The Father

Sid Fleischman is a great storyteller.  The Entertainer and the Duybbuk is a poignant, at times humorous story of the spirit of a boy killed during the Holocaust who possesses a ventriloquist's dummy in order to seek revenge upon the Nazi criminals who took his life.

The Trouble

There are a lot of lists of books that everyone should read.  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are on a lot of those lists.  I think I had to read it back in school, but I bet I never did.  Because it is supposed to be one of classics.  There is a huge problem with this book, however and that is the use of the n word.  There is perhaps no more vile word in the English language, I have come to believe, after reading Elijah of Buxton.  Check out this interview with the author, the incredible Christopher Paul Curtis.  I have done a lot of research about this and found this to be of particular interest.  Will I ever read Huck Finn?  I don't know if I can stand to read that word. I really don't think I could.  But I do understand what Dr. Dyson says about the word, "I think the Holy Ghost of rhetorical fire will insist that the N-word not be buried. I don't think you can bury words. I think the more you try to dismiss them, the more power you give to them, the more circulation they have."
The Trouble Begins at 8: a Life of Mark Twain in the Wild, Wild West was my introduction to the Twain the man.  It was very well done.  Fleischman was funny and Twain was a riot.  I guess he was maybe our country's first stand-up comedian?  It was neat to read about his lectures, which were pretty much stand-up comedy concerts.  Very much recommended.

Another Chuck

Sir Charlie,:  Chaplin, the Funniest Man in the World was written by the elder Fleischman, Sid.  And it is written just like all of Papa Fleischman's books: wonderfully.
I had know knowledge at all about Charlie Chaplin other than the basics.
This was one of those books that really made me want to learn more about the man because I wasn't sure if, because it was a kids' book, Chaplin's harsher side was air-brushed.  I mean it was straight-forward enough, there were quotes from other actors who knew him that said how mean he could be, but I wonder if Chaplin was even worse that Fleischman detailed.
It was good to read this while I was reading Charles and Emma, because Chaplin grew up in the Victorian Era and the poor houses and the wretchedness of the lives of the working class that upset Darwin and his contemporaries, was the world of Charlie's childhood.  It was sad to read of the mental illness that his mother suffered and hardships that Charlie and his brother had to endure as young children.
I was really surprised to learn that some of Chaplin's movies weren't all total comedy.  There were a few that I want to see.
Here is Judy singing Smile, from Modern Times.  This is one of those songs that really mean a lot to me.
A really good book.

Chuck and Emmy

I really don't know much about Charles Darwin.  Reading Charles and Emma: The Darwin's Leap of Faith was very enlightening.  You can see that this book won lots of awards, and I can see why.
It was especially interesting that I had visited a Sunday School class last week and Rev. Dr. Steven Tuell was the guest speaker!  He teaches at my old school!  I wish he would have taught there when I went there!  But I was so young then, I wonder if I had what it took to appreciate a good professor back then.  I can see the benefits of going back to school when one is older and hopefully wiser.
Rev. Dr. Tuell started the class by naming two big names...I can't remember either of them now.  But one is a big time creationist and the other is a big time scientist who doesn't believe in God.  He said something like, "It is interesting that X doesn't believe in God or a divine plan in creation and that Y believes in creation as it is told in Genesis, but that both of them have the exact same interpretation of the creation stories in Genesis.  And that is totally bizarre because we have two totally different stories of creation in Genesis!" Then we looked at the Bible and the two very different accounts of creation that are there.   Check out his blog here.
One part that really stood out for me because I was listening to this book at the time was something that I really couldn't remember and didn't want to say it wrong!  But I emailed him and he wrote back!  It had to do with the creation story in Genesis being consonant with evolution.
Here is what he said:
I alluded to two features of the creation stories in Genesis that I believe to be consonant with biological evolution.  The first is the fact that God empowers the world to participate in its own coming into being: so, rather than saying, “Let there be plants,” God says, “Let the earth put forth vegetation” (Gen 1:11); so too God invites the water to “bring forth swarms of living creatures” (1:20), and says, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind” (1:24).  In Genesis, life emerges from the earth and the waters.
 The second was that, in Genesis 2, both humans and animals are made from the ground (2:7, 19), and both human and animal are in Hebrew called _nephesh khayah_: “living being.”  That idea too I find consonant with biological evolution.
So that was pretty, pretty neat.  If you are interested in more of this, here is how you can learn more from Dr. Tuell, as he explained:
I have blogged about these chapters extensively at www.steventuell.net: enter creation, or Genesis, in the search field, or go to the archives for September 2013 and move forward from September 8.
I don't know much about the Victorian Era, but here is a nice list of important people of that time.  As you can see, CD is on there.  
This book is really about Chuck and Emma's courtship and their life together.  It is a story of love.

The Fleischman Guys

I have forever been mixing up Sid Fleischman and Paul Fleischman.  Granted, this is easier to do that mixing up say, Tom Sawyer and Diane Sawyer.  It is harder to do than mix up a lump of coal with Fred Phelps.  But once I write this, I will never mix up father and son, Sid and Paul Fleischman again.
Sid Fleischman:
Author of Disappearing Act and Escape:  the story of the Great Houdini, both of which I loved.
Won the Newbery for The Whipping Boy.
Has gone Home to the Lord.
Was in to magic.
Paul Fleischman:
Author of one of my most favorite books in the whole world, Seedfolks.  Also wrote A Fate Totally Worse than Death and Graven Images, both of which I loved.
Won the Newbery for Joyful Noise:  poems in two voices, which I read many years ago and I have performed the one about the Queen Bee and the Worker Bee!   This book is mentioned in Disappearing Act!
He is still among us living.
Both take very handsome pictures!
Both create really neat stories that are life-like and original, like Disappearing Act, which is the story of a brother and sister who are on their own, running away from the sister's stalker.  They head to Venice, California, in LA and the stalker follows them there.  In Venice they hook up with characters who are quirky and fun and real.  Holly is a budding opera singer and so there are references to La bohème  because Holly gets the part of Mimi is a local production.  Great opera, not my favorite, I think Tosca is, but if this book causes someone to investigate Puccini further, they will get there, too! So that is awesome!  
Anyway, great little story.  Lots of fun!   

One of the Greatest Things about Books

is all of the new, cool stuff that you learn!  Reading Escape!:  The Story of the Great Houdini  was a great introduction into a man I had heard about, of course, but knew little about.  Harry Houdini was born Erik Weisz in Budapest, Hungary.  It was Austria-Hungary back then.  He reinvented himself a lot though, and told folks he was from Appleton, Wisconsin though, and can you blame him?  We all love Wisconsin!
This is a great first book about the crazy and wacky man who was known as Houdini by Sid Fleischman, who was a magician, in addition to being a great writer and father of Paul Fleischman, who wrote one of my most favorite books in the whole-wide world, Seedfolks.  Great, great book.