Michael McCurdy's book An Algonquian Year: The Year According to the Full Moon outlines how the Algonquian's lives change throughout the year. The book is divided by the months of the calendar (January through December), which seems odd considering the title of this book, and the fact that the moon does not follow this schedule. However, the entry for each month details the types of activities the Algonquians pursue each month and how these activities fit in with the activities of the rest of the year.

In his article "The 'Indian Tales': Are They Fish or Fowl?", Norman Williamson defines methods for determining the value of American Indian tales in children's literature. These principles can be applied to An Algonquian Year to determine its value as a way to learn about the Algonquian culture.

First, Williamson points out that readers should note the purpose of the story. Is the author writing a story that would be acceptable to the dominant culture of the United States and Canada that has a Native American setting and background, or is the author trying to introduce a new culture that may be foreign to the readers? An Algonquian Year seems to be the result of careful research and an intention to introduce this culture to a new audience. This book does not contain a narrative story; instead, the author states in the introduction that it "concentrates on the daily life of Algonquian tribes found in the northeast of what is now Canada and the United States." No names are given for any of the people, instead only the tribes are named. This emphasis on group rather than personal names reinforces the idea of getting to know the group rather than individuals. Also, this book contains an introduction that gives information about the background of the Algonquians and their names for the different moons. After the story, the author has included a map with the areas where different tribes lived and a bibliography for more information. This bibliography contains books written for both adults and children. Clearly, this is a researched and educational book.

Williamson states a problem that many books about Native Americans face. This problem is that "the authors of children's version have committed themselves to a pre-Columbian environment. No child of the dominant culture can relate to this alien environment in a personal way" (71). McCurdy seems aware of this problem and tries in small ways to overcome this difficulty. Instead of focusing only on the activities of the adults, he includes the children as well. For the month of February or "Snow Blinder Moon," he says, "in the villages, the children are growing restless." The readers of An Algonquian Year can understand restless children and identify with this problem. Another example of McCurdy's efforts to relate this culture to the dominant culture is seen in March or "Sap Moon." He explains how sap is collected and made into maple syrup and then adds, "the Algonquian tribes will one day show the white settlers how to make maple syrup." McCurdy relates the Algonquian culture to the history of the dominant culture and prevents the reader from feeling alienated.

Michael McCurdy's An Algonquian Year: The Year According to the Full Moon is an educational tale about the lives of the Algonquian people before the settlers arrived from Europe. By applying criteria from Norman Williamson's article "The 'Indian Tales': Are They Fish or Fowl?", the reader discovers that this story serves the purpose of introducing readers to the Algonquian people.

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WORKS CITED
McCurdy, Michael. An Algonquian Year: The Year According to the Full Moon. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.
Williamson, Norman. "The 'Indian Tales': Are They Fish or Fowl?." Children's Literature Association Quarterly 12.2 (1987): 70-73.

My First Summer in the Sierra by John Muir is a book published by Penguin Nature Classics in 1987 but written in Muir's diary in the summer of 1869. It seems almost as if Muir wrote one page and repeated it 264 times. He wrote of nature's beauty and bounty when untouched. John Muir was a naturalist who lived from 1834-1914, beginning his life in Wisconsin and later moving to California to observe the beautiful sierra mountains. His intention in the writings were to inspire people, naturalists or not, to enjoy nature at its fullest and keep it that way. I think that this book was very repetitive, but the message was a positive and, to me, true one.
The context of this book revolved around the idea of nature's true beauty and how it can exist freely. Muir spoke of the ecology of the Sierra. Nearly every page of the book had a new species of plant or animal that he had observed. He then told of what its affect on him was, whether it was annoying or satisfying, beautiful or ugly, natural or processed. In short, his main context was the loveliness he observed and wanted to share in his writings.
John Muir stated "...Mr. Delaney, a sheep owner, for whom I had worked a few weeks, called on me, and offered to engage me to go with his shepherd and flock to the headwaters..." This was the beginning of his journey to the most beautiful place he could ever imagine, a place that he returned to for the rest of his life. Muir had a good companion, a St. Bernard named Carlo. The book went on to tell how him and a few others led 2050 sheep up the Sierra mountain range in California. They encountered many obstacles along the way. Some of these obstacles were bear attacks, to which Muir said, "Bears are slow and awkward with their eyes." They went on camping at different sites, spending sometimes several weeks at one site. Here, Muir made endless amounts of sketches and recordings of his observations. The group faced a bread famine, the result of a slow and lazy Mr. Delaney, but recovered and returned to their trek with the sheep to the high mountains. John's helpful substance was tea. To another, tea was nothing and he needed tobacco. Everybody had something to keep them with it, so to say. The book did gain some excitement when Muir was sitting atop a mountain and had a sudden feeling that his old professor from Wisconsin was visiting. A few days later, he realized this was true and met up with him, speaking of old times and getting slumber in the hotel. Whenever John would observe tourists going through the mountains, he would shake his head at their ignorance to the size and beauty of the area. He just saw them looking at the ground, not fully enjoying it. Towards the end, John was sad to leave the mountains and return to the lowlands, farther away from the mountains he adored so much. He said "Now, however, I must turn toward the lowlands, praying and hoping Heaven will shove me back again." He returned many times in his long life, and each visit was never a disappointment.
The work that I read had very much information on the specifics of plants and animals found in the Sierra. I learned a lot about the sizes of these organisms and their characteristics. For example, there was a section where Muir wrote of how the ants were ¾ inches long and that they "check you out" before they have the colony attack you. If you are still and seem harmless, they will not bite, but a sudden move may jolt them to bite. He said that the bite from this species of ant felt like a terrible electric sting that nobody should have to endure more than once or twice in a lifetime. So these parts of the book were good because I found this activity quite interesting, but some parts, such as the tree descriptions, got boring. I am not interested in the texture and color of the tree bark. I can get the whole picture much easier. My own experiences tell me what nature is like, so I have a good feel of what Muir is trying to show us. The honors biology class has helped me by letting me know some of the ideas behind genus species names and writings, so that is how the course helped me out. That is what I thought of the book and why I thought that way. The only question I really had was why Muir described things so detailed and run-on and descriptive. I may have an idea, but I am not sure.
I believe that John Muir described the organisms so in-depth because he wanted his audience to really be able to visualize it and the beauty it held in itself. This all fits in with the context of the environment's ecology being a precious thing that can not go to waste. So while it wasn't the most fun book to read, it still held an important message, as I have said before, that we must follow to keep the environment beautiful.

Despite John Muir being very well known now to many people I'm left uncertain as to why this man should be one out of so many other 'mountain men' to become famous.

His story is filled with rantings about finding different little animals such as squirrels, rabbits, and indians and then peppers each description of the animal with some bantering about whatever it is that he finds extraordinary about it, or whatever he thinks is extremely interesting, or by simply saying such and such is truly amazing.

I did however enjoy the peripherial aspects of the book, such as Muir's growing insanity from being isolated in the woods for several months. He starts his journey talking about how he's heard stories of shepards gone mad and how he doesn't really believe he'll go insane. But near the middle of the book, he's put a personality to the plants...by the end, he's having in depth conversations with plants. Ha! It's almost worth reading just for noting little things like that.

The book gets 3 stars, as opposed to 1 star, because Muir writes VERY eloquently and if you have an interest and a solid knowledge of plant and animal life and the terrian Muir is traveling, the book is relatively interesting.

Murdoch's writing is spare, clean, skillful. She is short on description, and her dialogue is crisp. Something in that reminds me of Hemingway. He, too, was a master of dialogue that seems to say almost nothing... but just enough to have said a great deal. Murdoch understands well how to allow the reader to fill in the blanks, to read between the lines, to show more than to tell.

The anti-love story of this novelette is one of resignation to the harsh realities of life... one style of it, anyway. Her female character, Yvonne, shows no interest in love, even while her parents give her little peace in reminding her it is time, it is time, a woman must marry. Must she? Yvonne is one of those women who would do better without the institution; for her it is merely one of repression. Her suitor, Sam, however, pursues her in his poetic manner, almost more of a nag than her parents, and throughout the story, Yvonne resists. He whines and wheedles her into following him to a private place where he hopes to win her heart... the results are... hmmm. Are they disastrous? Or are they satisfying? Perhaps it is the reader's perspective on love that will determine that answer.

Michael McCurdy's cover and illustrations (etchings) are as clean and appealing as Murdoch's writing style - a perfect complement.

The illustrations add much charm to this exceptionally thin volume.

This short (55 pages) book tells the story of Yvonne, a young Irish woman who is being pressured by her mother and uncle to settle down and marry. But there is a disconnect between Yvonne's desires and the reality of her life. Towards the beginning of the story her uncle blames this on "the little novels she's for ever reading." As the story unfolds, Yvonne embarks upon a pivotal night on the town with her boyfriend, Sam.

"Something" is an effective character study of a young woman at a transitional phase in her life. Murdoch's prose is as intriguing for what is not said as it is for what is said; she really challenged me to go past the characters' dialogue and to try to understand the unspoken thoughts that lay behind their words and actions. The perception of beauty is also a significant theme in this book.

Overall I found this to be a good collection of poems, though I did find the lack of a unifying theme made the collection seem rather haphazard. Michael McCurdy provided the illustrations for this book, but their stark, black-and-white appearance contributed toward giving the book a negative feel to it. Overall, this book did not impress me, and I give it a rather guarded recommendation.