When We Were Saints by Han Nolan

WHEN WE WERE SAINTS by Han Nolan
Review by Joyce Moyer Hostetter, author

Wow! I scratched my head the whole time I was reading this book. I think I was trying to figure out if it was an allegory. There was such an air of unreality about it.

But perhaps, that is how another person's deeply religious experience always seems to someone else. Turns out this was a novel - the story of Archie Caswell's spiritual journey. Archie is a teen with a guilty conscience. So he's vulnerable. To make matters worse, his best friend moves away. So he's lonely.

Enter Clare, a mysterious girl with a message from God. Archie is captivated with her religious fervor and with the beauty and gentleness that seem to radiate from her. He is willing to try her religious rituals in hopes of overcoming the guilt he feels surrounding his grandfather's death. But he wants more than to be rid of guilt. He wants all that goodness he sees in Clare.

He does have some transcendent moments when he feels that God is with him, in him, and all around him. He has just enough of them to keep him following his new spiritual leader. He sometimes questions her decisions but mostly he sees how selfless she is and chides himself for doubting. And he questions himself, feeling guilty that he does not love God enough.

He wishes he, too, could go without food and devote himself to prayer. But hunger makes him grumpy and that adds to his guilt. There are moments when his relationship with Clare wears thin but she is so singly focused on becoming a saint, so forgiving and kind in response to him, that he always comes back to trusting her.Then eventually he has to make a choice - to listen to and trust the voice of God speaking within him OR to continue blindly follow Clare.

When We Were Saints includes a Reader Chat Page with thought-provoking questions. And readers will likely have many questions of their own as they follow this story. Lots of food for thought here. Lots of lively discussion potential!

A great read for anyone struggling with issues of faith! And for anyone interested in exploring the interplay of psychology and spirituality.

Han Nolan is author of If I Should Die Before I Wake (1994); the National Book Award finalist Send Me Down a Miracle (1996); the National Book Award winner Dancing on the Edge (1997); A Face in Every Window (1999); Born Blue (2001) and A Summer of Kings (2006).

Hugging the Rock by Susan Taylor Brown

Hugging the Rock
By Susan Taylor Brown

Review by Joyce Moyer Hostetter

Author Historical Fiction
HEALING WATER (Spring 2008)
BLUE (2006)
BEST FRIENDS FOREVER (1995)
http://www.joycemoyerhostetter.com/
http://www.joycemoyerhostetter.blogspot.com/

There are times when I should just buy the book!

This was one of them. I renewed it at least twice and still paid overdues yesterday when I returned it. (That was after my library gave me a recorded phone notification and a snail mail one too. I think they wanted it back and I don't blame them.

Hugging the Rock is a good book to buy!

I've been wanting to review it for weeks (just as I've wanted to pull weeds in my flowerbeds, clean my house, and do research for my work-in-progress). But sometimes there aren't enough hours to do the things I want.

So, anyway I returned the book and now I will have to write this from memory. Well, actually I did sit in the library parking lot and scribble a few favorite quotes on the back of a deposit slip before I forced myself to take the book inside.

This novel is heartbreakingly sweet and amazingly spare. If I had written this story it would be at least a hundred pages longer. It would take me a whole paragraph to say what Susan Taylor Brown puts in one sentence. It is a verse novel. So eloquent. So reader friendly. So universal in its message.

Rachel's mom abandons her. And who is she left with? Her dad. "The Rock". Just when she needs someone to hold her! Grandmother tries to help but mostly manages to annoy both Rachel and her dad who actually just need to find their new life together.

Hugging the Rock is a long emotional journey told in a short space. I love emotional journeys. And while I tend toward melodrama I also loved the spareness of this story.

Especially the chapter titled Mother's Day. Would it cross my mind to leave the page blank? Never! And if it did, would I be able to follow through? Probably not...I think my favorite quote comes from page 138 -"She did the best she could with what she had in her at the time. " That bit of wisdom about Rachel's missing mom comes from "The Rock". And, while I'm not a psychologist, I declare, it goes a long way toward explaining inexplicable human behavior! (IMHO)

And then there's this - "He hugs me tight and I realize that some rocks have soft spots and that I am melting into him."Ah, I do love rocks. And I loved this book! Gonna' have to buy it for myself.

A True and Faithful Narrative by Katherine Sturtevant

A TRUE AND FAITHFUL NARRATIVE By Katherine Sturtevant
(historical fiction for young adults and older ones too!)

Review by Joyce Moyer Hostetter
Author Historical Fiction
HEALING WATER (Spring 2008)
BLUE (2006)
BEST FRIENDS FOREVER (1995)
http://www.joycemoyerhostetter.com/
http://www.joycemoyerhostetter.blogspot.com/


It is 1681 and Meg Moore is often at work in her father’s London bookshop. Her position there puts her in touch with the literary world and agitates her desire to be a writer. However, because she is a woman, her father strictly forbids her to write anything for others to read.

Edward, a family friend, stops in at the bookshop before leaving on a trip to Italy . He asks Meg what gift he can bring her from his travels. Startled, Meg realizes he is suggesting a romantic relationship. She responds by joking that perhaps he will be captured at sea and thus return with an adventure for her to write.

In fact, Edward does get captured and is sold into slavery. Meg’s careless jest haunts her and she begins to raise funds to buy his freedom. Will, who also works in her father’s bookshop, helps her. An infatuation with Will ensues and the two of them envision a future together.

But then Edward returns and he wants Meg to write his story for him. Of course she must do this in secret or she will incur the wrath of her father. Meg and Edward begin meeting in a tavern where he relates his adventure and she writes it down.

But Edward’s experiences do not convey the tale that Meg has imagined. She is disappointed that his story lacks certain dramatic points. When he tells her his Muslim owner was actually a kindly person, Meg must let go of preconceived ideas about the Islamic world.

She discovers then, the writer’s dilemma. She can sensationalize Edward’s story so that it suits her fancy and captures her reader. Or she can render it truthfully, thus opening a window into the broader world. By the same token, Edward learns to trust the author of his story—to let go of particular details in order to shine a light on the more significant aspects of his experience.

I loved this book for the way in which the author slips so much information about time and place so naturally into the story. However, word choice and sentence arrangement convey as much about restoration England as the many historical details provided.

I also treasure the way in which the story, itself, explores what it means to be an author. For Meg, it is about much more than finding and conveying the truth of a narrative. Being a female writer in restoration England has limitations. There are areas in which she has no choice about her life. And yet, Meg is not powerless. In some ways this story is about accepting limitations and in other ways it is about choosing wider horizons.

A True and Faithful Narrative is at once a romance and a story of hard realities. Meg’s life is not all about the bookshop and the essence of writing. She has responsibilities to home and family. Her best friend, Anne (Edward’s sister) is caught in an unhappy marriage which gives Meg reason to examine her own romantic choices.

There are many layers here which will be best appreciated by mature young readers. A True and Faithful Narrative is a book that writers, like myself, will want to own so we can revisit it when in need of inspiration and grounding.

Not as Crazy as I Seem by George Harrar

NOT AS CRAZY AS I SEEM by George Harrar

Review by our resident author, Joyce Moyer Hostetter.

HEALING WATER (Spring 2008)
BLUE (2006)
BEST FRIENDS FOREVER (1995)

Devon Brown has tendencies. He tends to be afraid of germs. To be obsessive about numbers and about how he hangs his shirts in the closet. He tends to be anxious about many things. He has his own logic for why he eats his peas in fours, why he can’t bring himself to eat in the school cafeteria, and why he walks in the gutter instead of using the sidewalk. His logic might seem crazy but it stems from his own reality which is too painful to discuss. And so Devon tucks his pain inside and keeps a tight control on his life.

Because of his tendencies and their negative impact on him, Devon ’s parents move him to a new town. They are intent on giving him a fresh start. A new beginning means a new psychiatrist, a private school, and the opportunity to make new friends.

But making friends would mean interaction. And with interaction comes risk. In spite of himself, however, Devon rather likes Tanya, the classmate who seeks him out in the parking lot during lunch period. He’s wary of Ben the purple haired boy who smokes marijuana in the school basement. Yet, following Ben into questionable activities fits with Devon ’s “crazy” logic,

Ben is trouble. When Devon finds himself in a real crisis, as opposed to those he regularly imagines, he is forced to examine the source of his pain.

Devon tells his story so convincingly that readers actually “get” his logic. So truthfully that we feel his pain, and with such humor that the pain is bearable. This is an immensely enjoyable and revealing look at obsessive compulsive disorder.

Especially recommended for upper elementary and middle school students but also of interest to anyone who wants to explore compulsive behaviors.

PS. TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO ENTER THE CONTEST FOR COURTING EMMA. I'LL POST WINNERS TOMORROW! GOOD LUCK.

Ghost Girl by Delia Ray

Ghost Girl by Delia Ray

Review by our resident author, Joyce Moyer Hostetter

April Sloane lives a hard life in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Not only is she ridiculed for her white blond hair and eyelashes but she also carries guilt related to her brother’s death. Her mother is depressed, angry, and emotionally unavailable.

But, at least, there is Aunt Birdy (actually her grandmother) whose home is a refuge and a place of joy. And unexpected hope arrives when April learns that President and Mrs. Herbert Hoover, who have a mountain retreat in the area, are building a school for the local children.

Aunt Birdy convinces April’s mother to let her attend the school. There she finds a friend in the teacher, Miss Christine Vest. April is enthralled with her teacher and surprised to learn that this refined, educated woman also comes from humble beginnings.

Miss Vest, the Trumans, and Aunt Birdie bring hope to April’s otherwise oppressive life. But ultimately, April’s brokenness is in her own hands. Only she can decide to repair or reject her family relationships.

Delia Ray has skillfully woven fact and fiction to bring to our attention an otherwise obscure bit of presidential history. Through an extraordinary main character and a compelling story Ray reveals how education and compassion transformed an isolated mountain community.

Highly recommended historical fiction for upper elementary and middle school readers.

The End of the Spear by Steve Saint

THE END OF THE SPEAR by Steve Saint

Review by our resident author, Joyce Moyer Hostetter

In 1956 five American missionaries to Ecuador were speared to death by members of the Waodoni tribe. Since then, millions have drawn inspiration from the slain missionaries and from their wives who chose to befriend the killers.

The End of the Spear by Steve Saint, unravels much of the mystery around the event and also the motivations of both the missionaries and the Waodoni. Steve is the son of Nate Saint, one of the men who was murdered. As a boy of 9, Steve went to live with his Aunt Rachel who herself chose to live among the Waodoni. His early immersion into the culture gives him a unique perspective and a fierce love for the people who killed his father. The End of the Spear reveals which of the men killed Steve’s dad and also that Steve now loves this man as a father.

After Steve had lived apart from the Waodoni for decades, they asked him to return – to teach them skills held by outsiders – especially health related skills such as uses of medicine, treating wounds, and dentistry.

Steve agreed and took his amazing wife and teenagers with him. But he was determined not to simply make the Waodoni dependent on him or any other outsider. His affection for them was so fierce that he wanted only to preserve the tribe – not to turn them into a welfare society or to put them at greater risk for those who might prey upon them.

It took me a little while to really get into this book; there were many strange names to pronounce and Saint moves back and forth in time to unravel the story. But eventually it settles into a thoroughly absorbing read!

One of the things I especially loved is the way in which Saint writes about faith. While this is clearly a book about the expression of Christianity there is nothing cliché about it! There is no religious jargon – only the Waodoni’s beautiful way of expressing their relationship with God.

This story is deep and multilayered - filled with inspiring examples and profound truths.

For information about how the Waodani are learning to be independent and to use technology that is feasible for their setting, visit http://itecusa.org/who.htm

Gentle's Holler by Kerry Madden

Gentle’s Holler by Kerry Madden.

Review by Joyce Moyer Hostetter

Author Historical Fiction
HEALING WATER (Spring 2008)
BLUE (2006)-See the review here.
BEST FRIENDS FOREVER (1995)


Twelve year-old Livy Two lives a hardscrabble yet gentle existence. It’s gentle, because her large mostly happy family lives in slow-paced, beautiful Maggie Valley, NC. It’s hard, because Daddy doesn’t work a regular job. Daddy is a musician with a song in his pocket, a banjo in hand, and a plan to make it big one day. Since Livy Two writes lyrics also, she believes in her daddy’s dreams. And she has dreams of her own.

“…I want to see the world beyond the Smokies and I aim to bring my guitar with me when I do.

One day, I’d like to stroll along the Great Wall of China, ride me a camel in Egypt , swim in the Ganges River way over in India , and sip a cup of tea with the queen of England .”

Livy also dreams of helping her sister Gentle (whose eyes don’t work right) to learn Braille. Otherwise they might send Gentle to the school for the blind over in Raleigh . So with the help of the lady from the lending library truck, Livy Two gets a Braille book and begins to learn. Keeping the family together is a high priority for her!

But Daddy comes and goes on his quest to make it big. Mama is weary of his search for fame. She just wants him to feed his family. Grandma Horace with her glass eye (actually, a collection of them in different colors which she wears according to her mood) moves in to help out. And she’s is not the kind of grandmother who makes you feel better because she has arrived.

To make things worse Livy’s brother, Emmett gets fed up with daddy’s dreams and takes off for Ghost Town in the Sky to earn some money. Then tragedy strikes at another level, rearranging the family’s future even more dramatically.

And also leaving room for a sequel.

Fortunately, Gentle’s Holler (2005) is just the first in a trilogy that takes place during the 1960’s. Louisiana’s Song (2007) and Jessie’s Mountain (2008) continue the Weem’s family story. Author Kerry Madden infuses her stories with love of family and an at-home feeling for the Smoky Mountains . These books are populated with distinctive and quirky characters, unforgettable names, and much warmth. They are wholesome, funny, and heartwarming!

Visit Kerry on the web at http://www.kerrymadden.com/

A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban

I recently received TWO reviews of A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban, so I'm posting both together. Thanks for sending them, Ladies. Keep the reviews comin'!

A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban

Review by Joyce Moyer Hostetter

http://www.joycemoyerhostetter.com/
http://www.joycemoyerhostetter.blogspot.com/

Zoe Elias fantasizes about playing the piano – in Carnegie Hall.

The problem is - she does not have a piano.

There are other things she doesn’t have. Like a mother who has time for her or a father who can function in the real world. Or even a best friend, now that Emma Dent ditched her for Joella Tinstella.

But then, suddenly she has an organ (whether she wanted it or not), and organ lessons, and a wacky instructor. She also has a new friend – well not a friend, exactly. Just Wheeler Diggs who one day, follows Zoe home from school to get cookies baked by her dad. Somehow Wheeler and Zoe’s dad seem to hit it off which only adds to Zoe’s feeling of alienation.

So there are things that Zoe longs for and things that she feels stuck with. Somehow she has to find a way to deal with this less than perfect life of hers.

A Crooked Kind of Perfect is both funny and heartbreaking. It is populated with wacky characters that readers care about and is told in such a simple spare manner that one could almost miss how profound it really is!

Urban, Linda. 2007. A Crooked Kind of Perfect.

Review by Becky Laney, frequent contributor

Becky's Book Reviews: http://blbooks.blogspot.com/
Becky's Christian Reviews: http://stand-firm-then.blogspot.com/
Reading With Becky: http://readingwithbecky.blogspot.com/

I read this book initially for Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon. Now, less than a week later, I have reread this little gem of a book. It's a book that I would describe as practically perfect in every way. (I don't know if Linda Urban would want me to stress the near-perfect part since the message of the book seems to be that nobody can be perfect, that life isn't perfect. But even the message seems perfect to me.) Our heroine, Zoe Elias, is ten-going-on eleven. She has one dream--a very big dream. She wants to play the piano. In what could be one of the best openings of all times we read about "How It Was Supposed To Be" versus "How It Is."

I was supposed to play the piano.

The piano is a beautiful instrument.

Elegant.

Dignified.

People wear ball gowns and tuxedos to hear the piano.

With the piano, you could play Carnegie Hall. You could wear a tiara. you could come out on stage wearing gloves up to your elbows. You could pull them off, one finger at a time.

Everybody is quiet when you are about to play the piano. They don't even breathe. They wait for the first notes.

They wait.

They wait.

And then you lift your hands high above your head and slam them down on the keys and the first notes come crashing out and your fingers fly up and down and your foot--in its tiny slipper with rubies at the toe--your foot peeks out from under your gown to press lightly on the pedals.

A piano is glamorous. Sophisticated. Worldly.

It is a wonderful thing to play the piano.

The next chapter...Zoe's reality...

I play the organ.

A wood-grained, vinyl-seated, wheeze-bag organ.

The Perfectone D-60.

That's it. The entire second chapter. What a statement! But I better watch my exclamation points in this review, just in case Zoe (or her creator) is reading. Zoe really doesn't like the excessive and unnecessary use of exclamation points.

Zoe's life isn't perfect. She wants to play piano, but she's stuck with the Perfectone D-60. She wants to be playing real music. She's stuck with beginning level songbooks like Television Theme songs and Hits from the Seventies. And her social life? Well, she's been recently dumped by her best friend because her friend's interests are changing--lip gloss, tv, music, clothes, and boys. That leaves Zoe with no one to sit with at lunch, doesn't it?

Enter Wheeler.

Usually, Wheeler Diggs is a mess.

Except his hair.

On anybody else, his curly hair might look goofy, but on Wheeler Diggs it looks just the right kind of wild. And it's dark, which makes his blue eyes look even brighter. And his smile, which is kind of lopsided, looks like he's trying not to smile, but he can't help it.

Which is why, sometimes, every once in a while, somebody will smile back. And sometimes, most of the time, those people will get punched in the stomach. Which is why even the kids who sit with him at lunch are a little bit scared of him and why, really, Wheeler Diggs doesn't have a best friend, either. (58-59)

Wheeler and Zoe are the unlikeliest of friends. But when he follows her home from school one day--to get his hands on some more of her dad's cookies--it's the beginning of an odd but satisfying friendship. Though Zoe doesn't admit this for the longest time. In this book, the reader sees if practice really does make perfect. . .and if wishes really can come true.

The characters, the relationships are about as perfect as can be. I've never seen family dynamics so well captured, so well displayed. Linda Urban has created memorable, authentic characters. The book has it all--moments of happiness, frustration, disappointment, loneliness, and joy. And plenty of humor!

It kind of goes without saying, but for the record...this is one that I love, love, loved!

Linda Urban's website is great too! (I better watch those exclamations.) You can find the recipe for Bada-Bings cookies. You can read her thoughts on writing 'the perfect' book. (She writes in part that: "There is no perfect book. But there is a novel to be written that is perfectly you.")

And of course, you can find out more about Linda Urban on her bio page. She also has a livejournal page where you can read her latest thoughts.

THE WONDER KID by George Harrar

The Wonder Kid by George Harrar

Review by Joyce Moyer Hostetter

http://www.joycemoyerhostetter.com/


The Wonder Kid is one that I like to recommend when I speak to school groups about polio. It’s a lovely little book. Such a great size and so kid friendly with its comic strip feel. It is the story of Jesse MacLean who faced some serious life changing things one summer. As Jesse puts it:

Summer is when you’re supposed to have all sorts of fun, like one long recess…
Well, 1954, when Gramps moved in with us, was the summer of no fun—and it was all because of polio.

1954 was also the year that Jonas Salk conducted his field trial for the polio vaccine and one year later he announced the vaccine’s success. Meanwhile parents were deathly afraid for their children’s health and Jesse’s mom was no exception. So she kept him in the house as much as possible – no swimming whatsoever and only one trip alone to the picture show. Jesse spent his time drawing, visiting with his Gramps, and imagining himself strong like Charles Atlas.

Then grief strikes Jesse and polio does too. He feels weaker than ever. But in some ways he is just finding his own strength.

This story is about much more than polio. It is about relationships and how they carry us through difficult times, how the smallest things we say have a lasting impact on others, and how people who seem really tough on the outside may actually feel as vulnerable as we do on the inside.

Jesse shares this story in first person. His voice is “easy listening” – not in the relaxing sense of the word; there are some disturbing things in his story. But he shares them with humor and honesty and the reader cares about him right away.

The author note at the end is a really good overview of polio history.

Oh, and I loved this word of wisdom from Jesse MacLean:

Sometimes when a mean thought goes through your head, it’s better to zip your mouth closed.

Interview with Linda Press Wulf, author of The Night of the Burning

A couple days ago, we posted a review by Joyce Moyer Hostetter of THE NIGHT OF THE BURNING by Linda Press Wulf. Now, we get a special treat!

An interview with Linda Press Wulf – author of THE NIGHT OF THE BURNING: DEVORAH’S STORY

Joyce: I am wondering about your mother-in-law’s story. Can you share a few sentences about how her story was kept alive and why you were moved to tell it in The Night of the Burning?
Linda: My mother in law died while my husband was in medical school, when she was in her 60s, and I never met her. I knew only the bare bones of her story, told to me by my husband as she had told it to him. The initial coincidence that attracted me was the part about the Isaac Ochberg prize but that was soon eclipsed by the rest of the extraordinary story.

Joyce: I’m sure very few witnesses are still living, huh?
Linda: I did interview an elderly woman who was one of the last survivors of the group of children forming the core of the book. Her mind was sharp, her memories vivid, and I not only made her a character in the book but I also turned her stories over and over in my mind until they became background material for the main character, a different girl in that group.

Joyce: When you were writing The Night of the Burning, what were your favorite or most helpful resources?
Linda: I did some formal research in a wonderful institute in Manhattan called YIVO, which is a wide-reaching collection and library concerning Yiddish life, and in the Jewish Community Library in San Francisco . It actually thrills me each time I find that librarians are so willing to give of their time to help those with questions, without any condition being placed on the competence of the questioner or the importance of the question.

Joyce: How hard do you have to work to make time for writing?
Linda: I write very quickly when I sit down and begin, but, like many people, I’ve always found it very hard to take that first step. While I was writing my first book, I told myself that Tuesdays were my writing days. Before I took my little boys to their morning “nursery school” nearby, I would dress in a pair of white wool pants and sweater, which were a symbol of getting away from spilled children’s food and sticky fingers and being a professional for the day. Then I would write from about 9.30 until about 12.30. That once-a-week commitment actually took me through the bulk of the first draft of my manuscript, which I hope will be encouraging to others.

After a few years I found it too distracting to write at home (the fridge can draw me several times an hour with its magnetic power, not to mention the phone ringing), so eventually I started writing in a café, where the considerable background noise is strangely undistracting.

Now… I have had to find an alternative – a quiet and attractive library in my older son’s high school, where I can tuck myself at an out-of-the-way desk, stare occasionally at the beautiful old trees on the sidewalk, and write uninterruptedly. This location has the added benefit of not selling muffins and lattes, although I do sneak in a little pile of coffee candies. The librarians are welcoming (if I were a librarian, I would enjoy having people write in my library), and I like this new place very much.

Joyce: What do you love most about the writing life?
Linda: I write because I’ve thought of myself since elementary school as a writer and it’s one of my few talents. And because I love writing. When I go into that trance-like state, all the niggling little things of life disappear and I feel pure and focused. My writing companion expressed it as a private island, where only you, the writer, can set foot. The affirmation I received from the fact of my first book being accepted for publication was a waking call. That must mean I CAN do it, I reason, and therefore I SHOULD do it.

There’s a powerful little story about Rabbi Y. who was very harsh on himself because he was not as pious or as learned or as good as Rabbi A. Then he was told, “At the end of your life, God will not ask, ‘Why were you not like Rabbi A?’ Instead, God will ask, ‘Why were you not like Rabbi Y?” That influenced me to believe that we have to find what we do best and actually do it, so as not to waste a skill that we were born with, which we did nothing to deserve.

Joyce: I understand you’re writing another historical novel. Have you been surprised to find yourself writing about history or did you always know you wanted to do this?
Linda: I loved reading historical fiction when I was a child, influenced by my older brother, who had a deep interest in history. I think the two of us knew much more about the Catholic Church, the dominant factor in European history for so many centuries, than any of our Christian friends! The pleasure of it for me was (and still is) that I was reading about real people, in a real period of history, well packaged in an exciting story.


Thanks Linda Press Wulf – you have given us just that - a well packaged exciting story abut real people in a real period of history!

THE NIGHT OF THE BURNING: DEVORAH'S STORY by Linda Press Wulf

THE NIGHT OF THE BURNING: Devorah’s Story by Linda Press Wulf

Review by Joyce Moyer Hostetter

http://www.joycemoyerhostetter.com/
http://www.joycemoyerhostetter.blogspot.com/

I love stories that take place in eastern Europe so it was natural for me to pick up The Night of the Burning. This story begins in an orphanage in Poland but immediately the reader realizes the setting is about to change. Devorah Lerhman and her sister Nechama receive an invitation to move to a strange land – Africa.
Devorah is leery. Her life so far has been filled with loss. Why should she risk new attachments?
But there is the man with the funny hat. Mr. Ochberg has come to transport two hundred Jewish orphans to South Africa. In spite of herself Devorah is drawn to him.
And so she sets out on a journey, moving back in time even as she chooses a new future. She reflects on the early years with Mama and Papa – before typhoid fever robbed her of both parents. She relives the Night of the Burning when Aunt Friedka was killed during a pogram – an unprovoked senseless attack on the Jews in her village.

After that night, an orphanage becomes her home. It isn’t easy living in the orphanage but at least it is predictable. Traveling with Mr. Ochberg to South Africa is not. The trip is a risky one and it calls forth all of Devorah’s courage – courage to move emotionally as well as physically.
Author Linda Press Wulf snatches her readers up in the earliest pages and takes us on this journey too. We feel the forward movement as Devorah lets down her guard and learns to give and receive love again. Her ability to make us feel Devorah’s emotions is phenomenal.
Wulf is passionate about preserving stories. You feel this when Devorah says to her papa in the early part of her life – “I vow before God and before Papa that I will always remember our stories.” And again at the close of this book when she says “Mama, Papa, wake up. I need to tell you something important. It’s this: the stories won’t be forgotten….There is to be a book, a book that will tell it all.

Thanks to Linda Press Wulf for this book, The Night of the Burning, historical fiction which preserves and validates the story of Devorah Lehrman, the mother-in-law she never met.

Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio by Peg Kehret

Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio by Peg Kehret

Review by Joyce Moyer Hostetter, our newest regular contributor!

http://www.joycemoyerhostetter.com/

http://www.joycemoyerhostetter.blogspot.com/


The homecoming parade (and the 7th grade float that was sure to win first prize) was all that mattered to Peg Schulze on that September day in 1949. But then she collapsed at school and was sent to the hospital for testing.

The diagnosis – polio.

There are 3 kinds of polio and Peg soon learned that she had all of them. First she lost the use of her muscles and was paralyzed from the neck down. Then she began to experience difficulty with breathing. And from there, things only got worse as she discovered she also had bulbar polio which affects a person’s ability to swallow or talk.

For days, an iron lung stood at the ready in case she could no longer breathe on her own. For more than a week, she could not eat. But Peg was a determined gal with strong family support. Their intervention and a chocolate milkshake probably saved her life.

In Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio, Peg recalls the particulars of her illness and the difficult road to recovery. The reader is impressed with the role of family who sustained, not only her, but also her hospital roommates.

In the end it was these friends who understood more powerfully than anyone what she endured.

This memoir informs, moves, and inspires its reader. The language is succinct and the story is compelling. Published in 1996, this book will be appreciated for many years because it serves important functions. It reminds us of the polio years. It validates the stories of so many individuals who had polio. And it opens the eyes of those who have not!

But don’t think of it in useful terms. Think of it as a page turner because that’s exactly what it is!