Review: Two Old Women

Two Old Women: An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival by Velma Wallis, illustrated by James Grant.
Originally published Epicenter Press 1993, my edition HarperCollins, New York, 2013.
Adult folklore retelling, 134 pages.
Lexile: 1030L .
AR Level: 6.4 (worth 3.0 points) .

Two elderly women known mainly for complaining are left behind when their people move on in a time of starvation and hardship. If they are to survive in the Arctic, it will take all of their knowledge, strength and determination, plus reserves, or luck, they might not even know they have.

Two Old Women by Velma Wallis.

I took a chance on this one at a used book sale that absolutely paid off. Browsing time was short, and the story looked interesting, but the blurb simply stated that Wallis was “raised with traditional Athabascan values.” This is burying the lede that Wallis is herself Athabascan and thus particularly well suited to write this Gwich’in tale.

I was delighted to see that illustrator Jim Grant is also an Athabaskan native. Most chapters have one or two illustrations (one has none and another has three), and there are also some maps and the chapter ornament. One illustration is full-page, the rest are half-page or less. There are also two frontispieces which depict similar scenes to those found later, but are not the same as those within the chapters. All of the pictures are inserted where they make sense, and have some relevance to the narrative.

Pages 48 and 49 of Two Old Women show one of the full page illustrations, and an example of the text format.

We get a hint of Wallis’ approach to this story when, after the title page, she steps into the dedication – no apologies for those left out, no fluff about how important each person is, simply several pages of names preceded by

This book is dedicated to all of the elders who I have known and who have made an impression in my mind with their wisdom, knowledge and uniqueness.

page ix

Having thanked the elders first, Wallis then steps into a brief, more traditional acknowledgements page which ends with a thank you (Mahsi Choo) to her readers. Only then does she turn to the Introduction about how she first heard this story, her choice to adapt it, and the setting.

Review: Wave in Her Pocket

A Wave in Her Pocket: Stories From Trinidad by Lynn Joseph, illustrated by Brian Pinkney.
Clarion, Houghton Mifflin, New York, 1991.
MG stories, 52 pages.
Not leveled.

A collection of Trinidadan stories tied together by the narrator Amber, and her incredible Tantie who tells these tales to her and her cousins.

A Wave in Her Pocket by Lynn Joseph, illustrated by Brian Pinkney.

First I must make a note on the classification, because these books are the sort that would wake me in the middle of the night back when I did cataloging for school libraries. Joseph is retelling 6 different Trinidadan stories, but she uses the conceit of a first-person narrator, and formats them similarly to short stories. This method is very effective, but much like Kadir Nelson’s famous Heart and Soul, raises the question on where they should be shelved.

In fact, I am not the first librarian to feel conflicted by this dilemma, as the copyright page has the Library of Congress suggesting PZ for juvenile fiction, and a Dewey Decimal Classification of 398.2 under folklore. One can make a reasonable case for this book either way, so if you happen to be a librarian Googling, shelve this wherever you think it’s likely to circulate best, and don’t hesitate to recatalog if needed!

Luckily, I no longer have to worry about how to catalog these types of books and can shelve items wherever I please in my home library. This book contains fantasy, horror, and historical fiction within a realistic fiction framework, although most likely to appeal to students who like speculative fiction or mythology with some creepiness.

Review: Mangoes, Mischief & More

Mangoes, Mischief, and Tales of Friendship: Stories from India by Chitra Soundar, illustrated by Uma Krishnaswamy.
My edition Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA, 2019.
MG fiction, 180 pages.
Lexile:  600L  .
AR Level:  4.4 (worth 3.0) .
NOTE: this is a compilation of two books:
> A Dollop of Ghee and a Pot of Wisdom (2010)
> A Jar of Pickles and a Pinch of Justice (2016)

Prince Veera and his best friend Suku decide to hold court and resolve disputes when his father King Bheema is not available in this collection of eight interconnected short stories.

Mangoes, Mischief, and Tales of Friendship: Stories from India by Chitra Soundar, illustrated by Uma Krishnaswamy.

I came across this charming book looking for our next family read-alouds after we finished the Anna Hibiscus series.  Since there are only two volumes, the American publisher has decided to combine them into one book.  It was considerably cheaper to purchase the collected hardcover volume than to buy the two paperbacks separately, although I’m not sure how much that has to do with import costs.

Review: Rainbow People

The Rainbow People by Laurence Yep, illustrated by David Wiesner.
HarperTrophy, HarperCollins, New York, 1989. (See review.)
Short story/folklore collection, 194 pages.
Lexile: 680L .
AR Level: 4.8 (worth 6.0 points) .

Twenty stories drawn from the most common area of Chinese-American immigration, streamlined and retold for younger audiences.

So I’m pretty sure my copy is a knock-off. The cover is the 1992 version, although on close examination it’s subtly off, but the interior copyright page is taken from one of the early 1989 printings. The margins aren’t set correctly and vary too much, and while harder to quantify, the paper and bindings don’t feel right compared to other books from this time period from this publisher that I’ve handled.

I purchased this book online, ostensibly new. After investigation, I don’t believe that the seller of this was aware then that it might be a printing violating copyright, so I won’t mention them specifically. Normally I would get a copy from the library to check if this version is accurate, but in Covid times, that is easier said than done. Perhaps some kind person who has access to a proper version of this book will comment if my citations are correct. I decided to still write this review because I’ve been wanting to talk about Laurence Yep and this book is particularly interesting.

Turning now to this specific volume, it’s a unique work. While I’ve seen many volumes of, or including, Chinese folklore, this book by Yep is the first I’ve seen that suggests a uniquely Chinese-American variety of tall tales. He points out that since the majority of early Chinese immigrants to America came from a specific province, the stories of that region have greater significance than more general Chinese or Asian proverbs.