Louisa May's Battle

How the Civil War 
Led to Little Women

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Walker Books for Young Readers
(Bloomsbury)
(pub. 3.5.2013) 48 pages 

A True Tale with A Cherry On Top

A uthor: Kathleen Krull

     and Illustrator:  Carlyn Beccia

C haracter: Louisa May Alcott

O verview from the jacket flap: 

      "Louisa May Alcott was a proper young lady from a poor but respected New England family. The Alcotts believed that slavery was wrong and even worked as part of the Underground Railroad. So when the Civil War started, Louisa longed to fight for the North. But since she wasn't a man, she did what she could - she volunteered as a war nurse.
       Everything about this experience opened Louisa's eyes to new possibilities: from the long and difficult journey to Washington DC to caring fro the young injured soldiers and witnessing the treatment of the African American staff. Louisa returned from the war a very different person, and these changes led her to develop a new writing style and outlook that ultimately led to her greatest writing triumph, Little Women."

T antalizing taste: 

    "Any spare minute she had, she wrote home, letters full of snap and bite, using an upside-down teakettle as a desk. She chatted about her soldiers - and also about the chaos at the hospital, or the doctor who had trouble treating his patients as human beings...
     Being a war veteran was the key to all that she accomplished: 'My greatest pride is... that I had a very small share in the war which put an end to a great wrong.'"

and something more: I liked the description in the Women in Medicine section of Louisa May's Battle: "Most of the women in medicine were also active in fighting for equal rights for women - including Alcott, who took to signing her letters, 'Yours for reform of all kinds.'"  What a lovely way to sign one's name!

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Jim Henson

The Guy Who Played with Puppets

This post is part of Nonfiction Monday 

hosted today by Tales from the Rushmore Kid

Random House 
(pub. 8.23.2011)  40 pages

A True Tale with A Cherry On Top
  
A uthor: Kathleen Krull

      and Paintings: Steve Johnson and Lou Fancherr

C haracter: Jim Henson

 

O verview from the jacket flap: 

        "What do you want to be when you grow up? A teacher? A poet? The president? Well, Jim Henson wanted to play with puppets.  If you want to make the world a better place, making people happy is a great way to start ..."

 

T antalizing taste:

       "Jim hesitated. The show had a weird name - Sesame Street. Joan [the TV producer] explained that just as the command 'Open Sesame' in the old Arabian tale opened a door to treasure, she wanted her show to open doors in young minds.  Jim wasn't sure he wanted to limit his Muppets to children. But years of watching his own children convinced him... Maybe TV could be a good influence." 

and something more:
Kathleen Krull was awarded the 2011 Children's Book Guild Nonfiction Award, and I liked what the site said about her writing and biographies: "What draws her to writing biographies?  As a self-confessed 'nosy' person, Krull enjoys researching the details that spice a life and offer insight into personality and accomplishments.  But biographies also 'fill a great need,' she says.  'We read them to find out who we are.'  By discovering how we resemble and differ from others, be they ordinary or extraordinary, says Krull, we learn 'something about our own identity, our goals, our possibilities in life.'  She considers it a privilege to help young readers in this search."  I couldn't agree more!

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The Brothers Kennedy

John * Robert * Edward
 
This post is part of Nonfiction Monday
hosted today by The Cat and the Fiddle

 

Simon & Schuster 
Books for Young Readers

(pub. 1.26.2010)

40 pages
 
A True Tale with A Cherry On Top

A uthor: KATHLEEN KRULL
      and Illustrator : AMY JUNE BATES

C haracters:  John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Edward Kennedy

 
O verview from book flap: 

      "Three extraordinary men lived three extraordinary lives, but first they were just brothers. John, Robert, and Edward were raised with the belief that they could change things for the better, and one by one, they did just that.  Through tragedies and triumphs these men worked to right the wrongs they saw around them [and] they couldn't have done it without one another."

T antalizing taste:
      "In 2008 Edward's doctors warned him that he was too ill to travel. But back in the 1960s his brother Robert had predicted that a black president would be elected within forty years.  Edward was not going to miss seeing Barack Obama accept his presidential nomination.
      'For me this is a season of hope,' Edward said in his own speech that night. 'New hope for a justice and fair prosperity for the many, and not just for the few.'"
     ...Hope, compassion, and loyalty - the brothers Kennedy inspired these in one another.
     And so they have inspired others ever since."

and something more:   Kathleen Krull's terrific picture book biography, The Brothers Kennedy, weaves together the stories of the three brothers and explains the significant influence of their parents and extended family. The back matter of the book provides more information about their considerable contributions.  
      I had forgotten that President John Kennedy started the Peace Corps "as a way of bringing hope to the poorest countries in the world," and it "is still going strong after almost fifty years, with some two hundred thousand volunteers having served." I'm proud to add that my niece will soon be leaving for Nicaragua to serve in the Peace Corps.  As Robert Kennedy said, "Each time a man [or woman] stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope."

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