Blog Posts

The Dead Do Tell Tales

8/2/2019

"Memento mori" is a Latin phrase to remind us that we all must die. Mummies are people who died and somehow escaped the degradation of the grave with their bodies still more or less intact, even after several thousand years! iNK Think Tank's author, Kerrie Logan Hollihan's upcoming book (May 7, 2019) Mummies Exposed: Creepy and True, more than lives up to its title. The photographs in this book are definitely ready for their close up. Hollihan's writing prepares the reader to stomach the images.

I learned from this book that there are all kinds of mummies-- accidental mummies- preserved by their dry and/or frozen environment, planned mummies-preserved by special treatment after death, and sacrificial children-- left alive, "high and dry" to die as an honor to the Incan sun god, Inti. Yes, a lot of this book is grisly but I found myself laughing at loud at Hollihan's light touch of humor throughout this fascinating treatment of the lives they had led and then died so that we can flesh out their story.

How do we know about them? Through the work of "shovel-happy archaeologists." The death of a frozen mummy called the "Italian Ice man" was a mystery. What happened to him? To this day "...researchers are still hot on the info trail. 'Freezing to death is quite likely the main case of death in this classic cold case.'" Modern forensic science, CT scans, DNA analysis, pathology analysis may be used to determine what diseases they had lived with and died from, what they ate, and how to continue to protect their remains from bacteria that work on the usual buried corpse. As Hollihan puts it, "The mummies were studied to death." and many of them ended up in museums.

In the case of one crypt in Hungary, uncovered by a church's renovation in 1994, Hollihan writes: "Mother Nature had done her thing with air and something else.... The something else was pinesap, sticky and acidic that had seeped from the pine boards. The undertakers had also sprinkled pine shavings inside the coffins to absorb liquid leaking from the corpses as they decomposed. With acid to kill the bacteria and bugs, and plenty of air flowing by, the bodies had dried out. Easy queasy."

Kerrie Hollihan has done her homework in bringing to life these tales of death. Interspersed in discussions of various mummies are "Factlet" pages that add additional pertinent information such as a discussion of contemporary people who choose to be frozen in liquid nitrogen upon death so that they might be revitalized by science some time in the future-- called the "Freeze, Wait, Reanimate" club. But my most important take-away from this book is the humanity of people throughout the ages and how much we can learn from their bodies, their clothing, their art, their tools and the way their survivors and nature preserved them so they can inform us of their ancient civilizations. Mummies are amazing time capsules of the human story.

Reading Aloud to Children

31/1/2019

Here I am at 18 months with a magazine. Obviously, way above my reading level but note that I'm treating the reading material with respect and interest.

Did your parents read aloud to you when you were a little child? Did you read aloud to your children? Do you know why it's important to read aloud to children? I asked this last question to a class of education students and got lots of answers: It stimulates the imagination. It makes children think. It inspires curiosity. And on. Here's what I think. Hearing someone read to you as a child, before you are literate yourself, awakens the concept that books are a portal to other worlds of stories, information, poetry, art, knowledge---unending.

As a child, my parents read to me every day. I must have loved it because they never read to me as much as I wanted them to. Early on, I figured out that books took me places I wanted to go and if I wanted to access what was in them whenever I wanted, I'd better learn to read myself. So I started teaching myself to read. I have a memory of a moment when I was four, visiting an eight-year-old girl named Brucia. We were standing together, looking out a window in New York City, that gave us a view of rooftops below us that were filled with billboards. I asked Brucia, wistfully, "Can you read everything you see?" She assured me she could. My thought, which I never shared was, "If only, if only, I could read everything I saw." It seemed like an impossible dream. But I was motivated and I achieved that goal early in life.

I became a fluent independent reader. I found reading was so effortless that I felt as if I inhaled stories with no awareness of the process of reading. When I was eight, I was in class immersed in a story about a dog carrying messages in a war. He was wounded but still running. I could feel his pain and promptly passed out cold, face down in my book. That year my father, who still enjoyed reading to me, began sharing The Secret Garden.  I so identified with Mary, that I became terrified of what would happen to her if she were discovered trespassing in the secret, locked garden and I made him stop reading the book to me. When I was ten, I decided I had to face my fears and read the book myself. So The Secret Garden represented a milestone in my personal development. Many years later, as an adult and a children's book author, a newly illustrated copy of The Secret Garden arrived at my door. I had just returned from a trip to Yorkshire and reread the book in one sitting. It amazed me that Frances Hodgson Burnett had included a Yorkshire dialect in the speech of some of the characters. Some would think a strange dialect would be a stumbling block to an American child. But I have absolutely no recollection of that. Clearly it didn't stop me from meaning-making of the story because I read the book so many times as a child. When a new world is opened to a child through a book, she doesn't need to understand every word. There were some people who felt that American children wouldn't have a problem with the British version of Harry Potter.

February 1, is World Read Aloud Day.  All over the world adults and children will be sharing books by reading them aloud. They are adding the human voice to the voices of authors. The best children's authors know how to "speak child." This doesn't mean that they water down the language. Indeed it is just the opposite-- they use carefully crafted, rich language. When we authors of iNK Think Tank write our Nonfiction Minutes, we create an audio file so you can hear our real voices reading our work aloud. That way their fascinating content is available to children who are challenged by reading, including children for whom English is a second language.

February 1 is also the beginning of Black History Month. So you can listen to Emmy award-winning author,  Janus Adams read aloud her Nonfiction Minute, "Why is February Black History Month?"  Just click on the player. We are also including her reading and a couple of others in the brand new iNK Nonfiction Minute Podcast. So you have a choice; you can read along with Janus on the Nonfiction Minute or you can download our first Podcast from the iTunes Store. Both are free for your enjoyment.

The Stain of Our Founding Father's Original Sin

17/1/2019

The enslavement of human beings was the major sticking point in the formation of the United States of America after the Revolutionary War that freed the colonies from the tyranny of King George. The economy of the southern colonies depended on it. Virginian, George Washington, our esteemed general and first president, was a slave owner. In the introduction to Carla Killough McClafferty's powerful and insightful book for young adults (actually, any adult no matter how old) Buried Lives: The Enslaved People of George Washington's Mount Vernon, she tells us "At the age of eleven Washington inherited ten human beings, and he would own people his entire life." So the continental congress agreed to omit the contradiction that enslavement of people was counter to the American ideal of individual freedom; thus tabling the conversation for later generations in our country's painful work towards "a more perfect union."

Maybe you'll say to yourself, "Yes, yes, slavery was bad. I need this book like I need another book about the Holocaust." I say, yes, you need to read this book. I needed to read this book. The word "slave" has the pejorative connotation of anonymity. The term "enslaved person or people" used throughout this book brings in humanity. Make no mistake--enslavement means that human beings were victimized and pressed into a lifetime of servitude. Carla McClafferty's meticulous research brings a few of such people to life.

Fifteen-year-old William Lee was purchased by Washington and became his valet or "body servant." He lived by his master's side, attending his every need at home in Mount Vernon and throughout the 8 years of warfare. Many historians believe he is standing dressed in his fine livery behind Washington in the painting by John Trumbull on the cover of this book. Even after Washington died and his will freed all his "chattel," William Lee stayed on at Mount Vernon with a pension.

George and Martha Washington believed that they treated their enslaved people well. They got them medical attention when they were sick. They gave some of the house workers days off to attend theatrical entertainment. They did not break up families if they could help it. Oney Maria Judge, was a "mulatto," (from the word "mule," a sterile hybrid bred from a horse and a donkey) who belonged to Martha Washington as part of her inheritance from her first husband when she was widowed, called her "dower" estate. The inheritance laws stipulated that Martha was not allowed to sell or free her enslaved people. Oney became Martha Washington's "lady's maid" and traveled with her to the various residences in New York and then Philadelphia after Washington became our first president.

In Pennsylvania, there was a law called the "Gradual Abolition Act" which allowed enslaved men and women to apply for freedom after living in the state for six months. Martha Washington was apprised of this law by a friend of her husband so that they could "game" the system by sending an enslaved servant to visit Mount Vernon or another southern state as the six month time limit approached thus resetting the clock back to zero when they returned. Despite being well-dressed and an intimate part of the Washington family, Oney got wind of a plan for her to go to Martha's granddaughter's estate when Martha Washington died. So one night, as the family sat down to dinner, Oney slipped out the door and disappeared into the busy streets of Philadelphia and onto a ship bound for New Hampshire. Martha Washington was hurt; couldn't understand why she had been abandoned by a girl she had sheltered. Despite attempts to catch her and bring her back, Oney Judge established a life and a family as a free woman. Freedom trumped the security of enslavement.

Ultimately, George Washington came to understand the evils of enslavement. And McClafferty tells of the outcomes of some of the lives she so beautifully chronicles in this book. She spent time interviewing some of their descendants, who are proudly reclaiming their family history.
Enslaved people were buried in unmarked graves at Mount Vernon. A new project by archaeologists is underway to reveal the site of each grave shaft. They systematically sift the top soil above the identified graves leaving them undisturbed so each occupant can continue to rest in piece as flowers are placed in recognition of a buried life.

Tears ran down my cheeks as I read of the care and love brought to this space of eternal rest. (Can you believe I'm crying over the work of archaeologists and their volunteers?) The power behind Carla Killough McClafferty's  Buried Lives: The Enslaved People of George Washington's Mount Vernon comes from her dispassionate, sensitive, and respectful rendering of a story of people whose names we know as merchandise on a bill of sale.

The Woman Behind the Man, Who Knew?

12/1/2019

Although I'm not a history buff, I've heard of César Chávez and his fight for decent pay and working conditions for migrant, farm workers, who are mostly Spanish-speaking. But I did not know that his union had a female vice-president, who worked alongside him, named Dolores Heurta. Marlene Targ Brill has written a compelling biography for young adult readers, Delores Heruta Stands Strong, a fighter for justice and equality for both men and women. In the first chapter of her book, Brill describes the ceremony where Heurta received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her life's work by President Barack Obama in 2012-- the highest civilian honor of the United States, shared by only thirteen others.

Who was she? How come I'd never heard of her? I'm telling you the truth because I am ashamed of my lack of knowledge after all she has done for so many people. One answer to my second question is that she was a woman and the spotlight for justice for farm workers naturally was focused on the man, César Chávez. But that didn't bother her. Her mission in life was to help other poor agricultural workers who picked the fruits and vegetables for the American appetite.
She organized, protested, went to jail, was beaten, yet still kept speaking and negotiating and yes, calling for worker's to strike against the growers. She won many battles and dismissed her losses as part of the process. She became a feminist late in her career after meeting Gloria Steinem and realizing that female farmworkers were not paid equally to men. The image on the cover of Dolores Herta Stands Strong shows her holding up a sign that says "heulga," which means "strike." Another of her slogans is "Si, se peude," "Yes, we can." in English, which Barack Obama borrowed with her permission for his presidential campaign.

Amazingly, she did all this while raising 11 children, sometimes as a single mother. And her kids grew up just fine. Americans need to know what it takes to fulfill the promise of "liberty and justice for all." Dolores Huerta contributed her life to this promise and Marlene Targ Brill does justice to her story.

He Never Quit Trying; Never Tried Quitting

22/12/2018

How can one experience the life of a barrier-breaking achiever in science, agriculture, art, music, social justice, and inventor of many products from plants, particularly peanuts? The premise of this series "for Kids" is to include many hands-on activities in a biographical narrative, so that the reader can replicate some the challenges faced by the subject of the book. George Washington Carver lived from about 1864 to 1943. (He was never certain of his birth date.) Peggy Thomas brings Carver to life with vibrant storytelling that is so engaging that you don't want to stop reading in order to figuratively "smell the roses" of sidebars and activities. You know, intuitively, from this impressively researched book that "smelling the roses" was at the core of Carver's intellectual, spiritual, and practical interaction with his natural world.

At a time when everything is a quickie and a sound byte (bite?), George Washington Carver is a book designed to be studied. There is depth here. What emerges from his story is a man who kept going no matter what. He learned what he needed to learn to move his life along to the next step, acquiring skills along the way that opened doors for him to all societies at a time when African Americans were looked upon as less than human. When he first started college in art school, he was immediately labeled "other" by the students because of his race and his age (he was slightly older). He supported himself by doing other people's laundry. As Thomas tells it:

"When students brought their laundry to Carver's home, he'd unselfconsciously offer them a crate to sit on, and they would stay and chat. One day he came home to find his crates gone. He walked in on a room full of new furniture. All of his friends had taken up a collection and purchased him a table, chairs, and a bed. It must have been difficult for Carver to accept such an extravagant gift. He prided himself on being self-sufficient and working for all that he had. He never took handouts. But the boys must have felt that his friendship was payment enought. Years later Carver wrote, 'They made me believe I was a real human being.'"

Real learning takes work, and practice, and applying oneself. Effort and discipline. There are no short cuts. Peggy Thomas' George Washington Carver for Kids introduces us to an exemplar extraordinaire of such virtues. She also offers today's students many activities to do as George did, in gentle and fun ways, gaining an appreciation that such acomplishments for George Washing Carver were necessary to his own growth and survival. Sudents who immerse themselves in this book, will know what it feels like to walk in Carver's shoes. It's an opportunity that's worth the effort.

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The Dead Do Tell Tales

Reading Aloud to Children

The Stain of Our Founding Father's Original Sin

The Woman Behind the Man, Who Knew?

He Never Quit Trying; Never Tried Quitting

Vicki Cobb

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The Dead Do Tell Tales

Reading Aloud to Children

The Stain of Our Founding Father's Original Sin

The Woman Behind the Man, Who Knew?

He Never Quit Trying; Never Tried Quitting

Vicki Cobb

​Archives

Categories

Links

Company

Contact

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