chrisholliman

Children's Librarian

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  • Brotherhood by A.B. Westrick

    ImageThe Plot In Five Sentences Or Less:  Shad is a young man living with his older brother Jeremiah and their mother on the outside of Richmond, Virginia in the years just after the Civil War.  Their father has died during the conflict and the family is trying to adjust to a post-war reality where Yankee soldiers roam the streets and carpetbaggers and free blacks compete for jobs.   Shad, longing for security and fellowship,  soon follows Jeremiah and joins up with the KKK.  This allegiance is tested, however, when he begins taking classes at Ms. Perkinson’s, a transplanted Yankee that runs a negro school.  When Jeremiah and the rest of the clan begin to threaten the Perkinson’s, Shad must decide where his true obligations lie.

    My Take:  As a native Richmonder, I very much enjoyed this book.  As I read about the characters wandering down, say, Broad Street, I could see clearly in my mind the area through which they were traveling.  I give credit to Westrick because, by focusing on the years just after the war, she has given us a Civil War book that stands out for its examination of post conflict adjustment.  I felt that the characters and situations were sufficiently complex and, even at the end, there was upheld a good deal of ambiguity which evaded easy answers.  Ages 12+

    One Interesting Note About the Author:  According to her website, A.B. Westrick was born in Pennsylvania, but now lives in Mechanicsville, Virginia.  This, of course, still makes her a Yankee! 😉

  • Time Travel Programs

    Historical Time Travel Programs

    As a history buff, I wanted to find a way to get kids excited about learning about the past.  I came up with the idea of a Time Travel Program in which children could interact with a famous historical figure in person.   Audiences would actually witness me, as a Time Traveling Mad Scientist/Librarian, travel to the past using a spray painted refrigerator box as a “time machine.”  I would then bring the famous person back to the present day where audiences would be able to ask them questions about their lives and times before they were returned to their respective historical periods.

    The “back in time” scenes would be done by projecting a video on a large screen at the program to be shown after I crawled into the “time machine.”  This would give the illusion of time travel.

    These Time Travel Programs have been very successful and I have managed to kidnap such figures as Henry David Thoreau, Lewis and Clark, the aviator Richard Byrd, and Patrick Henry.  View the below video to see me bring the writer Edgar Allan Poe to my library!

     

  • Build It Program At the Library!

    Built It Program

    One of the programs that I do for school aged children at the library is a “Build It” program.   This is an event in which children construct a hands-on project that is fun and functional.  Ideas include marshmallow shooters, two liter bottle rockets, and balloon cars.

    I was inspired to do a “Build It” program out of sheer frustration with being inept at crafts.  I have tried for years to do crafts programs at the library.  While many have been successful, I can say that I honestly do not have the enthusiasm for crafts that some of my coworkers do.   Early this year, I decided to throw in the towel and start focusing on constructing things with kids that had a purpose.    PVC pipe, screws and 2X4’s, would trump glitter, pipe cleaners, and pom poms!

    One of my “Build It” programs focused on building medieval siege weapons!  Kids constructed a mini catapult using popsicle sticks, rubber bands, and bottle caps.  We played some games with the mini catapults–knocking down cups, who can shoot the farthest, etc.

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    Then we went outside and I introduced them to the trebuchet that my coworker and I had been building for the past week.  Below are some pictures of it under construction.  Our trebuchet was about 5 feet tall by 3 feet wide.  I used the plans that some high school girls had posted on line at this Instructables site.

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    During the Build It program, I did not allow kids near the trebuchet.  This is important because of safety.  The counterweight that we used was a 45 lb kettlebell that can hurl an object about 150 feet.   We used our trebuchet to launch water balloons at the kids out in a field.  This was perfectly safe and the kids had a blast trying to catch the balloons.  It was a great time at the library!  Please see the below video that I made for some early childhood educators to see how our trebuchet works.

     

  • Whistle in the Dark by Susan Hill Long

    ImageThe Plot in Five Sentences or Less:  Clem lives in the mining country in the Ozarks of Missouri.  After his 13th birthday, he must leave school and join his father in the mines to make much needed money for the family.  Clem detests mining and is tempted to join his friend Linda Jean in her family bootleg business.  A string of family tragedies, however, reinforces the need for Clem to work the mines and he subsequently wonders if his life will ever change.

    My Take:  This was a convincing and compelling account of families caught in the economic trap of lead mining in Missouri in the 1920’s.  Through the characters of Clem and his family, we appreciate how awful that life was and how few choices people had in that area of the country.  Long’s writing is plain and never devolves into sentimentality.  I applaud her for using the 3rd person point of view, rather than the more common first person.  Towards the end there are a few plot points that tie things up perhaps a bit too nicely, but overall this is a pleasant and educational read for ages 10+.

    One Interesting Note About the Author:  As a child, Susan had the interesting habit of rating her days along a spectrum of 1-10.  Her rating was based on the requirements of “doing [her] homework, eat[ing] well, exercis[ing], practicing the flute, and doing something nice for someone.”  She no longer rates her days, but you may find out more about her at her website.

  • Fallout by Todd Strasser

    strasser falloutFallout by Todd Strasser

    The Plot in Five Sentences or Less:  Recounts the experience of one middle American family during the nuclear standoff of 1963.  The plot alternates in time between the family preparing a nuclear fallout shelter and then actually using it during a nuclear strike.  9 people make it into the shelter and tensions run high as time passes.  The story is told from the point of view of a teenage boy whose father constructs the shelter.

    My Take:  Fallout is enjoyable and also educates readers on the widespread fear during the early sixties of a nuclear strike.  Strasser does an excellent job of building up the anxiety and claustrophobia in the fallout shelter.  He also does not dodge the difficult topics of burgeoning teenage sexual feelings nor the bathroom issues involved with 9 people trapped in a room.  This cannot be considered strict historical fiction as there was never a nuclear strike on American soil during the 1960’s.

    One Interesting Note About the Author:  Fallout is based on Strasser’s father constructing a bomb shelter in the family’s backyard in 1962.  Strasser revisits this in the author’s note at the end of the book.

  • My Beautiful Hippie by Janet Nichols Lynch

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    The Plot in Five Sentences or Less:  During the Summer of Love in 1967 in the Haight District of San Francisco, Joanne falls in love with a hippie named Martin.  Their relationship develops as Joanne watches her family and world change around her.  Her sister Denise enters a loveless marriage and is sexually harassed at work while her brother Dan is interested in joining up and going to Vietnam.  As Joanne’s relationship with Martin develops, she experiments with drugs and protesting against the war while also carving out time to excel at her piano practice.

    My Take:  Against my own predictions, I enjoyed this book and believe that young adult females interested in the 1960’s will get a kick out of it.   When I began this book, my fear was that it was going to simply be about a silly, moon-eyed girl pining over a boy.  Janet smartly puts in the side plot of Joanne’s burning interest in the piano and, because of this, I felt much more interested in this character.  My one quibble was the placement of the characters at the assassination of Bobby Kennedy.  The scene was too short and inserted rather desultorily into the narrative.  Other than that, I was pleasantly surprised by this story of young love in the 1960’s.   Ages 13+ due to drug use and profanity.

    One Interesting Note About the Author:  Music plays a big part in Janet’s life.  She has been taking piano lessons since the age of 7.  She plays guitar as well, but feels most inclined to play classical piano.  Find out more about at her website.

  • Canary in the Coal Mine by Madelyn Rosenberg

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    The Plot In 5 Sentences or Less:  Bitty is a canary that lives in the town of Coalbank Hollow, West Virginia in 1931.  Caged with other canaries in a boy’s room, the birds are daily taken to the mines and used as methane and carbon monoxide detectors.  The mines are dangerous for man and bird and alike, so Bitty concocts a plan to escape.  After springing himself, he makes his way to Charleston where he plans to somehow petition the state government to make mining safer.  Along the way he meets lots of new friends,  makes some enemies, and learns that changing the status quo is not easy.

    My Take:  This is a solid anthropomorphic book in the spirit of E.B. White  or Dick King-Smith.  I learned a lot about mining and also about birds (before reading this I couldn’t tell a grackle from a crow).  Some readers may quibble about a bird somehow knowing to make their way to Charleston to legislate for mining conditions, but, hey, its a children’s book.  Ages 9+

    One Interesting Note about the Author:   Madelyn’s first children’s “book” was called “Mommy’s Flying Birthday Cake.”  You may view a copy of it here.  

  • One Came Home by Amy Timberlake

     

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    The Plot in 5 Sentences or Less:  Georgie Burkhardt is a 13 year old girl living with her mom and grandfather in Placid, Wisconsin in the 1870’s.  When the book opens, Georgie is mourning the death of her older sister Agatha whose body has turned up miles away near Dog Hollow.  The body is too decomposed to be recognized, but it is wearing Agatha’s distinctive dress.  Georgie refuses to accept that her sister is dead and slips away one night with Agatha’s former beau Billy McCabe on a journey to Dog Hollow.   But seeking answers will put them in great danger and test Georgie’s bonds of sisterhood.

    My Take:  This is an excellent YA mystery set in the mid west in the 19th century.  The characters are well developed and I did not find them artificial as I so often do in YA fiction.  Timberlake does an excellent job of expressing that Georgie is a strong female without making her into some over the top Katniss Everdeen.  I did think that the ending could be more mournful and therefore more poignant and open ended, but people love happy endings.   One Came Home makes me want to read more by Timberlake.  Ages 12+

    One Interesting Note About the Author:  Passenger pigeons play a large role in this book.  Timberlake’s inspiration to write One Came Home  derived from her discovery of the rich history of this extinct bird.  In 1871, the largest nesting of pigeons ever recorded occurred in south-central Wisconsin.  The entire length of it was 125 miles long!

     

     

  • Hattie Ever After by Kirby Larson

     

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    The Plot in 5 Sentences or Less:  After she failed at running her Uncle Chester’s farm, Hattie Brooks is now working in a boardinghouse in Great Falls, Montana in 1919.  Seeking to become a big city reporter, she makes her way to San Francisco with an acting troupe.  She also wants to meet one Ruby Danvers, who apparently was very close to her uncle, and find out the background of their relationship.  Through her pluck and determination, Hattie makes great progress in her career as a reporter, taking a ride in a new Boeing airplane and even meeting Woodrow Wilson.  But Hattie must eventually make a choice between staying in San Francisco or following her true love Charlie.  

    My Take:  Having not read Hattie Big Sky, I still felt that this was a fine, well written book about a girl trying to make it in the big city in the early 20th century.  I can’t say that it was the most exciting book that I’ve read, the narrative is driven more by the relationships that Hattie makes rather than any action, but girls will find a lot to like in the character of Hattie.  Ages 9+

    One Interesting Note About the Author:  According to her website, Kirby Larson originally wrote Hattie Big Sky inspired by her great-grandmother’s homesteading experience in eastern Montana.

     

     

     

  • Muckers by Sandra Neil Wallace

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    The Plot in 5 Sentences or Less:  Red O’Sullivan is a senior at Hatley High School in a mining town in Arizona in the fall of 1950.  He is also the quarterback for the Hatley Muckers, who haven’t made a push for the title since 1941, when Red’s brother Bobby was QB.  Bobby’s death in World War II exacerbated his father’s drinking and his mother’s loss of sanity.  Red hopes to redeem his school and his family by leading his team to the championship cup. But larger forces at work; the Korean War is raging, the mine is closing, and the school is shutting down.

    My Take:  The Korean War.  The mine closing. The school shutting down.  The alcoholic father.  The insane mother.  The dead brother.  The corrupt priest.  Wallace piles on a mountain (no pun intended) of trouble onto the protagonist.  By the middle of the book, I began feeling like perhaps this was all too much, as if the book were a parody of some blue collar nightmare set in the southwest.  Or perhaps this was Friday Night Lights in Arizona.  I believe that a tighter focus on fewer problems may have yielded a more powerful read.  However, I commend Wallace for offering the reader an unfamiliar time and place in history.  Sports fans and history buffs may enjoy this book.  Ages 12+

    One Interesting Note About the Author:  Sandra Neil Wallace was for many years an ESPN sports announcer.  According to her website, her favorite ice cream is Tiger Tiger (a mix of licorice and orange sherbert!).  It is a flavor easily found in Canada but not the United States.