History

STEP RIGHT UP

Animal Stories, Book Reviews, Book Reviews, History /

STEP RIGHT UP: HOW DOC AND JIM KEY TAUGHT THE WORLD ABOUT KINDNESS is a deeply inspiring book about a brilliant horse and his kind trainer. Together they taught the American people that animals have feelings, a sense of humor, and the ability to reason just as humans do.

The astonishing abilities of Beautiful Jim Key to spell, do mathematical calculations, answer random questions from his audiences, and thoroughly charm the millions of people who came to his performances were nothing short of astonishing.

Doc Key emphasized over and over that all of Beautiful Jim Key’s training had been done with kindness. Doc and Jim became part of the growing movement in the early 1900s to treat animals humanely. Over two million children “stepped right up” to sign the official Jim Key Pledge: “I promise always to be kind to animals.”

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THE KEEPER OF STORIES

Book Reviews, History /

THE KEEPER OF STORIES is the moving retelling of a huge community response in New York City to a tragic fire at the Jewish Theological Seminary Library that occurred in 1966.

The fire reduced thousands of books to ash and left over 170,000 books waterlogged, in danger of being destroyed by mold.

A cadre of volunteers from all faiths, all walks of life, all neighborhoods in New York City, came together to restore these books by placing paper towels between the millions of pages in these books to dry them. The books were restored.

The Jewish Theological Seminary Library lives on today as the “keeper of stories” of Jewish life through history because of the community which came together to help, came together and by doing so became part of the stories.

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THE GARDENER

Book Reviews, History /

Set in the mid 1930s depression era America, THE GARDENER is a tale of optimism and seeing the glass half full.

Young Lydia Grace Finch must go to live with her Uncle Jim in the city while her Papa looks for a job. Lydia Grace takes her love of plants and flowers to Uncle Jim’s somewhat dilapidated bakery and crafts a transformation of the bakery and curmudgeonly, unsmiling Uncle Jim.

This is a tale of steady optimism that will warm your heart, especially if you love the magic of flowers.

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The Only Woman in the Photo: Frances Perkins and Her New Deal for America

Book Reviews, History /

This book is inspiring story documenting what one dedicated person can do for the public good. Beautifully written and illustrated, it tells the inspiring story of Frances Perkins, the first woman to serve as a United States cabinet secretary. Frances was chosen to be Secretary of Labor by Franklin Delano Roosevelt after he was elected president in 1932.
As Labor Secretary, Frances worked tirelessly to implement programs that would benefit the American people — workplace safety regulations, minimum wage, maximum working hours per week, unemployment insurance, and her crowning achievement, the Social Security act of 1935. Every working person in the United States, every person who receives unemployment benefits or Social Security, is endebted to Frances Perkins.

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Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear

Animal Stories, Book Reviews, History /

Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear, is an inspiring and engaging account of the real world events that led to Winnie’s good home in the London Zoo and the subsequent stories of Winnie-the-Pooh.

In a time of great global stress during World War I, kindness and love between a very special bear and the humans she encountered prevailed and rippled out across the world through A. A. Milne’s tales of Winnie-the-Pooh and her friends.

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The Star People: A Lakota Story

Astronomy, Book Reviews, History, Native American History /

S. D. Nelson creates a visually stunning retelling of a teaching from his Lakota tradition.

Sister Girl and her brother, Young Wolf, wander out onto the prairie where they see the Cloud People floating in the vast sky above them.

After a harrowing escape from a prairie fire, the children reconnect with their beloved grandmother, Elk Tooth Woman, who had passed away the previous spring, and now, as an ancestor, was dwelling among the Star People, “the spirts of the Old Ones who once walked this earth”.

Vibrant illustrations by Nelson, done in the style of Native American ledger art, make this children’s picture book a luminous teaching story.

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Review of The Girl Who Named PLUTO: The Story of Venetia Burney

Astronomy, Book Reviews, History, Science /

In 1930 the Lowell Observatory in the United States discovered a ninth planet, Planet X. A search began for a name for the planet.

In Oxford, England, eleven year old, Venetia Burney learned of the existence of the new planet when her grandfather, Falconer Madan, read a newspaper article announcing the discovery of Planet X.

Venetia was interested in astronomy and also Greek and Roman mythology. She suggested to her grandfather that the planet could be named PLUTO. Her grandfather immediately wrote to a friend at the British Royal Astronomical Society who sent Venetia’s suggestion to astronomers at Lowell Observatory. The astronomers unanimously voted in favor of Venetia’s suggested name. Venetia became the only child to ever name a planet.

This is warm hearted and historically accurate story showing what one individual, a young girl, can do by following her imagination and enthusiasm.

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