Book review of "I, Juan de Pareja" by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino

This is the intriguing historical-fictional autobiography of Juan de Pareja. He is a man who is a slave to the famous Spanish painter Diego Velazquez. As a slave he helps his master with his painting as far as mixing paints, etc. However, Juan desires far more. He wants to become a painter as well, but as a slave he is forbidden by law to learn art. Juan’s passion for art is so strong that he sets about teaching himself by observing his master’s paintings and he soon learns to use his brush to create exquisite works of art. Juan’s tender conscience pricks him constantly in regards to his secret. If it was once known that he was doing this the consequences could be dire.   

When I was about twelve I read this book for school and absolutely fell in love with it. Juan is a relatable human hero with faults, desires, and secrets. He quickly endears himself to the family he is enslaved to and they come to view him as a human being and not just as a servant. The ability to write in a deeply feeling way about human emotions is a gift that not all writers possess. Elizabeth Borton de Trevino is definitely one of those authors who has this gift. Juan’s idea of observing a master’s art and technique is quite practicable and I recently undertook to copy a famous sketch in order to teach myself to draw better. This method can also be applied to writing. If you want a book to provide you with a better sense of good writing I would recommend this one.

Story Prompters

Write a pretend biography from the viewpoint of someone in history. Put yourself in the person’s shoes and write in a relatable way from this standpoint. Underscore this person’s human emotions. Let that person become real to both yourself and the reader. As always, include authentic historical details to make the story believable to the reader.

Book Review of "Shadow of a Bull" by Maia Wojciechowska

This is the enthralling story of Manolo, a boy who is expected to live up to his family legacy and become a Spanish bullfighter, like his father, the famous bullfighter Juan Oliver. But all Manolo has inherited from his deceased father is his looks; his heart lacks the same love and passion for bullfighting that his father once possessed, and almost his entire village possesses. In fact he is quite terrified of facing a bull. Manolo confronts two choices: to live up to the expectations of the on-looking village of Arcangel and become a bull-fighter, or to pursue what he actually desires.

I think this story, though short, goes quite deep. Should one do something because everyone else expects you to do it and because it is tradition? Should you give into what is popularly called peer pressure? It takes much more effort and bravery to go the opposite way of a culture or popular fad then it would to just go with the stream. I think that all who read this book will relate to Manalo in his search for courage and will watch breathlessly as he finds himself on the precipice of choosing his future and his destiny. 

Story Prompters

• Write a story about someone who is struggling with the choices of either going along with everyone else or going against the mainstream. Make sure that what the character is facing is worth standing up for; do not have him or her protest for the sake of being contrary.
• Delve into the emotions of your character and describe them in a realistic manner.  

Book Review of "Number the Stars" by Lois Lowry

 Annemarie Johansen is a young blonde-haired girl who lives in Copenhagen during WWII with her parents and her little sister. Annemarie’s closest friend is Ellen, a Jewish girl her own age. Despite food rations and other inconveniences brought about by the war and the fact that Nazis walk the streets of Copenhagen, the girls live fairly happy and secure lives. The first signs that Annemarie and Ellen’s lives are about to be transformed come when the Nazis began to relocate the Jews who live in their town. It will not be long before they will relocate Ellen and her family. Annemarie must do all she can to protect her best friend from the merciless actions of Hitler.

Alone, Annemarie can do nothing to save her friend, or any other Jewish people. Further, how can anyone stand up to the terrifying power of the Nazi regime? It is only by working and standing together that the world was able to at last defeat the Nazis. I believe this principle can be used in any sort of conflict against evil. If people stand firm and labor together for a common cause, they can accomplish almost anything.

Story Prompters

Write a story in which an individual discovers that one cannot fight against evil alone. That person can also discover that he or she is significant in the overarching scheme of the resistance. Are the evil forces that the characters fight a real struggle from history? Or is it an imaginary situation, based either in the future or in an imaginary land?  

Book Review of “Nory Ryan’s Song” by Patricia Reilly Giff

This poignant tale is told through the eyes of Nory, a young Irish girl in 1845 who has a love for music. Nory and her family cannot foresee that their life in a cottage on land owned by the English Lord Cunningham is about to change. Lord Cunningham sees the tenants on his property as obstacles, not people. He raises taxes on their land and hopes to someday rid the land of them, raze their cottages to the ground, and use their farmland as pastureland for sheep. As if the taxes were not bad enough a blight strikes the potatoes, ruining the Irish people’s main source of food. Nory, along with the whole of Ireland, is plunged into an unimaginable crisis. Will Nory be able to pull herself and her family through the hard times ahead?  

One of the reasons so many people starved to death during the Irish potato famine is that the English lords who owned the land that most Irish people lived on took away any other source of food they had like pigs and chickens. Without potatoes or livestock, they had nothing to support themselves with. I cannot help but wonder if things would have gone differently if the land lords would have acted in a different manner towards their tenants.

Story Prompters

What other tragic events in history could have ended up differently if different choices had been made? Write a piece of historical fiction illuminating the mistakes that were made which caused the tragedy to happen. 

Book Review  of “The Great and Terrible Quest” by Margaret Lovett

This novel is a long-time favorite of mine. Trad, a boy in medieval times, is an orphan who lives with his abusive grandfather. One day when he is out hunting Trad stumbles across a knight with wild white hair who has recently received a head wound and is apparently suffering from amnesia. All the poor man knows is he his on a quest…a quest both great and terrible. However, he cannot remember what the quest is for. Trad makes the decision to run away from his grandfather and aid the knight on his quest, hoping that the knight will find the key to unlock his memory. Soon Trad finds himself involved in something far greater then he at first thought, something that might not only unlock the white-haired knight’s past, but his own.

I love how this book is a quest for identity, remembering or discovering for the first time who you are and what is your lineage. Filled with danger, sword fighting, and secret identity, this is a masterpiece you will want to read again and again.

Story Prompters

• Write a story about someone who has no idea what his lineage is or where he fits in. Write about this person’s journey in which he discovers his past.
• With anything you write make sure to include details that make it believable, whether it  is fantasy, historical fiction, or science fiction.

The Mysterious Benedict Society, by Trenton Lee Stewart

The Mysterious Benedict Society, by Trenton Lee Stewart

From chapter one, this book had me hooked! I finished the entire 485 page novel in three days. The book starts by introducing you to one of the main characters, Reynard Muldoon, (otherwise known as Reynie.) Reynie is an extraordinarily gifted eleven-year-old orphan, a true genius. He feels out-of-place at the orphanage where he is teased relentlessly by the other kids. 

A chain of curious events leads him to meet a brilliant man named Mr. Benedict. Mr. Benedict has discovered that an evil scientist has figured out how to manipulate the minds of people through television and radio waves and to make them believe anything he wants them to. Only the minds of extremely truth-loving people like Reynie have the gumption to resist. Reynie and three other amazingly talented kids who meet through Mr. Benedict gang up together to put a stop to the evil scientist's schemes. They call themselves, "The Mysterious Benedict Society." 

What the four kids of The Mysterious Benedict Society discover is a situation much too enormous for any one of them to defeat individually. The theme of the book is that only by banding together will they be strong enough to defeat the evil scientist and his equally evil plans. Where one kid's talents are lacking, another member of the society is able to contribute his own. All together, they make quite a remarkable group of kids who have personalities that are described so vividly it makes you forget they are merely fictional characters and causes you to half-believe they are real people. 

Story Starters

• Make up a story in which a group of people have to band together to face a problem. Illutstrate the truth of the old saying, "Two heads are better then one."
• Make the characters of any story you write so very life-like in their personalities and other traits that your readers become almost as attached to them as if they were real people.

Book Review of "Master Cornhill" by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

Book Review of “Master Cornhill” by Eloise Jarvis McGraw.

This novel abounds with vivid descriptions of life and people in the times just after the great plague in London as seen through the eyes of young Michael Cornhill, a lad of eleven. Michael is an orphan. He has no family and has no home to stay at, but Michael’s innocent and trusting ways will soon earn him friends, and more than one temporary home. But will he ever find a place to permanently call his own? When the great ravaging fire of 1666 sweeps through London, this possibility seems doubtful.

I absolutely love the writings of Eloise Jarvis McGraw. All of her historical fiction novels are full of authentic details, almost as if she herself once lived through the historical periods she describes. “Master Cornhill” is no exception. Using her incredible talent of bringing people and places to life, McGraw creates a host of characters that you will never forget.

Story Starter Ideas

• Choose a person you know or a place you enjoy being at and describe it in such a way that someone reading it feels almost as if he or she knows the person you are speaking of, or has been to the place you are describing.
•  Choose a significant moment in history, research it, and describe it through the eyes of a fictional character. Slip in authentic facts about the times in such a way that readers feel as if you are so familiar with that time you must have lived through it yourself.