Bound for the North Star: True Stories of Fugitive Slaves by Dennis Brindell Fradin

An excellent introduction to the topics of slavery and the Underground Railroad.

Published by Clarion Books in 2000.

While Bound for the North Star: True Stories of Fugitive Slaves is obviously aimed for the "young adult" crowd, it would serve as an excellent primer for ANYONE interested in learning more about that sad, sad topic in America's history: slavery.

Harriet Tubman

The author includes 12 stories about slaves who escaped north, mostly with the help of the Underground Railroad. Each story describes a different type of escape or incident - varying from the case of Solomon Northrup - a free black man who was drugged and sold into slavery while he was working in Washington, D.C. to John "Fed" Brown, a field slave who traveled a roundabout trip to freedom covering thousands of miles to John Price - an escaped slave who was captured in Ohio, but was eventually freed thanks to the near-riot of the Oberlin College community. The book ends up with the most famous member of the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman, and details a number of her exploits as a Conductor and as a Union Spy during the Civil War.

As a reader, I appreciated the variety of types of escape stories - it did not get stale reading about the same type of escape and the variety of escape plans really was a wonderful testament to human creativity in the face of hardship.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Bound for the North Star: True Stories of Fugitive Slaves

Reviewed on September 1, 2004.

Oddball Indiana: A guide to Some Really Strange Places by Jerome Pohlen

Published in 2002 by Chicago Review Press

Oddball Indiana: A guide to Some Really Strange Places does a great job of showing some of the odd things that make the Hoosier state unique, including Santa Claus, IN and the world's largest steer (he's stuffed). It also turns out that Indiana is the birthplace of Wonder Bread, Alka Seltzer, Corn Flakes, Pork and Beans and the unique shape of the Coca-Cola bottle. He includes driving directions that look to be accurate (I am familiar with some of these places) although a good map of Indiana would also be required to even find some of the towns that he mentions. He includes several pictures, which generally are helpful.

Indiana - birthplace of this and
many more wonders.

This really could have been a charming little book - one that I would have been 100% enthused about except for the author's fascination with Hoosiers Dan Quayle (not in a positive way, either) and Jim Jones (the cult leader who led his 900+ followers in a mass suicide in Guyana in the 1978). Do we really need to see Dan Quayle's frat house? Do we really need to see a picture of the bridge that Jim Jones' uncle jumped off of in order to commit suicide?

But, on the whole, the guide is useful and entertaining. It includes addresses, phone numbers, web addresses, visiting hours, costs (if any) and directions to every location he describes. I do recommend it for anyone who likes to travel off of the beaten path.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Oddball Indiana: A Guide to Some Really Strange Places (Oddball series)

Reviewed on August 30, 2004.

The Rundown DVD

Reasons I recommend The Rundown:

Released in 2003.

1. The Rock. He fits perfectly into this light-hearted action movie.

2. Christopher Walken has a great time doing a parody of himself throughout the movie. He's hilarious as he does his Walken-esque soliloquies for everyone except the people that might actually have gotten a clue from his ramblings and figured out that this backwoods bad guy has more than one screw loose.

3. The movie is funny. Lots of good lines and situations to go around.

4. The fight scenes - they are stylized and absolutely unrealistic but artfully done.
The DVD includes deleted scenes - but does not tell the viewer why they were deleted. I always find that to be most interesting, especially when the scene looks to me like it should have stayed in.

The extra interviews are pretty interesting as well.

I rate this movie 4 stars out of 5.

This movie can be found on Amazon.com here: The Rundown.

Reviewed in 2004.

Snatch (Special Edition) DVD

Entertaining and oddball - loved the Brad Pitt character

Released in 2000.

To make it short, I'll mention what I liked:

-I liked the use of commentary by Turkish and Tommy during the movie - they serve as the de facto narrators.

-I liked the rapid-cut intro and the way the director used the security cameras to show us the progress of the diamond thieves during the opening credits.

-I really liked the Brad Pitt character. Take full advantage of your DVD's ability to make subtitles because you'll need it with all of the accents - especially Brad Pitt's.

-the dog was fun (and hungry).

Dennis Farina

-I liked the way all of the characters were sleazy and yet markedly different from one another.

-I like the fact that the DVD includes deleted scenes with commentary. I did not like the fact that the commentary usually did not tell me why the scene was deleted.

I rate this movie 4 stars out of 5.

This DVD can be found on Amazon.com here: Snatch (Special Edition) DVD.

Reviewed in 2004.

Do Not Go Gently (Starletta Duvall Mysteries) by Judith Smith-Levin

Likable characters, goofy ending, everyone's oversexed

Published in 1996.

First the positives:

-likeable characters.

-Do Not Go Gently is well-written, in that it was easy to follow and the characters stayed true all of the way through.

Now, the negatives:

-the ending has such a plot twist that you might as well have had Darth Vader or Charles Manson committing all of the murders - there were as many clues pointing to them as there were to the killer. Really, this comes so far out of left field that no one will see it coming - and I felt like I was the victim of some bad practical joke.

-The killer's motive is so bizarre and he has gone to such lengths to follow through with his plan that one would think that he would have actually ended up in an asylum long before he is sprung upon the reader as the Surprise! real killer.

-EVERY character is constantly thinking about sex - it seems that it's all they talk about and all they think about. It's a wonder the murder got solved.

I understand that this is the first of a series - I will not be reading the rest. My copy of this book will quickly be finding its way to a used book store.

I rate this book 2 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Do Not Go Gently. 

Reviewed August 28 2004.

Carnival Undercover by Bret Witter

Fascinating book - lots of fun to read. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Published in 2003 by Plume.

"Who doesn't love a carnival, fair or amusement park? They have everything you could ask for: Fried food, dangerous-looking rides, macho games, freak shows, meat-on-a-stick, champion milking cows, and teenagers dressed up as giant stuffed animals...If that's not America, what is?"

The Marion County Fair - Indianapolis.

That's the opening quote of Carnival Undercover that tells you all the ins and outs of the carnival business - everything from the economics involved in owning a booth to how to become a carnie to ride safety to the freak shows. It also tells you how to win at certain games, the inside skinny on some of the major theme parks (did you know that Disney World has an underground vacuum powered garbage removal - much like the system at your bank's drive through window - so that you don't have to see any garbage being hauled through the park?) and which food booths to avoid at your local fair (chicken and fish due to easy spoilage and the booths that sell more than 2 or 3 items - the specialists are just better).

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Carnival Undercover.

Reviewed in 2003.

The Red Heart by James Alexander Thom

This is one great book.

Originally published in 1997.

The Red Heart is based on the true story of Francis Slocum, a 4 year old Quaker girl who was kidnapped by Delaware Indians in the 1770s on the Pennsylvania frontier near Wilkes-Barre. (There are recreation areas named for her in both Pennsylvania and Indiana)

A painting of Francis Slocum
that is part of the collection
at the Indiana State Museum

It is also the story of her family's 60 year search for her across the Midwest and even into Canada.

It is also the story of the relentless westward movement of the Americans and how the Indians dealt with it.

The reader also gets a fantastic lesson on daily life among the Delaware and Miami Indians.

If you're a Star Trek: The Next Generation fan you'll remember the episode entitled "Inner Light" in which Picard is "attacked" by the alien probe from the long-dead world that makes him live an entire lifetime among their people in his mind in just a few seconds so that their way of life will never be forgotten. (It's the one where he learns to play the little flute-type instrument). Well, this book reminds me of that - you are drawn into this woman's life and initiated into Indian culture as she is. You learn along with her. You grow up with her, feel her disappointments and joys and her confusions as she learns that her white family is searching for her (should she seek them? should she run? Would it be best to take advantage of her white skin and abandon her Indian family as the times get harder and harder?)

I have a few quibbles with the book but those are dwarfed by Thom's overall accomplishment. Honestly, at the end of the book, when Francis Slocum dies, I felt as though a longtime friend who'd lived a wonderful and fulfilling life had died - and that is the greatest compliment I think I can give it.

Bravo!

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Red Heart.

Reviewed in 2004.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5 stars.