Jennifer Bohnhoff's Blog, page 20
January 15, 2022
Poet’s Corner and the Poets of WWI
Because over 100 poets, playwrights and writers are buried there, the South Transept of Westminster Abbey in London, England is known as Poets' Corner.
Geoffrey Chaucer, author of 'The Canterbury Tales,” was the first poet interred in Poets' Corner. When he was buried there in 1400, it was not because he was a poet, but because he was Clerk of the King's Works. 198 years later, Edmund Spenser, author of 'The Faerie Queene,' asked to be buried near Chaucer. This began the tradition of either interring famous writers there or erecting memorials for those buried elsewhere. William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters and Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling and Thomas Hardy are all represented in this area of Westminster. More recent memorials acknowledge Ted Hughes, C.S. Lewis and Philip Larkin. Not everyone buried or memorialized in the South Transept are poets. Musician George Frederic Handel is also buried there, as are several prominent clergymen and actors.
On November 11, 1985 a memorial stone was laid in Poets Corner recognizing the poets of World War I. This stone has the name of 16 British poets who also served as soldiers during the Great War. Some had died during the war. Others went on to live full lives. All seemed tormented by their experiences. At the time of its dedication, only Robert Graves was alive to see his name etched in the stone.
In 2021, as part of my promotion for my World War I book, A Blaze of Poppies, I wrote a series of blogs on World War I poets. I included all of the poets whose names are on the Westminster stone, plus a few who were American or Canadian. Links to each of these blogs is listed below. The names in red are on the stone. The names in green are not. Names in purple did not serve in the war, but wrote about it. May all of these names continue to be remembered both for their service on the battlefield and their contributions to our literary heritage. Edward Thomas https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/october-14th-2021
Richard Aldington https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/trench-idyll-of-richard-aldington
Siegfried Sassoon https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/siegfried-sassoon
Robert Graves https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/two-fusiliers-and-two-poets
Laurence Binyon https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/for-the-fallen
Isaac Rosenberg https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/break-of-day-in-the-trenches
Julian Grenfell https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/a-poem-to-lead-men-into-battle
Henry Chappell https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/a-poem-for-a-horse
Wilfred Owen https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/dulce-et-decorum-est
John McCrae https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/in-flanders-fields
Ivor Gurney https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/on-somme-by-ivor-gurney
Alan Seeger https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/a-rendevous-with-death
Edmund Blunden https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/a-poet-looks-back-at-world-war-i
Rupert Brooke https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/rupert-brooke-the-golden-boy-of-wwi-poets
Wilfrid Gibson https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/two-poems-by-wilfrid-wilson-gibson
David Jones https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/david-jones-wwi-poet-and-painter
Robert Nichols https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/robert-nichols-wwi-poet
Charles Sorley https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/charles-hamilton-sorley-world-war-i-poet
Herbert Read https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/herbert-read-world-war-i-poet
Edgar Albert Guest https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/the-wrist-watch-man
Jennifer Bohnhoff's novel A Blaze of Poppies was published in October 2021, and tells the story of a ranching woman from Southern New Mexico during the turbulent years of World War !. It is on sale on Amazon for .99 from January 15-20, 2022.
Geoffrey Chaucer, author of 'The Canterbury Tales,” was the first poet interred in Poets' Corner. When he was buried there in 1400, it was not because he was a poet, but because he was Clerk of the King's Works. 198 years later, Edmund Spenser, author of 'The Faerie Queene,' asked to be buried near Chaucer. This began the tradition of either interring famous writers there or erecting memorials for those buried elsewhere. William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters and Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling and Thomas Hardy are all represented in this area of Westminster. More recent memorials acknowledge Ted Hughes, C.S. Lewis and Philip Larkin. Not everyone buried or memorialized in the South Transept are poets. Musician George Frederic Handel is also buried there, as are several prominent clergymen and actors.
On November 11, 1985 a memorial stone was laid in Poets Corner recognizing the poets of World War I. This stone has the name of 16 British poets who also served as soldiers during the Great War. Some had died during the war. Others went on to live full lives. All seemed tormented by their experiences. At the time of its dedication, only Robert Graves was alive to see his name etched in the stone.
In 2021, as part of my promotion for my World War I book, A Blaze of Poppies, I wrote a series of blogs on World War I poets. I included all of the poets whose names are on the Westminster stone, plus a few who were American or Canadian. Links to each of these blogs is listed below. The names in red are on the stone. The names in green are not. Names in purple did not serve in the war, but wrote about it. May all of these names continue to be remembered both for their service on the battlefield and their contributions to our literary heritage. Edward Thomas https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/october-14th-2021
Richard Aldington https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/trench-idyll-of-richard-aldington
Siegfried Sassoon https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/siegfried-sassoon
Robert Graves https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/two-fusiliers-and-two-poets
Laurence Binyon https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/for-the-fallen
Isaac Rosenberg https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/break-of-day-in-the-trenches
Julian Grenfell https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/a-poem-to-lead-men-into-battle
Henry Chappell https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/a-poem-for-a-horse
Wilfred Owen https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/dulce-et-decorum-est
John McCrae https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/in-flanders-fields
Ivor Gurney https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/on-somme-by-ivor-gurney
Alan Seeger https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/a-rendevous-with-death
Edmund Blunden https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/a-poet-looks-back-at-world-war-i
Rupert Brooke https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/rupert-brooke-the-golden-boy-of-wwi-poets
Wilfrid Gibson https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/two-poems-by-wilfrid-wilson-gibson
David Jones https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/david-jones-wwi-poet-and-painter
Robert Nichols https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/robert-nichols-wwi-poet
Charles Sorley https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/charles-hamilton-sorley-world-war-i-poet
Herbert Read https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/herbert-read-world-war-i-poet
Edgar Albert Guest https://jenniferbohnhoff.com/thin-air-my-blog-about-writing-and-my-books/the-wrist-watch-man
Jennifer Bohnhoff's novel A Blaze of Poppies was published in October 2021, and tells the story of a ranching woman from Southern New Mexico during the turbulent years of World War !. It is on sale on Amazon for .99 from January 15-20, 2022.
January 11, 2022
How a Children's book Sparked an Adult idea
Sometime in the early 1990s, I was reading a children's book to one of my sons. The book was on elephants, and was part of a series of books that we got in the mail. My boys were fascinated by them, and we read them over and over. One double-page spread in the book presented an idea that intrigued my son. It asked, "did you know that the story of the cyclops was probably started by an elephant skull?"
from Zoobooks: Elephants, copyright 1986 by Wildlife Education, Ltd.
It went on to explain that the concept of a one-eyed giant was probably conceived by someone who had never seen a live elephant, but found an elephant skull. Looking at the skull at the beginning of this blog, it's easy to see how the giant nasal hole that is where an elephant's trunk attaches could be misconstrued to be an optical socket.So, how would an ancient Greek stumble across an elephant skull? Perhaps it wasn't an elephant at all, but a mammoth. Believe it or not, there were mammoths in the region, even on the islands. It may be possible that many Greek myths originated from an attempt to explain these fossils.
The question then arises: Did ancient Greeks find a mammoth skull and invent the story of the cyclops to explain it? Or did the story of the cyclops begin as a story of hunting mammoths, which changed over time as people forgot what mammoths looked like? Could it be that the story of the cyclops is a very, very old story that adapted to the time in which it was told? If a mammoth, or at least its skull, could become a cyclops, what other monsters from myths and legends had actually begun as real creatures?
Beowulf is an old story, written in Old English sometimes in the 11th century. The monster in Beowulf is described as a fallen son of Cain, which makes it evident that a Christian, and probably a monk, copied out the text. However, some of the characters in the story appear to be historical figures from the 5th century, before this area had been Christianized. Could it be that Beowulf, like the Greek myth of the cyclops, tells an even earlier story? If so, how old could it be? And what creature could people back then have thought resembled fallen men? This was a big question, and one I mused on for over a decade before the ideas fell into place and became the basis for Last Song of the Swan. Jennifer Bohnhoff lives and writes in the mountains of central New Mexico. The Last Song of the Swan is available on Amazon.
January 8, 2022
When Life Gives you Lemons, Make Peach Pie: Middle Grade Book Review
12 year old Lucy Peach has been the surrogate mother for 10 year old Freddy and 8 year old Herb since their mother died two year ago. Her father, a university geology professor, has dealt with grief by submerging himself in his research, abandoning the family emotionally and, most of the time, physically. When one of mom’s inventions sell for over a million dollars, dad decides to use some of it to pursue one of her dreams and buys a used food truck. He bundles the three kids into it, and together they spend a summer traveling the Midwest while selling pies, bonding with each other, and moving through their grief and into the future.Erin Soderberg Downing does a good job of presenting her characters to the reader. Lucy wants to believe the trip might unite the family, but isn't sure - and with good reason - that she can trust her father to follow through on his hairbrained plans. An avid reader, Lucy's personal goal on the trip is to read every book on a very impressive seventh grade summer reading list. Freddy, who feels like a plum in a family of Peaches, is artistic, creative, and can spout fun facts like a walking Ripley's Believe it or Not. By the end of the book, he's shown himself a natural and astute businessman. But it's Herb, whose big heart overflows with love for animals and lost things, including stuffed animals, mittens and toilet paper rolls, who steals my heart.
The father in the Peach family is sometimes a little harsh. Although he says he's taken a sabbatical and bought the food truck to bring the family together, his dogged determination to win top honors at the Ohio Food Truck Festival takes precedence over everything, leaving Lucy, Freddy, and Herb frustrated and often overwhelmed with the responsibilities of making pies, selling them, keeping the food truck working and the plan on schedule. Eventually, he relents, and by the end of the book he has realized that his children are a greater prize.
This book is the first of a new series entitled The Great Peach Experiment. I'm thinking a lot of middle grade readers will want to be part of the experiment as the three Peach kids and their dad continue to find ways to connect with each other and build their own, individual skill sets. Jennifer Bohnhoff is a former Middle School English and History teacher who is now staying home to bake pies of her own and to write for middle grade, YA and adult readers. Her Anderson Chronicles is a series of 3 (so far!) books about the adventures of a Middle School boy named Hector Anderson and his eccentric family.
January 1, 2022
The Dreaded Cliff: Middle Grade Book Review
Flora is a plump little packrat who thinks, in her own little packratty way, that she is a goddess. Like all of her species, she collects treasures: shiny things and prickly things and soft things to decorate her nest, which is under the floorboards of what we could call a Volkswagen van, but she calls a jangly-crate. That's one of the joys of this book: the reader sees the story through the eyes of a rodent who does not always know the human words for the things around her. Another joy is that Flora loves words, but also mangles them. This teeny Mrs. Malaprop is at her finest when she is addressing his muskiness, errr, manliness, errr mushiness, King Cyrus, a kangaroo rat with an outsized sense of self worth.
Flora lives a perfect packrat life. She snuggles in her treasure-packed nest and 'snibbes' snacks from the munch mound with her packrat pal, Gertrude. The only thing that threatens her serenity is the dreaded cliff, a frightening and fabled place that she has been warned to stay away from since she was a wee pup. When old Grandma Mimi tells Flora about that it was their ancestral home until a mysterious killer wiped out a litter of pups and took over, Flora feels called to reclaim the cliff. However, her plans are thwarted by an inadvertent trip in which she loses her home in the jangly-crate but finds some allies and discovers her own pluck. In the end, Flora must find her way home, and find the courage to face her own fears.
Each chapter in this book begins with a charming black and white illustration by Odessa Sawyer. At the back of the book is a short but informative section on the real animals behind the characters in this book. It is a fine and entertaining book for young readers who are interested in the flora and fauna of the American southwest.
Author: Terry Nichols
ISBN: 9781951122126 (paperback)
ISBN: 9781951122171 (ebook)
Publication Date: March 2, 2021
Price: $12.95
Pages: 250
The Dread Cliff: Middle Grade Book Review
Flora is a plump little packrat who thinks, in her own little packratty way, that she is a goddess. Like all of her species, she collects treasures: shiny things and prickly things and soft things to decorate her nest, which is under the floorboards of what we could call a Volkswagen van, but she calls a jangly-crate. That's one of the joys of this book: the reader sees the story through the eyes of a rodent who does not always know the human words for the things around her. Another joy is that Flora loves words, but also mangles them. This teeny Mrs. Malaprop is at her finest when she is addressing his muskiness, errr, manliness, errr mushiness, King Cyrus, a kangaroo rat with an outsized sense of self worth.
Flora lives a perfect packrat life. She snuggles in her treasure-packed nest and 'snibbes' snacks from the munch mound with her packrat pal, Gertrude. The only thing that threatens her serenity is the dreaded cliff, a frightening and fabled place that she has been warned to stay away from since she was a wee pup. When old Grandma Mimi tells Flora about that it was their ancestral home until a mysterious killer wiped out a litter of pups and took over, Flora feels called to reclaim the cliff. However, her plans are thwarted by an inadvertent trip in which she loses her home in the jangly-crate but finds some allies and discovers her own pluck. In the end, Flora must find her way home, and find the courage to face her own fears.
Each chapter in this book begins with a charming black and white illustration by Odessa Sawyer. At the back of the book is a short but informative section on the real animals behind the characters in this book. It is a fine and entertaining book for young readers who are interested in the flora and fauna of the American southwest.
Author: Terry Nichols
ISBN: 9781951122126 (paperback)
ISBN: 9781951122171 (ebook)
Publication Date: March 2, 2021
Price: $12.95
Pages: 250
December 29, 2021
A New Beginning for an Old Book
A still shot taken from the commercial I was watching TV this holiday season (something I don't do very often) and a commercial for a new TV movie caught my eye. It began with a shot of a glacier that was all blues, grays, and whites. It looked very familiar.The movie is a SciFi drama about a man who replaces himself with a carbon copy clone.to protect his family from loss after he's diagnosed with a terminal illness. Not a familiar scenario for me at all.
But then I saw the title: Swan Song , and found it too familiar for comfort. I've got a novel with the same name. The picture on the cover is too close to the image from the commercial.
One cannot copyright titles. I could write the Bible, or Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and get away with it. In fact, there are many books, musical CDs and movies titled Swan Song. They range in subject matter from the story of a retired hairdresser who escapes from a nursing home to give a former client her final hairdo, to opera singers in Nazi Germany, to Welsh boys saving wildlife habitat. Nearly all are about death, or the end of a culture, playing on the old myth that swans sing most beautifully before they die. So while I could not be angry at the title and image, I could worry that people who'd watched the move would think my book was related, buy it and be disappointed.
I decided the best thing to do was change the title and cover of my novel. I have now pulled the old version from Amazon. I have six copies that I will sell at a reduced price. On January 12, the new version will become available to purchase in ebook format. You can preorder it now here, and it will automatically show up on your reading device on January 12. I will roll out a new paperback sometime in the next month. The new version is entitled The Last Song of the Swan . It's currently available for preorder. I will reveal the cover soon, too, first to my email list, then on social media, and finally on my website. People on my email list will also have the opportunity to download the book for free.
My novel is a dual narrative story, which means it has two different narrators. One is Helen Bowie, a modern high school senior who has to read Beowulf in her English class. When she reads that Grendel, the monster in Beowulf is a fallen son of Cain, she begins to wonder what kind of monster that makes him. Helen is also the kind of girl who champions the underdog, so when a new student arrives at school and is immediately ostrasized because he looks like the images of Middle Eastern terrorists that show up on the news, she's compelled to champion him and prove to the student body that the new boy is no monster.
The other narrator is Hrunting, a girl whose world is changed when a hero arrives and challenges the relationship between her clan and another local group of people who are different from them. Like Helen, Hrunting tries to champion her neighbors and convince everyone that they are not monsters just because they look and act differently.The Last Song of the Swan is not an easy book. It's written to make the reader think about the origins of prejudice and exclusion and what we can do about it. This novel doesn't end happily, with all the bad guys thwarted. How could it in a world that is even more divided now than ever before? I am hoping that giving it a new title and a new cover will help this book. I think it has a big job to do.
Jennifer Bohnhoff lives and writes in the mountains of central New Mexico. You can read more about her and her books here, at her website.
December 21, 2021
Book Review: Christmas Cookies at the Cat Café
Christmas Cookies at the Cat Cafe is a sweet romance about a widow who's feeling like she's come to a crossroads in her life and needs to make a fresh start. Diane is the not-so-old matriarch of a family of women who have started a cafe that partners with a local cat shelter. Over the past year, the daughters have established their business, become important members of their community, and found love. Now that they're established, it's Diane's turn to find a new course for her life. It's been two years since her husband's death. Is she ready to rekindle an old flame?This story takes place at Christmas, so it's a perfect book to snuggle up with during the holiday season. It's a sweet romance, which means there's nothing more explicit than snuggling and short kisses, which means that it's a book that could be left out without scandalizing young readers. If it's too late in the season for you to pick up a new book now, you're in luck. Christmas Cookies at the Cat Cafe is one of a series of books all set at the Cate Cafe. Each book in The Furrever Friends Sweet Romance series focuses on a different worker or customer at a small-town cat café. Each book is a complete story with a happy ending for one couple, and at least one forever home found for a rescued cat. While there is a definite order to the books, all are well written enough that they could be read as a stand alone, or out of order.
What I love best about this entire series is that the characters are all real, genuine people, and they're all trying hard to be good people who are kind to each other and active in their community. Family is important to all of them, as are healthy relationships. I don't think there's a single character in these books that I wouldn't want to have to dinner in my own house. In a world where violence and greed are common, it's nice to read about nice people.
Jennifer Bohnhoff lives in the mountains of central New Mexico. She is a writer and blogger, and you can read more about her and her books here.
December 18, 2021
New visitors at an old Scene
I bought my creche about 25 years ago from a department store that no longer exists. It was the week after Christmas and I got it for 70% off. It was one of the best investments I've ever made. The figures in my creche are made out of some kind of rubberized material that bounces when dropped. That's a good thing, because all of the figures have been dropped a lot. I've always kept it on a low table, so whatever children come over can play with it.
Before we had this creche, we had an inexpensive one that my mother-in-law had bought for her mother when she was in a nursing home. The figures in that set were made from plaster of paris. I had glued heads on so often that they all looked as hunchbacked as Richard III in a bad production of the play. Or Marty Feldman in Young Frankenstein. Reglued plaster doesn't take well to retouching with paint, either, giving them a rather leperous appearance.
The year after the 9/11 attack, a sniper showed up on the roof of the stable. He was a green plastic army man who lay flat on his stomach, his gun pointing forward as he protected the baby Jesus. It's not unusual for the Army to reassign soldiers. The sniper must have been stationed elsewhere, because he eventually disappeared. Now, two infantry men are covering roof-top security.
In 2017 my husband and I moved out of the city, and I began teaching at a rural school. Many of my students lived on ranches and worked with livestock. I don't think any of them had anything to do with the cowboy who showed up in the stable soon after, but it did seem appropriate to have someone there to look after the livestock and keep them from lowing all night. The COVID scare has kept children away from the manger scene now for the last two years. I am hoping that this Christmas will see small hands holding these figures once again, and we will have the opportunity to talk about who all these figures are and why Jesus is the central figure. Maybe, when I pack this display up sometime after January 6, I will have a new figure or two to put away. Everyone is always welcome at the creche.
Wishing you and yours a blessed Christmas.
December 11, 2021
Pfeffernüsse and the Deutschamerikaner
Pfeffernüsse is German for pepper nuts. They are small spice cookies that are popular holiday treats in Germany. I remember the pfeffernüsse my grandmother made being little, hard rock-like cookies that were sweet and spicy but as inedible as an unshelled walnut unless they were dipped in milk or, better yet, hot tea. My grandmother was a true Deutschamerikaner. She was born in Nebraska, but her parents had come from Saxony. Her birth certificate was in German, and she didn't learn to speak English until she went to school. I, on the other hand, am of French, Norwegian, Swedish, German, English and Irish ancestry. I can ask for a pitcher of beer or water and thank the person who brings it. That's the extent of my German. When I married into another thoroughly American family with deep German roots, I was told that my pfeffernüsse was not real pfeffernüsse. I still don't know if the differences were because of different family traditions, or if they were regional, but my husband's grandmother, whose roots were in what became Eastern Germany during the Cold War, made a very different cookie than my Saxon grandmother. Apparently they don't eat rocks east of Berlin like they do in the south. Or, maybe my grandmother was just not much of a cook. She died when I was six, and at an age when I adored her. Even her cooking.
This recipe is the one I married into, not the one I was born into. I hope you enjoy it.
Pfeffernüsse Mix well:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
Add and beat until smooth:
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup dark molasses
1 tsp oil of anise (see note below)
Sift together, then stir into liquid ingredients. Dough will be stiff
4 cups flour
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fine grind black pepper
Roll dough into small balls. Use a bit of flour on your hands if it gets sticky.
Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes.
Cool cookies on a rack, then put in a bag with 1/4 cup powdered sugar and shake until they are well coated.
note: My mother-in-law gave me a small vial of oil of anise for my first Christmas as a Bohnhoff. When it was gone (years later!) I found it hard to replace. Some years I've found Anise extract, which is almost as good. Other years, I've put a tsp. of Anise seeds in a blender with the sugar and pulverized them.
Some Famous German Americans German Americans, or Deutschamerikaner are citizens of the United States who are of German ancestry. They are the largest ethnic group in the United States, accounting for 17% of the U.S. population.
The Deutschamerikaner have been here a long time, first arriving in New York and Pennsylvania in significant numbers in the 1680s. In the sixty years between 1840 and 1900, Germans were the largest immigrant group, outnumbering even the Irish and English. Here are a few Deutschamerikaners who have made their name in America:
Thomas Nast was born in Bavaria, but moved to the United States as a young boy. A political cartoonist, he is credited with making the elephant the political symbol of the Republican party. Although often given credit for it, he did not create Uncle Sam, Columbia (the female personification of America) or the Democratic donkey. The modern version of Santa Claus came from his drawings, which were based on the traditional German Sankt Nikolaus.
Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler, better known as Hedy Lamarr, was born in Austria. In 1933, she fled from her husband, a wealthy Austrian ammunition manufacturer. In London, she met Louis B. Mayer, the head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, who persuaded her to move to the United States. In addition to becoming a major film star, Lamarr was also an inventor. She developed a radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes that used spread spectrum and frequency hopping technology to defeat the threat of jamming by the Axis powers during World War II. The principles of this work is still used in Bluetooth and GPS technology, and led to her induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014.
Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, may be best known for writing and illustrating more than 60 books for children, but he was also a political cartoonist, poet, animator, and filmmaker. His children's books have sold over 600 million copies and have been translated into more than 20 languages An author who lives in New Mexico, Jennifer Bohnhoff writes about cookies, history, and her book on Thin Air, her blog.
December 4, 2021
Changing Covers
Publishing houses and self published authors sometimes change the covers on their books. Many do so to keep up with changing trends in the book marketplace. As reader tastes change, so do book covers. Below are some examples of different covers for award winning books by Karen Cushman, and a brief synopsis of each book to help you analyze the cover. 
Catherine, Called Birdy is a novel written as a diary. It begins in September 1290, with Catherine describing her father's manor, her parents, and the world she lives in. Her father wishes her to marry someone who will make advantageous social connections, but all the suitors he brings fall short of Birdy's ideal. Finally, Catherine's father demands her to marry an old, repulsive man whom she calls "Shaggy Beard." She refuses, and devises many scenarios to escape. As the day for Catherine's official betrothal approaches, she realizes that she herself will be the same no matter who she marries. However, Shaggy Beard dies and she is pleased to become engaged to his clean, young, educated son. The Midwife's Apprentice tells the story of a homeless, nameless orphan girl. Called Brat, the only name she can remember anyone calling her, she sleeps in dung heaps to keep warm until a harsh and uncaring midwife named Jane Sharp takes her in as an apprentice. She takes on the new name of Alyce and begins to grow as she learns skills, but eventually runs away from the midwife. While away, she learns to read and write and discovers that she truly has a calling to be a midwife. She returns to Jane Sharp's service determined to learn.
* Indicates required field What do you think? Which cover do you like best? * The one on the leftThe one in the middleThe one on the right Tell me why, if you'd like * Submit
Just this week, the wonderful middle grade author Karen Cushman posted a link to an article written by the woman who is creating the cover for her newest book. Jamie Zollars explains the process she went through, and it is fascinating and well worth reading. Grayling's Song is Cushman's first fantasy novel, and as such the cover needed to be very different.
Jennifer Bohnhoff is a writer that lives in central New Mexico. Her books On Fledgling Wings, the story of a motherless young boy in medieval England who wishes to become a knight to help himself feel more worthy, is on sale on Amazon now through December 8. You can read about the author and her books on her website.
Catherine, Called Birdy is a novel written as a diary. It begins in September 1290, with Catherine describing her father's manor, her parents, and the world she lives in. Her father wishes her to marry someone who will make advantageous social connections, but all the suitors he brings fall short of Birdy's ideal. Finally, Catherine's father demands her to marry an old, repulsive man whom she calls "Shaggy Beard." She refuses, and devises many scenarios to escape. As the day for Catherine's official betrothal approaches, she realizes that she herself will be the same no matter who she marries. However, Shaggy Beard dies and she is pleased to become engaged to his clean, young, educated son. The Midwife's Apprentice tells the story of a homeless, nameless orphan girl. Called Brat, the only name she can remember anyone calling her, she sleeps in dung heaps to keep warm until a harsh and uncaring midwife named Jane Sharp takes her in as an apprentice. She takes on the new name of Alyce and begins to grow as she learns skills, but eventually runs away from the midwife. While away, she learns to read and write and discovers that she truly has a calling to be a midwife. She returns to Jane Sharp's service determined to learn.
* Indicates required field What do you think? Which cover do you like best? * The one on the leftThe one in the middleThe one on the right Tell me why, if you'd like * Submit
Just this week, the wonderful middle grade author Karen Cushman posted a link to an article written by the woman who is creating the cover for her newest book. Jamie Zollars explains the process she went through, and it is fascinating and well worth reading. Grayling's Song is Cushman's first fantasy novel, and as such the cover needed to be very different.
Jennifer Bohnhoff is a writer that lives in central New Mexico. Her books On Fledgling Wings, the story of a motherless young boy in medieval England who wishes to become a knight to help himself feel more worthy, is on sale on Amazon now through December 8. You can read about the author and her books on her website.
