Kate’s 2¢: “A bird will soar” by  Alison Green Myers

“A bird will soar” by  Alison Green Myers

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   The main character in this middle grade story is a high-functioning Autistic boy. We are seeing the world through his eyes, which can be confusing sometimes. Most of all, Axel is very interested in birds and wants people to tell the truth about why his father stopped coming to see him, why his mother has hidden things from him, and he doesn’t like anything to change. 

   The Schneider Family Book Award is an award given by the American Library Association (ALA) recognizing authors and illustrators for the excellence of portrayal of the disability experience in literature for youth. There is a category for children’s books, books appealing to middle grade readers and for young adult literature.

Awarded for: artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences

Alison is an avid reader, poet, and writer. She has served as a classroom teacher, literacy coach, curriculum writer, and school director. She is the Program Director for the Highlights Foundation, a National Writing Fellow, and an active member of the Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators.

   Myers is a National Writing Fellow and Literacy Specialist. She specializes in connecting curriculum-driven instruction to creative writing and language work. Intimate and inspiring workshops for children’s authors and illustrators.

From the WEB:

Dr. Katherine Schneideris an author and has published a memoir To the Left of Inspiration: Adventures in Living with Disabilities; a children’s book, Your Treasure Hunt: Disabilities and Finding Your Gold; and two books for seniors, Occupying Aging: Delights, Disabilities and Daily Life; and Hope of the Crow: Tales of Occupying Aging (all available in Bookshare).

From the Behind Our Eyes e-list:

Originator of the Schneider Family Book Awards for children’s books with disability content through the American Library Association and also originator of the award for superior journalism about disability issues through the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University, Dr. Katherine (“Kathie”) Schneider, a retired clinical psychologist who lives in Wisconsin with her tenth Seeing Eye Dog, is not only the author of the children’s book YOUR TREASURE HUNT, but also has her following books on BARD:

__ HOPE OF THE CROW:  TALES OF OCCUPYING AGING.  DB 101220, eleven hours and forty minutes, narrated by Jennifer Hubbard, copyright 2020.

__ OCCUPYING AGING:  DELIGHTS, DISABILITIES, AND DAILY LIFE.  DB 85915, eight hours and thirty-nine minutes, narrated by Suzanne Duvall, copyright 2013; also BR 21638, three braille volumes (UEB).

 __ TO THE LEFT OF INSPIRATION:  ADVENTURES IN LIVING WITH DISABILITIES.  DB 64437, four hours and 58 minutes, narrated by Mitzi Friedlander, copyright 2005.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

A bird will soar DB106122

Myers, Alison Green. Reading time: 7 hours, 42 minutes.

Read by Jamie Brown.

Family

Animals and Wildlife

After a tornado, Axel, who loves birds, finds an injured eaglet and helps to rescue it. And this also helps to resolve the problems in his broken family and draw his father back home. Schneider Family Book Award. Commercial audiobook. For grades 4-7. 2021.

Download A bird will soar

Kate’s 2-cents:

“Braiding Sweetgrass: indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants”

by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Reviewed by Kate Chamberlin

“Braiding Sweetgrass: indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants”

by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Reviewed by Kate Chamberlin

Have you ever read a book you can’t get out of your mind?

As a book maven,   I read many books, yet, I can’t stop thinking about “Braiding sweetgrass: indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants” by Robin Wall Kimmerer  (BARD: DB92274).

Kimmerer invites you to…“Hold out your hands and let me lay upon them a sheaf of freshly picked Sweetgrass, loose and lowing  like newly washed hair, golden green and glossy above. The stems are banded with purple  and white where they meet the ground. Hold the bundle up to your nose. Find the fragrance of honeyed vanilla or the scent of river water and black earth…to understand its name of ‘fragrant Holy grass’, also known as the sweet smelling hair of Mother Earth.”

Kimmerer weaves her academic Ph.D. knowledge as a Botanist with her insights of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation tribal legends of creation and reciprocity for sustainable living.

Beginning with Sky Woman falling from the sky whirling like a Maple seed pirouetting on an Autumn breeze, the theme of the nurturing, Good Mother is prevalent throughout the narrative.

When Kimmerer and her two daughters moved to Upstate New York and found maple trees on their property, they tapped them. As she watched her young daughters lick the Maple sap dripping from the spile funnel, Kimmerer retold the legend of why it takes forty gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup. Her sense of being a Good Mother by reciprocating what her ancestors did for her to use today feels good and honorable.

Indigenous people knew how to listen to Mother Nature and learn to acknowledge everything as ‘being’. They would quietly walk among the fields and forests, thanking trees, plants, rocks, and soil for sharing their essence and asking their permission to be with them.

Kimmerer recounts a vignette of her Grandpa as a young boy in 1895, where the boys were just young willow whips in faded dungarees running barefoot through the prairie grass. They’d caught no fish in the drought ridden stream, but on the way home they stumbled on the Counsel of the Pecan Tree. “…Mama hollers for them. The boys come running, their skinny legs pumping, and their underpants flashing white  in the fading light…two pairs of worn-out pants, tied shut with twine at the ankles and bulging with nuts…”  Having raised four boys of my own, this image made me chuckle.

One morning, Kimmerer laid on her belly to observe “…Wild strawberries beneath dewy leaves in an almost summer morning…white petals with a yellow center like a little wild rose …during the Flower Moon…you could smell the ripe strawberries before you saw them. Their fragrance mingling with the sun on damp ground.

Taking a nano view of her wild strawberry patch reminded me of what Biologist David Haskell did in “The forest unseen: a year’s watch in nature” (BARD: DB74368). He sat and watched the same hula hoop sized patch for a year to witness the nano changes throughout the seasons.

As a scientist and teacher, Kimmerer takes her college students out of the brick and mortar classroom and into Mother Nature’s classroom to demonstrate how her bounty will supply everything they need. In a marsh, the students find sapling trees to form the ribs of a wigwam, long roots to bind the framework, reeds to make the walls, birch bark for the roof, and cattail fluff for soft rush mats.  They forage for edible roots beneath the muck, in the cattail’s flower, and other delicacies. When they peeled the layers off the reeds, the slime that gave the stem strength and provided the pathway for transferring nutrients, also provided a balm for their itchy bug bites.

There were moments of humor, too.  One student said he wanted to find i-pods in the marsh. Later, a fellow student called that he’d found them.  He put empty milk weed pods over his eyes.

Reciting the Citizen Potawatomi Nation litany of thankfulness, instead of the American Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, makes sense to Kimmerer. The Citizen Potawatomi Nation allegiance is to the tribe and, historically, the US Government hasn’t meant ‘freedom and justice for all’; noting that pushing the Citizen Potawatomi Nation West, off their ancestral lands, wasn’t ‘justice and freedom for all.

The reciting of the many beings they are thankful for is more meaningful and useful to remind people of the bounty received from the sun, moon, soil, rocks, plants and animals. They are all one with the people.

I listened to Kimmerer narrate her book during the winter, when icy winds blew and snow drifts were thigh-high, so I’m looking forward to the Spring, when I can invite the three sisters into my family.  The corn sister will grow fast, sturdy, and tall, so the bean sister can climb to greet the sun. Their leaves will alternate so each can soak in the nourishing rays. Little sister Pumpkin Squash will roam freely at her sisters’ feet to conserve moisture as all of their roots nourish each other in symbiotic harmony.

If you appreciate the keen scientific mind of a Botanist, the rich legends of Indigenous people, and a subtle sense of humor, I recommend “Braiding sweetgrass: indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants” by Robin Wall Kimmerer. (Milkweed Editions, 2013) ISBN 9781571313355. (NLS/BARD/LOC: DB92274).

### words 764

“Braiding Sweetgrass: indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants”

by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Reviewed by Kate Chamberlin

Have you ever read a book you can’t get out of your mind?

As a book maven,   I read many books, yet, I can’t stop thinking about “Braiding sweetgrass: indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants” by Robin Wall Kimmerer  (BARD: DB92274).

Kimmerer weaves her academic Ph.D. knowledge as a Botanist with her insights of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation tribal legends of creation and reciprocity for sustainable living.

Beginning with Sky Woman falling from the sky whirling like a Maple seed pirouetting on an Autumn breeze, the theme of the nurturing, Good Mother is prevalent throughout the narrative.

When Kimmerer and her two daughters moved to Upstate New York and found maple trees on their property, they tapped them. As she watched her young daughters lick the sweet Maple sap dripping from the spile funnel, Kimmerer retold the legend of why it takes forty gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup. Her sense of being a Good Mother by reciprocating what her ancestors did for her to use today felt good and honorable.

Indigenous people knew how to listen to Mother Nature and learn to acknowledge everything as ‘being’. They would quietly walk among the fields and forests, thanking trees, plants, rocks, and soil for sharing their essence and asking their permission to be with them.

Kimmerer recounted a vignette of her Grandpa as a young boy in 1895, where the boys were just young willow whips in faded dungarees running barefoot through the prairie grass. They’d caught no fish in the drought ridden stream, but on the way home they stumbled on the Counsel of the Pecan Tree. The image of the boys running home, their skinny legs pumping, and their underpants flashing white  in the fading light, with worn-out pants, tied shut with twine at the ankles and bulging with nuts, made me chuckle, remembering the escapades of my own four boys.

The scene of Kimmerer flat on  her belly in the wild strawberry patch during the Flower Moon evoked the sight of small, red,  ripe berries, warmed by the summer sun, that could be smelled before seen.

Taking a nano view of her wild strawberry patch is what Biologist David Haskell did in “The forest unseen: a year’s watch in nature” (BARD: DB74368). He sat and watched the same hula hoop sized patch for a year to witness the nano changes throughout the seasons.

As a scientist and teacher, Kimmerer takes her college students out of the brick and mortar classroom and into Mother Nature’s classroom to demonstrate how her bounty will supply everything they need. In a marsh, the students find sapling trees to form the ribs of a wigwam, long roots to bind the framework, reeds to make the walls, birch bark for the roof, and cattail fluff for soft rush mats.  They forage for edible roots beneath the muck, nibble on the cattail flowers and other delicacies. When they peeled the layers off the reeds, the slime that gave the stem strength and provided the pathway for transferring nutrients, also provided a balm for their itchy bug bites.

There were moments of humor, too.  One student said he wanted to find i-pods in the marsh. Later, a fellow student called that he’d found them.  He put empty milk weed pods over his eyes.

Reciting the Citizen Potawatomi Nation litany of thankfulness, instead of the American Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, makes sense to Kimmerer. The Citizen Potawatomi Nation allegiance is to the tribe and, historically, the US Government hasn’t meant ‘freedom and justice for all’; noting that pushing the Citizen Potawatomi Nation West, off their ancestral lands, wasn’t ‘freedom and justice for all.

The reciting of the many beings they are thankful for is more meaningful and useful to remind people of the bounty received from the sun, moon, soil, rocks, plants and animals. They are all one with the people.

I Listened to Kimmerer narrate her book during the winter, when icy winds blew and snow drifts were thigh-high, so I’m looking forward to the Spring, when I can invite the three sisters into my family.  The corn sister will grow fast, sturdy, and tall, so the bean sister can climb to greet the sun. Their leaves will alternate so each can soak in the nourishing rays. Little sister Pumpkin Squash will roam freely at her sisters’ feet to conserve moisture as all of their roots nourish each other in symbiotic harmony.

If Senior High and Adults appreciate the keen scientific mind of a Botanist, the rich legends of Indigenous people, and a subtle sense of humor, I recommend “Braiding sweetgrass: indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants” by Robin Wall Kimmerer. (Milkweed Editions, 2013) ISBN 9781571313355. (NLS/BARD/LOC: DB92274).

From https://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/portraits/robin-wall-kimmerer

Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, plant ecologist, nature writer, and Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology at the State University of New York’s College of Environment and Forestry (SUNY ESF) in Syracuse, New York. She is also founding director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment.

Robin Wall Kimmerer (born 1953) is an American Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental and Forest Biology; and Director, Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF).

She is the author of numerous scientific articles, and the books Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses (2003), and Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants (2013). An audiobook version was released in 2016, narrated by the author. Braiding Sweetgrass was republished in 2020 with a new introduction.

She is an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation,[1] and combines her heritage with her scientific and environmental passions.

Robin Wall Kimmerer was born in 1953 in the open country of upstate New York to Robert and Patricia Wall. She grew up playing in the countryside, and her time outdoors rooted a deep appreciation for the natural environment. Her enthusiasm for the environment was encouraged by her parents, who while living in upstate New York began to reconnect with their Potawatomi heritage, where now Kimmerer is a citizen of the Potawatomi Nation.[2]

Kimmerer remained near home for college, attending ESF and receiving a bachelor’s degree in botany in 1975. She spent two years working for Bausch & Lomb as a microbiologist. Kimmerer then moved to Wisconsin to attend the University of Wisconsin–Madison, earning her master’s degree in botany there in 1979, followed by her PhD in plant ecology in 1983. It was while studying forest ecology as part of her degree program, that she first learnt about mosses, which became the scientific focus of her career.[3]

From Wisconsin, Kimmerer moved to Kentucky, where she taught briefly at Transylvania University in Lexington before moving to Danville, Kentucky when she taught biology, botany, and ecology at Centre College. Kimmerer received tenure at Centre College. In 1993, Kimmerer returned home to upstate New York and her alma mater, ESF, where she currently teaches.

upstate New York and her alma mater, ESF, where she currently teaches.

Kimmerer teaches in the Environmental and Forest Biology Department at ESF. She teaches courses on Land and Culture, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Ethnobotany, Ecology of Mosses, Disturbance Ecology, and General Botany. Director of the newly established Center for Native Peoples and the Environment  at ESF, which is part of her work to provide programs that allow for greater access for Native students to study environmental science, and for science to benefit from the wisdom of Native philosophy to reach the common goal of sustainability.[4]

Kimmerer is a proponent of the Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) approach, which Kimmerer describes as a “way of knowing.” TEK is a deeply empirical scientific approach and is based on long-term observation. However, it also involves cultural and spiritual considerations, which have often been marginalized by the greater scientific community. Wider use of TEK by scholars has begun to lend credence to it.

Kimmerer’s efforts are motivated in part by her family history. Her grandfather was a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, and received colonist schooling at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The school, similar to Canadian residential schools, set out to “civilize” Native children,  forbidding residents from speaking their language, and effectively erasing their Native culture. Knowing how important it is to maintain the traditional language of the Potawatomi, Kimmerer attends a class to learn how to speak the traditional language because “when a language dies, so much more than words are lost.”[5][6]

Her current work spans traditional ecological knowledge, moss ecology, outreach to tribal communities, and creative writing.

In April 2015, Kimmerer was invited to participate as a panelist at a United Nations plenary meeting to discuss how harmony with nature can help to conserve and sustainably use natural resources, titled “Harmony with Nature: Towards achieving sustainable development goals including addressing climate change in the post-2015 Development Agenda.”[7][8]

Her second book, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, received the 2014 Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award.[10] By 2021 over 500,000 copies had been sold worldwide.[3] Braiding Sweetgrass is about the interdependence of people and the natural world, primarily the plant world.

• Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants (Milkweed Editions, 2013) ISBN 9781571313355.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Braiding sweetgrass: indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants DB92274

Kimmerer, Robin Wall Reading time: 16 hours, 46 minutes.

Robin Wall Kimmerer A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Social Sciences

Botanist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation argues that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgement and celebration of a reciprocal relationship with the world. Shares stories learned from her elders about the world around them and ways of approaching scientific inquiry. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2013.

Download Braiding sweetgrass: indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants DB92274

DB82327  Voices…dolphins

Kate’s 2¢:”Miss Julie” by August Strindberg

”Miss Julie” by August Strindberg

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   I think that if an author feels the need to justify what and why he’s writing his story, then, maybe he didn’t write it well.  This introduction really seems to feel the reader isn’t smart enough to figure out what has happened and why, so he expounds his reasons before we even read the piece.

   I’d prefer to read the piece, then, discuss it.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Strindberg was born on 22 January 1849 in Stockholm, Sweden, the third surviving son of Carl Oscar Strindberg (a shipping agent) and Eleonora Ulrika Norling (a serving-maid).[21] In his autobiographical novel The Son of a Servant, Strindberg describes a childhood affected by “emotional insecurity, poverty, religious fanaticism and neglect”.[22] When he was seven, Strindberg moved to Norrtullsgatan on the northern, almost-rural periphery of the city.[23] A year later the family moved near to Sabbatsberg, where they stayed for three years before returning to Norrtullsgatan.[24][25] He attended a harsh school in Klara for four years, an experience that haunted him in his adult life.[26] He was moved to the school in Jakob in 1860, which he found far more pleasant, though he remained there for only a year.[27] In the autumn of 1861, he was moved to the Stockholm Lyceum, a progressive private school for middle-class boys, where he remained for six years.[28] As a child he had a keen interest in natural science, photography, and religion (following his mother’s Pietism).[29] His mother, Strindberg recalled later with bitterness, always resented her son’s intelligence.[28] She died when he was thirteen, and although his grief lasted for only three months, in later life he came to feel a sense of loss and longing for an idealized maternal figure.[30] Less than a year after her death, his father married the children’s governess, Emilia Charlotta Pettersson.[31] According to his sisters, Strindberg came to regard them as his worst enemies.[30] He passed his graduation examination in May 1867 and enrolled at the Uppsala University, where he began on 13 September.[32]

Strindberg spent the next few years in Uppsala and Stockholm, alternately studying for examinations and trying his hand at non-academic pursuits. As a young student, Strindberg also worked as an assistant in a pharmacy in the university town of Lund in southern Sweden. He supported himself in between studies as a substitute primary-school teacher and as a tutor for the children of two well-known physicians in Stockholm.[33] He first left Uppsala in 1868 to work as a schoolteacher, but then studied chemistry for some time at the Institute of Technology in Stockholm in preparation for medical studies, later working as a private tutor before becoming an extra at the Royal Theatre in Stockholm. In May 1869, he failed his qualifying chemistry examination which in turn made him uninterested in schooling.

1870s[edit]

Strindberg returned to Uppsala University in January 1870 to study aesthetics and modern languages and to work on a number of plays.[34] It was at this time that he first learnt about the ideas of Charles Darwin.[35] He co-founded the Rune Society, a small literary club whose members adopted pseudonyms taken from runes of the ancient Teutonic alphabet – Strindberg called himself Frö (Seed), after the god of fertility.[36] After abandoning a draft of a play about Eric XIV of Sweden halfway through in the face of criticism from the Rune Society, on 30 March he completed a one-act comedy in verse called In Rome about Bertel Thorvaldsen, which he had begun the previous autumn.[37] The play was accepted by the Royal Theatre, where it premièred on 13 September 1870.[38][39] As he watched it performed, he realised that it was not good and felt like drowning himself, though the reviews published the following day were generally favourable.[40] That year he also first read works of Søren Kierkegaard and Georg Brandes, both of whom influenced him.[39][41]

I am a socialist, a nihilist, a republican, anything that is anti-reactionary!… I want to turn everything upside down to see what lies beneath; I believe we are so webbed, so horribly regimented, that no spring-cleaning is possible, everything must be burned, blown to bits, and then we can start afresh…[79]

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Miss Julie DBC19710

Strindberg, August; Bjorkman, Edwin

Faye Herold A production of Minnesota State Services for the Blind, Communication Center.

Drama

Stage and Screen

In Miss Julie, a willful young aristocrat, whose perverse nature has already driven her fiance to break off their engagement, pursues and effectively seduces her father’s valet during the course of a Midsummer’s Eve celebration. The progress of that seduction and the play’s stunning denouement shocked Swedish audiences who first attended the play in 1889. Adult. Unrated.

Download Miss Julie DBC19710

Kate’s 2¢: “Forty Acres” by Dwayne Alexander Smith

“Forty Acres” by Dwayne Alexander Smith

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   I wonder how many readers know the origin of ‘forty acres and a mule”?

   A few take-aways:

— Martin believed there was some truth to the old doctor’s “black noise”.

— Sometimes, in the presence of Caucasian men, he did feel something…a hint of self-consciousness.

— Kidnapping and enslaving innocent people because of ills committed by their fore-fathers seemed a greater crime than the original offense.

— Martin was proud to be a member of the black race, but first and fore-most, he was a member of the human race.

— Any rational man who so readily agree to enlist himself in such a drastic illegal conspiracy had to be lying or a fool.

   Andre Blake did a great job of reading this tory for NLS. I enjoyed it, although, various parts made me very uncomfortable. I sincerely hope this story is a pure work of fiction and that no one in his or her right mind would ever conceive of re-creating the slave plantations of the days of yore, neither with white masters and Black slaves nor Black masters and white slaves.

From the web:

Dwayne Alexander Smith is a 1-Time AALBC.com Bestselling Author

   Dwayne Alexander Smith was born in Harlem and raised in the South Bronx.

Smith decided to make movies after seeing Star Wars.  His mother bought him a Super 8 camera and he made an animated short titled SHOES which won him a scholarship to a summer long filmmaking camp.  He studied electrical engineering, in college, but dropped out, to pursue his dream of making movies. His first job in the industry was at Camera Service Center, a film equipment rental house in New York City.

   While he was making 16mm shorts in his spare time, he went on to work as a locations assistant on numerous feature films such as Money Train and HBO’s Subway Stories.  He also started writing screenplays in an attempt to earn enough money to finish Doomsday Stew, his first feature film. He never did finish the feature, but one of his screenplays, Joe’s Last Chance, sold to Intermedia. After that the doors in Hollywood swung wide open for Smith.

   He currently earns a living as a professional screenwriter and is represented by Resolution and Circle of Confusion.  He as have sold or optioned six spec screenplays and I have been hired by studios for numerous rewrites. Two films, Stuck and The Closet were released in 2014.

   About four years ago, between screenwriting jobs, he decided to write the novel Forty Acres. To his surprise and delight his very first novel won and NAACP Image Award for literature and became a Power List Bestseller.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Forty acres: a thriller DB107699

Smith, Dwayne. Reading time: 12 hours, 40 minutes.

Read by Andre Blake.

Suspense Fiction

Adventure

Martin Grey is a talented black lawyer working out of a storefront in Queens. He becomes friendly with a group of some of the most powerful, wealthy, and esteemed black men in America. When they invite him for a weekend away from families, cell phones, and work, he accepts. But their secret society threatens Martin’s life. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2014.

Downloaded: June 13, 2022

Download Forty acres: a thriller

Kate’s 2¢: “The soul of an octopus: a surprising exploration into the wonder of consciousness”

by Sy Montgomery

“The soul of an octopus: a surprising exploration into the wonder of consciousness”

by Sy Montgomery

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   I liked this story.

From her website:

Sy Montgomery (born February 7, 1958), is a naturalist, author and scriptwriter who writes for children as well as adults. She is author of 28 books, including The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness, which was a finalist for the 2015 National Book Award for Nonfiction and was on The New York Times Best Seller list.

  To research books, films and articles, Sy Montgomery has been chased by an angry silverback gorilla in Zaire and bitten by a vampire bat in Costa Rica, worked in a pit crawling with 18,000 snakes in Manitoba and handled a wild tarantula in French Guiana. She has been deftly undressed by an orangutan in Borneo, hunted by a tiger in India, and swum with piranhas,.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

The soul of an octopus: a surprising exploration into the wonder of consciousness DB82438

Montgomery, Sy. Reading time: 10 hours, 38 minutes.

Read by Kimberly Schraf. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Animals and Wildlife

Nature and the Environment

Naturalist and documentary writer explores the world, intelligence, and consciousness of octopuses. Describes her interactions with captive giant Pacific octopuses named Athena, Octavia, Kali, and Karma at the New England Aquarium in Boston, and her field investigations in French Polynesia and the Gulf of Mexico. 2015

Downloaded: August 21, 2021

Download The soul of an octopus: a surprising exploration into the wonder of consciousness

Kate’s  2¢: “Cadillac Jack a novel:  by Larry McMurtry

“Cadillac Jack a novel:  by Larry McMurtry

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   What’s not to love about this character, Jack, who drives a pearl white Cadillac?  He is a womanizer, thrice divorced, and is an egotistical Grizzly bear; however, he is a mere Teddy bear in the hands of Jean’s two little curly-haired girls, Beverly and Belinda.

   It is easy to identify with this buyer and seller of rare and not so rare antiques and nice Junque. I agreed with the ending of the story.

Larry Jeff McMurtry (June 3, 1936 – March 25, 2021) was an American novelist, essayist, bookseller, and screenwriter whose work was predominantly set in either the Old West or contemporary Texas.[1] His novels included Horseman, Pass By (1962), The Last Picture Show (1966), Lonesome Dove (1968), and Terms of Endearment (1975), which were adapted into films. Films adapted from McMurtry’s works earned 34 Oscar nominations (13 wins).

His 1985 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Lonesome Dove, was adapted into a television miniseries that earned 18 Emmy Award nominations (seven wins). The subsequent three novels in his Lonesome Dove series were adapted as three more miniseries, earning eight more Emmy nominations. McMurtry and cowriter Diana Ossana adapted the screenplay for Brokeback Mountain (2005), which earned eight Academy Award nominations with three wins, including McMurtry and Ossana for Best Adapted Screenplay. In 2014, McMurtry received the National Humanities Medal.[2]

McMurtry was born in Archer City, Texas, 25 miles from Wichita Falls, the son of Hazel Ruth (née McIver) and William Jefferson McMurtry.[3] He grew up on his parents’ ranch outside Archer City. The city was the model for the town of Thalia which is a setting for much of his fiction.[4] He earned a B.A. from the University of North Texas in 1958 and an M.A. from Rice University in 1960.[5][6]

   In his memoir, McMurtry said that during his first five or six years in his grandfather’s ranch house, there were no books, but his extended family would sit on the front porch every night and tell stories. In 1942, on his way to enlist for World War II, his cousin, named Robert Hilburn, stopped by the ranch house and left a box containing 19 boys’ adventure books from the 1930s. The first book he read was Sergeant Silk: The Prairie Scout.[7]

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Cadillac Jack: a novel DBC26225

McMurtry, Larry. Reading time: 11 hours, 8 minutes.

Read by Ed Winn.

Political Fiction

Psychological Fiction

Cadillac Jack is a rodeo cowboy turned antique dealer whose gypsy life links the worlds of Texas, the backroads of flea markets and small-time collectors, and Washington social-political high life. Richly comic, as well as moving, the novel presents a memorable cast of characters and an original story.

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Kate’s 2¢:  “The Silent Dolls” by Rita B. Herron

“The Silent Dolls” by Rita B. Herron

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   This story exploits a variety of psychological and physical fears, from a child’s fear of the dark and spiders, a child’s rage at being abandoned, a parent’s fear of losing a child, re-occurring night-mares, career insecurities, personal values, as well as being a dark and stormy night.

   Herron does a good job of casting doubt and suspicion on several possible perpetrators of the

abduction, layering multiple motives and opportunities  to keep  the reader guessing until the end.

   Not the best book to read before bed.

From the WEB:

Rita Herron. USA Today Bestselling and award-winning author Rita Herron fell in love with books at the ripe age of eight when she read her first Trixie Belden mystery. But she didn’t think real people grew up to be writers, so she became a teacher instead. Now she writes so she doesn’t have to get a real job.

   A former kindergarten teacher and workshop leader, she traded her storytelling for kids for romance, and writes romantic comedies and romantic suspense.

   Always the budding writer from a very early age, the American author Rita Herron was a keen scribe, something which carried through with her to adulthood working as a writer of suspense and mystery novels.

From NLS/BARD/LOC                      :

Silent dolls DB104653

Herron, Rita B. Reading time: 8 hours, 42 minutes.

Read by Phoebe Zimmermann.

Suspense Fiction

Mystery and Detective Stories

Detective Ellie Reeves is called in to the case of a missing seven-year-old girl, Penny Matthews. After discovery of the decades-old remains of a child, Ellie worries that she has come up against a serial killer–one with ties to her own past. Violence, strong language, and some explicit descriptions of sex. 2020.

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# 265 words

“The Silent Dolls”

By Rita B. Herron

Reviewed by Kate Chamberlin

What little girl doesn’t want a doll of her own?

In “The Silent Dolls” by Rita B. Herron almost a dozen little girls fall for the stranger’s ploy of having their own, hand-carved doll and going to see a beautiful doll house. The girls are never found again along the evergreen strewn and rocky cliffs of the Appalachian Trail.

This story exploits a variety of psychological and physical fears, from a child’s fear of the dark and spiders, a child’s rage at being abandoned, a parent’s fear of losing a child, re-occurring night-mares, career insecurities, personal values, as well as being a dark and stormy night.

   Herron does a good job of casting doubt and suspicion on several possible perpetrators of the  abduction, layering multiple motives and opportunities  to keep  the reader guessing until the end. We’re never sure if it is the Chief of Police Reeves, Ranger Chords, FBI Agent Fox’s father, or some deranged stranger. Detective Ellie Reeves’s discoveries will astound you.

Phoebe Zimmermann  read this for NLS with a voice appropriate for the suspense, mystery, and drama of the narrative; however, you might not want to read/listen this story at bed-time.

I enjoyed reading this book, although,  I have a ‘spoiler alert’ for Senior High Students and Adults who will also enjoy “The Silent Dolls. This is the first book in a proposed series, so there are several threads left dangling and may not be a satisfying ending for some readers. We’ll have to stay tuned for Book II in the series.

I recommend “The Silent Dolls” by Rita B. Herron: ISBN-13: 9781838887612: Storyfire Ltd: Pages: 334. (NLS/BARD/LOC: DB104653) 

Kate’s 2¢: “Tell No Lies”  by Allison Brennan

“Tell No Lies”  by Allison Brennan

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   Billy and Emma were in love and he doted on her. Her obsession was with the environment, so when she asked him to take her hiking to find what was poisoning the birds, he said yes.  He was worn out, letting her go ahead of him…to her death.

DBI Agent Matt Costa was running an under-cover op to look into the copper refinery plant’s possible contamination of the water source in the area.  

   Are the cases related? It is a merry chase and an intriguing story.  How the plots twist and inter-twine kept me listening on the edge of my chair.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Tell no lies DB106207

Brennan, Allison Reading time: 12 hours, 29 minutes.

Suzanne T. Fortin

Suspense Fiction

Mystery and Detective Stories

When a college intern turned activist sets out to find evidence of wildlife killings on her own, she is murdered. Detective Kara Quinn and loner FBI agent Matt Costa are called in. They find clues indicating dark secrets, and must uncover them before more lives are lost. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2021.

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Kate’s 2¢: “Log Jam” by Monica Hughes

“Log Jam” by Monica Hughes

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   I enjoyed this YA story. I thought the characters were portrayed realistically.

From the WEB:

Monica Hughes was born Monica Mary Ince in Liverpool, England, on November 3, 1925, to biologist Phyllis Fry and mathematician E. L. Ince. Her family soon moved to Egypt, where Ince headed the math department at the University of Cairo.

Date of birth: November 3, 1925

Place of birth: Liverpool, England

Date of death: March 7, 2003

Place of death: Edmonton, Alberta

Principal Works

Long Fiction

Gold-Fever Trail: A Klondike Adventure, 1974

Crisis on Conshelf Ten series, 1975–77

The Tomorrow City, 1978

Beyond the Dark River, 1979

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Log jam DBG00804

Hughes, Monica Reading time: 5 hours, 18 minutes.

Eleanor Yourex. A production of CNIB.

Growing Up

Adventure

Human Relations

Family

Young Adult

Fourteen-year-old Lenora does not want to go on a camping expedition in the Alberta foothills with her mother, new step-father and two new step-brothers. Her attitude changes when she encounters 17-year-old Isaac Manyfeathers who has escaped from jail. For junior and senior high readers. c1987. Marrakesh title.

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Kate’s 2¢: “The ventriloquists” by Evan Roxanna Ramzipoor

“The ventriloquists” by Evan Roxanna Ramzipoor

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   The narrator, Nancy Peterson, does a very good job of speaking in the various accents of the characters. Sometimes, it is too thick to catch, if you’re not listening carefully.

   Ramzipoor uses a time-line to organize the narrative arc in this compelling story of Nazi occupation. It is hard to imagine the hardships people endured in war torn, occupied countries, but, the human spirit prevails.

   I like having Ramzipoor tell us at the end of the story, exactly where she stretched the truth to put together a seamless piece of creative non-fiction.

From her web-site:

Evan Roxanna Ramzipoor is a writer based in California. She also works as a content marketer, writing about cybercrime and online fraud. She studied political science at UC Berkeley, where she researched underground literature in resistance movements and discovered the forgotten story of Faux Soir. Her writing has been featured in McSweeney’s and The Ventriloquists is her first novel. She lives with her partner and a terrier mix named Lada. She is never far from a notebook or a pair of running shoes.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

The ventriloquists DB96433

Ramzipoor, E. R. Reading time: 20 hours, 22 minutes.

Read by Nancy Peterson.

Historical Fiction

Brussels, 1943. Twelve-year-old street orphan Helene survives by living as a boy, selling copies of Le Soir–the country’s most popular newspaper-turned-Nazi-propaganda. When she befriends rogue journalist Marc Aubrion, she is drawn into a secret underground network. But Aubrion catches the attention of a high-ranking Nazi. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2019.