Tag Archives: perseverance

Helga Makes a Name for Herself by Meghan Maynor and illustrated by Eda Kaban

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Helga yearns to be a Viking, just like Ingrid the Axe. She begged for stories all the time – at bedtime, during her monthly bath and even fish-pickling time. Her parents tried to calm her ambition, telling her that she was a ‘farmersdotter’ and wouldn’t become a Viking. But, Helga didn’t let that squash her dreams – she and her pet wolverine spent their days doing all kinds of Viking stuff (at least she thought it was Viking stuff). One day, she heard that Ingrid the Axe was coming to town to recruit new members for her Viking crew. Ingrid and her wolverine headed down to town to pursue her dreams. She competed against other would-be Viking recruits and almost made it several times. She finally won a competition and just as Ingrid was about to speak, Helga’s parents ran up to apologize for their daughter’s silliness. Ingrid announced that Helga the Howler was invited to join her crew! The rest, as they say, is history. Helga the Howler and her trusty wolverine plied the oceans of the flat world, gaining fame and fortune as a might Viking Warrior!

This is a wonderful story of perseverance and following your dream, no matter how unlikely. Illustrations are cartoon-like and bright. The story moves along at a face pace with several chuckle-inducing asides along the way. There is also an author’s note and bibliography in the back that includes titles for further consideration and websites for exploration. Highly Recommended.

Zelda’s Big Adventure

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Zelda dreams of going into space and asks her barnyard friends for help. In a story reminiscent of “Little Red Hen”, her rather lazy friends decline her request and she does it alone. She works through the engineering plan, designs her spacesuit, runs through a series of experiments and ends up in space.

What a wonderful place! Zelda collects space rocks, counts planets and does all the work of an astronaut. It is hard work and she does it on her own. Upon her descent back to earth, her friends excitedly welcome her home. Then, the bragging starts – not Zelda, but her friends who brag that she asked for their help. Zelda, in typical hen fashion, looks past her friends’ poor behavior and decides that the next time, she might take her friends with her.

This fractured version of a much loved story is a nice addition to the mix. The illustrations are almost three dimensional in appearance and the characters are engaging. This book is also valuable for STEM teaching, as it pairs literature with some scientific cluck! Recommended.

Fleabrain Loves Franny

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Fleabrain Loves Franny, by Joanne Rocklin, portrays the unlikely friendship between a young girl and a flea.
Set in Pittsburgh, 1952, Franny Katzenback is recovering from polio and wondering if she’ll ever walk again. Franny reads and falls in love with the brand-new book Charlotte’s Web. At a critical point during her illness she imagines she is being cared for by angels, which just turn out to be nurses in white uniforms. So when she starts to receive letters from a flea, who lives on the tip of her dog’s tail, it seems like just another delusion.
But Fleabrain proves his existence and a strong friendship forms. Fleabrain is a strange and marvelous fluke of nature. He is a self-taught genius and just happens to be a voracious reader. He helpsFranny gain courage, self-confidence and strength to fight her battles with prejudice, discrimination and the struggle of recovery. He is determined to stand by and motivate Franny during this difficult time in her life because he finds he truly loves her. Fleabrain becomes Franny’s Charlotte.

The other characters in the book include her older sister Min, whom she sarcastically calls “Saint Min”, her best friend from a distance Walter Walter (yes, double named), the mean-spirited Nurse Olivegarten, Franny’s adored grandfather Zadie, and Dr. Gutman a neighbor and scientist working with Jonas Salk to find the cure for polio.

Rocklin’s inclusion of many daily life routines and practices of the 1950’s add to the story’s realism. She introduces young readers to some realities of disability and the harsh and often times unfair reactions of others. She also does a good job of introducing many topics for classroom discussion.  Readers may learn not only about paralysis, polio, Jonas Salk, vaccines, infectious diseases and prejudices; but also about literary and cultural references such as E. B. White’s Charlotte’s Web, Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis, James Howell’s Paramoigraphy, the philosophy of  Friedrich Nietzsche and Jewish folklore and traditions. These may sound like heavy topics for young readers, but Rocklin provides small spoonfuls of understanding to the reader.  As Franny learns of these things in incremental, digestible pieces, so does the reader.

Included is an author’s note reflecting on polio and the issue of disability, and a bibliography of referenced works and songs.  Teachers can also go to Rocklin’s website and get a CCSS aligned discussion guide and activities list.