2011 - Moon Over Manifest

Dates read: May/Jun 2011
Read or listened to: Read
Pages: 231 pp.
Rating: ●●●●○

Moon Over Manifest is a great book. I love the way it comes together at the end. It reminds me a bit of last year's Newbery that also had many details that resolved themselves seamlessly in the end. That said, the first 200 pages took me over a month off and on to get through. I wanted so badly to just take the book and feel motivated to stay up all night to finish it. It didn't happen. Then I was just about to give up on the book when I decided that I was more than halfway through so I really owed it to myself and the book to finish. So I committed and I am glad that I did. (Then it only took me 3 days to finish.)

A couple ideas to take from it: Accept the love of others and allow yourself to belong. Family ties are very strong and deserve to be nourished and strengthened. History is important. Know where you came from and you'll find that it can significantly influence where you are headed. Community ties (the "village") are also useful and strong. The family can't always provide all that is good and needful so the community will oftentimes fill in. Make yourself a part of the community so that you can take advantage of all it offers.

1982 - A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers

Dates read: May 2011
Read or listened to: Read
Pages: 44 pp.
Rating: ●●○○○

So, I just couldn't get into it. I read it twice to give it a fair shot. I think I was not in a poetry mood. I am sure that the poems are pretty good but they weren't there for me. The pictures are very nice. This book actually got a Caldecott Honor medal. Pretty impressive, I'd say. I wonder if there are any other books that have received both a Caldecott and a Newbery? I feel guilty for not loving this book, but I don't. Someday I'll have to pick it up again and give it another try.

1950 - Amos Fortune, Free Man

Dates read: Apr/May 2011
Read or listened to: Read
Pages: 181 pp.
Rating: ●●●●○

Fabulous read. I would be interested how much creative license the author took and how much is documented. Amos Fortune was born free in Africa. At 15, he was shipped to the colonies and sold as a slave. During his lifetime he bought his own freedom and that of many others. He taught that freedom means nothing until one knows how to live. His life teaches self-reliance as well as helping others help themselves while still showing forth immense compassion. A line from the book that sticks out: "If people knew what it was they did that caused suffering they would no longer do it." Oh, how nice it would be to see the end from the beginning. I felt that this was likely a progressive book in terms of racial issues being that it was written in 1950. Loved it.