2013

Oversized picture book - oil paintings.

The illustrations in this book deserve a better-told story than what they are currently paired with.  McGill gives us the bare-bones, "just the facts, ma'am" with no feelings or interpretation or evocation of mood - leaving all that for the illustrations to carry.  And they do a great job, considering they've got to handle a slave-purchase, illegal marriage and kids, and then death, all within the space of three or four page-spreads.  

The cover painting is arresting, and the interior work does not disappoint, but the flat writing really does the story and the artist a disservice.  A short biographical and historical note at the end does more to liven up the tale than the actual text does!

I'd love to see these paintings re-purposed into a short chapter-book rendition of the story of these Americans, similar to the classic illustrated Robin Hood or Robinson Crusoe.  I think that the extra time and space to TELL the story in a more full and rich manner will then make the occasional beautiful artworks pop out even more.  As it is, it's beautiful, but not very interesting, which is impressive, given the subjects.

Big Jabe, Jerdine Nolen, Kadir Nelson

Big Jabe, Jerdine Nolen, illus by Kadir Nelson.  ISBN: 0688136621

Read Oct 2, 2013

Picture Book: Plantation South slaves are delighted with Big Jabe, a tall-tale man who does all their work for them, and might have something to do with mysteriously spiriting them away when they're tormented by the overseer.

Abby loves to fish, but she never thought she'd fish a great big boy out of the river!  Big Jabe grows fast - from one day to the next he's a grown man!  The pear tree he plants likewise grows quick - before a full season is gone, it's full-grown and heavy with fruit.  He can pick the entire cotton harvest in one morning, and the plantation itself seems blessed with enormous yields.

But woe betide them all if someone gets beaten - tornadoes swirl down, and torrential rain falls; and afterwards, someone's always gone missing!  No scent to follow, no trace of them anywhere, and Big Jabe's always around, working hard and helping everyone out. 

By the end, Addy herself is suspected of magic, and both her and Big Jabe vanish like the mist - on to another place to help out and rescue the unfortunate. 

Kadir Nelson is an amazing illustrator, and this story has all the tone and cadence of a sermon, without the preachy parts.  Nice to pair with John Henry for another great black folk figure, or with the original story of Moses.