The Bravest Woman in America

This post is part of Nonfiction Monday 

hosted today by Ana's Nonfiction Blog

Tricycle Press (Random House)

(pub. 7.12.2011)  32 pages 

A True Tale with A Cherry On Top 

A uthor: Marissa Moss
and illustrator:  Andrea U'Ren

C haracter: Ida Lewis, lighthouse keeper

 

O verview from the publisher: 

        "Ida Lewis loved everything about the sea, so when her father became the official keeper of Lime Rock Lighthouse in Newport, Rhode Island, she couldn’t imagine anything better. Throughout the years, Ida shadowed her father as he tended the lighthouse, listening raptly to his stories about treacherous storms, drowning sailors, and daring rescues. Under her father’s watchful eye, she learned to polish the lighthouse lens so the light would shine bright.  
        She learned to watch the sea for any sign of trouble. And, most importantly, she learned to row.
        Ida felt ready for anything—and she was."

 

T antalizing taste: 

       "The boys' faces were white with cold, their lips blue. One passed out, lying limp on the bottom of the boat.
        Ida didn't think. She rowed - harder and faster than she ever had. The waves crashed over her head, tilting the boat along a wall of green and gray. Ida kept on rowing, frantic to get them all to safety.
        'I can do it,' she told herself.  ' I have to do it.'"

and something more:  Marissa Moss' Author's Note in this picture book biography, The Bravest Woman in America, states that Ida Lewis "went on to rescue many more people after that first time when she was sixteen.  She was sixty-three when she made her last rescue.  Officially, she saved eighteen lives, but the real number may be as high as twenty-five."  And, I chuckled at Ida's quote: "Anyone who thinks it is un-feminine to save lives has the brains of a donkey."  Gotta love her spunk!

The Firehouse Light

This post is part of Nonfiction Monday 
hosted today by Amy O'Quinn

Tricyle Press (Random House)

(pub. 5.25.2010)  32 pages 

A True Tale with A Cherry On Top 

A uthor: Janet Nolan
         Illustrator:  Marie Lafrance

C haracter: a lightbulb

 

O verview from jacket flap: 

      "Here is the true story of a little lightbulb, located in a firehouse, that has stayed lit for more than one hundred years.  As horse-drawn carriages make room for automobiles, dirt roads give way to paved streets, and new buildings transform small clusters of homes into bustling neighborhoods, a small town grows and changes.  And fighting fires changes, too: fires once fought by bucket brigades and hand-pulled hose carts are now attended by full-time firefighters and modern firetrucks.  Yet now, just like then, the lightbulb grows, strong and steady, above the brave firefighters and their trucks."

 

T antalizing taste: 

       "Finding firefighting equipment in the dark was not easy. Then one day a businessman gave the firefighters a gift.  No longer would they have to waste time lighting lanterns.  A wire burning inside a ball of glass would light the way. Day after day, year after year, the ligthbulb did not burn out...
       Strong and steady, it still glows above the heads of firefighters - it burns when they leave to fight a fire and stays lit after they return."

and something more:   Of course, I had to check out the lightbulb's website which includes a link to a professor of physics and her grad student's interesting research paper regarding this amazing lightbulb that just celebrated its 110th anniversary this past June.
      And, as a writer, I'm always curious about the inspiration for books. Janet Nolan, the author of this nonfiction picture book, The Firehouse Light, explained her reaction to the lightbulb story in a Publisher's Weekly interview: "'I walked around in an excited daze for a while... I kept thinking of all the things that have happened—all the things that have been invented and all the wars fought —while this tiny lightbulb kept burning. In our disposable society, it struck me as awe-inspiring.'"  
      What a great way for children to think about history and culture -- the transformations in American society and firefighting, and the concept of quality.  The grad student's research paper states that the "intention of the [Shelby Electric] company [that developed this particular lightbulb] is not to make lamps to see how cheaply they can be made, but to see how well they can be made."  I only live a hour or so from the lightbulb's firehouse -- I'm planning a visit!