Book Review: Maria and the Magic of the Rainbow (OT)(Even bullies can change)

Maria and the Magic of the Rainbow, by Suzanna Royse (Fulton Books, 126 pp, 2022, $15.95, ages 5-9) Reviewed by Skye Anderson.

Maria and the Magic of the Rainbow starts out with a pictorial glossary of the major characters - all 30 of them, drawn on eight pages. So, right now you are probably wondering what does that mean for the book?

For Girls and Boys

With a girl butterfly with only one wing, and so many characters, most of them bugs, this book is sure to entertain both girls and boys: Maria for the girls and all the bugs for the boys (and girls). 

Maria has a beautiful voice and is the employee (slave?) of a mean old bad guy, but friends help her to escape and then she gets to go to school. But just like some schools for humans, this school is where our Maria meets bullies. What the bullies do and how Maria and friends react make a meaningful story for youngsters and, even better, the bugs are written true-to-life. For example, author Suzanna Royse tells us the red ants can't swim across the river so our heroes are safe. True fact. 

Kids who love bugs will soon learn all the bugs' names and kids who don't like bugs will probably change their mind as bad bugs somehow become good bugs. We would have liked cuter bugs, however.

What's in a Name?

We loved the names: Rumble and Stinger and Twig. Flicker and Blinker the fireflies, Radar the bat and even Spitz the snake.

And, The Rainbow?

One has to read the entire book before the significance of the title is revealed but then it is so lovely and obvious that kids will be able to transfer the lessons of this story to their own lives or that of other kids they know.

Book Review: The Sable Arm: Black Troops in the Union Army, 1861 - 1865 (OT)

The Sable Arm: Black Troops in the Union Army, 1861 - 1865, by Dudley Taylor Cornish (University Press of Kansas, 342 pp, 1987/1956)

They had to fight for the right to fight.

Hailed as one of the top one hundred books on the Civil War, The Sable Arm is a comprehensive history of accepting slaves* (and black freemen) into the Union Army, nearly 200,000 of them! The former slaves were a particular asset when the Army fought in the South, for they knew the land and could tolerate the heat.

President Lincoln was slow to accept and late to pay these new soldiers. He tapdanced for a long time, possibly believing, like many other Northerners that Blacks were not disciplined enough to trust with a rifle - they were so wrong! The Blacks proved their mettle. They were first used as cooks and in construction and loading box cars but soon some were sent to a leadership school which became the precursor of OCS (Officer Candidate School today).

The Sable Arm was selected for my veterans' book club and since one member's hobby is the Civil War while another majored in history, they particularly loved the book and added their own stories from other sources. As it was, I was the token female (with eight males) for the discussion and, being raised in the West, still get the Civil War and the Revolutionary War mixed up (I also have never taken a history course except in high school where we studied Washington State History rather than Maryland State History.)

Essentially this is a long report, replete with many many quotes, rather than a fascinating story well told: it reads like a dissertation and mentions units from Kansas in several places: the publisher is the University Press of Kansas.

*usually referred to as Negroes and sometimes as Colored. After all, this book was written in 1956 and contained many quotes from even earlier.

Book Review: The Wild Rose (OT)(magical mythical mystical real horse sagas of New Mexico)

The Wild Rose: Stories of My Horses, Volume II, by Martin Prechtel (North Star Press of St. Cloud, 2022, 412 pp, $21.49)

The prolific author Martin Prechtel has just published the second in a series of three spiritual anecdotes-in-a-book (the first is The Mare and the Mouse*) about 'his' horses in the wilds of New Mexico.

The Wild Rose reminds me of a 'book' my mother put together for our family and friends about a trip we took when I was about seven years old. Rose is a family tale about horses found and  'owned' and respected - and loved. 

Illustrations

The illustrations are elementary yet detailed and speak of what is to come in each chapter - detailed enough to spur the reader on to peruse them with an eye toward figuring out the story told in that chapter before reading it and then seeing how close you came to it in the end.

This experienced writer tells tales of Indian lore, whether true or not, and has a deeply profound love and respect for horses that shines through nearly every page. One can learn a lot of environmental philosophy in The Wild Rose and even perhaps change a jaded mind into one who respects and seeks to save the wild horse of the American West.

The Saga

Prechtel searches for some horses of his youth and writes about them in epic proportions - almost mythical and magical. His love for the land is also mystical. A very unusual book, one of many by the same author.

*

Book Review: Animal Mandalas (OT) (an inspirational coloring book for adults)

Animal Mandalas, by Bibi LeBlanc and Beate Kumar (Culture to Color, 2022, $9.95, 62 pp)

Imagine taking a coloring book, even an adult educational inspirational one, wherever you go, just in case you have a moment while waiting or because you need to decompress for a minute or two. Animal Mandalas is just the perfect solution! It's just the right size, and big enough but not too big. Your major decision will be how many colored pencils to take with you.

First in a series created by sisters, this little book will last a year. Really! Each animal page is designed for a different week of the year and is described by a quote, often a well-known one.

We love the pages of instructions in the front talking about animals and mandalas and the benefits of coloring. We also like the size and especially the first two pages of instructions.

We toyed with the idea that the pages should be numbered 1-52 for the weeks of the year but the 'reader' might not start it on the first week of January. We also toyed with each page having a date range, i.e., 1-7 March or 9-15 September, etc. This might work and the colorer could start not at the beginning but in the middle. On the other hand, most readers would pick a page at random to color and then maybe skip around.

The author has  done considerable research, matching a quote with a drawing to the greatest extent possible and having some quotes curve around whimsically.

I congratulate the authors on a very creative endeavor. 

Benefits of Coloring

Why color? Why, to improve focus, reduce stress and anxiety and to improve sleep! Sounds like a good prescription to me.

Adorable Cover

Two giraffes peek out at you on the cover, making you wonder if each page of the year will feature a baby and adult (they don't). Love the cover and so appreciate the binding for a carry-around coloring book. 

By the Same Authors

And, you will also want Butterflies & Dragonflies, Book 3 in the Wellness Series.

Book Review: Blue Zeus, Legend of the Red Desert (OT)(a photographic tale of wild horses and their round-up in the American West)

Blue Zeus, Legend of the Red Desert, by Carol Walker (Living Images, 144 pages, $49.95, 2022) Reviewed by Skye Anderson.

A very special book for horse lovers and animal rescuers of all ages. The author, an extremely talented photographer, has created a loving tribute to a loving equine leader of his extended family. 

A Powerful Pictorial Tale

More than a coffee-table book, Blue Zeus (BZ) tells the story of author Carol Walker 'meeting' and following the patriarch of a wild horse family in the American West and of the government round-up of wild horses and what happens to the stallion Blue Zeus and his family. You will find yourself rooting for him (and his family) all the way to a special ending. 

What We Would Change

We would caption all the photographs, however, and perhaps even include, not a family tree per se, but maybe a picture dictionary of who's who in the fairly large family. 

I also never really understood why BZ was so special or why Walker fell in love with him but I do respect her for respecting wild animals (and we really don't think of horses as being wild animals but we should and this book helps educate us to do so). 

I also didn't really understand the helicopter round-up of horses - did they all go to families? I don't think so. To rescues and sanctuaries? To become dog food? Or is this another aspect of the Western Rancher-Farmer Wars? Perhaps an explanation of the round-ups, neutrally of course, would help the reader learn about them. And the crux of the matter may just be the farmer-ranchers vs the wild horses.

Summary

This is a lovely niche book with fantastic photography (though I think a few fewer photographs would be an improvement). The reader truly grows to know this horse family and care about them!

Book Review: In the Company of Soldiers: A Chronicle of Combat (Iraq, 2003)(OT) Part 2 of 2

In the Company of Soldiers: A Chronicle of Combat, by Pulitzer Prize* Winning Rick Atkinson (Henry Holt and Company, 2005, 352 pp) Reviewed by Skye Anderson (post-military book club discussion)

Yesterday we reviewed the book In the Company of Soldiers: A Chronicle of Combat prior to our military book club meeting. I like to do this, then take notes on the the book club's remarks, just to compare my thoughts with those of the group's. Our book club consists of about 10 people who are veterans or retirees (also veterans!), most of whom are men (I was the token female today.). We have all the services represented and a couple of us have been deployed.

Today's blog will be short - I was late tuning in to the zoom meeting because the start time advertised was incorrect. Nevertheless, I easily found out that most of the others really liked In the Company of Soldiers. I was one of two would not necessarily recommend it (as to why, see the previous blog below). (I think the default is to recommend a book though, rather than to say you disliked it.)

We have a fantastic facilitator, a Naval Academy graduate, and we all know each other, having been together (starting in person, pre-pandemic) for about four years of reading and chatting and, of course, with shared backgrounds in the military (though different services, different ranks, different time periods).

Today's discussion, however, seemed to be more about the topic, especially General Petraeus, than about the book itself, which is fine but still needs to be pointed out. At times, though, a couple of us read from the book what we felt was significant to illustrate something - and the others seems to remember the quote in question most of the time. One standout for me was the coordination of the different services, another was the fact that General Petraeus did not stay in his headquarters but continually moved from unit to unit to check on his soldiers (and the war).

Each year we meet about five times and our books cover everything military - from battle books to memoirs, including those about women soldiers, and we try to read a book from each of the major conflicts each year, from the Civil War to World War I and II, to Korea, Vietnam and now Iraq and Afghanistan. Personal experiences shared with the group are meaningful.

And members of our military book club are truly "in the company of soldiers"!

Book Review: In the Company of Soldiers: A Chronicle of Combat (Iraq, 2003)(OT)

In the Company of Soldiers: A Chronicle of Combat, by Pulitzer Prize* Winning Rick Atkinson (Henry Holt and Company, 2005, 352 pp) Reviewed by Skye Anderson (pre-military book club discussion)

"I thought of Robert E. Lee's melancholy insight, about how fortunate we are that war is so terrible, or men would grow too fond of it." (p 207-8)

It All Started 30+ Years Ago

Do you mix up the two Gulf Wars? The one in 1991 and the one in 2003? Or confuse them with the Afghanistan War which took place during the Second Gulf War? 

Never fear - this book is almost a play-by-play account of the 101st Airborne in the Second Gulf War, from pre-deployment planning and training, through the fighting weeks as reported by a journalist embedded with General Petraeus.

Author Rick Atkinson is no soldier** but he is an accomplished journalist. He tells of the times he didn't pack the suggested items and came to regret it, and the times he misplaced his gas mask and couldn't find it in the dark** and the times he. . . . but, on the whole, this is a war story. A long war story which brought back many memories of my own Army days and my own deployment.

You Will Like. . . .

Atkinson has included an extensive dictionary of acronyms, only a few of which I knew. And male soldiers or airmen or sailors will read the book quickly and understand it all, from the unit names (battalion, brigade) and their numbers (3ID, etc.). Fortunately, good maps are also included for this play-by-play description of the war (but thumbing to them will slow you down as will constantly referring to the 'dictionary' of acronyms). War afficionados will devour the story's timeline but those of us who know less, will soon be bored.

Told by a journalist who hasn't been in the military can be fun when he writes about a surface-to-air missile ambush, a SAMbush but the humor is few and far between. After all, this is a war book, a 'chronicle of combat.'

Percolating throughout the book are many snippets of Arabic history and biblical names from this former history major turned journalist as well as real gems like what the heat felt like, what the smells were as he encountered them, even a few gorgeous sunsets.

Before and During

In the Company of Soldiers is separated into two parts - before and during. This reviewer liked the 'before' part best: the 'during' part was fairly dry and a day-by-day or play-by-play account which might appeal more to infantry types who know their weapons of war.

The Infantry Waddle

"They lumbered past in a column, sweating beneath the weight of body armor, canteens, smoke canisters, knee pads, anti-tank weapons, rifles, night-vision goggles, M-249 light machine guns, gas masks - all the accoutrements of modern combat." (p 197-8) Much like Vietnam. . . . 

Atkinson writes of his soldiers taking a knee and pointing their weapons to the ground, trying to defuse a situation (which probably happened several times) and taking down a statue of Sadam, which also happened in several locations. But most of all, Atkinson shows us General Petraeus who did not stay safe in HQ but constantly moved among his troops. In addition we learn about planners who often would change orders at the last minute and from far away. SNAFU indeed!

*An Army at Dawn

**"Squeezing into the rear seat of the Humvee, I was nearly immobilized by the gear wedged around my feet and shoulders - flak vest, helmet, CamelBak, day bag, camera, notebook, gas mask, map board, and the bank of radios. Almost every day I absentmindedly left one or more items behind - in the tent, on a helicopter, atop a vehicle hood - and only the attentive forbearance of Miller and Fivecoat had kept me from scattering half my possessions in a personal debris field across Iraq." (p 223)

NEXT: Comments from a military book club composed of veterans who read and discussed In the Company of Soldiers