The Circuit

The Circuit –by Francisco Jimenez

Short Stories based on Life

138 KB / 133 Pages

Footnotes / Endnotes: No

Suitable for eReaders: Yes

Grade 4 and up

5 Stars

This is a collection of short stories based on real life. Mr. Jimenez was born in Mexico, and came to California as a young boy with his parents. They were undocumented workers. Eventually he became not only a citizen, but a professor at Santa Clara University in California.

These stories, based on his own life, and the lives of his friends and relatives, give an immediate entre into the world of the migrant worker. How hard it was to make a living, how difficult to attend school, to make friends, to become educated. How impossible to keep promises made.

This is a collection of compelling stories, that will make you laugh, and make you cry. It tells about the people who pick the lettuce in the salad you just ate, the cotton in that tee-shirt you're wearing, the oranges in your juicer.

If you've never thought about who picks those cherries you're eating right now, this book will give you those thoughts. It is a delightful book, filled with love, tenderness, compassion, and passion. This book will introduce you to the people who work the fields, cook our meals, wait our tables, who go unnoticed unless it is politically expedient to see them.  

O. Henry wrote "Gift of the Magi" which is marvelous; Dr. Jimenez wrote "Christmas Gift" which will be the Star in your night! It is now August, and Christmas is a few days down the calendar, but now is the time to start buying those stocking stuffers, and this is certainly one you want get as many copies as you need for all those stockings you need to stuff!

Oh Myyy! It's George Takei!

Oh Myyy! (There Goes the Internet) –by George Takei

Autobiography

244 pages  3605 KB

Footnotes/Endnotes: no

Suitable for eReaders: yes

5 Stars

  

I bought this book for my Kindle Fire, and 'saved' it for a special occasion. That came on the day I spent 10 hours in the hospital while a friend had open heart surgery. I not only enjoyed the book, but, believe me, I needed it! (The surgery was a success, thanks for asking.)

If you're of an age, and believe me, I am, and faced with the intricacies of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and the rest of today's technologies, this is the book to read. No, it isn't a 'how to' book, it's a great romp through George Takei's learning and mastering same. He makes it sound so simple, so easy, and at the same time, doesn't make me feel like I'm such a dunce.

It's like having Mr. Sulu explain all the electronics on the bridge of the Enterprise in language I can actually understand. (But, in that dreamy bass voice of his, would I even hear the words, or just the music?)

For anyone with a great sense of humor, who loves all the geeky stuff, who loves cats, the internet (ok, and George Takei;-) this is the book for you! A fun read, just what the Doctor ordered! Take with lots of laughs, a few chuckles, and a humongous smile!

My only complaint was the pictures were small, and I couldn't get them to expand. That's not Mr. Takei's fault, that's Mr. Kindle's fault. 

Narcissa Whitman - Diaries and Letters

Narcissa Whitman – Diaries and Letters 1836 – by Narcissa Whitman

Nonfiction/History/Autobiographical

96 pages / 174 KB

Footnotes / Endnotes: No

Illustrations: No

Suitable for eReaders: Yes

5 Stars

This was a good companion piece to my hardcopy Narcissa Whitman, my Journal which does have illustrations. This contains letters, which were very interesting, as well as journal entries.

Narcissa Whitman and Eliza Spalding (Spaulding) were the first two white women to cross the Rockies to Oregon Territory. They were not the first white women in the Oregon Territory, as several had sailed around, and some had come up from California.

Very interesting to read the difference in language since the early 1800s to now. Also interesting to note small things such as how much she and Marcus loved their Indian boys (guides) and would as long as they deserved it.

Some of her descriptions are excellent, and some not so much. I assume she saw the things that interested her, and or that she thought would interest her family. Much as we do today when we travel.

I loved the descriptions of the food, "Our dinner consisted of dry buffalo meat, turnips and fried bread, which was a luxury." The meat was probably jerky, or over cooked. And I could not agree more that fry bread is a luxury ;-)

If you enjoy history of the early Oregon Territory, I think you will like this book, short as it is.

Left by the Indians: Story of My Life

Left by the Indians: Story of My Life  -by Ethan E. Harris and Emeline L. Fuller

Nonfiction/History/Autobiography

27 pages / 103 KB

Footnotes/endnotes: No

Illustrations: No

Suitable for eReaders: Yes

3 Stars

A very short piece, easily read in an hour (or less). Perhaps I should have read it before reading Across the Plains in 1844 by Catherine Sager, but I found this book not nearly as riveting, and yet, the story is there, just not as well presented. Perhaps a good editor would have been a help?

It is a true story of a young girl (I think she was 13, somewhat older than Catherine when she lost her parents) stranded in the middle of nowhere after the Indians attacked the wagon train killing her parents, and most everyone else. She has no one but smaller children, one a nursing infant. She eventually meets up with another family, and the woman is nursing her child, but refuses the second baby.

All I kept thinking was how sad for the children the Indians didn't take them. Their lives would have been better, and the baby possibly would have survived.

For the price ($0.99), and the history, it's an ok read, but I've found much better out there.

Across the Plains in 1844 – by Catherine Sager

Across the Plains in 1844 – by Catherine Sager

Nonfiction/History/Autobiography

54 pages / 911 KB

Footnotes/ Endnotes: There are Editor's Notes

Illustrations: Yes

Suitable for eReaders: Yes

5 Stars

Obviously, this is not a full length book. I have, and have read the full length book, The Whitman Massacre of 1847 by Catherine, Elizabeth, & Matilda Sager. This is what I would call a companion piece.

The Sager children (there were 7) were survivors, one and all. At least as long as they lived, and were all adopted by the Whitmans. The two boys, Francis and John were killed in the massacre, and the youngest died of the measles shortly thereafter. This story is primarily about the Whitman Massacre. Anyone interested in the history will find this book well written, well presented, and a good read.