Book Report: Wild Berries

Wild Berries is an interesting and simple children's book. It shows a boy, Clarence, and his grandmother going into the woods to pick wild blueberries. It kind reminded me of when I was younger and I would go out to our Rhubarb bush and pick a few stalks from it. Sometimes my mom and i would bake into something, usually Rhubarb crisp. Other times I would just clean the stalks and eat them raw, except for the root and leaves of course.

Anyway, this book was written and illustrated by the famous multitalented author and artist Julie Flett.

Here is a link to my presentation of this story. I hope you enjoy it. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1IuPio30JR62FutHEYSNuYryfd9zvHVH0IE5aDVGbMbU/edit?usp=sharing

Mapping the Interior #2

I just finished Mapping The Interior this morning. I read this book in 24 - 25 page stretches every day this week. I found it was easier to read this book that way. The narrator finally vanquishes his father's ghost by shoving him out of the house. Then the mismatched ghosts of the four dogs that the father killed ripped him apart. In my opinion, the father got what he deserved. Then the focus of the book switches to the present where the narrator is in his late forties and is on the dancing circuit.

He is living a less successful version of his father's dream. Then he takes Dino back to the site of their old to try a bring back his dead son. He has learned very little from his experience. The dead should be left to rest. No one should try to bring them back. I mean the narrator is willing to sacrifice himself so his son can come back. There is no guarantee that the son will come back or that he will come back as the same person. This book moved me and left me a little disturbed.   

Mapping the Interior #1

This novel may be short but there is a lot going on. I'm about halfway through the book and I'm enjoying the plot and the characters. One of the reviews of this book says there is a little Shirley Jackson in Mapping The Interior. Shirley Jackson was the author who wrote the novel The Haunting of Hill House. In short, this book is about a haunted mansion that was "born bad." The ghosts in this book do not directly appear right to the people visiting Hill House. The narrator in this book either encounters his father's spirit or at least thinks he does. He hears more than he sees. The big difference between these two books is the intent of the ghosts. In Shirley Jackson's book, the ghosts are malevolent. They want to hurt the people visiting the mansion. While in Mapping The Interior the spirit of the narrator's father wants to help his family. Well, at least that's what the twelve-year-old believes. 

My thoughts on Buffalo Bird Girl

A picture of the real Buffalo Bird Woman.

This story was vastly different from Love Medicine. While that story was told from multiple perspectives. This story was told straight from the point of view of Buffaloe Bird Woman. At first, I thought it was a little silly for a college student to be reading a children's book. That being said approached this book with an open mind. I found that reading this girl's narrative of how her people hunted and preserved food was very interesting. I wasn't aware that Native Americans preserved their dried food underground. The description of a Hidatsa warrior having his horse shot out from under him was thrilling. Then to see that he still managed to kill a Lakota warrior was very impressive. I know you can't take everything this book says as gospel but I think it does a fair job of describing the Hidatsa way of life.

The ending of the book is rather sad. The way she describes that he way of life is gone forever had me contemplating how many Native American cultures have been lost to the coming of the white man. 

"Flesh and Blood" and "A Bridge" in Love Medicine

In "Flesh and Blood" Marie takes her daughter Zelda to see the dying nun, Sister Leopolda. They go up the hill to the convent. Marie notices how the covenant might look shiny and new but if you look closely you can still the age of the building. When Zelda and Marie first meet Sister Leopolda she seems lucid and in her right mind. But no too long before it becomes clear she has lost her mind. Marie tries to steal the large spoon Sister Leopolda uses to bang on her iron bed frame. However, she can't pry the old nun's fingers loose from the spoon. So finally Maria gives up and leaves with Zelda. Once at home Zelda finds the letter that Nector had written saying he was leaving Marie for Lulu.

Her reaction to the letter rather surprised me. she was not angry that Nector left her. But rather she stuck trying to figure out how she would raise her children without a father. But later on, when Zelda brings Nector home Marie places the refolded letter under the salt holder. She decides then and there not to tell Nector if she had read the letter. She going to make him guess for the rest of his life with her. 

In "a bridge" the novel jumps to 1973 in Fargo, North Dakota. Fifteen-year-old Albertine Johnson has run away from home. Now she is in Fargo because she does not have any more to travel any further. Then follows a soldier who turns out to be Henry Lamartine Jr. They drink in a few different bars and then head to a cheap motel. They have sex but that's not the shocking part of this chapter. the shocking part is when it's fairly clear Henry Lamartine Jr. is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. But when Albertine starts to fear for her safety it turns out that Henry is not as dangerous as he first appeared. 

Saint Marie

This chapter was vastly different from the previous one. It has a much darker feeling about it. The narrator Marie Lazarre is the grandmother of Albertine Johnson. I'm not sure if Albertine has any previous knowledge of what Marie did in the convent. But I think if she did she would know that her grandmother was not always the kindly woman she knows. She was young and vain at one point in her life. She had her own problems long before she married Nector.

What also struck me was how Sister Leopolda knew that Marie would leave the convent. But as the first chapter showed the sister was right. It surprising that both Marie and Zelda wanted to be religious sisters (or nuns).  But both of them were stopped from becoming sister for different reasons. Marie because she was not devout enough (at least that is what I got from the chapter) and Zelda because she fell pregnant with Albertine. 

"The World's Greatest Fisherman"

I was a little confused at the start of this chapter. But once I got into the meat of it the story became easier to understand. I will admit I thought the speaker was a guy until they clarified Albertine was a daughter. In any case, I saw early one that these stories are about a troubled Native American family. The narrator in this chapter, Albertine Kashpaw, believes that her mother regrets having her. Also, one interesting thing to note is that Albertine calls her mother "Mama" and "Zelda." I think this shows the level of detachment and distance she feels towards her mother.

She is not entirely sure what to feel about the death of her Aunt June. Even though most of the family viewed June an easy woman who could not get her life together. I believe that Albertine admired her the most out of all of her aunts. I think this chapter is an excellent opening to this book.