Nonfiction Book Review: Chasing Lincoln's Killer

Chasing Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As some middle schools muddle along seeking good nonfiction to satisfy their common core requirements, I raise James L. Swanson's book for your consideration. The text will be accessible to your reluctant readers;as a matter of fact, a colleague of mine sent me a message saying that her 7th grade son really enjoyed the book, and from what I gather he'd much rather throw a ball or catch a frog than read.

The story is high-paced and high-intensity narrative non-fiction. Swanson offers a quick foundation for the race, and then he fires "the" gun and the reader is off and on the whirlwind manhunt for John Wilkes Booth.

Many opportunities exist for discussion and digging deeper...whether for writing or research. Swanson presents several people who assisted Booth along the way deeper into the South.  Amazing that some who never met him and only knew of him through his heinous crime, assisted Booth because of their roots and obligation to the Confederate states.

Nice opportunities for comparisons to today--one that jumps out is the openness of Lincoln's White House as opposed to the Secret Service world of current Presidents. Also, in a world devoid of telephone or any of the modern communications of today, Booth was trying to outrun word of mouth.  I think a teacher could get some great discussion going about how effective the manhunt was in comparison to popular investigations and manhunts today.

Swanson does a great job noting that at the same time that Booth was running for safety, so was Jefferson Davis.

I like the book for a literature circles situation, especially if your middle school curriculum includes studying the causes of the Civil War, or the Civil War itself. It is the perfect way to get your kids to read (and enjoy) nonfiction, and potentially continue turning to nonfiction for their education and entertainment.

At the very least, a really easy pick for your middle school classroom library.



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Nonfiction Review: Every Bone Tells a Story

Every Bone Tells a Story: Hominin Discoveries, Deductions, and Debates by Jill Rubalcaba
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

With an emphasis on nonfiction in the Common Core, several nonfiction selections will appear in my creative writing class for the first time: The Ominivore's Dilemma (Youth Edition); Chasing Lincoln's Killer; Flesh and Blood So Cheap; and Every Bone Tells a Story.

I discovered Every Bone Tells a Story in Carol Jago's book on the Common Core, With Rigor for All. With biography and autobiography often being the dominant nonfiction found on our classroom bookshelves or in our students' hands, I dug into Every Bone Tells a Story hopeful.

The first aspect that I like about Jill Rubalcaba's work is that connects to the subjects our students study in 8th grade: Earth Science, Geography, and more to my focus, informative writing. Every Bone Tells a Story may appeal as a literature circle choice for those students with an intensive interest in either Earth Science or Geography.

The individual discoveries, deductions, and debates of four separate hominins unfold in a style developed for adolescents--I'd say it is perfect for 8th grade but could also stretch forward into 9th and 10th grade depending on your needs.

William Blake wrote, "As a man is, so he sees." In Jill Rubalcaba's Every Bone Tells a Story we are asked to see through the lens of archeology...but when we do so, we learn of the many sub-lenses within the field. And each distinct lens, studying a specific and often myopic element of a bone, carries great passion, history, and responsibility. Yet, nothing is ever easy.

Rubalcaba walks us through the often clumsy circumstances by which four high-profile hominins have been discovered. In many cases, everyday people stumble across remains and never realizing what they have before them, damage the bones or other artifacts of the site. In two of the cases, everyone realized the discovery was significant and in their own unique ways (incredibly and unconscionably) consciously damaged some of the evidence! This section of each hominin's story reads as a piece, a fragment, of a narrative. In each case, this "baby" narrative captured my interest and carried me into the second segment of each discovery: deductions.

This is where each story becomes more science oriented.

In general, these sections show the reader that with each year humanity is able to understand more because of the advancements of technology. Moreover, the study of archeologists continues to grow more specialized. I am by no means a "science person" but the easy-to-read (and comprehend) detail of how much a scientist can learn just by studying one tooth, or a fragment of a colon, completely fascinated me. From the fragments of wood or charcoal used to heat their shelter or cook their food, to the pollen that can be painstakingly extracted from samples, scientists can learn where people traveled, to their lifestyle, to the history of our spoken language.

And this leads to what I find one of the strongest elements of this book: debate. I look forward to discussion and writing with my students about how heated and intense science can be...and is. Rubalcaba cites several occasions where scientists vehemently disagree with findings and how many often scramble for a piece of a newly discovered hominin for the chance to view it through THEIR lens. Each sub-region of archeology illuminates something new about these hominins through their own lens--a lens that is powerful, narrow, and...divisive!

As far as writing, the book can used as a mentor text as a whole, or the teacher could use individual hominin stories. Rubalcaba exercises the tenets for good informative writing by keeping the writing at arm's length from the reader--she isn't trying to persuade us or appeal to us as much as she is trying to inform us. Often the information does inspire some head-shaking especially when the readers learns of some of the interference and obstacles the scientists encounter before they can do their important work.

Full of expertise and a wonderful glossary, specialized and accessible for adolscents, I strongly
recommend this book as a boost to the nonfiction in your classroom library...or curriculum.

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YA Nonfiction Review: Flesh & Blood So Cheap

Digging through the "maybe" pile sometimes brings an unknown gem.  In my case, that gem is Albert Marrin's Flesh & Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy.

My bookpile, larger than usual, has expanded due to the fact that we need to pick some new literature for the upcoming changes in curriculum.  So, I have been forcing myself to read any recommendations, award winners, and well-reviewed fiction, non-fiction, and verse in the hopes of getting it right.

The rough draft of what the new literature may be contains a variety of male and female authors along with books of varying cultures and life experiences.  However, one of my objective was to try and include some literature that directly related to the curriculum in other subject areas--we have a great opportunity to do this especially when we consider the professional and financial support of literature circles. 

I liked that Marrin's writing style will be accessible to 8th grade students--while the print is large and photos appear on most pages, the subject matter is detailed, direct, and meaningful.  The photos are terrific, by the way.  Tasteful, they certainly do contribute to a very gritty patina to an already grisly story.  As it is, we cover the Triangle Fire in our social studies curriculum, but I like that this book takes the reader deeper inside the lives and histories of the immigrants who struggled to put bread on the table while working in the garment district of New York.

As a matter of fact, the reader does not reach anything about the fire itself until page 104 out of a 163 page book.  For a thirteen year-old, the book is thorough and will support good classroom discussion and cause for writing.

Consider the final chapter where Marrin lays out in detail how the mistakes of the Triangle Fire are still being repeated around the world...and in New York City again.  For example, Marrin raises to light the ghastly conditions children suffer as workers in Bangladesh and Thailand, and then turns around and adds, if it weren't for the existence of these sweatshops the only other option might be being sold by their family as slave beggars--where children are maimed or blinded to attract the coins of tourists.  Suddenly, a sweat shop may not seem like such a bad option.

Packed with good starter history of the progressive movement, suffragists, unions, government and corruption, immigration, America as the land of opportunity, organized crime, fire safety codes, and current world affairs, I am strongly considering this book for my creative writing class literature circles.  Strongly.  It is certainly out of the maybe people.  I'm hard pressed to think of a reason why it should not be on the final "yes" list.

On a personal note, I also learned about Ruth Sergel in the book.  In 2004, Ruth began a history project of honoring the memories of the 146 workers who died in the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, New York's most infamous disaster before the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.  On every March 25th since 2004, Ruth organizes a group of volunteers to inscribe the names and ages of the victims on the sidewalks of New York City--more specifically on the sidewalks in front of what was once their homes.  I'm moved to go and take part in the event--March 25th falls on a Sunday this year.

Book Review: Destiny of the Republic

Through a combination of an assassin's bullet, medical ignorance, and ego,  President James Garfield's life was stolen from the American public.  Candace Millard's book Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and Murder of a President reads like any great crime thriller.  I am so happy to have read it, while at the same time I am astonished a little ashamed that I knew so little about this great man.

From chapter to chapter, Millard shifts back and forth between the early life and political rise of self-made man James Garfield and the maddening and deadbeat path of soon-to-be Garfield assassin Charles Guiteau.  These parallel journeys couldn't be any more opposite.

Even as a reader, long before Garfield and Guiteau ever meet I found myself fascinated by one and despising the other. 

Garfield raised in impoverished conditions worked with his hands and taught himself Latin as an adolescent.  He talked his way into college by offering to be the school's custodian in an exchange to take classes.  Soon excelling in college, he was asked to teach...years later he would become president of the college.  From janitor's closet to president--hard not to like this man.

A shrewd general in the Civil War, Lincoln called him to his side, took him off the battlefield, and heeded his counsel--while accepting this duty, sat poorly with General Garfield who wanted to be with his men.

Garfield, married, had several children and loved being a family man--he played often with his children and loved reading to them.  A voracious reader himself, he developed a friendship with the Librarian of Congress so that he could have first crack at all of the new titles delivered to the Library of Congress.

Serving several terms as a congressmen he earned the sterling reputation as a great orator and as a level-headed and fair man.  As a reader, it is easy to understand why the men and women of his generation, of all races, admired James Garfield.

I was astonished to learn that he didn't even want to run for the Presidency.  Greatness was thrust upon him--upon giving a nomination speech for a friend at the Republican Convention, Garfield told the crowd, "we have to ask ourselves what we want."  A single voice sparked what was to become a great conglomeration of Garfield being shoved into the White House--out in the crowd, a lone voice yelled, "We want Garfield!"  The crowd roared its approval and the rest is history.

Even with the nomination, he didn't even campaign...and still won.  How beloved and respect are you if you do not seek the Republican nomination and then upon receiving it anyway, do not campaign for the Presidency?

Remarkable.  The untold story of THAT man is only gleaned here--but it is here and the bits and pieces you will gather about the respect many felt for Garfield are all equally riveting.

Only halfway through the book I recommended it to my father, and I caught myself speeding home after work on Friday to finish the last half of the book before dinner.

On the other hand, Millard traces the life of soon-to-be assassin Charles Guiteau.  Raised by a religious zealot, Guiteau spent a significant amount of time in a commune in the state of New York, left to become a traveling preacher, wrote a book about religion which he plagiarized from another published book, slept and ate in hotels and boarding houses yet always skipped out on the bill.  He begged and borrowed money from anyone and everyone he met--never paying anyone back.  He took everything from others--and we learn that included the 20th President of the United States.

Struggling to be a decent human being, Guiteau got it into his head that he was owed a political office by Garfield and simply traveled to Washington to gain it.  With little formal education or any work experience, he believed others owed him.

The journeys of these two polar opposites intersect in the dilapidated and long-neglected White House, then freely open to public--anyone could present themselves to sit and talk to the President.  Guiteau sat in the White House day after day--he followed the President seemingly everywhere--he told everyone he met that he helped put Garfield in the White House, that constituents were friends of his, and that he would be receiving an appointment as an envoy to France--any day now.

By the way, the Secret Service at the time did not protect the President.  They spent their time tracking down counterfeiters.  Politicians were open and unprotected.

Guiteau wrote letters and notes to Garfield and his cabinet on expensive hotel stationary or from official White House stationary which he would brazenly ask for...and receive!  All the while, living the life of a deadbeat--his clothes becoming more threadbare and tattered--he fell deeper and deeper into a vitriol for anyone who did not help him.  In his rubber sandals he is said to have presented a rather disagreeable and creepy image.

Of course, Guiteau does not gain the political appointment.  When all doors seem to be closing around him, he claims to have had a dream that God told him to remove Garfield from office--Garfield blocked his way in to a political office.  Once he took care of Garfield, Vice President Chester Arthur would be thrilled and grateful and would send the Army to the prison to release Guiteau in a great display of American fanfare and gratitude.

These two parallel lives are but a slice of Millard's book.  Garfield's journey also intersects with Alexander Graham Bell and (frustratingly) doesn't quite intersect with Joseph Lister (pioneer of antiseptic surgery).  At the time of Garfield's shooting, many physicians still did not believe in germs and did not wash themselves, their coats, or their instruments.  As a matter of fact, several physicians shoved dirty fingers into Garfield's bullet wound--doing more harm than the bullet which science proved was not a fatal shot.

Even after being shot in the back, he didn't have to die.

My review focused mainly on the remarkable Garfield himself but so much of this book latches on to the stalking of the President by Guiteau and the subsequent bumbling of the President's medical condition after the shooting.  I reiterate, as Millard does, he didn't have to die--his death owes as much to the fault of medical malpractice and ignorance as much as it does to the assassin's bullet.

Several times throughout the book I was struck by the tenderness in which the American public handled the ailing Garfield.  You get the sense that people were saddened and sickened not that it was an attack on America the country, but that it was an attack on a great human being--a good man who reminded many of themselves, or at the very least a man who many admired, loved, and strove to emulate.

I am absolutely humbled by the kind of man that Garfield proved himself to be.  Millard discovers that as his death settled into the American public, some in Garfield's inner circle feared that generations would forget just how beloved, respected, and sorely missed he was.  Millard goes a long way to ensuring that Garfield along with his gentility, promise, and resolute nature is honored.