While Murray’s parents are on vacation, his older sister, Blanche, is in charge of the house. One day, he calls Blanche to get a ride home from the dentist and hears what he thinks is Blanche shooting their housekeeper.
Earlier that morning, he had heard Blanche talking on the phone to someone about a gun. Then, when he calls home, a friend of Blanche’s, Harold, answers, and Murray hears a gun going off in the background and Blanche apologizing to the housekeeper and talking about blood on the carpet. When Murray gets home, his mother’s Persian rug is missing and sees what appears to be a head in a bucket under the sink in the kitchen, further proof that the housekeeper is dead and that her blood stained the carpet.
Murray doesn’t know what to do because he is sure that his sister would never shoot anyone on purpose, and he doesn’t want to see her go to jail. He consults a private detective, Mat Cloak, who he met in a doughnut shop, for help.
The detective agrees to look into the case, and along the way, he realizes that it has connections to a case that he is already investigating. What really happened to the housekeeper? Is Blanche really guilty of murder? Moreover, who is the strange man who is following Murray around?
It’s a very funny story with some twists that readers won’t be able to guess right away. Part of the mystery is pretty obvious because Blanche is a theater student, but the real mystery is one that Murray isn’t even trying to solve and the real villain is someone who Murray thinks is a victim.
The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.
Phoebe the Spy by Judith Berry Griffin, illustrated by Margot Tomes, 1977.
Phoebe Fraunces is a thirteen-year-old girl living in New York in 1776. The Fraunces family is black, but unlike most black people in the American colonies at the time, they have never been slaves. (There were some free black families who had never been slaves during this period of history, but they were uncommon.) Phoebe’s father, Samuel Fraunces owns a tavern called The Queen’s Head. It’s a popular place for people to meet, and Samuel Fraunces allows some prominent Patriots to meet there in secret and discuss their plans. Being party to such meetings could come with consequences as the colonies are on the brink of war.
One day, in April 1776, Samuel confides in his daughter that he has overheard something disturbing. He believes that George Washington’s life is in danger, that there are soldiers who are willing to kill their general for money. Samuel is worried about what he heard, but he isn’t sure what the plot against George Washington actually is and has no proof of what he heard. He’s afraid that if he tells Washington about what he heard too soon, without proof, the conspirators will just wait for a safer time to strike, so he asks Phoebe to help him uncover the truth. Samuel knows that George Washington will be coming to New York soon, and he has asked Samuel to help him find a housekeeper for the house where he will be staying. Samuel wants Phoebe to take the housekeeper position and to keep her eyes open for signs of danger.
Phoebe doesn’t know if she can do what her father wants her to do. She isn’t sure what she’s supposed to be watching for, and she doesn’t know how she could stop the plot if there is one. Her father tells her that she should look out for a man who is part of George Washington’s bodyguard and whose name starts with the letter ‘T’. This is all that Samuel was able to tell about the conspirator from the conversation that he overheard. He tells Phoebe to be careful, not to trust anyone, and to meet with him regularly in the market to tell him what she has learned. The two of them also discuss how odd it is that a man like George Washington, who owns slaves, would be at the center of a fight for freedom. Phoebe hopes that he will free his slaves after the war is over, although her father doubts that will happen. Still, the Fraunces family supports the cause of the Patriots, and Phoebe agrees to help her father find the conspirators and save George Washington’s life.
Phoebe is young to be a housekeeper, but she is accepted into Washington’s household. There, she meets Mary the cook and her son Pompey. Pompey also performs chores for the family, like carrying firewood. The work isn’t too hard for Phoebe because much of it is what she is accustomed to doing for her family’s tavern, like making beds, cleaning the silver, and making sure that meals are served on time. George Washington doesn’t say much when he’s around Phoebe, but she carefully observes the people around him. Every day, she goes to the market to buy food and see her father.
At first, Phoebe has nothing to report to her father. Everyone around George Washington seems to be nice or at least behaving normally, and nobody’s last name begins with the letter ‘T’. Mr. Green, a member of George Washington’s bodyguard, seems a bit unfriendly, but a younger man, Mr. Hickey, seems rather nice and sometimes gives Phoebe little presents.
However, there is a traitor among the household, and although it pains Phoebe when she learns who it is, she must do her duty and protect the life of the person she has promised to protect.
Some of the pictures in the book are black-and-white drawings, and some are in muted colors.
The original title of this book was Phoebe and the General. It is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.
Historical Background
The story is based on the real Fraunces family of New York. Samuel Fraunces really did own a tavern called the Queen’s Head and allowed Patriots to meet there. A note in the back of the book explains that after the war ended, he was given a reward by Congress, and he changed the name of the Queen’s Head to Fraunces Tavern. Fraunces Tavern still exists today, and it is still a restaurant, although part of it has been converted into a museum.
The racial identity of Samuel Fraunces has been in dispute for some time. No one is completely sure what he actually looked like. There is a portrait of a white man that has been reputed to be Samuel Fraunces, but the true identity of that portrait is in dispute. Samuel Fraunces is known to have had the nickname of “Black Sam”, but different sources describe the family differently. All that is known of Samuel Fraunces’s background is that he was born around 1722 and was originally from the West Indies. It’s possible that the Fraunces family may have been mixed race because some sources refer to Samuel Fraunces as “mulatto” (an old term for someone born to a white parent and a black parent, not considered a polite term now), which might explain the other, differing accounts of the family’s race.
The story of Phoebe Fraunces saving George Washington’s life is legend, but the facts regarding that incident are also in dispute. The legend might be based on a misunderstanding, and Samuel Frances’s real daughter, Elizabeth, does not seem to have been old enough at the time to have taken part in this adventure. The story has had a tendency to appear and reappear around patriotic milestones in the United States, first around the centennial in 1876 and then around the bicentennial in 1976, when this book was written.
It’s 1724, and twelve-year-old Rachel Howell is traveling to where her father lives in Charles Town, South Carolina. Rachel has been living with her grandparents in New York since her mother died seven years earlier. Her father also used to live in New York, but after his wife’s death, he decided to move to South Carolina, hoping to start a new life. Now, her father has established himself in South Carolina and wants Rachel to come and live with him. Rachel has wanted to live with her father for some time, but she’s nervous because she doesn’t know what life in South Carolina will be like.
Rachel’s new life has a terrifying beginning when the ship that is taking her to Charles Town is attacked by pirates. The pirates force the passengers on board to hand over jewelry and other expensive items. They even take Rachel’s pendant, which belonged to her deceased mother. Fortunately, the pirates don’t hurt or kill anyone and let the ship go once they’ve taken everything of interest to them.
When Rachel arrives in Charles Town, she and her father have difficulty recognizing each other at first, but they are happy to finally be together. Rachel’s father is appalled when he hears about the pirates stealing Rachel’s mother’s necklace, but he is relieved that Rachel is all right. He explains that piracy has been a serious problem to shipping in the area. The local government has tried to combat the problem with harsh punishments, hanging many offenders. However, the pirates have money, and so local businesses still tolerate their presence.
The talk of pirates is shocking, but Rachel is soon in for another shock when her father tells her that he has become engaged and that Rachel will soon have a new mother. Rachel had been looking forward to having some time alone with her father to get to know him again, so she is not pleased at the news, but the engagement is the main reason why her father has sent for her. He wants Rachel to have a mother to care for her and for them to live as a complete family again. He tells Rachel that his fiance, Miranda LeBoyer, is from Philadelphia. She will be arriving in Charles Town soon with her aunt.
Rachel’s father is often busy with his work in the shipping industry, but he grants Rachel more freedom than she had with her grandparents, so she is able to explore her new town and make some new friends. The first friends she makes are the Pugh family, especially the daughter, Sally, who is about Rachel’s age. The Pughs own a local tavern, and Rachel often goes to visit them, sometimes helping with chores and learning to cook. She tells Sally about her worries about her new stepmother, but Sally says that she might not be so bad.
Like her life in South Carolina, Rachel’s first encounter with the woman her father plans to marry takes a disturbing turn. First, Miranda seems to disapprove of Sally and her brother, and Rachel fears that she will interfere with their friendship. Then, her father’s new business partner, Mr. Craven, stops by, and Rachel notices that Miranda seems to both recognize and dislike Mr. Craven. She overhears a conversation between the two of them in which Miranda calls Mr. Craven a “scoundrel” and refers to some kind of illegal dealings in his past. Yet, when Rachel’s father tries to ask Miranda what they’re talking about, Miranda lies and says that they’re discussing the weather and hurricanes that occur in Charles Town. Rachel worries about why Miranda would lie to her father and what kind of dishonest business Mr. Craven might be doing. What are the secrets that people in this town are hiding, and is Miranda really what she seems to be? With the help of her new friends, will Rachel find out the truth before it’s too late?
There is a section in the back of the book with historical information about piracy and life in South Carolina during the 18th century.
The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.
Fabrizio was an orphan living on the streets of the medieval city of Pergamontio before he was taken in as a servant by Mangus and his wife, Sophia. It was really Sophia’s idea that Mangus needed a personal servant. Mangus says that he is able to take care of himself, and he is impatient with Fabrizio because Fabrizio is ignorant and uneducated.
When Sophia goes to visit her sister, Fabrizio tries extra hard to please Mangus so that Mangus will continue to let him live in his house. Mangus is primarily a scholar, but he supplements his income by performing magic tricks at a local tavern. That evening, a black-robed figure appears at the magic show, warning of danger coming to Mangus. The next day, the magistrate, DeLaBina, accuses Mangus of spreading papers with treasonous messages about the king around the city. During this time, all writing is by hand, and no one can understand how these papers can all look so identical unless they were produced by magic.
At first, DeLaBina offers to let Mangus go if Mangus gets rid of the papers and reveals the identity of the traitor. When Mangus protests that he cannot do real magic and that he knows nothing about the papers, he is arrested. Shortly afterward, DeLaBina is murdered. Fabrizio’s only hope of saving his master, and himself, is to find the real traitor.
The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.
My Reaction and Spoilers
I didn’t like this book as well as I liked the original Midnight Magic. Partly, the problem was that I feel like some of the events of this story should have changed people and events in the other book, and they don’t because this book, which is supposed to take place earlier than the other story, was actually written after the other story. It all just seems out of order, and I didn’t like the addition of Prince Cosimo to the royal family. In this book, Prince Cosimo is the crown prince of Pergamontio, not Prince Lorenzo from the previous book. Prince Cosimo did not appear in Midnight Magic (although his absence is explained by the end of this book) and was never even referred to in that book (which is the part that really bothers be me everyone in that book would have known all about him and what happened to him, and I feel like Fabrizio should have at least thought about him in passing, it’s just weird when characters suddenly exist in a series that you know didn’t exist before).
Basically, there is a plot (although not by the person who did the plotting in the other book) to overthrow the king, who is wildly superstitious. The printing press is a relatively new invention in this time period, and Pergamontio has never had one before, which is why no one can understand why the writing on the papers is so strangely uniform. This is the other thing that bothers me about this book. Pergamontio is supposed to be somewhat backward in comparison to other kingdoms, partly because the king is so superstitious, but it just seems like going a bit far for people to suspect that oddly-uniform writing would be a sign of witchcraft because people of that time would already be aware of the existence of signet rings and official seals which were used as stamps in wax to mark documents, like a kind of signature. Like a printing press, those would also produce an identical image, time after time of use. Basically, they’re all just complex forms of stamps. Superstitious or not, I think that people of that time who were capable of reading probably would have been able to tell that a stamp of some kind was being used, even though they might not have seen one as complex as a printing press before.
In the story, a family has recently brought a printing press to the city, and printing the treasonous papers was the first job they were hired to do. Shortly afterward, Maria, the daughter of the family, was arrested while passing out the papers. Her parents are taken into custody by Count Scarazoni, who is a sinister character in his own right but is actually in opposition to the real traitor in this book.
Scarazoni was the figure in the black robe who tried to warn Mangus. Fabrizio is arrested when he tries to gather up more of the papers for Mangus so they can learn where they came from. He is nearly executed for treason, but he is saved by Scarazoni because Scarazoni realizes that the real traitor wanted him dead because he feared that Fabrizio might know too much. At the prison, Fabrizio meets Maria and helps her to escape as well. Maria explains to him the true origins of the papers, and they find DeLaBina’s body. This is the murder referenced in the title of the book, and they must solve it to uncover the identity of the real traitor!
As in the other book in this series, Fabrizio and Mangus use a magic trick at Mangus’s trial to shock the traitor into revealing himself. Although, at the end of the story, the king still believes that Mangus is a real magician, Scarazoni points out that without Mangus’s “magic” the real traitor might not have been discovered. The king tells Mangus that he will let him go provided that he confine himself to his own home and no longer practice magic, setting events up for the beginning of the other story.
The Hidden Treasure of Glaston by Eleanore M. Jewett, 1946.
The
year is 1171. Twelve-year-old Hugh, a
somewhat frail boy with a lame leg, arrives at the abbey of Glastonbury with
his father on a stormy night. Hugh’s
father is a knight, and in his conversation with Abbot Robert on their arrival,
he makes it known that, although he loves his son, he is disappointed in the
boy’s frail condition because he can never be a fighter, like a knight’s son
should be. The abbot rebukes him, saying
that there is more to life than war and that he, himself, is also of noble
blood. The knight apologizes, and says
that, although it is not really the life that he would wish for his son, he asks
that the abbey take him in and educate him.
Although the knight (who refuses to give his name, only his son’s first
name) says that he cannot explain his circumstances, the abbot senses that the
knight is in trouble and is fleeing the area, perhaps the country of England
entirely.
It is
true that the knight is in trouble, and he is fleeing. Since Hugh’s health is delicate, his father
cannot take him along in his flight.
Realizing that the abbey will provide him with a safer life, Hugh’s
father wants to see him settled there before he leaves and gives the abbey a
handsome gift of expensive, well-crafted books as payment for his son’s
education. The abbot is thrilled by the
gift, although he says that they would have accepted Hugh even without it. Then, the knight leaves, and the monks begin
helping Hugh to get settled in the abbey.
Hugh is upset at his father’s leaving and the upheaval to the life he has always known, although he knows that it is for the best because of his family’s circumstances. Although the story doesn’t explicitly say it at first, Hugh’s father is one of the knights who killed Thomas Becket, believing that by doing so, they were following the king’s wishes. Hugh’s father did not actually kill Beckett himself, but he did help to hold back the crowd that tried to save Beckett while others struck the blows, so he shares in the guilt of the group. Although Hugh loves his father, he knows that his father is an impulsive hothead. Now, because of the murder, Hugh’s father is a hunted man. By extension, every member of his household is also considered a criminal. Their family home was burned by an angry mob, their supporters have fled, and there is no way that Hugh’s father can stay in England. However, the prospect of life at the abbey, even under these bleak circumstances, has some appeal for Hugh.
Hugh has felt his father’s disappointment in him for a long time because his leg has been bad since he was small, and he was never able to participate in the rough training in the martial arts that a knight should have. Even though part of Hugh wishes that he could be tough and strong and become the prestigious and admired knight that his father wishes he could be, deep down, Hugh knows that it isn’t really his nature and that his damaged leg would make it impossible. Hugh really prefers the reading lessons he had with his mother’s clerk before his mother died. His father always scorned book learning because he thought that it was unmanly, something only for weak people, and Hugh’s weakness troubles him. Hugh’s father thinks that the real business of men is war, fighting, and being tough. However, at the abbey, there are plenty of men who spend their lives loving books, reading, art, music, and peace, and no one looks on them scornfully. For the first time in Hugh’s life, he has the chance to live as he really wants to, doing something that he loves where the weakness of his bad leg won’t interfere.
The abbot is pleased that Hugh has been taught to read and arranges for him to be trained as a scribe under the supervision of Brother John. Hugh enjoys his training, although parts are a little dull and repetitive. Hugh confides something of his troubles in Brother John, who listens to the boy with patience and understanding. Although he does not initially know what Hugh’s father has done, Hugh tells his about the burning of his family’s home, how they struggled to save the books that they have now gifted to the abbey, and how there were more in their library that they were unable to save. Hugh tells Brother John how much he hates the people who burned their home and how much he hates the king, who caused the whole problem in the first place. His father would never have done what he did if the king hadn’t said what he said about Thomas Becket, leading his knights to believe that they were obeying an order from their king. Brother John warns Hugh not to say too much about hating the king because that is too close to treason and tells him that, even though he has justification for hating those who destroyed his home, he will not find comfort in harboring hate in his heart. He also says that not all that Hugh has lost is gone forever. People who have left Hugh’s life, like his father, may return, and there are also many other people and things to love in the world that will fill Hugh’s life. Brother John urges Hugh to forget the past and enjoy what he has now. When Hugh says how he loves books but also wishes that he was able to go adventuring, Brother John says that adventures have a way of finding people, even when they do not go looking for them.
One
day, when Brother John sends Hugh out to fish for eels, Hugh meets another boy
who also belongs to the abbey, Dickon.
Dickon is an oblate. He is the
son of a poor man who gave him to the abbey when he was still an infant because
he was spared from the plague and wanted to give thanks to God for it. Dickon really wishes that he could go
adventuring, like Hugh sometimes wishes, although he doesn’t really mind life
at the abbey. Because Dickon is not good
at reading or singing, he helps with the animals on the abbey’s farm. Although he is sometimes treated strictly and
punished physically, he also has a fair amount of freedom on the farm,
sometimes sneaking off to go hunting or fishing. He also goes hunting for holy relics. Dickon tells Hugh about the saints who have
lived or stayed at the abbey and how the place is now known for miracles. He is sure that the miracles of Glaston will
help heal Hugh’s leg, and he offers to take him hunting for holy relics. Hugh wants to be friends with Dickon, but at
first, Dickon is offended that Hugh will not tell him what his last name
is. Dickon soon realizes the reason for
Hugh’s secrecy when a servant from Hugh’s home, Jacques, comes to the abbey to
seek sanctuary from an angry mob that knows of his association with Hugh’s
father.
The abbot
grants Jacques temporary sanctuary but tells him that he should leave the country
soon. When Dickon witnesses Jacques’s
explanation of why the mob was after him, comes to understand his connection to
Hugh. Although the mob does not know
that Hugh is actually connected to Jacques, Dickon spots the connection and
tells Hugh that he forgives his earlier secrecy. Dickon even helps Jacques to leave the abbey
the next day, in secret.
Now
that Dickon knows Hugh’s secret, he lets Hugh in on his secrets and the secrets
of the abbey itself. He shows Hugh a
secret tunnel that he has discovered.
There is an underground chamber between the abbey and the sea where more
parchments and some other precious objects are hidden. Dickon doesn’t know the significance of all
of the objects, although there appear to be holy relics among them. Dickon’s theory was that monks in the past
created this room and tunnel to store their most precious treasures and get
them away to safety in case the abbey was attacked and raided. At some point, part of the tunnel must have
collapsed, blocking the part of the tunnel leading to the abbey. The boys are frightened away when they hear
the ringing of a bell and can’t tell where it’s coming from. Could there have been someone in a part of
the tunnel that is now blocked off from the part where they entered?
Since Hugh is sworn to secrecy concerning Dickon’s discovery, he can’t ask Brother John about it directly, but he gets the chance to learn a little more when Brother John asks him to help clean some old parchments so they can reuse them. Most of them are just old accounting sheets for the abbey that they no longer need. Brother John said that they were stored in an old room under the abbey. Hugh asks Brother John about the room and whether there are other such storage rooms underground. Brother John says that there are rumors about a hidden chamber somewhere between the abbey and the sea where they used to store important objects for safety, but as far as he knows, no living person knows where it is or even if it still exists. Hugh asks Brother John about treasures, but as far as Brother John is concerned, the real treasures of the abbey are spiritual. However, when Hugh notices some strange writing on one of the parchment pieces that doesn’t look like accounting reports and calls it to Brother John’s attention, Brother John becomes very excited and orders him to stop cleaning the parchments so that he can check for more of the same writing. Among the other scrap parchments, they have found pieces that refer to Joseph of Arimathea, who provided the tomb for Jesus after his crucifixion. According to legend, Joseph of Arimathea also took possession of the Holy Grail, the cup that Jesus used at the Last Supper, which was supposed to have special powers, and that he left the Middle East and brought the Holy Grail to Glaston, where it still remains hidden. This story is connected to the legends of King Arthur, who also supposedly sought the Holy Grail. The parchments may contain clues to the truth of the story and where the Holy Grail may be hidden.
This story combines history and legend as Hugh and Dickon unravel the mysteries of Glastonbury and change their lives and destinies forever. Although Hugh and Dickon both talk about how exciting it would be to travel and go on adventures, between them, Hugh is the one whose father would most want and expect his son to follow him on adventures and Dickon is the one who is promised to the abbey. However, Hugh loves the life of the abbey and serious study, and Dickon is a healthy boy who is often restless. Their friendship and shared adventures at the abbey help both Dickon and Hugh to realize more about who they are, the kind of men they want to be, and where they belong. Wherever their lives lead them from this point, they will always be brothers.
There are notes in the back of the book about the historical basis for the story. In the book, the monks find the tomb of King Arthur and Guinevere. Although the story in the book is fictional, the real life monks of Glastonbury also claimed to find the tomb of King Arthur. The bones they claimed to find were lost when the abbey was destroyed later on the orders of Henry VIII, but this documentary (link repaired 2-27-23) explains more about the legends and history of King Arthur. The part about Glastonbury is near the end.
The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli, 1949.
The story takes place in Medieval England. Robin is the son of a noble family. All his life, there has been the expectation that Robin would learn to be a knight, like his father. Soon after Robin turns ten years old, Robin’s father goes away to fight in Scotland, and Robin’s mother arranges for him to be sent away to begin his training as a knight while she takes a position as lady-in-waiting to the queen. However, soon after his parents’ departure, Robin becomes terribly ill and loses the use of his legs.
Now, Robin is miserable and wishing that his mother was still with him to help him get over his illness. Instead, he is looked after by servants. Then, after Robin throws a fit and refuses to eat, his servants disappear. The next person Robin sees is Brother Luke, a friar from St. Mark’s monastery. The friar tells him that his servants were ill and have fled from the plague, but one of them sent him to care for Robin. He feeds Robin and tells him that he will take him to St. Mark’s and continue to care for him there. Robin tells Brother Luke about how he was supposed to be taken away for training but that he was unable to go because he was ill, and he asks how they will get to St. Mark’s because he cannot walk. Brother Luke says that the man who was supposed to escort him to the castle where he would live and be trained as a knight may be unable to get back into London because travel is restricted due to the plague, so Robin’s training will have to wait. As for how they will travel, Brother Luke has a horse that they can ride.
Before they leave, Brother Luke asks Robin to remember the wall around his father’s garden and the wall around the Tower. He points out that all walls have a door in them somewhere and that if you follow a wall long enough, you will eventually find the door. At first, Robin doesn’t understand what Brother Luke is trying to tell him, but the metaphor is the theme of the book and it becomes clear through the adventures that follow. The wall stands for adversity, and the door stands for solutions to problems, other paths to take, and ways to move forward in life. What Brother Luke is trying to say is that there are many types of problems in life (the walls), but that problems have solutions (doors). There are ways around obstacles, and if you persevere, you will find them. He reminds Robin of this throughout the story.
At St. Mark’s, Robin stays in Brother Luke’s quarters, and Brother Luke takes care of him. When Robin is a little stronger, Brother Luke gives him wood to whittle. When he grows stronger yet, Brother Luke gives him writing lessons. As the plague begins to pass and there are fewer patients to tend to, Brother Luke begins to carry Robin around or push him in a cart, taking him to visit other parts of of the monastery.
Since Robin still cannot walk, Brother Luke thinks it’s important to keep his mind and hands busy, one of the first “doors” that he finds for Robin around his current limitations. Brother Matthew oversees Robin as he learns and practices carving wood, teaching him patience when he has a temper tantrum on ruining one of his first projects. Brother Luke helps Robin to write a letter to his father, in which Robin explains his current situation, and a traveling minstrel, John-go-in-the-Wynd, will carry it to Scotland when he goes there with some soldiers. Later, Brother Luke even takes Robin to go fishing and begins teaching him to swim. In spite of these improvements, Robin still worries about his inability to walk and how it will affect his future and his father’s hopes for him to be a knight.
When John-go-in-the-Wynd returns with a reply from Robin’s father, Robin’s father says that he is distressed to hear that Robin has been ill, although he thankful that Robin did not get the plague and die with so many others. Robin’s illness was severe, but he is already showing signs of recovering. His father has made arrangements for him to travel to the castle of Sir Peter in Shropshire, who is Robin’s godfather and where he was meant to go for his training, accompanied by Brother Luke and John-go-in-the-Wynd, as soon as he is well enough to travel. Since Robin has already become well enough to make himself a pair a crutches with his new woodworking skills and has begun to use them, they decide to proceed with the journey.
On the journey to Sir Peter’s castle, they have adventures, narrowly escaping from thieves and visiting a fair in Oxford. Robin encounters Welsh speakers for the first time. Although Robin is worried about what Sir Peter will think of him when he sees his condition, Sir Peter welcomes the travelers gladly. He has recently been injured in battle and still recovering himself. Robin says that he doesn’t think that he will make a very good page because of his difficulties in walking but that he can read, write, and sing to provide entertainment. Sir Peter says that there are many ways to serve others and that people must do what they can.
Brother Luke and John-go-in-the-Wynd stay at the castle to help Robin settle in, and Sir Peter gives Robin duties that he can perform. Robin asks Brother Luke if he thinks that he will ever be able to walk normally again, and Brother Luke admits that he doesn’t know but that he is sure that Robin will have a fine life ahead of him. People are not perfect, but everyone has to do the best they can with what they have. Robin soon learns to get around well enough to navigate the castle easily and play with the other boys, but he is still bent and unable to walk without crutches. Robin’s disability and the craftsman skills he learned from the monks have taught him patience and that he feels better after accomplishing difficult tasks.
Then, one foggy day, the Welsh surround and attack Sir Peter’s castle. The defenders hold out in the keep, but they begin to run low on food, and strangely, the well seems to be running dry. As they run low on water, hope seems to be lost. They begin to devise a plan for someone to slip out and go for help. Robin volunteers to go. He knows where John-go-in-the-Wynd is staying with his mother nearby, and he can tell him about the situation in the castle and where to go for help. Robin knows that if anyone catches sight of him, he will look like a poor, lame, shepherd boy, and no one will suspect him of coming from the castle.
Robin has felt badly about his new disability, but his youth and disability are actually what allow him to pass unchallenged through the enemy lines. Suddenly, his disability actually becomes an advantage, allowing him to do what others cannot. Robin’s future may not be the one that he first expected, but he has found ways to move forward in his life and ends up a hero!
The book is a Newbery Award Winner. It is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive (multiple copies).
This is the story of the construction of a Medieval cathedral. The story takes place in a fictional town in France, Chutreaux, but it is based on the construction of real Medieval cathedrals.
In 1252, the people of Chutreaux decide to build a new cathedral because their old cathedral was badly damaged by a lightning strike and other towns in their part of France are building grand cathedrals. The people know that it takes decades to construct a grand cathedral, perhaps even more than 100 years. The people making the decision to build the cathedral know that they will never see the end of the construction themselves, but they believe that this is an important undertaking, both for the welfare of their community in the future and for the glory of God.
The church leader in Chutreaux is the bishop, but a group of clergymen have been given control of money for the cathedral project. They have chosen to hire a Flemish architect, William of Planz, to create the design for their cathedral and hire the craftsmen who will actually build the cathedral.
Building a cathedral is a massive undertaking that requires many different types of craftsmen and laborers. The book explains that the craftsmen building the cathedral will include a quarryman, a stone cutter, a mason, a sculptor, a mortar maker, a blacksmith, a carpenter, a glass maker, and a roofer. All of these craftsmen are masters of their crafts, with apprentices, assistants, and many general, unskilled laborers doing much of the heavy work.
The building of the cathedral begins with the clearing of the site, marking the basic layout of the building, and building workshops where the craftsmen will be doing their work. The book shows the tools that the various types of craftsmen use. They also need to gather the materials that they will use. There is a quarry where they will cut the limestone blocks they will use to construct the cathedral, and the wood for the roof is brought from Scandinavia by boat.
From there, the cathedral is built in stages, beginning with the foundation and then the walls. The book explains each step of the construction and how it was managed, giving the dates when each phase is completed. It also explains the purpose of various architectural features, such as the flying buttresses that support the walls. There is also a glossary in the back of the book that defines various architectural terms.
Because this is an extremely long-term project, over the course of the book, William of Planz and various craftsmen age and one person dies in a work-related accident, and they are replaced by younger people. The construction is finally finished 86 years after it was started.
I recommended this book to people after the burning of Notre Dame in Paris last year because this cathedral is similar to Notre Dame and can give people an idea of what went into its construction. I think that the time invested in the cathedral construction is one of the key points of the story. The ability to delay gratification in the pursuit of larger goals is an important life skill, but the people who began the cathedral project showed this ability to an even higher degree than most. The book carefully notes that the people of this town understand that they will never see the final product of their contribution of money and labor because the project will take decades to complete, but they still begin the undertaking because they believe that it is the right thing to do for their community, for future generations, and for God. Their ultimate reward is not in immediately profiting from this project but in their legacy, laying the foundations (literally) for the future. In the end, it is their grandchildren who become the ones to complete the project and enjoy the beauty of the finished cathedral, and they consider it more than worth the wait.
The book was also made into a documentary film. The film follows the basic course of the book but with more focus on the lives of the characters, giving them more personality than the book does and inserting more drama into the construction of the cathedral. The story of the town and townspeople alternates with explanations about the history and architecture of cathedrals. The fictional cathedral serves as an example not only of the process of constructing a Medieval cathedral, but the difficulties and dangers it might involve.
The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive (multiple copies).
I love nonfiction books about unusual and very specific topics! This is a non-fiction book about fools and jesters throughout history. The book begins in a museum, where a class of schoolchildren are being shown a collection of jester statues. One of the statues, Frambert, comes to life and tells the children about his life and the lives other other jesters.
Fools and jesters were the comedians of the past. It was a job for women as well as men. There were different types of professional fools. Some of them were people with unusual appearances, such as dwarfs or people who were unusually tall. Sometimes, university professors took part-time jobs as jesters to supplement their income (teaching has always been a notoriously under-paid profession), using their public speaking skills and knowledge to make intellectual jokes or jokes based on wordplay. Some of them were very successful and made so much money as entertainers that they gave up their teaching jobs. (So, if you’ve discovered that you make more money producing humorous YouTube videos about history than you would as a history teacher or at least find it a useful supplement to your teaching salary, understand that this is just the modern equivalent.)
Among the individual jesters described in the book was Mathurine, a French jester from the 1600s. She liked to dress like an Amazonian warrior from Greek legends as part of her act.
Frambert is a fictional jester, but he describes how he became a jester to demonstrate what a jester’s life was like. According to his fictional biography, his talent for mimicry and making jokes was noticed when he was young, and he was selected for training as a professional fool. When he was 19 years old, he officially became a jester. His children also became jesters after him. Because he was well-loved by his king, he was given a generous pension: a village of his own to govern, which sometimes did happen to favorite jesters.
The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.
Juggling for the Complete Klutz by John Cassidy, 1977.
This is the book that started the Klutz Press publishing company as well as the book that inspired the name that I often use online, Jestress. The term “jestress” (which even I have never been sure is proper English) refers to a female jester. Back when I was in high school, I learned how to juggle from this book. In fact, I became obsessed with juggling and jesters (I often become obsessed about odd and random topics), and I started giving myself that nickname. (I’m not the only one who uses that handle, so not every “Jestress” on the Internet is another incarnation of me, but I have used it in several other settings.) However, the Klutz books in general were a regular feature of my youth, as they have been for many people from about the 1980s onward.
Klutz Press began as a small outfit, and the very first book they offered was this guide for learning how to juggle. The author of the book used to teach English, and as the intro to the book explains, he started teaching his students how to juggle as a fun exercise in class. John Cassidy learned how to juggle in college and used it to entertain guests on rafting trips. The author and his friends printed up more copies of his guide to juggling and began selling them. Their company branched out from there.
By the time I bought my copy of the book in the 1990’s, it came with 3 cube-shaped bean bags to use for juggling. The hole in the upper left corner of the book is where the bag holding the bean bags was originally attached. The bean bags are one of the best features of the book. They are weighed well for juggling, which makes them easier to control than other small juggling balls I’ve tried. A friend of mine got a later edition of the food from the 2000s, and the bean bags are a little different – the cloth is more velvety, and they have a different feel to them, like they’re slightly lighter. I prefer the ones I own.
The very first step for learning to juggle in the book is to master “The Drop” – throw all of the bean bags in the air and just let them fall to the ground without trying to catch them. The goal of mastering this is to get used to the idea of dropping things because it’s going to happen a lot while you’re learning. The cube shape of the provided bean bags helps to keep them from rolling too far when you drop them, which happens a lot when you’re learning to juggle. When I was in high school, I started teaching a friend to juggle, and we both agreed that the learning process actually gave our leg muscles a good workout; you really feel them when you have to bend over that many times to pick up dropped bean bags. (The book mentions this later in the section called “Special Problems”, but we considered this a bonus. It’s like doing a bunch of toe touches with more exciting moments in between when you’re throwing stuff in the air.)
From there, the book guides you through mastering the scooping motion of juggling tosses and how not to panic when you realize that the hand that is going to catch a tossed bean bag is already holding one. Successful juggling is largely a matter of timing, maintaining even motions, and eventually, letting muscle memory take over. You toss one ball (or bean bag), and then you toss the next one with the other hand when the first one reaches the top of its arc, freeing that hand for catching. Then, you keep doing that, over and over, to keep all of the juggling balls in motion.
It might feel impossible at first, when you’re still dropping everything, but speaking as someone who learned how to do this about 20 years ago, muscle memory is very strong, and if you build the right habits and keep at it consistently, you will not only eventually master it, but it will feel as natural as riding a bicycle. I don’t even have to look at my juggling balls or my hands while I’m juggling, and I can comfortably carry on a conversation with someone else while juggling, because my hands know what to do with minimal instruction from my brain.
The book has tips for getting around difficulties in learning to juggle, and when you’re feeling more confident, instructions for going even beyond basic juggling. The book explains different types of juggling cycles, how to juggle four or five balls, how to juggle other items besides balls and bean bags, and how to juggle with a partner. The section about clubs is particularly interesting because it not only describes the techniques of club juggling but how to make your own set of juggling clubs from plastic bottles and wooden sticks or dowels.
The book is available online through Internet Archive (multiple copies).
Aria Volume 6 by Kozue Amano, 2005, English Translation 2011.
This is the sixth volume of the second part of a fascinating manga series that combines sci-fi, fantasy, and slice of life. The series takes place about 300 years in the future, when Mars has been terraformed and renamed Aqua (because of all the water on its surface). The human colonies on Aqua are designed to resemble old-fashioned cities on Earth (called Manhome here). The people of Aqua prefer a much slower pace of life than people on Manhome, and aspects of life on Aqua more closely resemble Earth’s past.
The series is divided into two parts. The first two books are the Aqua volumes and introduce Akari Mizunashi, the main character, a young girl who came to Aqua to learn to become a gondolier in the city of Neo Venezia (which resembles Venice). Female gondoliers, called Undines, give tours of the city, giving Akari plenty of time to admire the beauty of her new home and meet interesting people. The two Aqua books are the prequel to the main series, Aria. Aqua covers Akari’s arrival on the planet, her introduction to life on Aqua, and the beginning of her training. The main Aria series show Akari’s continuing training, her progression to becoming a full Undine, her evolving relationships with her friends, and as always, her delight in learning more about her new home and admiring its beauty.
The series has received some criticism for being slow and lacking danger and adventure, but that is not really the point of the series. The main purpose is to show people how to appreciate the small pleasures of life. The sci-fi and fantasy elements (the spaceships, advanced environmental controls, intelligent Martian cats, and even the occasional appearances of the legendary Cait Sith) are mainly background to the stories about the magic of friendship and simple pleasures. Each volume contains a few short stories about Akari and her friends and the little adventures they have on a daily basis and the life lessons they learn. It’s a great series for relaxing when you’re stressed out.
Unfortunately, although this book is only about halfway through the series, this is the last book of the series that I actually own because the others haven’t been printed in English yet, although I think that additional volumes will be published in English.
The stories included in this volume are:
Orange Days
Athena comes to visit Alicia at Aria Company, and the trainees’ mentors reminisce about how they first met when they were trainees.
Akira was just as prickly and competitive when she was young as she is as an adult. Although trainee Akira said that she was just observing the “losers” at Aria Company, she kept coming around and became friends with Alicia. When she heard about a new trainee at Orange Company with an amazing singing voice, Akira wanted to seek her out, worried about the competition.
While she was telling Alicia about it, the two of them accidentally had a collision with young Athena’s gondola, which is the first time either of them had seen her. Athena was knocked over by the collision, so the other two girls treated her to lunch, partly to make it up to her and partly because Akira wanted to pump her for information about the new trainee at Orange Company, not knowing that Athena herself was the new trainee.
However, Athena didn’t answer their questions about the new trainee. Even back then, she was a person of few words, and she just made a drinking straw crawly snake to amuse President Aria. Still, Athena became friends with Alicia and Akira, joining them in their practice sessions, like Akari, Aika, and Alice share their practices together. Alicia and Akira only discovered that Athena was the trainee with the amazing voice when they decided to practice singing canzones one day.
The mentors end their reminiscences by saying that it seems hard to believe that, now that their training is over, they are so busy that they hardly have time to see each other. When they were trainees, it felt like they would always practice together every day, but now, their lives are different. These comments make the present trainees uncomfortable because they realize that the same thing is likely to happen to them when their training is complete. Alice, Aika, and Akari have come to value each other’s friendship and companionship, and they find it difficult to imagine being without each other.
However, Alicia and Athena tell the girls to not worry too much about it. Time is always moving forward, and it’s true that things will change for them, but that’s not entirely a bad thing. Even though they sometimes miss their training days when they spent so much of their time together, they are also happy with their current lives. They enjoy their careers, and they like helping to train new Undines. In fact, helping to train the next generation of Undines helps them to connect to their own pasts because the young Undines remind them of their own training days. Alicia’s advice is to enjoy where you are and what’s currently happening around you as much as you can. Life will eventually move on, and things will change, so you might as well make the most of where you are now and enjoy it to the fullest, so you will be ready to move on to the next stage of your life and enjoy that as well. Athena says, “Fun times really aren’t meant to be compared. Just enjoyed.”
The young trainees are still affected by the story of their mentors’ friendships and the changes in their lives. Aika points out to Akari that their lives aren’t changing just yet, but the girls have come to a greater realization that their lives will eventually change.
It’s just like how, when people are young and in school, surrounded by the same other students every day, it can be hard to imagine that there will come a day after you graduate when you won’t all be working at the same place and you won’t all be eating lunch together every day. As you get busy building careers and families, it will be harder to see each other and keep in touch. However, that’s not entirely a bad thing. As some people like to say, “You can’t begin the next chapter of your life if you keep rereading the last one.” There are many things in life to enjoy and accomplishments to be made, and like Alicia and Athena explain, you might as well enjoy where you are right now and make the most of it so you won’t look back with regret when it’s time to move on.
Venetian Glass
Akatsuki’s elder brother comes to Aria Company to hire Akari to transport some delicate Venetian glass. Akari is excited because this is the first time that anyone has specifically hired her, although, because she isn’t a full Undine yet, Alicia will have to accompany her on her errand.
When they go to pick up the glass, Akari sees glass-blowing and Venetian glass for the first time.
One of the workers from the glass factory seems kind of surly, but he accompanies them while they transport the glass and explains the history of Venetian glass and what makes it so special.
The reason why the glass worker is so surly is that he feels like a lot of people don’t appreciate his craft. He and his master put their heart and soul into their work, but people say that their “Venentian glass” is fake because it’s made in Neo-Venezia, not in the real Venice, which sank beneath the ocean years ago. The worker laments that the craftsmen who left the sinking city were scattered across Earth before making their way to Neo-Venezia and that details of their craft have been lost over time. Neo-Venezian glass will never be quite the same as the original Venetian glass, and people will never look at it the same way, which the worker finds depressing.
However, one of Akari’s great strengths is finding the beauty in everything and bringing it out for other people to see. She tells the worker that the glass is kind of like Neo-Venezia itself. It’s true, it’s not the original Venice, only re-created in its image. Some aspects of it are the same, but it’s also a different place, on another planet. To some people, that might make it seem like a fake city, just an imitation of the original, but Akari doesn’t think that the real vs. fake concept matters because she loves the city for the beautiful treasure it is. Similarly, Akari thinks that Neo-Venezian glass is a treasure by itself and likes it for what it is, regardless of what the original was or what others say about it.
The worker finds Akari’s viewpoint inspirational and is enchanted by Akari herself, remarking that she’s also a unique treasure. Akatsuki’s brother jokes that Akatsuki might have a rival now for his affection for Akari. Akari knows that Akatsuki has had an unrequited crush on Alicia, so she doesn’t think too much about it. Although it’s true that Akatsuki has a crush on Alicia, Akatsuki’s brother is also correct that Akari inspires greater feelings in others than she realizes and Akatsuki values Akari more than he lets on, maybe more than even he realizes himself. Akari is unique because of her unusual way of looking at things, and her optimistic point of view influences others.
Snow White
One day, while they’re practicing together, Akari asks Aika what kind of adult she wanted to be when she was a kid. Aika, who has admired and even hero-worshipped Alicia ever since Alicia was kind to her when she was a young child, says that she’s always wanted to be an elegant woman like Alicia. Akari says that she wants to be like Alicia, too, but Aika criticizes her for wanting to copy her ambition and says that it’s not likely that Akari would ever be as elegant as Alicia because she still does kid-like things, like collecting stuffed animals.
Their discussion causes Akari to wonder what sort of adult Alicia wanted to be when she was a little kid, and she asks Alicia about it while they’re out walking one day. Instead of answering her directly at first, Alicia demonstrates by starting to build a snowman and pointing out how the people around them react to it.
Each time Alicia and Akari start to make a large snowball for the base of the snowman, different adults stop and help them to make it a bit bigger.
Alicia says that she noticed people like this when she was a child. There are always adults who, when seeing a young girl making a snowman, feel compelled to help her because she can make a much bigger snowball with their help. That’s the type of adult Alicia always wanted to be.
Alicia genuinely enjoys not only her career as an Undine but her role as a teacher and mentor in Akari’s life and in the lives of her friends, helping them to develop in their trade and to become better Undines because of her influence.
Stray Cat
Alice finds a tiny stray Martian cat one day while waiting for Akari and Aika to meet her for practice. The cat’s mother doesn’t seem to be around, and Alice doesn’t know whether the little cat is lost, orphaned, or abandoned. When Aika arrives for practice, she finds both Alice and Akari lying on the ground next to the cat because it looks so happy lying in the sun that Alice thinks they should also try it.
Although Aika warns Alice that she won’t be able to keep the cat because she lives in a dorm at Orange Company and isn’t allowed to keep pets, Alice becomes attached to the cat, names it Maa, and hides it in her room.
At first, she is afraid that her mentor, Athena, will be angry with her, and Aika scares her by saying that Athena will probably kill the cat because she doesn’t like cats. However, Alice loves Maa because she misses the previous president cat of Orange Company, who recently passed away, and Maa reminds her a little of him.
When the secret gets out, and Alice is confronted by Athena about the cat, Alice is scared because Athena is holding a knife for slicing fruit and runs away to leave the tiny Maa where she found him, thinking that it might be the only way to save his life. However, she finds herself unable to abandon Maa and returns to get him, only to find him missing from the box where she left him. In a panic, she spends all night searching the city with her friends to try to find Maa.
However, when they finally give up the search, they discover that Athena has Maa. When she had tried to talk to Alice before, she wasn’t angry. She followed Alice to the place where she left Maa and retrieved him and has been waiting for Alice to return to Orange Company. In Alice’s absence, Athena has persuaded Orange Company to keep Maa as their new company president. Like the other cats used as the presidents/mascots of gondola companies, Maa also has blue eyes.
Aika has a more practical explanation for what it is, that the sounds of freight trains are more noticeable at night, when everything is quiet, but Akari discovers the truth when President Aria gives her a special train ticket.
It turns out that the mysterious train is a train of cats. (Guess who the conductor is?) Akari could use the ticket from President Aria to ride the train, but instead, she gives it to a sad little kitten who lost his ticket.
Because Akari doesn’t board the train, she never finds out where the train was going. The next morning, it all seems like a strange dream, except both Akari and President Aria have the stamps on their foreheads that Cait Sith gave them.
A Parallel World
President Aria accidentally finds a parallel world in which all the people he knows who are girls are boys and vice versa. Frightening!
President Aria has always wanted to find a gateway to another world, but everything seems so strange that all he wants to do is get back to his world.
He ends up returning to the world he knows when someone tosses him too high in the air while playing with him. Did any of it really happen, or was he just dazed from when he fell?
This one isn’t one of my favorite stories in this series because I think that the premise is kind of goofy. The characters don’t really look all that different when their genders are switched. Most of the difference is in hair styles, and the uniforms of the Undines have pants when they’re normally just long dresses.
Jestress's Forgotten Books and Stories 