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LOUISA MAY

Name: LOUISA MAY
Author: Norma Johnston
ISBN: 0-02-747705-3

THE WORLD AND WORKS OF LOUISA MAY ALCOTT

by Norma Johnston ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 30, 1991

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An author of over 60 YA novels brings fine narrative skill to a sympathetic portrait of one of her greatest predecessors. Much has been added to the record since the 1933 publication of Meigs's well-researched but traditional biography, the Newbery-winning Invincible Louisa. Alcott's letters and journals, several collections of the ``thrillers'' that kept the family pot boiling, and a novel whose genesis was ruefully described in Little Women have been recently published; scholarly studies point out the extent to which the author's autobiographical fiction was an unrealistic reformulation of a difficult life and of a gifted but impossible family (especially her improvident philosopher father). Johnston, bless her, succeeds in reconciling the loving family in Little Women with the facts of Alcott's rich but extraordinarily demanding life. She posits that, though Bronson Alcott was indeed a remarkably innovative educator as well as an eminent scholar, it was her mother, Abba May Alcott, who most profoundly influenced Louisa. Pioneer social worker and sometimes, of necessity, family breadwinner, she was, like Louisa, an outstandingly courageous, independent, yet nurturing woman, deeply loved though not so unrealistically patient as ``Marmee.'' Good as it was, Meigs's book seemed colorless compared to Alcott's fiction. Johnston—by depicting the real life in all its complexity while showing the many links with the fiction—not only enriches understanding of Alcott's books but also paints a fascinating picture of her life. A must. Bibliography; photos and index not seen. (Biography. 12+)

Pub Date: Oct. 30, 1991

ISBN: 0-02-747705-3

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Four Winds/MacMillan

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1991

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
LOTTA'S PROGRESS
by Norma Johnston

- BOOK REVIEW
HARRIET
by Norma Johnston

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GRASS SONGS

by Ann Turner & illustrated by Barry Moser ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1993

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Turner's historical fiction (Katie's Trunk, 1992, etc.) is notable for putting a human face on great events; these 17 poems, all in the first person and inspired by the letters and diaries of pioneer women on the westward journey, are even more vivid and personalized. The collection begins with the exultation of throwing off the confinements of civilized female life (``I scream into the wind,/ race after cattle,/...and reach so high my waist tears,/ and no one can say/ I am not a lady'') and ends with a woman tending a plant she's carried to Oregon from her mother's Arkansas garden. In between are marriage, childbirth (and maternal death), Indian raids (one survivor miraculously finds her kidnapped child safe in California; another, who lived for years with the Mohave and was recaptured by Anglos, never ceases grieving for her Indian husband and sons), and a trail of graves in the wagons' wake. There are also dreams: Amanda Hays secretly reads the Odyssey by moonlight; behind her workaday faáade she dreams of ecstatic union with an ancient deity. Another woman dreams only of home: ``...just give me a porch, a song,/ peace.'' Moser's pencil drawings (mostly portraits), based on historical photos, are riveting. Unforgettable. (Poetry. 12+)

Pub Date: March 1, 1993

ISBN: 0-15-136788-4

Page Count: 64

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1993

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
MY NAME IS TRUTH
by Ann Turner ; illustrated by James E. Ransome

- BOOK REVIEW
FATHER OF LIES
by Ann Turner

- BOOK REVIEW
SITTING BULL REMEMBERS
by Ann Turner & illustrated by Wendell Minor

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WOLF

by Gillian Cross ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 15, 1991

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The author of Roscoe's Leap (1987) and A Map of Nowhere (1989) again explores universal themes through thrilling, pivotal events in the life of a teenager with a traumatic background. Cassy has been raised by her father's stern mother, Nan, with occasional visits to her own feckless mum, Goldie; each maintains an unbroken silence about her absent father, whom she barely remembers. Suddenly, Nan sends Cassy for an extended stay with Goldie—who has moved. Alone, Cassy tracks her down—Goldie is ``squatting'' in an abandoned building with a black man, Lyall, and his son. Despite this squalor, the three make a living with innovative programs for schools: combinations of fact and fiction, drama and story, skillfully blended to challenge stereotypes and spark original thinking. Their latest subject, resonant with social significance and symbolic ambiguities, is the wolf. Haunted by nightmares in which Red Riding Hood's story is recast by her own fears, and conditioned by Nan to think of work and play (including acting) as alien realms, Cassy is threatened by both the subject and Lyall's ebullient creativity. Meanwhile, she learns that her father is an IRA bomber whom Nan has been protecting—a ``wolf'' whose perverted territorial instinct leads only to destruction, even of his own family. Weaving memorably offbeat yet believable characters, extraordinary events, and contemporary issues, Cross once again confronts classic verities in a stunningly original, splendidly crafted story. (Fiction. 12+)