Welcome to Litsy!

Like EVERYONE it seems, this year, in anticipation of reading Percival Everett‘s JAMES, I am putting myself through a prequel project: refreshing my memory of what happens in Twain‘s Huck Finn. (It‘s free right now if you have an Audible membership.)

TBH, I really am unsure if I‘ve actually read any Twain 🤔 I have visited Hannibal Missouri and I have visited Twain‘s house in Hartford Connecticut… but?!

I originally read these back in the early 90s when they were being published and I was close to the same age as the middle grade protagonists. Libby has been living with her aunt and uncle since her mother passed away, but now her dad, a steamboat captain on the Mississippi in 1857, thinks she is old enough to come live with him again. Libby learns about the evils of slavery (a topic she's never thought deeply about) and finds out that the cabin ⬇

Banned Books Week is right around the corner (Oct 1-7) and while I know there are a lot of important books being banned at a record rate, I am just not in a space to handle them. So, this year I‘m going back to books frequently banned in the 90s, rereading Huck Finn, maybe listening to Sissy Spacek‘s amazing narration of To Kill a Mockingbird again, and reading one new-to-me title, Roald Dahl‘s The Witches (because October) #readbannedbooks

Thank you so much for my riverboat journey, @tdrosebud - I love it! I'm so sorry that I flummoxed you with my vague travel wishes, but you did an awesome job interpreting it. Can't wait to dive in, so to speak. #staycationintime #staycatiinswap @DinoMom @Chrissyreadit

Inspired by the true story of Reverend John Berry Meachum, this #picturebook follows James and other children as they attend Rev. Meachum‘s school in 1840s Missouri. When a law is enacted forbidding education of enslaved and freed persons, the Reverend and the children have to figure out how to keep learning.

An amazing book! Wonderful illustrations and a great narrative that introduces children to a tumultuous time in US history. #BBRC #LetterS

#TemptingTitles
#WithaFruit
@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

I tend to forget that huckleberry is a fruit--even with the word “berry“ at the end! 🤣

I taught this to my juniors for many years and have always been proud of my school district for allowing us to teach the tough books. Twain examines the liars, cheaters, and hypocrites along the river, mercilessly exposing their weaknesses and displaying their terrible, senseless cruelty to others. Twain was especially bitter about the way slavery degraded the moral fabric of society and portrayed river life exactly as it was. #19thcenturyrealism

As a Pittsburgher, I was aware of my city's steel production past, but I was unaware of our roots in the flatboat industry. From the research Buck did, to the actual construction of the flatboat "Patience", to the journey itself, this book was un-put-downable for me. There's danger, excitement and a real sense of this country in this book, along with a small side of "We are going to die."

Part US history, part memoir, part adventure. This book chronicles Buck‘s team building and taking a flatboat from PA to New Orleans. A lot of this book reminded me of doing multi-day rafting trips in UT, CO, and AZ, albeit with more interactions with a variety of cities and people. This book caters to an adventurer and a historian.

Another good one by this author. He built a flatboat from designs from the 1800s and went down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers with a rag tag crew. He explored the rivers ecology, the human impact on the rivers, the people and towns and businesses living along the rivers, the rivers history, and the rivers importance to our economy. If you like travel books or history books or rivers you will like this book. Narrative nonfiction and funny.