Elizabeth Van SteenwykRezensionen

Recommended Ages: Gr. 3-5

Plot Summary:

Setting: Kate approached Allan Pinkerton, a detective in Chicago, asking to be hired. She claimed that a woman could get answers very easily because no one would suspect. She was hired and proved herself important when she quickly got a couple to admit where they were hiding their stolen money. Eventually, she was asked to work on keeping Abraham Lincoln safe as he traveled from Illinois to DC. She heard rumors of threats in Baltimore, so Kate and her boss worked together to secretly get Lincoln out of Baltimore and to DC safely. This type of work is essentially what the secret service do now.

Characters:

Recurring Themes: detective, women in the field, women at work, lying, undercover, secrets, deception

Controversial Issues: none

Personal Thoughts: The part that is super intriguing to me is that we don't actually know much about Kate as a person. She died at 38 yo, likely from pneumonia, and there isn't much real information about her. However, her role as a precursor to the secret service is fascinating and has potential to bring about interesting discussion about whether it's okay to deceive someone in order to get the truth. The writing is engaging and tells the story without speaking down to the reader. Larger vocabulary is used: obtaining, widow, society parties, assumed, befriend -- and that's just on the first few pages.

Genre: picture book biography

Pacing: fast, about 5-8 sentences per double page spread
Characters:
Frame:
Storyline:

Activity:

I like reading about Kate Warne, but I wasn't a fan of the illustrations in this book.

It is before daylight Christmas morning, 1880. Emma and her mother are awaken by a knock at the door. They have to hurry because Mrs. Van Der Meer is about to give birth and mama is the only nurse around...for miles.
They hitch up Old Dan, their horse, to the wagon and get to gettin'. Mama finds Mrs. Van Der Meer in agony; so is Emma. After all, Christmas wasn't supposed to be like this. The Van Der Meer's children are afraid and look to Emma for comfort. They stroke Old Dan's mane and pull out silver hairs that they use to decorate the naked Christmas tree. Others from nearby bring gifts- a lamb for wool and a goat for milk. Everyone stays until the baby is born. When he comes, everyone dances and cheers and laughs. Emma tells mama that she will always remember this Christmas. After all, it wasn't supposed to be like this.½

This book is set in the time period of slavery in America that the Underground Railroad was a way for blacks to escape from the harshness and brutalities of slavery in the South. The little boy's father was a blacksmith who had to make a ironworks bird for the "missus" for her birthday. He used his ironworking as a means of communication; the rhythm, or "song", let the slaves know just when it was safe to escape their Master's plantation. As the missus' party grew louder, the little boy had to send out the rhythmic message to the slaves that were listening for Pa's beat because Pa was too ill to do it.

This is the story of slaves working toward freedom by using the underground railroad. The blacksmith, who was a slave, would beat out a rhythm on his anvil to let those on the underground railroad know if it was safe to travel. A story of bravery and determination. Beautifully illustrated.

I thoroughly enjoyed this whole book. It was almost like reading poetry to me, very intriguing. It was something I was unaware of ,and learned alot about, how the slaves had to find other ways to escape together. The nine year old son got to play his rhythms with a hammer when his father became too ill, but it was time to escape, since the family they worked for were having a loud, big party. The author's note gave alot of useful information about more history and vocabulary used.

'Blacksmith's Song' by Elizabeth Van Steenwyck is a children's picture book about the Underground Railroad, more specifically, a possible way that slaves and others communicated with runaways along the route. As the author states at the end of the book, we are not sure how people on the Underground Railroad were communicated with. It could have been a specific rhythm played out along the trail such as a song, dance, or by a blacksmith working late into the night.

IN this story, a young boy goes to watch his father working in the forge. His father sometimes hammers a certain rhythm in the night. The boy wants to try, but his father says no. His mother finally explains about the song his father plays. It's a secret and dangerous song that could cost someone their life if the owners figure it out. The boy picks up the song from listening and he knows as his father grows weaker, that he will one day play the song and his family will eventually get their turn to run for freedom.

The story does not show the ugly side of slavery, but it gets the point across that these people are not free and wish to be. Using the illustrations by Anna Rich you can see the owners sitting and having a feast, as well as the men on horseback with their dogs out looking for escaped slaves. Depending on the age of the person reading or listening to the story, different discussions can occur regarding this time period and practice. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via Netgalley.

Blacksmith’s Song is a doleful rendering in beautiful art of the Underground Railroad, suggesting one way of many that messages were passed along. Our young narrator wants to tap out the blacksmith's song, to help travellers as his father does. Each day he asks, but is told 'not yet’. Each day his father looks sicker and sicker. Our narrator wonders when it will be his family's time to leave too. One day, Pa is unable to play the travelling song, so the young son takes up a hammer and taps it out for those waiting in the woods. Later that night, he and his parents finally leave themselves.

This is a sad tale, mournful for its topic of slavery. It brought tears to my eyes, and to the most empathic of my cubs. It prompted much discussion between all of us. The author's notes at the end gave more information about the Underground Railroad, and other ways it is speculated messages were passed along, though we really have little true idea. This is a great book to supplement teaching about the Underground Railroad.

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Myrick Marketing for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Elizabeth Van wrote about a time in Abraham Lincoln's life where had transformed himself into a reader, writer and speaker. Though Abraham had a rough childhood, he still managed to work on himself every chance he had. Abraham had eventually spoken himself into presidency.

Reads like an adventure story!!

As anybody who knows me is aware, I am not a fan of picture book biographies. However, I went into this one thoroughly prepared to enjoy it, since I was excited about having more information on Kate Warne.

Unfortunately, I ended up not liking it after all, and not just because it was a picture book biography.

Kate Warne was the first female detective hired by Allan Pinkerton. She collects information at tea parties and by telling fortunes. Then the Civil War begins and Kate's work takes on a dangerous turn. She intercepts a plot to assassinate President Lincoln and works with Pinkerton to save the president's life. Kate Warne continued to work for Pinkerton and was publicized as the first female police detective after her death.

An author's note mentions the lack of information about Kate Warne and a few more brief notes about her life as well as a short bibliography.

While I appreciate the lack of information to work with and the limits of the picture book biography, this felt very sketchy. I was skeptical of the dialogue given to some of the characters; it definitely lent an historical fiction feel to the book. Most of all, I disliked the art. It's sweet and cute and gorgeous - and completely unsuited to the story of a woman making her way in a man's world in the gritty Civil War era. All the characters, including background characters, are pasteboard white and look about sixteen. There is a lot of vibrant colors in the dresses, something I doubt Warne would have had as a poor widow working for a pittance.

Verdict: I'm not generally a fan of picture book biographies to start with, but I felt that this one didn't even make much of an effort to be historically accurate. It's awesome to have more women in history, but I had hoped for something better. Not recommended.

ISBN: 9780807541173; Published 2016 by Albert Whitman; Borrowed from another library in my consortium

The book One Fine Day: A Radio Play by Elizabeth Van Steenwyk tells the story of the day when the Wright Brothers successfully flew in one of their flying machines. The brothers, Orville and Wilbur, are confident that the flying machine that they had created was going to work that day. The story is told as an old time radio play, and gives cues for the reader, or performer, to do sound effects and tones.
The story starts out with Orville and Wilbur in North Carolina in 1903 talking about how excited they are to test their newest flying creation. Although their previous machine had only been in the air for a few seconds before crashing, they did not let that discourage them. The brothers were not even worried about the fact that the morning wind was very harsh, and they were right, the wind did calm down for them. The author did a great job of creating dialogue that is very realistic to how they would have talked and discussed with one another on that day.
When they actually test the “Flyer,” it ends up flying 120 feet. This story really taught me how far we have come in the world, and makes me appreciate all of the inventions we are so lucky to have. Without airplanes, we would not be able to travel so frequently or so quickly. This story really captures how this day of the first plane successfully flying actually went. To really experience this amazing and historic story, you must read it yourself!

A wonderful play about what happened on the day the Wright brothers made their first successful flight. A great book for reader's theater in the classroom!

This is a beautifully illustrated book documenting the first flight of the Wright brothers. I liked the opening page which gives students ideas how to create specific sounds used in the play. The play can easily be performed in a classroom setting. It is a good way to have students connect to history. The playful banter between the brothers shows how close they were and also documents that historic day in 1903. I wish the author had added helpful websites or listed additional sources for students/teachers.

This is a great dog story, much better than J. Patrick Lewis's fictional account of Barack Obama's dog and his round the globe story. I guess it's pushed out of the limelight for portraying FDR as a lonely man with a wife who was forever traveling to speaking engagements.

Young Abraham loved words: reading, writing, speaking. There was little time for school or for reading, but the words he read he savored and said over and over to himself and to anyone who would listen. He worked hard. He listened hard. He repeated the preacher's words to himself and he made sense of them until he could repeat them to his friends and family....or just the trees when no one else would listen. Someday they would listen.

Genre: Non-fiction
This is a good example of non-fiction because even though this is written in play form it is still a true story that is in all our history books. What these to men conquered was huge and it truly shaped our world now because without their discovery who knows if we'd have airplanes today that take us across the entirety of the world.
Characterization: Wilbur and Orville are the protagonist (main characters) because they are the only ones that are necessary to tell their own story. They did not have some bad guy chasing them throughout the book so there is no antagonist.
Art Media: Water Colors

This is a very clever Christmas story that will especially be enjoyed by little girls and their mothers. In a Prairie setting, a girl travels with her midwife mother early Christmas morning to deliver a baby. Several subtle parallels are made to the birth of Jesus.½

A slave describes the journey he makes with his master, Captain William Clark, into the uncharted territory of the American West to find a water passageway to the Pacific Ocean.

At first I thought this was just another Christmas story. But, by the time I got to the end, I was pleasently surprised. The family portrayed drew me in. Nice illustrations in warm tones compliment the story.

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1800's story from Lewis and Clark expedition