The Rest of the Story by Mary Louise Sanchez

         

When I was growing up, our radio dial was always tuned to Paul Harvey. Later he had a program called The Rest of the Story which showed Mr. Harvey was also a great history teacher, because in about three minutes, he told us little known stories about people, events, and things. I'd like to take you behind the scenes to give you a little more insight into The Wind Called My Name. 

 The pages and texts refer to the book and  The ANNOTATIONS are the Rest of the Story along with some pictures. 

TITLE-PAGE ANNOTATION: On the path to publication, my story was originally called Just Plain Maggie. This was a seventeen page, spiral bound story I gave my mom for Christmas in 1996. My brother Patrick drew about four illustrations. Around 2005 I renamed it Margarita's Gift, and later it became The Wind Called My Name.

Page 5 Claudette kicked up a trail of dust as she moved down the dirt roads. Abuela held her gold-colored statue of Mary, the Queen of Heaven, on her lap, but she should have been holding Nuestra Señora de los Dolores—because it seemed like our hearts too were pierced by swords.

ANNOTATION: My great-grandmother, Rufina (Maldonado) Maes brought her statue of Saint Mary to Fort Steele when she moved from New Mexico to Wyoming. It now belongs to my aunt, Phyllis (Sandoval) Aguilar Torres.

Page 12 "This is new," I said. I held my square tortilla up so everyone could see its shape. Papá smiled. "I made tortillas in the shape of Wyoming to welcome you. And square ones taste better than round ones."

ANNOTATION: To this day, my first tortilla of the batch I am making seems to be a square one.

Page 22 "They [torta de huevos] reminded me of how puffed up I was with myself and so sure I'd make a friend quickly."

ANNOTATION: This is a Lenten egg dish, typically eaten on Good Friday. It is made by mixing egg yolks into whipped egg whites with the addition of a small amount of flour. Dollops of this mixture are deep fried and topped with a red chile sauce.

Page 27 I caught a glimpse of myself in a long mirror. My dress, which used to be Felicita's reached just above my knobby knees. My hair looked like Ernesto's with the same bowl cut. 

Page 50 (a letter from Margarita's grandmother, Cruzita Cardenas Sandoval, who stays in New Mexico and is learning English.)

July 15, 1934

Dear Margarita,
          Thanks to God the family is together. I am busy with Blanca. She give me much  milk to make cheese. I sell all my cheese to the artists who paint pictures of our mountains.

ANNOTATION: As a child we visited my great-grandmother in El Carmen, New Mexico where she milked her white goat and gave us warm goat milk to drink. I was turned off from drinking any milk for a long while after that experience. However, now I wish I could get raw goat's milk to make fresh goat cheese like you can find in rural areas of New Mexico. It's delicious!

The artists I'm referring to are artists like Georgia O'Keefe who made northern New Mexico their new home. 

Page  115 She [Miss Shugart-teacher] got up from her desk and walked between the rows. "As you know, after the Civil War, some of those soldiers came right here to Fort Steele, to protect the men who built the railroad. Students, raise your hand if someone in your family fought in the Civil War."

. . . "Phyllis, you had your hand raised," Miss Shugart said. Felícita stood up and said," Our great-grandfather Jose del Carmel Cardenas fought for the Union at the Battle of Valverde."

ANNOTATION: This is one of my ancestor's papers showing he was entitled to a pension from the United States government for his service during the Civil War. The map shows where he fought in New Mexico.

Page 8 . . . and he [Alberto] sang a song called "Beyond the Blue Horizon," which he said he heard on the radio.

ANNOTATION: In my research for songs from the 1930s, I discovered this tune was made popular by Jeanette MacDonald and would have most likely still be played on the radio in 1934. The song also became popular in recent times. I played the song for our granddaughter, Emily, and asked if she had heard it. She hadn't, but I said I was going to put the song in the story in homage to her 2018 graduation from Horizon High School. My editor suggested I cut the reference, but I explained that Alberto might have tried to show how savvy he was with pop culture of the times and could have sung the song to his family. I must have done a good sales pitch to my editor, because the reference to the song stayed in the story! On YouTube, enjoy this 1930 Phil Spitalny version from the Paramont Production of "Monte Carlo". 
Beyond the Blue Horizon

Page 23 Alberto cleared his throat. "At least we have it good in Fort Steele. I read in the paper where some mejicanos from Durango who live in Worland have to pick sugar beets, if they can get work at all. They're trying to send money home like us. But many of them were sent back to Mexico—even some who were born here in the United States—just because there isn't enough work. The townspeople don't want to help them, especially since Wyoming is hurting from this Depression. They think Mexicans should go back where they came from.

            I thought about that girl asking me if I was from Mexico.

ANNOTATION: "The 1930s also saw an unprecedented deportation program that targeted those considered "aliens." This was especially acute in sugar beet communities where in many cases sugar companies and local charity organizations coordinated repatriation to move Mexicans out of depressed areas. The deportation drives disproportionately focused on Mexicans—regardless of citizenship—due to the racialized view of them as "welfare dependent" and the proximity of Mexico."

Merleaux, Sugar and Civilization, p. 248; "Mexico Offers Aid To Its Subjects," Worland Grit, January 6, 1938.

Page 55 He [Mr. Sims] kept driving north until he stopped near a big house made of pink stone. It had three levels of windows that led up to a tower. People were eating under a covered porch.

            Caroline clapped her hands. "This is where the rich Ferris family lives. Everyone calls this the Ferris Mansion."

ANNOTATION: This beautiful Victorian mansion is in Rawlins, Wyoming and was built from sandstone found nearby. When I was in kindergarten, my teacher, Miss Lila Lantz, lived there. There have been some scary stories published about the house. Later it became a bed and breakfast inn.

Page 55 Mr. Sims drove down the street and turned right. "That's the big house," he said, nodding to a building nearby. It stretched from one corner of the street almost all the way to the next corner. 

            "This mansion is bigger. Who lives there?" I asked.

              Caroline laughed. "Prisoners. That's the state prison."

            "It must hold a lot of people."

            "Yep. That's why it's called the big house."

ANNOTATION: The Wyoming state penitentiary is located in Rawlins, Wyoming. As a girl, we often sat on the penitentiary grounds in the summer where the penitentiary band entertained the townspeople. The prisoners must have had lots of time on their hands to practice their instruments! When I was in college, my parents moved to a house about two blocks from the pen. Even though I was born and raised in Rawlins and my uncle, Pete Lucero, was a guard there, I never saw the inside of the old prison until it was turned into a museum after the new penitentiary was built.

Page 97 Back in the kitchen, Mamá read the ingredients on the box [Bisquick]. "This has flour, shortening, salt, baking powder. . . . Yes it has everything we need to make tortillas."

ANNOTATION: Bisquick was invented in 1930 and was still popular in my family in the 1960s when I got married. My mother's cooking advice to me as a new bride was to have a box of Bisquick handy. I also fondly remember how my mother's eldest sister, Ruth (Sandoval) Lucero sometimes made her tortillas from Bisquick.

Now you know some of the rest of the story to THE WIND CALLED MY NAME. I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'd love to see your comments (hopefully positive) on Amazon or Goodreads. Please click the link to see a synopsis of The Wind Called My Name.            

Native American Heritage Month

November is Native American Heritage Month , and although I believe Native American literature belongs in every month of the year, an opportunity to highlight it is always welcome.

This is not a comprehensive list, but rather some of the most often cited middle-grade historical fiction with Native American themes and characters.

I must begin with Joseph Bruchac, whose contribution to Native American children's literature is beyond measure. Some favorite historical fiction are: Children of the Long House, Hidden Roots (for upper middle-grade as the subject is genocide), and my personal favorite Code Talkers (A WWII story, which is sometimes listed as YA, but I think is appropriate for for upper middle-grade).

Louise Erdrich is a prolific author in multiple genres and forms. Her Birchbark series has become a staple of Native American historical fiction.

"[In this] story of a young Ojibwa girl, Omakayas, living on an island in Lake Superior around 1847, Louise Erdrich is reversing the narrative perspective used in most children's stories about nineteenth-century Native Americans. Instead of looking out at 'them' as dangers or curiosities, Erdrich, drawing on her family's history, wants to tell about 'us', from the inside. The Birchbark House establishes its own ground, in the vicinity of Laura Ingalls Wilder's 'Little House' books." --The New York Times Book Review

How I Became a Ghost, by Tim Tingle is on most lists for 

middle grade Native American historical fiction: "A Choctaw boy tells the story of his tribe's removal from its Mississippi homeland, and how its exodus to the American West led him to become a ghost --one able to help those left behind." Amazon Review. It is followed by Book 2, When a Ghost Talks, Listen.

Michael Dorris's  Morning Girl  is "a tale based on an entry in the diary of Christopher Columbus that tells of a native family living in a vibrant community striving to coexist with the natural world." Amazon. Sees Behind Trees is about a "Native American boy with a special gift to 'see' beyond his poor eyesight journeys with an old warrior to a land of mystery and beauty." Amazon. And Guests is a favorite Thanksgiving story with a wonderful twist of perspective. Dorris is an award winning author for children and adults.

You can find these and many more on lists at these websites:

https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/p/best-books.html

https://www.whatdowedoallday.com/native-american-middle-grade-books/
http://homeschoollifemag.com/blog/2017/11/20/great-books-for-studying-native-american-history-middle-school
https://www.nativerealities.com/collections
http://www.colorincolorado.org/booklist/historical-fiction-american-indian-heritage-grades-6-12
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lists/teaching-content/native-american-historical-fiction-book-list/
https://www.pragmaticmom.com/2010/06/top-10-native-american-childrens-books-ages-2-16/

NEW BOOK ON THE HORIZON - by Mary Louise Sanchez

There are so many new middle grade historical fiction novels being published. It just so happens that my book, The Wind Called My Name will be one of them on the horizon. Thank you to Jennifer Bohnhoff for giving her time slot on this blog to promote my book!

I never thought about it until I wrote this post, but the beautiful book cover, illustrated by the Pura Belpre award illustrator Raul Colon, shows my protagonist, Margarita, looking towards the horizon and what might lie ahead of her.

My book's birth is scheduled for October 30, 2018 after we had false labor pains on September 18 and October 16 because of a paper shortage. 

As a writer of historical fiction, I love the research portion of writing a book because you learn so many interesting things. Of course not all the research ends up on the final pages. I thought you might enjoy a peek into my research that did end up on the page.

Near the beginning of the book, the Sandoval family is in the eldest brother's car named Collette (named for movie star Collette Coburn) as they leave their ancestral New Mexico home and head to Wyoming to join Papa. It's 1934 and he and Alberto have been fortunate to find work on the Union Pacific railroad. They've been working for a year now, separated from the family. 

p. 8  " We continued north into Colorado, passing Trinidad, Pueblo, Colorado Springs, and Denver. the towns' names changed from Spanish to English. Sometimes we talked and sometimes we slept or sang. Alberto tried to teach us a song called "I've Been Working on the Railroad," and he sang one called "Beyond the Blue Horizon," which he said he heard on the radio." 

I remember listening to this song in my youth. Perhaps I heard it on the Lawrence Welk Show. This television show certainly enlarged my musical history knowledge.

 In my research for songs from the 1930s, I discovered this tune was made popular by Jeanette MacDonald and would have most likely still be played on the radio in 1934. The song also became popular in recent times. I played the song for our granddaughter, Emily, and asked if she had heard it since I had recently heard a new arrangement of the song on YouTube. She hadn't heard the song, but I said I was going to put the song in the story in homage to her 2018 graduation from Horizon High School. My editor, Cheryl Klein, suggested I cut the reference, but I explained that Alberto might have tried to show how savvy he was with pop culture of the times and might have sung it to his family. The reference to the song stayed in the story! 

I hope you'll listen to this beautiful new arrangement of the song which I found on YouTube, and also pick up a copy of my book and read it. I'd love to read your comments about my book on Goodreads or Amazon. 

"Beyond the Blue Horizon"

Lest We Forget, by Elizabeth W.C. Junner. All photographs of the fields, Ruth E. Millan

courtesy R.E. Millan

 ‘On the breast of that huge Mississippi of falsehood called History, a foam bell more or less is no consequence’. Such is the Victorian poet, critic, and inspector of schools, Matthew Arnold’s opinion of history. British schoolboy lore is more pungent: ‘History is bunk’. Nevertheless, the grains of truth are always there somewhere, and diligent historians spare no pains in attempting to unearth them.

November 11^th 2018 marks the 100^th anniversary of the Armistice that brought the Great War to an end. The question of what triggered the First World War, ‘the War to End All Wars’, is still a matter of debate among historians. The assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, on 28^th June 1914 by Serbian terrorists is generally ascribed as being the last straw which provoked hostilities. Under the London Treaty of 1839, Britain was honour bound to protect neutral, recently independent Belgium. So when Germany, in direct violation of the treaty,  invaded Belgium in August, 1914, Britain declared war on 4^th August. The German Chancellor of the time, Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, told the British Ambassador he could not believe the two countries would go to war ‘over a scrap of paper’. It is worth noting in her biography of  Princess Victoria, An Uncommon Woman, Hannah Pakula includes a photograph of the future Wilhelm ll ‘Kaiser Bill’ in Highland dress, on which he has scrawled ‘I bide my time.’ 

There are many fiction books on the Great War for Middle Graders. One is Ernest K. Gann’s In The Company of Eagles. It features the French pilot Paul Chamay and his quest to find and shoot down Kupper, the German pilot who had ruthlessly killed Raymonde, his lifelong friend, after crippling his plane. In the end, Chamay encounters Kupper in a  long drawn out dogfight between just the two of them. Kupper outwits Chamay, ending close on his tail – and does not fire. His guns have jammed. Now Kupper is at Chamay’s mercy. Poised to kill, Chamay recalls someone saying to take revenge leads to madness. Instead, he pulls alongside Kupper, looks him in the eye, salutes and flies off.  It’s somewhat difficult to read, but an interesting book telling the story from the French and German viewpoint.

Murder on the Ridge, by Ted Stenhouse, is the story of Will and his

Blackfoot Indian friend, Arthur. It is a tale of murder and treachery, a cover-up  of what really happened at Vimy Ridge to Wolfleg, the Blackfoot medico. Afterwards on their return to Canada, burning for justice for Wolfleg, the lads seek the help of Arthur's grandfather, a traditional Blackfoot medicine man. We follow their tortuous experiences in the sweat lodge, and how they finally come to a sort of peace. It's a book that probably would not see print today, both Arthur and Will having recourse to the whisky bottle, yet it is another viewpoint on the bloody slaughterhouse that was Vimy, told from the Indian side.

 

Charlie Wilcox’sWar is based on a Newfoundland lad’s experiences in the war. Newfoundland only joined Canada in 1949; as a British protectorate she sent an enormous number of her men to fight in the war, and in consequence suffered horrendous losses. The emblem of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment was a caribou, and a great bronze caribou is the heart of the Newfoundland Memorial at Beaumont-Hamel in France. A grandchild has my copy of the book, but if memory serves me right Charlie survived the war, returns to complete his studies as a medical doctor at McGill University in Montréal, and marries his hometown sweetheart. Thousands of his compatriots lie in unknown graves, with this Memorial as a lasting tribute to their courage and determination.

Not Flanders Field, but McCrae's 'we are the Dead. Short days ago we lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow. Loved and were loved, and now we lie...' is appropriate. 

Sign reminding visitors this is sacred ground, and requesting them to respect it as such.

Although Beaumont-Hamel is primarily a Canadian Memorial, there is also a Memorial and Cemetery for Scottish Regiments. The ground has been left untouched and visitors can walk through a trench. In this late summer of 2018 the grass is green and the ground dry, a sharp contrast to so much of the Great War when memories were mainly of cold, rain, and mud. Especially mud.

h

It is a sobering experience, one hundred years later. All those crosses  and headstones, all those lives lost. I'm sure no-one can visit these battlefields without reflecting on the many hundreds who have no grave to mark where they lie. We should never forget the sacrifice.

My final choice of books is War Horse, by Michael Morpurgo. Told by Joey, a beautiful red bay, with a remarkable white cross on his forehead, this story is based on truth. Befriended by Albert, the farmer’s son, Joey was sold to the Army to pay off debts. Albert joined up to be with Joey but inevitably the two were separated. Joey was used to haul field ambulances; this book does not spare the reader from the senseless slaughter, the courage of the men and horses, the stupidity of their orders but it does so in a masterful way. It is fast paced, and easy to read. Joey ends up in German hands, and then in one of those little miracles he makes his way alone into no-man’s-land where he is found – simultaneously - by a German and a Welshman. The men chat for a few minutes about the futility of war, and agree to toss for Joey. The Welshman won, took Joey back to his regiment – and there also was Albert. The story proceeds with more ups and downs for Joey to a satisfying conclusion.

And here are my final photographs, a sculpture of a soldier comforting his wounded horse. My niece Ruth happened to visit this site at the same time as a group from London came to lay a wreath in memory of a London regiment and one man's grandfather who was killed 100 years to the day. They held a prayer service, a most moving and special moment.

'Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget - lest we forget!' Kipling. 

Get kids ready for #Halloween with #ghost stories that share #history!

Some children find it difficult to connect to history. How about trying a ghost story? Some ghost stories are also set in historical times, while others feature a modern child connecting to a ghost. While these books may or may not be strongly rooted in history, they can be a way to get kids interested in stories from the past.

For example, in my Haunted series, thirteen-year-old Jon and his eleven-year-old sister, Tania, are typical modern kids – except for the fact that Tania can communicate with ghosts. 

In The Ghost on the Stairs, the kids help investigate a hundred-year-old tragedy in Colorado silver mining country. The Riverboat Phantom puts them on the Mississippi River on an antique riverboat. For The Ghost Miner’s Treasure, Jon and Tania travel to the Superstition Mountains of Arizona, where the ghost of an old miner is still looking for his lost mine. 

In this series, the ghosts are being held in this world by something that happened in the past. In order to help free the ghosts, Jon and Tania must understand that past.

See also my post on Learning#History through Ghost Stories.

“Haunted is a fun read with some thrills and chills and has the added bonus of some genuine, compassionate personalities.” - School Library Journal

“I LOVED this book. My daughter who is 11 could not put this book down. She read it so quickly and is asking for more!”

“My 10 year old daughter HATES to read. These books kept her interested and wanting to read more. I downloaded all 4 in this series. THANK YOU!!”

“What I loved most of all, was the way my 4th grade daughter got sucked into the story. She's a reluctant reader so it was a joy to see her completely absorbed in a book; she immediately started the second book in the series when she finished, and can't wait for more.” – Amazon readers

Get all four books in the series from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or other retailers.

HAUNTED

Thirteen-year-old Jon and his eleven-year-old sister, Tania, are typical kids – except for the fact that Tania can communicate with ghosts. Their mom and stepdad are producers of a ghost-hunter reality television show, but they don’t know about Tania’s gift, and Tania wants to keep it that way.

Jon can't see ghosts and didn't believe in them, but things are getting too crazy for any other explanation. And if softhearted Tania wants to help the ghosts, Jon will have to protect her and try to keep them both out of trouble.

First the siblings have to find out what happened to keep each ghost trapped in this world. Then they need to help the ghosts move on—sometimes by letting them take over Tania’s body. All this while dealing with their overprotective mother, a stepfather who’d want to exploit Tania’s gift, and a changing assortment of human troublemakers.

Life gets interesting when your sister sees ghosts. And the TV show’s shooting season is just beginning....

Chris Eboch is the author of over 60 books for children, including nonfiction and fiction, early reader through teen. Her novels for ages nine and up include The Eyes of Pharaoh, a mystery in ancient Egypt; The Well of Sacrifice, a Mayan adventure; The Genie’s Gift, a middle eastern fantasy; and the Haunted series, about kids who travel with a ghost hunter TV show, which starts with The Ghost on the Stairs. Her writing craft books include You Can Write for Children: How to Write Great Stories, Articles, and Books for Kids and Teenagers, and Advanced Plotting.

Learn more at https://chriseboch.com/ or her Amazon page, or check out her writing tips at her Write Like a Pro! blog.

The Past, The People, and Politics

I remember when I believed the world would be divided into the countries behind the Iron Curtain - under the influence of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - and the Western World forever. Then journalists coined the terms "Third World" and "Developing World" for those countries not caught up in the Cold War. Many of these had been subjected to European and U.S. colonialism and had yet to gain their independence.

I remember when the map of Africa included French West Africa which was a vast expanse on that map, the Belgian Congo, German East Africa, and the United Kingdom held colonies of Rhodesia, South Africa, Kenya etc. As children, we not only learned the names of these countries but who "owned" them.  Education like that effects children's view of the world. We were taught to own countries, to divide the world, and, in fact, that some people were more deserving of freedom and independence than others. Our text books supported this.

But literature did not. Read Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton, as I did in ninth grade and your view shifts. Read The Family Romanov, a nonfiction narrative by Candice Fleming and you will understand more of how the Soviet Union came into being. Read The Soong Dynasty by Sterling Seagrave and you'll get a peek at modern Chinese history and the government it led to. Literature takes up topics that text books do not. Which is our mandate as authors: to write the stories that are buried or forgotten - sometimes for specific political or national reasons.

Today, with education standards being focused on skills - reading, math, technology, and perhaps science - the past is often left out of curriculum. So is foreign language. Cultural information may be limited to celebrations of food or certain days. Authors, artists, dancers, and musicians are more important than ever. Our work shines a light on our commonality as people. It exposes the human spirit. It can speak truth in the guise of art. This is why art is  often discouraged in totalitarian regimes. It's why street art may upset the mainstream culture. It's why I continue to write.

Because people create change. The Iron Curtain fell. Africa now has fifty-four independent nations. China is one of the most powerful countries in the world. Look to art and literature for the changes that are coming. Politicians and autocrats may hold power, but artists create the culture. We see the future and it always belongs to the people.

I am optomistic. I've been blessed to meet, laugh with and learn from people from around the world. I have traveled across the U.S. and Canada speaking at schools and conferences. There are so many stories to be told - and they aren't the "official" ones. They are the ones with heart, the stories of freedom and hard decisions and small daily  heroic acts. We owe it to our children to write, read, and study Middle Grade History.

Sara K Joiner: Review of "The Warden's Daughter"

The Warden's Daughter by Jerry Spinelli tells the story of Cammie O'Reilly, the titular daughter of the warden. She lives in an apartment above a prison in Pennsylvania in 1959. While she has a good life and enjoys a certain notoriety as the warden's daughter, she has one goal for the summer--to find a new mother.

Her own mother died in an act of sacrifice that saved Cammie when she was only a baby but resulted in her mother being struck and killed by a truck. Cammie knows the story, but she is haunted by it. She refuses to ride her bike near the intersection where the accident happened, which she dubs The Corner.

To find a new mother, Cammie focuses on some of the women in the prison--in particular their trustee housekeeper Eloda, and Boo Boo, a shoplifter. Ultimately, Cammie wants someone to mother her; she's not truly looking for her father to marry this person. She wants to feel the unconditional love from someone that she knows her real mother felt for her. But she doesn't remember what that feeling is like.

Now that Cammie is twelve going on thirteen, life is becoming increasingly difficult. Her best friend is trying out lipstick and hoping to be on American Bandstand. Other girls in the neighborhood want to hang out in the prison yard (without the prisoners) and exploit their relationship with Cammie. The boys she plays pick-up baseball games with have found her ruthless way of playing too much to handle and kick her off the field.

Cammie is an angry child, and she's not always pleasant to be around. Even she knows she's unhappy. Losing a parent is never easy, and Cammie's loss is amplified by losing hers in such a manner. How can you ever come to terms with the death of someone who is, by her last act, a hero?

She turns that anger outward and tries to generate feelings from Eloda by picking fights with her. She smokes a cigarette in front of her. She calls her the maid. Nothing seems to work.

It's not until Cammie reaches her own psychological breaking point and begins to heal that she fully understands her relationship with Eloda.

While I found the ending a bit rushed, everything up to that point was a delight. Cammie is an angry girl, but books with characters like her--simmering with barely controlled hostility to anyone--is such a rarity in books for young readers that she was a breath of fresh air. Especially since she was a girl.

Having lost a parent when I was a child (not as young as Cammie), I understood that hurt and that anger and that desire to lash out at anyone who seemed like their life was so much better than yours. Hindsight gives us all regrets, and Cammie has her own by the end of the book. She grows and matures and finds a well of strength inside herself that helps her come to terms with her mother's death.

The ending only feels a bit rushed because we've spent so much time with Cammie in her everyday life in the summer of 1959 that jumping forward a couple years is a bit disconcerting.

So much rage is in a story that seems almost old-fashioned. Cammie rides her bike around a picturesque American town. She befriends a number of interesting and quirky characters. But underneath all that old-fashioned charm is a deeply unhappy female protagonist who is utterly real and human.

I highly recommend The Warden's Daughter.

Sara K Joiner is the author of After the Ashes. She is also a public librarian.

Indonesia: Researching Elusive Subjects

When researching, my first stop is the local library, my second is WorldCat, and my third is the Internet. For this blog, I wanted to gather a list of middle-grade Indonesian historical fiction, but discovered right away that the topic is thin at best. Fortunately, I didn't have to look far to find my first book. 

Check Your Backyard

I already knew of After the Ashes by our own Sara K. Joiner on this blog--which just goes to show that sometimes you don’t need to go over the rainbow to find what you are looking for. After the Ashes is set on Java during the eruption of Krakatau in 1883. 

Next Stop? The library, of course!

My library turned up a handful of educational nonfiction on Indonesia and one middle-grade historical fiction: Judy: Prisoner of War by Laurie Calkhoven, which is set in Southeast Asia prior to and during WWII. This is part of the G.I. Dogs series--history through the eyes of a canine protagonist seems to be a trend. I found this under "Indonesia-History" in the subject search. And that was it. Although there were young adult, middle-grade, and elementary titles in the subject area, there were no more middle-grade historical fiction.

WorldCat

It was time to turn to the world's largest catalog of holdings Worldcat lists over 2 billion items from thousands of libraries around the world. You can narrow your search by language and type: fiction/nonfiction, juvenile, etc. The items are not directly available from WorldCat, but there is a list of where to obtain them. I'm a huge fan of inter-library loan. You can also buy some items from listed vendors.  

One problem with WorldCat is that it lists items but does not vet them. Some titles looked intriguing, but when I searched for reviews, I discovered that they might not be well written or not appropriate for middle-grade. A couple looked intriguing, but reviews noted that they were extremely sad or violent. I don't shy away from such books, but I want to leave that to your discretion. Checking Goodreads for reviews may help you decide. Goodreads, by the way, is another resource for finding books by subject and age.

Another problem with Worldcat is that items published in other countries might be hard to obtain. Here are two that looked good, but you probably need to buy them used:  A Garland of Emeralds, by Laverne Boulgne Van Ryk is a WWII Dutch family experience, which might also be for older teens.Tiger Stone: by Deryn Mansell had good reviews, but was criticized for book-ending the ancient story with modern scenes. 

The Internet

The Internet is a vast and often confusing ocean, but I found some book lists that were helpful such as Children's Books from Southeast Asia

The outstanding title I found here ( and then located in my local library as an e-book--but which was not listed under the subject Indonesia!)  is My Night in the Museum, written and illustrated by Innosanto Nagara. Nagara relates a memoir through the eyes of his 7-year-old self. 

"A beautiful introduction to the history and culture of Indonesia, . . . an engaging, thought-provoking starting point for a discussion of colonialism, political corruption, and artistic resistance."

A Few MoreTips

I found that "Indonesia" as a search subject was far too broad. Indonesia is the 4th most populated country in the world, with over 700 living languages, and is composed of 17,500 islands (although not all of these are inhabited). To narrow the search, I used specific islands, such as Java, Sumatra, and Bali.

Another tip is to search by specific event: volcanic eruption, Krakatau (or Krakatoa), Tsunami--Indonesia or Tsunami--Indian Ocean.

Serendipity

Research is a skill to hone, but sometimes serendipity turns up a jewel. I came across The Bee Tree while researching Cinco Puntos Press. It isn't strictly a historical fiction, but I think it will be. It certainly offers a lovely glimpse into a slice of Indonesia.

Not about Indonesia, but a fun high-
 seas adventure set in the time of
Dutch colonialism.

I first began to research Indonesia for an educational nonfiction I wrote. I was woefully ignorant about this part of the world, but in some ways, I can see why. There just isn't a good body of work available for English speaking children--or perhaps I need to keep looking for it. I'm sure there must be books that can be translated. Perhaps publishers need to acquire foreign rights to books already published to make them more accessible. In the meantime. I hope this list will aid you in opening this part of the world to your middle-grade readers.





This looks lovely. I'm going to put in an

 inter-library loan!



Michele Hathaway is an author and freelance editor. She has an M. A. in Social Anthropology and has worked in libraries in California, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania. She writes middle-grade nonfiction and stories set in culturally diverse, historical periods.

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