Juvenile Nonfiction Double Feature

**These reviews were originally posted on a Juvenile Nonfiction discussion board for my Children's Literature class**

Title: Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras

Author: Duncan Tonatiuh

Genres: juvenile nonfiction, holidays around the world, read for school, juvenile biography

Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras is a combination picture book/informational book about the little known (at least in the US) Mexican artist, Posada. Funny Bones chronicles the life of Posada from budding artist days as a child, to print shop apprentice and political cartoonist as an adult. His experiences and talent eventually came together with his prolific creations of literary calaveras.

The illustrations are folk art in style, inspired by Posada’s playful skeletons and the book also contains an author’s note about the Day of the Dead holiday, a glossary and pronunciation guide of Spanish language terms, a bibliography, art credits, and a list of museums where visitors can view Posada’s works. Due to the amount of material in this book, I would recommend this as a readaloud book, if reading to younger children; older elementary-aged children with an advanced reading level could handle this on their own.

On pages 17-31, the author uses repetition and questions to keep a child’s interest. In this section Tonatiuh’s illustrations alternate with calavera drawings and questions about the deeper meaning behind the drawings. At first, I was annoyed that the questions appear to give away the symbolism and hidden meaning, but then I had to remind myself that this is a children’s book, and symbolism needs to be explained to children due to their age, stage of development, and limited life experience. Tonatiuh is “using a familiar, expected pattern to make children feel comfortable and ready to face the unfamiliar and unexpected” (Horning, 2010, p. 90). Both the holiday (Dia de los Muertos) and the concept of death are both unfamiliar to children. The use of questions in the text also serves multiple purposes:

·       add auditory variety to the text

·       keep little minds focused on the story

·       lets children try their growing critical thinking skills

·       gives the adult reader a quick assessment of the child’s understand of the text (Horning, p.91)

Dia de los Muertos is little known in much of the United States, but I have noticed in the past few years that sugar skulls (alfeñiques) are melding more and more with traditional American Halloween decorations. Dia de los Muertos occurs on November 1-2, right after Halloween, but it is not a scary holiday like Halloween can be. Although Halloween can be family-friendly, some people go over the top with the scary elements such as haunted houses, fantastical creatures, and various bits of gore. Dia de los Muertos is a holiday dedicated to respectful ancestor worship:

              “People often go to the cemetery to pray. They weed and repaint the gravestones of their loved ones. They bring their loved ones’ favorite food and tell stories about them. Sometimes they hire musicians to play their loved ones’ favorite songs. They have a picnic and spend the whole day at the cemetery. In some places they spend the entire night too” (Tonatiuh, 2015, p.36).

Now compare this to how most Americans view/treat cemeteries:

·       We only visit a cemetery when we have to (a funeral)

·       Cemeteries are run by funeral industry professionals (part of the reason why funerals are so expensive)

·       Local government-owned cemeteries are full and budgets are not which has led to a deterioration in upkeep

·       Old, private family cemeteries become overgrown and eventually forgotten

·       Genealogists wander around cemeteries taking photos of gravestones

If someone in the US stayed at a cemetery all day and night, other people would assume that person is mentally ill or homeless; that same person would be accused of loitering and escorted off the premises by the police. If someone painted a gravestone at a US cemetery, they would be arrested for vandalism; if musicians were hired to sing and play in a cemetery, everyone involved would be arrested for disturbing the peace.

Readalikes:

A Gift for Abuelita by Nancy Luenn [picture book] Review from Colours of Us blog: “tells the story of a young girl’s bond with her deceased grandmother. Abuelita taught Rosita how to braid, make tortillas, and grow chiles. On the Day of the Dead, Rosita makes a beautiful braid as a gift to her beloved abuelita. With unique paper pulp illustrations, this is an affectionate picture about loss and the healing power of remembrance.”

Day of the Dead Crafts: More Than 21 Projects that Celebrate Dia de los Muertos by Kerry Arquette, Andrea Zocchi, and Jerry Virgil. Instead of learning by reading, kids can learn by doing! Crafts include calaveras, masks, sugar skulls, altar, and jewelry. A nice way to tie in a hands-on element to learning about other cultures.

Citations:

Arquette, K., Zocchi, A., and Virgil, J. (2008). Day of the dead crafts: more than 21 projects that celebrate dia de los muertos. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Horning, K.T. (2010). From cover to cover: evaluation and reviewing children’s books. New York: HarperCollins.

Luenn, N. (2004). A gift for abuelita. New York: Cooper Square Press.

Tonatiuh, D. (2015). Funny bones: Posada and his day of the dead Calaveras. New York: Harry N. Abrams.

Title: My Names is James Madison Hemmings

Author: Jonah Winter and Terry Widener

Genres: juvenile nonfiction, juvenile biography, read for school

In the article, “How Nonfiction Reveals the Nature of Science,” the authors caution against selecting science books that contain “idealized descriptions of scientists as heroic and larger than life” (Zarnowski and Turkel, 2013, p. 298). This same advice could also be used when selecting nonfiction materials related to the Founding Fathers of the United States, of which Thomas Jefferson was one. Jefferson has been memorialized as a president and author of our nation’s founding document, The Declaration of Independence. This memorialization in text and architecture (the Jefferson Memorial) glosses over the more disturbing details of Jefferson’s life. Like all of us, he was imperfect, but after reading this book, he could also be viewed as hypocritical too (or some will argue, a man of his time). In the Author’s Note, Jonah Winter states that “Jefferson’s life and legacy are full of contradictions” (Winter, 2016, p. 31), which is putting the contradictions in Jefferson’s personal life and public politics, quite mildly!

In My Name is James Madison Hemings, we read about Jefferson’s son was born into slavery due to the slave status of his mother, Sally Hemings. We read about James’ efforts to reconcile that his master was also his father, and that he would never receive the same amount of love or education that Jefferson’s white children and grandchildren received. Although James, his mother, and his siblings were slaves, they were spared some of the harsher parts of slave life due to their biological connection to Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson spared the Hemings family from participating in backbreaking field labor, gave the Hemmings boys violins, and let the Hemings children learn to read and write, in a time when it was illegal to educate slaves in any manner.

There is debate nowadays on whether the relationship between Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson was consensual or not. While this book doesn’t talk about that aspect of the Hemings/Jefferson relationship, the book tells us that Sally and her children were relocated from the slaves’ quarters to the dependencies- rooms near a smokehouse and the horse stables. Moving the Hemings family to the section of Monticello where animals lived and died was an act of kindness with a double meaning; this relocation could be interpreted that the Hemings were viewed in a liminal status by Jefferson: not animals, but not quite human either.  After Jefferson died, his children were freed from the bonds of slavery, but Sally, their mother, was not.

Although the author notes that he “presented this story in a first-person narrative as historical fiction” (Winter, 2016, p. 31), the spine label on my library copy says, “J B Hemings” for Juvenile Biography. If I were to recommend this book to someone, I would tell them not to be fooled by the slimness of the text. Although the book may be small in pages, the content within is intense for a children’s book. I would recommend this for an older elementary child due to the serious content of the book. The impressionistic art style of the illustrations mirrors James’ uncertainty about his father’s affections and his own place in the world.

You can read more about Sally Hemings and her legacy at the Monticello website.

Readalikes:

Lift Your Light a Little Higher: The Story of Stephen Bishop: Slave-Explorer by Heather Henson. (Synopsis from Kirkus Reviews): “This story whispers of the life of a man most contemporary American readers should know but don’t. Stephen Bishop, born circa 1821, had intimate knowledge of Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, where he served as guide for visitors who traveled far to tour the underground passageways. Despite the ban against teaching slaves to read, Stephen acquired literacy and wrote his name on the ceiling of Mammoth Cave by using smoke from a lighted candle. Henson weaves Bishop’s impressive scientific discoveries of cave life into the sparse narrative, demonstrating the magnitude of his contributions despite that little is known of his life or death…A story that recovers an important piece of African-American history inextricably tied to the history of Mammoth Cave, a national monument visited by 2 million people each year.”

Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library by Carole Boston Weatherford. (Synopsis from Kirkus Reviews): “An eccentric, smart, and quirky bibliophile, Arturo Schomburg fueled his life with books. This picture book of free verse poems, lavishly illustrated in oils, opens with stories from Schomburg’s childhood in Puerto Rico, where he constantly asked why the history of black people had been left out of all the history books. Answering him, framed, date-stamped panels, appearing primarily on the right sides of the double-page spreads throughout, capture the stories of important historical black figures such as Phillis Wheatley, Frederick Douglass, and Paul Cuffee. The poem “Whitewash” will surprise some readers; Schomburg objected to the common practice of omitting from biographies the African heritage of prominent individuals such as naturalist and ornithologist John James Audubon, French writer Alexandre Dumas, Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, and German composer Ludwig van Beethoven. Alongside these, Schomburg’s personal and professional life unfolds in unframed images. Schomburg worked as a mail clerk with Banker’s Trust; his book-collecting and library building resulted from his life’s passion, not his vocation. All of the book’s details paint Schomburg as an admirable, flawed, likable, passionate man whose lasting legacy, Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, opens its doors to all who would learn more about the people its founder knew had been left out of the written record. A must-read for a deeper understanding of a well-connected genius who enriched the cultural road map for African-Americans and books about them.”

Citations:

Kirkus Reviews, (2016, June 28). Lift your light a little higher. Retrieved from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/heather-henson/lift-your-light-a-little-higher/

Kirkus Reviews, (2017, May 24). Schomburg: the man who built a library. Retrieved from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/carole-boston-weatherford/schomburg/

The Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc. (2018). The Life of Sally Hemings. Retrieved from https://www.monticello.org/sallyhemings/

Winter, J. and Widener, T. (2016). My name is James Madison Hemmings. New York: Schwartz & Wade Books.

Zarnowski, M. and Turkel, S. (2013). How nonfiction reveals the nature of science. Children’s Literature in Education 44(4), 295-310.

Double Feature: The Cruel Prince and The Buried Symbol

**This post originally appeared on a YA Fantasy Literature discussion board for my Children's Literature class**

Title: The Cruel Prince

Author: Holly Black

Genres: YA fiction, fantasy, read for school

The Cruel Prince drew me in visually with its understated yet beautiful cover but the prologue definitely peaked my reading interest since it literally starts off with a bang- a mysterious man kills the parents of Jude, Taryn, and Vivienne in front of them. Let’s just say that Mystery Man had a very personal connection to their mother…The rest of the book occurs ten years later as the three girls have come to terms with Madoc (the mysterious man) and their life in Faerie; Vivienne, Madoc’s biological daughter, hates him and wants to leave Faerie to live with her mortal girlfriend. Jude and Taryn are twins but are complete opposites in personality: Taryn is quiet and loves the spectacle of Faerie parties and balls; Jude’s goal is to become a Knight (these two remind me of Sansa and Arya in the Game of Thrones series). Madoc treats all three girls equally: “The servants are overfond of telling me how fortunate I am, a bastard daughter of a faithless wife, a human without a drop of faerie blood, to be treated like a trueborn child of Faerie. They tell Taryn much the same thing” (Black, 2018, p.10). The Folk view Vivienne more fondly due to her pure Faerie blood while Taryn and Jude are subjected to constant scorn and mockery for their mortal status.

The court intrigue and drama in Faerie is also reminiscent of Game of Thrones and mortal world politics. High King Eldred’s six children each have their allies: The Circle of Grackles (the party animals), Circle of Larks (the art lovers), and Circle of Falcons (the warriors). Spies from each of these subgroups stay busy discovering evidence of unsavory plots and creating distractions. Taryn and Jude have to deal with their own immediate drama: Prince Cardan. Prince Cardan, known through Faerie for his drunkenness, playboy ways, and cruelty: “This is how they are. Someone gets in Cardan’s way, and they’re instantly and brutally punished…I am grateful that Cardan has five more worthy brothers and sisters; it’s guaranteed that he’ll never sit on the throne. I don’t want to think of him with more power than he has” (Black, 2018, p.23).  (Hello, Prince Joffrey of Westeros!). Prince Cardan and his entourage take every opportunity to bully the sisters, especially Jude, who verbally antagonizes them back in return.  

Jude uses her past, swordfighting practice, and chess strategy lessons with Madoc to build up her survival skills; skills she hopes to use someday as an official warrior in Madoc’s retinue and gain power to make her untouchable:

“I was raised by the man who murdered my parents, reared in a land of monsters. I live with that fear, let it settle into my bones, and ignore it. If I didn’t pretend to be scared, I would hide under my owl-down coverlets in Madoc’s estate forever. I would lie there until there was nothing left of me. I refuse to do that. I will not do that” (Black, 2018, p.31).

I am going to recommend two sets of readalikes this week: one for older teens (ages 17-18) and one for younger teens (13-16). For older teens, I recommend The Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin (AKA Game of Thrones) and The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. These are fantasy series for adults but could also be categorized as YA/Adult crossovers. The Song of Ice and Fire series takes place in a medieval world called Westeros. Multiple kingdoms are vying for control of the throne while ignoring the threat of “whitewalkers” (zombie-like creatures) to the north. This book contains graphic, mature content, which is why I recommend it for older teens. The Dresden Files is an urban fantasy that takes place in modern-day Chicago. Harry Dresden is a wizard turned private detective (even wizards need to eat). Harry lives with two magical pets and a lecherous, talking skull. He and his rag-tag groups of friends stay busy saving Chicago and the world from various supernatural-induced catastrophes.

For younger teens, I recommend The Shannara Trilogy by Terry Brooks (now an MTV series) and anything by Maggie Stiefvater. I have not read The Shannara Chronicles myself but my husband has watched the TV series, which is specifically created and marketed to a teenage audience. Maggie Stiefvater has written about werewolves, water horses, and lots of other magical creatures. I swoon every time she publishes a new book!

Citations:

Beimler, H. and Hewitt Wolfe, R. (Writers). (2007-2008). The Dresden Files [Television series]. In N. Cage, N. Golightly, R. Hewitt Wolfe, and D. Simkins (Producers). New York: SciFi Channel.

Benioff, D. and Weiss, D.B. (Writers and Directors). (2011-2018). Game of Thrones [Television series]. In D. Benioff and D.B. Weiss (Producers). New York: Home Box Office.

Black, H. (2018). The cruel prince. New York: Little, Brown, and Company.

Brooks, T. 1977-1985. London, UK: Orbit Books.

Butcher, J. 2000-2014. The Dresden Files, book series. New York: Roc Books.

Gough, A. and Millar, M. (Writers). (2016-2017). The Shannara Chronicles [Television series]. In D. Blocker (Producer). New York: Viacom Media Networks.

Martin, G.R.R. 1996-2011. Song of Ice and Fire, book series. New York: Bantam. 

Title: The Buried Symbol

Author: jeffrey L. Kohanek

Genre: YA fiction, fantasy, read for school

Brock Tannerson is fed up with the futility of life as an Unchosen after the death of his beloved aunt. “He didn’t want just any vocation. He wanted to make a difference, to achieve something special. He wanted to be able to save the next loved one when they needed him” (Kohanek, 2016, p. 43). After stealing enough money to get an illegal rune branded into his forehead, Brock and his best friend, Tipper, set off the Academy- an elite school run by the government (the Empire). While on the journey to the Academy, Brock and Tipper encounter a banshee and a bacabra and Brock has a vision of an unknown rune which gives him special powers and abilities (which come in handy later in the book).

Once he arrives at the Academy, Brock realizes he forgot to research the admissions requirements! Thanks to the help of well connected, new friend, Brock applies to the Academy through a series of puzzling evaluation tests; after passing these tests he is admitted to the Academy and his life changes forever. Brock learns about engineering, lore/history, fighting, the structure of the government, laws, and the arts of healing and divination which seem to be his special gifts. Brock learns about Order, a “life force tied to all living things” (Kohanek, 2016, p.174), which sounds strangely similar to the force in the Star Wars universe…. As if dealing with school stress and experiencing love with his first girlfriend wasn’t enough to keep him busy, Brock also has to contend with a bully. The lost symbol referred to in the title of the book, refers to some extracurricular research Brock and his friends discovered after Brock illegally pilfered a book from the library (originally referred to as a knowledge center). Their research uncovered a rune for Chaos, another life force, that was used in the past for destruction, but now the Ministry has erased Chaos from the cultural memory of Issalia.

Although I initially had some misgivings about The Buried Symbol due to the cover (I thought it looked amateurish and formatting (I know, I know, you can’t just a book by its cover), the first chapter drew me in. Although this book wasn’t as well written as The Cruel Prince (I found a few spelling and grammatical errors in The Lost Symbol), the plot was fast-paced and engaging. I wish certain background elements had been fleshed out more within the text. For example, being an Unchosen is a big deal but the ceremony where all the citizens received the rune that determines the course of their life is barely mentioned throughout the book. There are a few scenes where Tipper, Brock’s best friend, experiences discrimination based on his Unchosen status, yet the author never delves in depth into the hierarchy and classism of this world. Another thing that bugged me was the way the author described females in the book- they were either curvy, voluptuous, and beautiful, or they were painfully thin. I know this book is told from the perspective of a teenage boy, but I found these initial descriptions of women as superficial and annoying. Even though this is a fantasy novel, the characters in the book don’t speak as formally as most characters in fantasy novels do. In fact, they sometimes speak in a Southern manner. Brock refers to his father as “Pa” and the man in the tavern that was upset about eating in the same inn as an Unchosen kept using the word “ain’t.” I don’t know if this was on purpose because of the intended audience or if it’s just the author’s writing style, but I’m used to a certain formality of language when reading fantasy novels. Oh, and did anyone notice that the map of Issalia resembles the continental US?

Citations:

Kohanek, J. (2016). The buried symbol. No location: Black Rose Printing. 

Newberry Award Winners

Hello! The following blog post has been taken from the discussion boards in my online Children's Literature class. Yes, I'm back in school- this time I'm completing my Master's degree so that I can be a real librarian when I grow up. 😉 For this week's discussion post we had to read and discuss two Newberry Award books from the following list :
Hello Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly
The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

Title: Last Stop on Market Street

Author: Matt de la Peña

Genre: picture book, thankfulness, helping others, city life

My first pick from the list is Last Stop on Market Street. In this book CJ and his Nana take their weekly bus ride after church. The destination is not explained to the reader and along the way we meet the interesting people that inhabit CJ’s world. Like all small children, CJ is curious about his surroundings and other people and he’s not afraid to ask questions. Some of his questions relate to why things or people are the way they are: “How come that man can’t see?” Instead of lecturing CJ about disabilities, Nana responds with, “Some people watch the world with their ears.” (In other words, there are multiple ways to view the world). Nana uses this philosophy every time CJ’s questions is really a complaint in disguise:

“How come we gotta wait for the bus in all this wet?”

 “Trees get thirsty, too.” (Be thankful for the rain which nourishes nature).

“Nana, how come we don’t got a car?” 

“Boy, what do we need a car for? We got a bus that breathes fire, and old Mr. Dennis who always has a trick for you.” 

(Hidden meaning: A bus is more exciting than a car. A car keeps a person or family in isolation from their community. A bus rider gets to meet interesting people every day).

“How come we always gotta go here after church? Miguel and Colby never have to go nowhere.”

 “I feel sorry for those boys,” she told him. 

(“Here” is not explained until the end of the book when the reader realizes that Nana and CJ are volunteering at a soup kitchen. Nana feels sorry that CJ’s friends don’t experience the joy of helping others). 

When CJ pines for a personal music player, Nana gently reminds him that he is in the presence of a live musician.

I interpreted the overall themes in this book to be community, gratitude, and finding the beauty in everyday things: “He wondered how his nana always found beautiful where he never even thought to look.” I would suggest this book for families that want to inspire the attitude of thankfulness in their children and for urban children that ride the bus every day since this book is reflective of their experiences. 

Title Hello, Universe

Author: Erin Entrada Kelly

Genre: middle grade fiction, friendship, perseverance, bullies, differently-abled character

My second Newberry pick is Hello, Universe and I just want to start off by telling everyone that I absolutely loved this book! I thought a 311-page book was going to dominate most of my reading time this week and I read this book in 2 ½ hours! Even though the book is somewhat thick for a middle-grade book, the multiple, interwoven plots and the author’s writing style keep the reader engaged and makes time fly by!

The themes in this book are fate/destiny, coincidences, friendship, and inner strength/self-empowerment. This book is told from multiple third person points of view: shy Virgilio Salinas (Virgil), deaf but determined Valencia Somerset, spiritual Kaori Tanaka and her little sister sidekick Gen, and the school/neighborhood bully Chet Bullens.

Virgil and Valencia are destined to be together (according to Kaori) since they share initials, attend the same class, and have compatible star signs on the zodiac. What Kaori doesn’t know is that Virgil and Valencia are both in search of friendship but find it difficult to make or keep friends for different reasons. Virgil suffers from severe shyness and social anxiety while Valencia finds that people are intimidated by her deafness and hearing aids. Virgil retreats into himself and his thoughts, earning the nickname of “Turtle” from his family which he secretly despises. Valencia channels her frustration into observing nature, drawing, and secretly taking care of a stray dog in the woods.

The signs of destiny/fate are sprinkled throughout the book and the reader can put the pieces together before the characters do (at least that’s the way it happened for me). Virgil’s Filipino grandmother, Lola lives with Virgil’s family and she is always telling Virgil snippets of Filipino folktales or stories of her fellow villagers. Even though Lola grew up in a different time and place, she seems to understand Virgil and accept him as he is (we all need someone like that in our life, don’t we?). While Virgil really doesn’t understand the point of these stories, Lola’s stories give him the inner strength he needs to stay calm after rescuing Gulliver and getting stuck in an abandoned well. When Virgil is ready to give up, the spirit of Ruby San Salvador visits him in the well, encourages him mentally, and prompts him to yell for help at just the right moments after he has given up: “Of all the things you ever tell yourself in life, never say, ‘There’s no chance.’” (p.247).

When I finished this book, I had a satisfied grin on my face and I would recommend this to parents who are looking for books about friendship and/or perseverance. Since one of the main characters is deaf, this would also appeal to readers looking for books with differently-abled characters. Even though Virgil is in a dark well, the book never veers off into scary territory, so this would be suitable for children who want to read an adventure story but don’t want to be scared. I think this book is a great example of a book that “inspires youth to formulate new ways of thinking, overcome obstacles, and explore multiple perspectives” (Carruth, 2018). Virgil’s inner monologue and belief in himself changed after his time in the well. Virgil and Valencia overcame the obstacles of personality, friendship, and bullies.

My read alike recommendations are Pax by Sara Pennypacker and The Wild Robot by Peter Brown. I have listened to these on audiobook with my 10-year-old son multiple times and they are high quality stories of survival and friendship. A disclaimer: of the two books, Pax is a bit heavier in content and is not as lighthearted as The Wild Robot and Hello, Universe.

Black and Blue

Title: Black and Blue: Inside the Divide Between the Police and Black America
Author: Jeff Pegues
Genre: nonfiction, American history, racism, civil rights, African American history

**This review has been adapted from a book review I wrote for my Anthropology and Pop Culture class**

            The beating of Rodney King was one of the most infamous police brutality cases of the twentieth century. Police brutality cases involving African American men appear to be on the rise in recent years- between 2014 and 2017, Laquan McDonald, Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, Alton Sterling, Keith Lamont Scott, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Walter Scott, Philando Castile, and Terrence Crutcher died during police interactions or while in police custody. Jeff Pegues, in Black and Blue: Inside the Divide Between the Police and Black America, brings to light why police brutality is once again making headlines throughout America: the roots of racism in police brutality, the lack of accountability in policing, and the need for reconciliation between the police and the African American community.

            The first theme that Pegues tackles in his book is accountability. Members of the police and African American communities were interviewed by Pegues about their thoughts on police accountability. Both sides agreed that police need to be held accountable and punished when they overstep their bounds but each side measured that accountability in different ways. Achieving accountability was on the minds of many Chicagoans after the police shooting death of Laquan McDonald in 2014. After the shooting, the Chicago Police Department (CPD) originally released a statement that the shooting was justified after McDonald had acted in an aggressive manner; when the video was released to the public thirteen months later, the video revealed that “Van Dyke fired the first sixteen shots, and Laquan McDonald was leaning away from the officer. The CPD’s so-called code of silence had been exposed along with other systemic problems going back decades” (Pegues 2017:63).

            What is the “code of silence’? It depends on whom Pegues interviewed. Mayor Rahm Emanuel described the code of silence as “the tendency to ignore. It is the tendency to deny. It is the tendency [to] in some cases cover up the bad action of a colleague or colleagues” (Pegues 2017:46). Dean Angelo, a CPD veteran and president of the Fraternal Order of Police claims the thin blue line “keeps the beast from the door” and is “the line of separation between the good and the bad” (Pegues 2017:54). To Angelo the code of silence is not covering a colleague’s bad behavior but “listening, not talking. Learn by observing, learn by hearing” (Pegues 2017: 190). The police view the thin blue line and the code of silence as the noble concepts of protection and duty while the African American community views it as an “oppressive force” (Pegues 2017:50) of corruption.

            In response to the Laqaun McDonald shooting the CPD established the Police Accountability Task Force to “actively seek out, listen, and respond to voices all over this city” (Pegues 2017:63). The Police Accountability Task Force would also be responsible for the thousands of abuse complaints that are lodged against the CPD every year: “From 2011 to 2015, 40 percent of complaints against police officers were not investigated” (Pegues 2017:114). The Task Force also recommended the creation of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability- this agency would have “greater power to investigate alleged police abuse and the use of deadly force…offer recommended changes to both police policy and procedure” (Pegues 2017:222); Unfortunately, the civilian task force was a voter-based ordinance which was struck down by voters, especially voters in white neighborhoods that contained police residents.

            The rejection of the civilian-led accountability agency by white Chicagoans sheds light on a dirty secret within the police community (and the second theme of this book): the infiltration of white supremacists in the law enforcement community. Some of this infiltration manifests itself in obvious ways and sometimes racial bias within in police ranks is more insidious. In our class lecture, we learned that some Los Angeles police officers hailed originally from Mississippi and they brought their racial biases with them to California. These LAPD officers were known to cruise African American neighborhoods for the sole purpose of stirring up trouble by yelling racial epithets and acronyms from their police cruisers (Trunzo class lecture, September 5, 2017). Liberal San Francisco was no better in their viewpoints towards African Americans- one police precinct in an African American neighborhood was known to have a picture of a KKK grand wizard displayed on a public bulletin board (Trunzo class lecture, September 5, 2017).

            An example of insidious racial bias within law enforcement is the controversial “stop and frisk” policies initiated by the New York Police Department that were later adopted throughout the country. The original purpose of stop and frisk was crime prevention: “officers were encouraged to stop and question pedestrians and then frisk them for weapons” (Pegues 2017:26) but complaints and statistics show that this policy was abused by cops with racial motives and usually only enforced in minority communities. For example, in Baltimore stop and frisk was “concentrated in predominantly African American neighborhoods and often lacked reasonable suspicion” (Pegues 2017:22) and

BPD searched African Americans more frequently during pedestrian and vehicle stops, even though searches of African Americans were less likely to discover contraband. Indeed, BPD officers found contraband twice as often when searching white individuals compared to African Americans during vehicle stops and 50 percent more often during pedestrian stops (Pegues 2017:23).

On paper, this aggressive form of law enforcement appeared to lower crime but there were other repercussions: the breakup of families, job loss, increased prison populations, and the temptation by police departments to turn stop and frisk into a source of revenue.

            The final theme in Black and Blue is reconciliation which is repeatedly mentioned in the book by Pegues and by many of his interview subjects. Pegues recognizes that reconciliation will be a long process and hard work for both sides of the thin blue line. Pegues recommends a multi-step reconciliation process: acknowledgement, expungement of bad cops, sessions of open dialogue, and the establishment of positive interactions between civilians and the police.

            “This divide in the United States between law enforcement and black Americans shows that our country is still grappling with a troubled past when it comes to race” (Pegues 2017:99). The “troubled past” this quote refers to are the slave patrols in the colonial and antebellum periods of U.S. history and the Jim Crow laws “which set different rules for blacks and whites…based on the theory of white supremacy” (Pegues 2017:100). Because of hundreds of years of oppressive regulations, laws, and policing techniques, the African American community not only distrusts most police departments but has also had to resort self-protection because they knew help would not be available outside their community. Chuck Wexler of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) points out that acknowledgment of racial bias must also include racism within the police ranks, not just racism between police officers and the community (208).

            The cliché “one bad apple spoils the bunch” is also symbolic about bad cops who ruin the reputation of their own police department and the entire law enforcement community. The Chicago Police Data Project found that police officers “with 10 or more complaints- make up about 10% of the force but receive 30% of all complaints” (Pegues 2017:229). Another way to root out bad cops is the prevention of bad hires in the first place. Various entities quoted within this book mentioned that hiring standards for police officers needed to be increased: stricter psychological testing, increased salaries for police officers, and continuous training which includes: “bias awareness, crisis intervention, mental health issues, interpersonal and communication skills” (Pegues 2017:135) just to name a few, and police departments need to acknowledge that not every police academy candidate is mentally capable be a police officer. Local government officials also need to view police as “critical infrastructure… If we don’t invest in our infrastructure, what happens? It breaks down” (Pegues 2017:133). Finally, Pegues believes there must be civil, open dialogue between the police and the local African American community to build trust with one another. This tenuous trust must be sustained through continuous positive interactions between African Americans and law enforcement.

           

Title: Scurvy: How a Surgeon, a Mariner, and a Gentleman Solved the Greatest Medical Mystery of the Age of Sail

Author: Stephen R. Bown

Genres: non-fiction, history, medical history, naval history, read for school, pirates

This blog post has a different format and style of writing than my regular posts- this an academic book review my class was assigned for the Golden Age of Piracy course that I'm taking this summer. It's long, but bear with me, I think you'll enjoy it!

In Scurvy: How a Surgeon, a Mariner, and Gentleman Solved the Greatest Medical Mystery of the Age of Sail (New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2003), Stephen R. Bown follows the convoluted history of the cure for scurvy during the Age of Sail (1700-1850) in Britain. Scurvy was eradicated after decades of conflicting research and bureaucratic red tape, courtesy of the British Admiralty. Ridding the British Navy of scurvy helped strengthen Britain’s economy as it entered the Industrial Revolution (198):

“The defeat of scurvy, and the concomitant increase in the time ships could spend at sea, was … the keystone in construction of the British-dominated global trade and communication network that flourished throughout the nineteenth century” (208).

         Chapters are organized chronologically with the first two chapters giving the readers background information on the seafaring world and scurvy. Detailed descriptions of the horrible and unsanitary conditions that sailors suffered through while engaging in a dangerous occupation is blended with the history of scurvy and the symptoms and effects, physically and economically of this disease. The third chapter explains George Anson’s voyage to the South Seas, the greatest medical maritime disaster of all time, and how this disaster “was the beginning of a golden age of scurvy research… and raised public awareness of the social cost of scurvy” (68). Chapters 5, 7, and 8 focus on key historical figures that were monumental in the fight against scurvy:  James Lind (the surgeon mentioned in the book’s subtitle), James Cook (the mariner) and Gilbert Blane (the gentleman). Each of these three gentleman used their experiences and social standing to further the cause and journey of scurvy research and a cure, with varying results. Other chapters explain debate in scientific and naval circles over citrus rob versus wort of malt as cures for scurvy.

            Bown introduces and sets the book’s tone with a horrific, detailed description of the physical symptoms of scurvy suffered by thousands of sailors for centuries. Not only did scurvy affect the sailors and crew of the British Navy, but this preventable disease had disastrous social consequences for British citizens and the economy. This insidious disease killed over two million sailors, “more than storms, shipwreck, combat and all other diseases combined” (3).

Throughout the book, Bown intertwines narrative with scientific data to create an intriguing look at one of history’s most mysterious yet, preventable, illnesses. Primary sources such as, memoirs, journals, and casualty lists, were cited to describe personal accounts of ship life and the effects of scurvy from a sailor or surgeon’s point of view. Bown also used secondary sources to supplement his narrative: recorded folk cures for scurvy, histories on food and food preservation, biographies, and research on ascorbic acid (Vitamin C).

Ship logs that recorded the victuals ordered and stored on the Navy ships enlighten the reader about the bland and nutrition-deficient diet that sailors were forced to partake as part of their daily routine. Unfortunately, the bland and tasteless food rations, the damp quarters and unsanitary conditions, the four hours of sleep every night, plus the stress from the extreme physical labor all sailors experienced wore down the sailors’ immune systems and made them ripe victims for scurvy and numerous other diseases.

Although this was enjoyable read and Bown thoroughly researched his subject matter, there are a few weaknesses to the book. The first one is the 24-page chapter on Napoleon and Horatio Nelson which, at first read, appears out of place. It takes Brown thirteen pages of war strategy to explain how these two men and the Battle to Trafalgar were intertwined with scurvy:

“But with the defeat of scurvy, the warships of the Royal Navy never deserted their posts and the majority of Napoleon’s navy was kept bottled up in half a dozen separate ports throughout the war. The blockade disrupted France’s commerce and communication with her colonies, damaged the French economy, and weakened the country’s capacity to pay for the ongoing war” (198).

In other words, the expensive and preventive scurvy measures and rations were visibly paying off! Scurvy research had allowed the British Navy to build up their fleets due to the lack of deaths from scurvy. The increased manpower helped the British defeat the French whose forces were weakened from scurvy and other diseases and lack of support from Bonaparte. If these preventative measures had been in place decades earlier, the outcome of the American War for Independence might also have been in Britain’s favor! In the last two pages of Chapter 9, Brown points out the silent role the scurvy cure played in thrusting Britain onto to the world stage as a global empire:

“With a lower death toll of mariners on long voyages, the expense of manning ships and shipping goods was greatly reduced. Without scurvy tethering ships to port, global trade expanded throughout the nineteenth century, fuelling the Industrial Revolution” (208).

The second weakness I found was the glossing over of the Vitamin C research in the twentieth century, although this may be due to the fact that the book’s focus was on the Age of Sail. It still would have been nice to read how the scientific advancements of the microscope and germ theory aided scurvy research.

The cure for scurvy was also a social and humanitarian revolution. Instead of treating sailors as cheap and expendable, the preventive measures used in the 1800s changed the way the Admiralty viewed and treated the thousands of sailors in its care. The cure for scurvy had a ripple effect outside of Britain and increased trade and prosperity throughout the world.

Because of the non-academic nature of this book, I feel that multiple reading levels, reading styles, and research areas would benefit from reading this book. This book would appeal to readers and researchers of the Age of Sail, British naval history and medical history. As a college student and library employee, I would feel confident in recommending this for various reading needs and research purposes: AP History course, college history course, medical historians, naval historians, and amateur history buffs.