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Friday, August 27, 2021

Braiding Sweetgrass (in progress), I Will Always Write Back, and The Devil's Teeth


 For the last ten days or so, I've been listening to Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teaching of Plants by written and narrated by Robin Wall Kimmerer.  A series of essays that combine scientific knowledge with indigenous myth and culture and examine our relationship with the earth.  

I've been enjoying the essays and the soothing voice of the author/narrator.  It isn't the kind of book that you read (or listen to) straight through.  You listen and pause and return again later that day or the next.  I've listened to about half now, an essay or two at a time as I do chores or sit and sew on the Nightmare Catchers.  

Kimmerer is a scientist, but she is strongly influenced by her indigenous heritage, and the essays make me ponder the way the two, science and culture, differ.  They may come to the same conclusions, but by very different paths.  


In a letter from our thirteen-year-old granddaughter, she mentioned that of her summer reading, I Will Always Write Back was the book that made an impression on her.  As both a reader and a letter writer, I figured this was a book I needed to read.  

The true story of an all-American girl and a boy from an impoverished city in Zimbabwe and the letter that changed both of their lives forever.

In 1997, Caitlin's middle school initiated a pen pal exchange, and Caitlin requested a pen pal from Zimbabwe.  Martin Ganda, a bright, but impoverished student received Caitlin's letter.  For six years the two corresponded, building a friendship that has lasted over the years.

The story is told in hindsight, with both Caitlin and Martin revealing events and situations that were not present in their letters.  Martin's poverty was beyond what twelve-year-old Caitlin was capable of understanding, and he reveals the extent of it only much later.  Initially, he wants to focus on what the two had in common, as if they were both normal kids.

When the letters begin, Caitlin is as shallow and privileged as many American middle schoolers can be in an affluent society.  With little experience outside of their own families and communities, they don't yet realize what it is to be without the things they take for granted--food, clothing, housing.  American children are often sheltered and unaware--in any real sense---of the effects of poverty, even in their own communities.  This is, of course, true of many adults as well.  

Martin's experiences come as an eye-opener for readers.  And most of the readers of this book will be American middle-schoolers.  The stories of Caitlin and Martin should have an impact on how young people begin to process a broader world.  

Martin is persistent.  He never gives up, and eventually, with the help of Caitlin and her family, attends an American university and builds a successful career.  Still friends years later, the two relate the story of the impact the letters had on each of them.
   
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers 
2015.  Print length:  392 pages.


In 2018, I read the first of the Ravenwood Mysteries, then the second, third, and fourth.  The more I read the more I enjoyed them (always fortunate).  

The Devil's Teeth is book #5, and I was delighted to get back to a cast of characters that continued to grow on me with each book. 

For pure rollicking adventure, wit, and historical inspiration, these books have all been a pleasure of escapism.  The Devil's Teeth is somewhat tamer, as Bel has been confined to an asylum.  Not that this has done much to contain her.

In San Francisco, Atticus Riot has his own problems with the agency, his caseload, and the two daughters he has adopted.  

Sabrina Flynn uses the history of San Francisco and the raucous Barbary Coast as inspiration for both characters and events.   In the midst of the adventure, other topics like misogyny, racism, political corruption, all the vices of the Barbary Coast and China Town. 

Action packed and characters that leave the page and engage your imagination.  A Victorian mystery series that is one romp after another.

Ink & Sea Publ.
Victorian Mystery.  2019.  Print length:  352 pages.

18 comments:

  1. All three of these sound great! I love a good Victorian mystery, so the Ravenwood Mysteries are very appealing to me. I Will Always Write Back sounds like a truly fascinating and enlightening read. And Braiding Sweetgrass sounds very interesting, as well. :)

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    1. Braiding Sweet Grass is 16 hours of audiobook, so I have another two weeks or so left on that one, since I only listen to a couple of essays at a time. The Ravenwood mysteries are fun!

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  2. I Will Always Write Back sounds like an amazing book and one that everyone should read, regardless of their age. And how have I missed out on the Ravenwood Mysteries? I'm sure you've mentioned them before, but somehow I didn't jot them down. And they're exactly the kind of historical mysteries I tend to love. Am adding them to my To Read list now, before I forget...again! :D

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    1. I Will Always Write Back is an interesting examination of two cultures and a good choice for young people--and I enjoyed it, too. The Ravenwood Mysteries is one of those series that, after a slow beginning in the first chapters of the first book, had me hooked on the characters and the adventure and eagerly awaiting books 2,3,4, and 5!

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  3. That is fantastic that you took a book recommendation from your granddaughter. I love it when reading is shared across generations like that. And the book sounds amazing. I have a strong interest in Zimbabwe since I was able to visit there in the late 1980s. I will check it out and maybe buy a copy for my dad too, who lived there for two years.

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    1. When she was younger, she would bring me all of her Warriors books by Erin Hunter when she finished them, and I enjoyed every one of them. Firepaw, Bluestar, Redtail, Frostfur and all of the wonderful and terrible cats of the various clans provided great characters and suspense. :)

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    2. My niece LOVED those Warrior Cat books too. :D

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  4. All of these are interesting, but I'm particularly taken by I Will Always Write Back because it is a reminder of simpler times when communication was neither instantaneous nor easy. I think we treasured notes and letters so much back then because of the time and effort involved on both ends. I befriended a German woman that way whose husband fought across the lines in some of the same WWII battles my father fought. Her husband did not survive. She came to visit us one summer for a month and she and my father became great friends and talked for hours about those days.

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    1. Yes, my father's letters to his parents when he was stationed in England during the war are interesting. He was barely 19, and his letters reflected a country boy from Louisiana. He was a navigator and Tom Landry was his pilot. They and several others remained friends over the decades. I love those letters.

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  5. My naturalist book club will be reading Sweetgrass, but not until next January. I can't wait!

    I will look for I Will Always Write Back.

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    1. It is a long book, either reading or audio, but I keep thinking about the essays and enjoy listening is a slow, unhurried way. Your book club should enjoy it and have plenty of discussion topics!

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  6. I Will Always Write Back sounds like a great read! And Martin's story seems inspiring too. I think most youngsters (or even adults) are too into social media and/or Internet that they no longer find conventional communication such as letter writing and phone calls appealing because modern technology is so much faster and convenient. As true as this is, they also lost the human "feel". The other day, I was telling my daughter that there are times I couldn't tell the sender's tone in a text unless there's an emoji to indicate their emotions. The pros and cons of technology huh?

    And oh, I got your mail today! :D

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    1. :) Emoji! Especially satire and sarcasm need a little extra help. In today's instant communication, people don't know whether a person is being serious (there are so many crazies) or tongue-in-cheek!

      Thanks for letting me know it arrived--Singapore is a long way and the mail is not always as reliable here with our "Postmaster General" being a less than honorable person.

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  7. I read and greatly enjoyed Braiding Sweetgrass earlier this year. I'm glad to see that you are enjoying it also. The other two books you mention interest me as well, especially The Devil's Teeth. I have to look that one up.

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    1. Braiding Sweetgrass is wonderful--and sad to think of how we have mistreated our mission to treat the earth and its plants with respect.

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  8. These all sound wonderful and I need to add them to my to be read list!

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    1. I've enjoyed all of them, and I only have a couple of hours left on Braiding Sweetgrass!

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