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Nonfiction Roundup

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While Kelly has been busily plugging away at her Cybils nonfiction reading, I’ve also been delving a bit into the YA nonfiction world via my workplace’s Mock Printz committee. We had three nonfiction titles we were considering, all I highly recommend.

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In Florence Nightingale: The Courageous Life of the Legendary Nurse, Catherine Reef takes her readers on a journey through the life of perhaps the most famous nurse in the Western world. Florence Nightingale is best known for her work in the Crimean War where she selflessly and tirelessly cared for the wounded English soldiers, but in truth, that’s only a small part of her long and extensive career. That career involved numerous reforms in how medicine was practiced and applied and the transformation of nursing into a vocation – a socially acceptable one for women of her time. She started the first secular nursing school and published many papers on her findings, which included graphs of statistical data, something not much done at the time.

Reef also gives her readers peeks into Nightingale’s personality. She had a prickly temperament and was a bit of a domineering manager. She considered marrying a man whom she cared deeply for, but ultimately decided her dedication to nursing, something she felt called to by God, was more important. Personal insights like these interspersed among her professional accomplishments give readers a well-rounded and fascinating overview of an important woman. This is a smoothly-written biography appropriate for older middle grade and YA collections.

Patricia McCormick delivers a biography of a very different but equally fascinating person, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in The Plot to Kill Hitler: Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Unlikely Hero. I had heard of Dietrich Bonhoeffer before, and knew he died due to his involvement in assassination attempts against Hitler, but beyond that, I knew very little. I’m not alone in this: of the many adults I asked about Bonhoeffer, I don’t think any even knew who he was. This book should change that. It’s written for a younger audience than Reef’s, solidly middle grade (maybe on the young side of middle grade, even), with short chapters and an intrusive (though not annoying) authorial voice on the part of McCormick.

McCormick traces Bonhoeffer’s life from a young, sensitive German boy who loved music to his decision to become a pastor to his vow to resist peacefully (Gandhi was his example) and ultimately to his decision to bring down Hitler by any means necessary – even violently. Bonhoeffer and his cohorts’ attempts all failed, and he and most of the others involved – including his brothers – were executed as a result. But McCormick asks her young readers to consider the question: “Does the fact that he didn’t succeed in his aims make him any less of a hero?” While the book itself is short and can feel slight to adult readers, this is weighty stuff for kids, and it’s incredibly moving for readers of any age.

Albert Marrin tackles the same time period from a different perspective in Uprooted: The Japanese American Experience During World War II. Marrin covers the Japanese-American imprisonment in American concentration camps (with an excellent explanation for why these were concentration camps, not internment camps, both legally and practically speaking). He also delves into Japanese-American participation as soldiers in both the Pacific and the European warfronts. He begins with a brief historical overview of the conflicts between Japan and the West and Japan and China, both vital to understanding the Japanese-Americans’ situation during World War II.

Marrin accurately uses the words “white supremacy” and “racism” when describing how Japanese-Americans were treated during this time period. He quotes people like FDR and other lawmakers repeatedly, using their own words to demonstrate how their own racism fueled the country’s racism and led to egregious human rights violations. Importantly, he also discusses how people can change, most notably Earl Warren, who strongly supported the uprooting of Japanese-Americans during World War II as Attorney General of California, but later deeply regretted his actions and went on to help usher in some of the most vital civil rights decisions as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, including Brown v. Board of Education, Gideon v. Wainwright, Miranda v. Arizona, and Loving v. Virginia. Most importantly, Marrin highlights the lives of those Japanese-Americans who fought for or were imprisoned by their country, including Senator Daniel Inouye and Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, author of Farewell to Manzanar.

Marrin’s book is not only an important tool for teaching us about our history; unfortunately now, it is also a call to action. In the last part his book, he draws clear parallels between how Japanese-Americans were treated after Pearl Harbor (until a few weeks ago, universally recognized as appalling) and how Muslim-Americans were and are treated in a post-9/11 America. Uprooted will only grow more important as the months go on. Marrin’s account is well-written, detailed, important, and should be required reading for all Americans.

Cybils Reviews: YA and Middle Grade Nonfiction About Science & Disease

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Reading nonfiction for Cybils this year has been really enjoyable and it’s been really neat to not just see the range of topics covered, but it’s been neat to think about the connections between and among them. What do these connections say about the things we’re thinking about on a broader cultural level?

A number of the books have fallen into the broad category of science, and this is an area of nonfiction I love. But saying that books fall into a “broad category of science” doesn’t quite nail what these books have in common — rather, these books look at the side of science concerned with making our world a better, safer place for human and animal kind. They marry science and history in smart, accessible ways.

Here’s a look at a handful of those books, which tackle topics of disease, global warming, extinction, and and more.

 

bubonic-panicBubonic Panic! by Gail Jarrow

This middle grade title explores the third “wave” of bubonic plague, which made its way to America in the early 1900s in San Francisco. Picking it up, I didn’t expect to take away as much as I did about the disease — this was a topic I wrote a lot about in high school and felt like I’d learned enough about and yet, this was an entire aspect of public health and history I didn’t know happened. I suspect a reason for this lack of knowledge might come from what Jarrow touches on (and ultimately doesn’t dig into as much as I wish): racism. Those most susceptible to America’s bubonic plague were Asian immigrants, and the choices politicians made to slow down the spread of the disease targeted Chinatown specifically.

The book isn’t entirely about the disease in America though, and it was fascinating to see the history of bubonic plague traced back into three distinct waves. It’s my suspicion most people, self included, are familiar with the second wave which hit Europe and less aware of the first and third waves. Jarrow does an excellent job telling the history of this disease not just through science and discovery, but she makes it into a mystery. She explores what caused the disease, why it happened in waves, and the roles scientists played in trying to figure out the reason behind the disease, who it targeted, and how to put an end to it. I found much of the discussion of trying to find an immunization for the disease to be some of the most interesting material in the book.

In terms of design, this is a visually appealing book. It’s full color, with thoughtful use of images and sidebars that highlight, rather than detract from, the greater text. I do wish there was a different trim size, since it’s one of those books that is odd to hold and read, but I also understand that to get the visuals to look great, that was likely a necessary choice.

The back matter is excellent, and I found the FAQs that Jarrow chose to include at the end of the book really thought-provoking. It was clear she anticipated some questions from young readers and she addresses them succinctly and smartly.

Fun fact: I knew the plague was still a thing in the American southwest; in mid 2007, my husband and I were driving from Las Vegas to Austin and stopped one night in a New Mexico town, where the lead story was about a small local outbreak. I was surprised, but learning about the fact that it’s rodents and fleas associated with them that can cause the illness makes that make more sense. Likewise, this book will likely heighten fear from the hypochondriacs out there, since this is a disease that’s still possible and Jarrow doesn’t ignore that.

 

its-getting-hot-in-hereIt’s Getting Hot In Here: The Past, Present, and Future of Climate Change by Bridget Heos

This YA nonfiction title is for those who love their science with numbers, figures, and graphs. It’s a well-argued book about the impact of climate change and the need to get serious about protecting our planet. Heos hedges her arguments very well — she clearly delineates the scientific evidence from the political aspects of the global warming argument and then further provides a point for readers to ponder over as she notes that GMOs are also in one of those personal/political/science gaps where science says GMOs are totally fine but individuals find a lot more to chew on with them than they do with things like global warming…also backed by science.

There are times this goes on too long and the middle gets a little boring. Readers who are really into sustainability and global warming will likely love this length, though. This is full-color throughout and the format is a traditional novel trim, making it read really well and look really great. It’s appealing on every level and the use of images and side bars to break up text was well thought out and added, rather than detracted from, the text.

Heos goes further to offer ways for individuals to do better with their impact on the Earth. These tips aren’t hard and don’t cost money, and Heos addresses both of those issues before providing the tips, too.

It’s smart how she sets up her arguments and defends them, and it’s done in a way that would make this an excellent read for those teens looking to learn how to craft an argument and support it well. There are discussions of both sides of the issue but the counter argument is picked apart because of science, numbers, and data. For the general reader, though, it might be overwhelming to sift through.

This is another read with good backmatter, so it will work not only as a solid nonfiction read for leisure, but it also serves as a great resource for those doing research or who want to dig even further into global warming.

I read this one a few weeks back, and even though it did drag for me, I find myself returning to some of the points Heos made. In early November, I sat on the beach, here in southern Wisconsin, and realized it was absurd and terrifying to be doing such a thing. The beach was packed, people were putting their feet in the water, and everyone carried on like it was a perfect summer evening. That was why I was there, and yet, I couldn’t stop thinking about how global warming was to thank for such a gift. . . if it could be considered a gift at all.

 

last-of-the-giantsLast of the Giants: The Rise and Fall of Earth’s Most Dominant Species by Jeff Campbell, illustrated by Adam Grano

An engaging, at at times difficult, YA title to read about a number of “giant” species that have gone extinct in the last 500 years. Campbell explores the whys and hows of the extinctions, with some interesting — at times slightly judgmental — ways that humans have impacted these natural beasts. “Giant,” as Campebell explains early on in the text, not only refers to size, but it also refers to species like the passenger pigeon in the US which were abundant one day and then completely gone the next. As a reader, I found reading that section particularly difficult, as it highlighted the brutal ways humans interacted with nature.

Some of the most fascinating pieces of this book were the descriptions of islands that, while populated today, were once ecological wonders. Campbell describes an unbelievable world in New Zealand, where giant birds were abundant and wild; he also digs into the amazing ecoculture of Madagascar and how humans arriving in both islands invariably changed the natural habitats and livelihoods of many creates. Some we know the stories of and others we’ll never quite know.

The backmatter is great, and I turned to one of the videos referenced back there about the Tasmanian tiger and definitely got a little teary-eyed. I do wonder, though, if more of the backmatter could be better integrated into the text or into footnotes in instances like this, as it was not easy to flip back and find the video being referenced in text because there’s so much backmatter.

My biggest criticism, besides perhaps the book being a bit lengthy, is that the layout is bizarre. The pull quotes make no sense and take up way too much room in spaces where it was unnecessary. I’d have liked more sidebars and more “did you know” kind of things sprinkled throughout that would make the text a little more digestible — perhaps those could have been places where “check out these videos” or other round-ups to juicy backmatter could be highlighted in text.

This isn’t a book that can be read easily in one sitting for that reason, especially for those who get heated up about animal rights, climate change, or other similar natural issues.  There were times I had to stop because it made me a little weepy.  Likewise, this is a book that’s just a bit long, and readers will want to take their time to digest what they’re reading. Picking this book up prior to the Heos book in my reading pile made me appreciate both a little bit more, as it was impossible not to see how the things Heos talked about mirrored some of what Campbell talked about, especially in regards to the disappearance of some of Earth’s richest and most diverse ecosystems.

As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales From the Making of the Princess Bride by Cary Elwes with Joe Layden

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as-you-wish-elwes-laydenDo you need something happy and palate-cleansing to temporarily take your mind off the shithole that our country is descending into? Are you a fan of The Princess Bride? If your answer to both of those questions is yes, and I’m assuming it will be for most of our readers, allow me to recommend As You Wish, an excellent audiobook by Cary Elwes (with some help from Joe Layden) about the making of The Princess Bride, full of fun little stories and a huge heaping of love for everyone involved.

If you’re at all like me, it can be a bit of a bummer to learn that some of the actors or writers or creators involved in a piece of art you love actually hated each other. We want the actors to be as charming and kind as the characters they portray; we want their on-screen friendships to be mimicked behind the scenes. There’s nothing to fear about The Princess Bride in this regard – according to Elwes, Rob Reiner was the kindest of directors, Robin Wright was the most talented and beautiful of co-stars, and Andre the Giant’s stature matched his heart. In fact, everyone got along so well and the movie they made was so magical, many of them remember it as the best movie-making experience of their entire careers.

Elwes takes his listeners on a journey from the time he was cast as Westley to the movie’s release and the cast reunion 25 years later. Other actors and people involved voice their own parts as well, including Rob Reiner, William Goldman (referred to as Bill by Elwes), Robin Wright, Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal (calling in by phone), Christopher Guest, and Chris Sarandon. Hearing this chorus of voices really does an excellent job of bringing the listener right back into the world of the movie, and I highly recommend you listen to this on audio because of it.

We learn that Elwes, on Andre the Giant’s urging, took Andre’s ATV out for an ill-advised spin and broke his toe, which is why you can see him limping a bit as he and Buttercup race into the Fire Swamp. There’s an amusing story about one of the stuntmen who portrayed a rodent of unusual size, and Wallace Shawn talks about his enduring fear that he could never measure up to Danny DeVito, whom the producers initially wanted for Vizzini (Reiner is quick to reassure us that Shawn was always the top pick and did a perfect job). Billy Crystal and Carol Kane’s improv skills are lauded, and Elwes talks about how difficult it was not to laugh while he was supposed to be mostly dead at Miracle Max’s. There’s nothing hugely revelatory in any of these little stories, and that’s kind of the point, I think. Everyone got along and they all remain friends. The film was a joy to make, and they produced something they’re proud of and that endures. Elwes portrays the film’s making as we all hoped it was: just like the film itself.

Cybils MG/YA Nonfiction Reviews: THE BORDEN MURDERS by Sarah Miller & TEN DAYS A MADWOMAN by Deborah Noyes

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I haven’t written many reviews this year, so it’s been interesting to try to get back into that mindset with these books (in a genre I generally do not review so much as consume!). But I want to be better at talking about the strengths and weaknesses of nonfiction, so expect a handful of reviews over the next few months as Cybils season rolls on. Some will be stand-alone reviews, while others, like this one, will pair up books for shorter reviews.

 

the-border-murdersConfession time: I know nothing about Lizzie Borden or the entire field of study and obsession with the murder case involving her father and stepmother. Her name is familiar, as is that song you sing as a kid, but otherwise, I am ignorant about it. And I think in a lot of ways, that was the ideal mindset to have while going into Sarah Miller’s excellent true crime book The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden and the Trial of the Century.

Miller’s book begins by exploring how little is actually known about Lizzie Borden nor the murders of her family members, and it continues through its pages by setting up the scene, discussing what is known, and talking about how a number of missteps and missing pieces of the puzzle have created a flurry of conspiracy theories and questions surrounding Borden’s involvement in (or non-involvement in) the crime.

The book attempts to be even-handed, though savvy readers will understand that Miller’s portrait of Borden is quite sympathetic. Since little information exists about Borden’s demeanor — and little consistency exists even about her appearance — Miller wants readers to feel as though Borden’s entire experience was one that would make today’s general public rightfully angry. This angle was one that helped the book be more than a courtroom drama. We get to “know” Borden through Miller’s depiction.

The Borden Murders does an excellent job in terms of design and layout, though one small thing bothered me a bit: the photos in the book are not in the order of the text. A few photos which fell in the first collection were not written about until later in the book, making looking at them while reading a bit jarring. Likewise, Miller talks in depth about the gruesome murder photos at length, and when we finally get to see it, it’s really not at all gruesome. For the time period, it sure was, but by the buildup of the image and today’s standards, I can see teen readers going “what’s the big deal?”

It was a smart packaging decision to create this in the trim size of a novel. For readers who aren’t familiar with the printing side of things, this can mean making a lot of compromises in terms of how photos are included in the book. In this particular title, they’re in two 8-page spreads on glossy paper. A few reviews I’ve read criticized this, wishing instead the images were interspersed. This would have taken the quality down significantly, as well as made them tiny.

Readers who love true crime and who are fascinated with the legends of history, like Lizzie Borden, will absolutely devour Miller’s book. It’s well-written, compelling, and leaves a nice open door at the end for consideration of what it is that makes a person guilty — or innocent. I can see this being an easy sell to readers who love mysteries, too, and who enjoy procedural television shows like Law & Order.

A small nugget that stayed with me and I think was a great takeaway from this read: Borden was NOT a girl when this all happened. She was in her 30s. Many readers may know this, but knowing how she’s rendered in pop culture, it may also come as a surprise she was a fully mature adult woman.

 

ten-days-a-madwomanWhere I knew little about Lizzie Borden before diving into Miller’s book, I’m able to say quite the opposite of my knowledge of Nellie Bly. I’m having the hardest time remembering whether it was a film I watched or a book I read, but my familiarity with Bly and her stint at Blackwell Island was good when I began Deborah Noyes’s middle grade title Ten Days a Madwoman.

That said, after coming out of reading the book, I loved Bly even more than I already had.

Noyes traces through the early part of Bly’s life, and she does so in a way that doesn’t depict Bly as a woman with everything made for her to succeed — that was an image I had, not knowing her young upbringing — but rather, she’s shown to be a grit-fueled, hard-edged girl who came from little. Her mother, widowed when Bly was young, remarried because she needed help financially after Bly’s father’s death, but she ended up marrying a violent alcoholic. Her mother then divorced him, causing the cycle of money challenges to continue; Noyes does an excellent job of painting an image of being a woman in this time period and the sorts of challenges making a decision like divorce had, not just in terms of finances, but on social standing and more.

At age 23 (!!) after dropping out of school and working in Pittsburgh for a number of years, Bly decided she was going to go to New York City and get a newspaper job. It wasn’t a successful idea immediately, and she struggled to get work that was beyond the socially acceptable women’s reporting jobs. Until she busted down the doors of the World newspaper and was given the assignment of investigating the conditions of the public mental institution on Blackwell Island. This would, of course, be Bly’s break into the newspaper world.

Noyes balances this period of time in Bly’s life well with the actual conditions of Blackwell Island. We get a sense of what it was like to be there, but we’re not given the blow-by-blow. The focus remains on Bly and how she did her reporting.

This isn’t the whole of the book, and Noyes continues by highlighting many of the other important pieces of work Bly did. She’d interviewed — and was one of the first to offer sympathy for — women like Emma Goldman, who she interviewed whole Goldman was in prison. Although logically, I knew many famous individuals were alive during this time, it was still fascinating to see names referenced throughout as Bly’s contemporaries, including Susan B. Anthony and Charles Dickens.

But my favorite part of the whole book was a tiny part: Willa Cather wrote a scathing letter about Bly’s style of journalism. Despite breaking barriers for women reporters, many, like Cather, believed stunt journalism wasn’t valuable or groundbreaking, either. Seeing what Cather wrote about Bly mirrored so much of what happens in contemporary times: one person does a thing, gets recognition for it, and then also sees criticism from those who don’t agree with their work. I loved that push and pull and think Noyes does a huge service in showing how feminism and women in America struggled with representation, with work conditions, and more.

Ten Days a Madwoman is formatted with a bigger trim size and utilized double columns of text, just like many newspapers do. There are a lot of boxes and images scattered throughout, all of which are laid out smartly and make the work of stopping to read them easy on readers. There is excellent back matter, as well.

Hand this book to middle graders who are writers or who love stories about women breaking down boundaries. Bly was daring and full of grit, and it’s a story so many readers will relate to in terms of their desires to pursue their dreams, no matter how they have to get there. Noyes’s exploration of working conditions at the turn of the century, especially in the ever-industrializing city of New York, will appeal to readers who love history. It’s neat to see the parallels of this era in time with our contemporary times.

The most interesting takeaway from this: when Bly took her infamous round-the-world-by-ship trip, she decided on only one souvenir. It was a monkey she named McGinty. Nellie Bly owned a pet monkey. I’m not going to be over this for a while because I cannot think of anything more fitting to her after reading this book. (Also, if you’re interested, the first thing the monkey did when they got back home was break her dishes).

 

 

Both of these books are available now. Both copies were picked up from my local library. 

 

Cybils 2016: The Non-Fiction Edition

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cybils-2016-logo

 

As Kimberly mentioned last week, both of us are back on this year’s Cybils Awards committees. After doing the YA fiction panel for two years back-to-back, I needed some time off to recover from all of that reading. I decided instead of going for fiction this year, though, I wanted to try my hand at middle grade and young adult non-fiction. While I don’t read or review as much work in those categories as I do YA fiction, my background in writing non-fiction, as well as my extensive reading in adult non-fiction makes me feel like it’s an area I should spend some more time in. I want to write more about this growing area in YA and be able to talk more about it because of having read quite a bit. Upper middle grade non-fiction is a bonus to this reading, as it will be an awesome way to rework some of my thinking and approach to reading. I’m excited!

Because non-fiction isn’t an area we write about a whole lot, I thought I’d do like Kim and offer up a big list of titles you could nominate for my category. I’m pretty sure these are all eligible as either upper middle grade (5-8th grade publication age range) or YA, but do double check when you nominate that they are; I’ve gone by Amazon standards, which I believe is what Cybils organizers use. This post is going up Monday, and award nominations open on Saturday, so the chances of some of these titles already being nominated is pretty good.

But that’s why it’s such a huge list! I’ll absolutely be missing titles, so feel free to note others or nominate others that have been published between October 16, 2015 and October 15, 2016. I discovered while trying to compile this list that finding good resources for recent and forthcoming non-fiction is difficult. I put myself in the category of being bad about keeping up with it, but I’m determined now to be much better about it, knowing that the information is really hard to come by. If you know of sold resources outside of searching Edelweiss or Kirkus reviews, do let me know. My standbys for fiction don’t seem to offer the same depth for nonfiction.

I haven’t forgotten about the monthly debut round-up I do, so keep an eye out for that to tackle more than one month in my next post. I wanted to hop on the Cybils train first to ensure that there’s a huge selection of books for me to read over the next three months.

All of the information for how to nominate books for the Cybils — and again, anyone can nominate — is up on their website. Seriously: give Kimberly and I piles of books to read and write about. Or, well, give them to me, as Kim’s work will be much more secretive in the second round for graphic novels than mine will be in the first. Links on the titles below go to their Goodreads pages.