The Matchlock Gun

The kids and I have been participating in a homeschool History Book Club. Each month we read the assigned book, then get together with several other families to participate in book reviews, discussions, and activities. We started off the year with "Felicity" from the American Girl series. It was okay. The kids enjoyed it, Clarissa really liked that it was about a girl and her horse. Also, it was set in Williamsburg during the Revolution, so we were able to reflect on our trip to Williamsburg as we read it.
Next we read, "Carry on, Mr. Bowditch," a book about Nathaniel Bowditch, a colonial mariner who literally wrote the book on martime laws. It was two thumbs up, five stars, absolutely excellent in story, history, literary art, discussion topics and anything else you might want in a book. I should write a whole review on it.
We also read, "Sarah Bishop," set during the revolutionary war, it's about a girl whose family is all killed so she runs away and lives her life as a hermit in a cave. It started out slow, but got good once she left humanity and moved to the cave with only a bat as a companion. It was most interesting because it was told from the Loyalist point of view, her family were Tories.
Next, we read "A Lion to Guard Us" by Clyde Robert Bulla. I like this author a lot for historical fiction for kids; this was the first book we read by him, but then we read two others. We went back in history a little with this book. It's about a family of children who leave England to try to find their father in Jamestown. I had a hard time reading the end of the book out loud when the children find their father, I was all choked up. I liked how well the children understood what the author was doing with the analogy of the lion doorknocker.
Our next book was "The Sign of the Beaver" by Elizabeth George Speare. It is all bravado. A young boy who has to learn how to live off the land and protect his cabin while his father is away. He learns most from an Indian boy and in the end they eventually become friends. The bear-killing scene was a highlight, and the Indian word "pizwat" which means 'good for nothing' has been adopted for use by the kids. I personally thought it had a respectful view of how the white man and Indian tried to live together in those difficult times of colonization and expansion. Not to mention that the end of the book had me all choked up again, when the family returns home to the boy to find him all grown up, physically, spiritually, and emotionally.
After taking December off (in which time we read "Ben and Me" - a very witty and funny biography of Benjmin Franklin written from the perspective of his pet mouse.), we read "The Matchlock Gun." I would have thought that after studying New Amsterdam and the influence of the Dutch in colonial America, I would have enjoyed this book more; the family being Dutch. However, the truth of it is that when reading a book out loud to my children, I prefer names that I can pronounce and I found the Dutch names very difficult on the tongue. My next complaint was that the chapters were short and shallow, without any action. The book quickly comes to an end with only one action scene - that in which the Indians (who are disgracefully decribed as dark figures, crouching and searching like dogs) ruthlessly chase the children's mother, throw an ax in her shoulder, and are then blown away by young Edward and the Matchlock Gun. Although this story may attempt to accurately describe how one people felt during the French and Indian wars, it is very one-sided. Trying to look for the positive, we took the opportunity to search You-tube and view a matchlock gun being primed and discharged, very interesting. Also, for Jared's report on this book, he wrote the story from the Indian's perspective, which when compared with the original story, gives more depth to a sensitive issue. I hope that this book will at least open the door for some intersesting discussion amongst the children. For myself, I can't really see why it was awarded the Newberry Medal, other than that there must have been a shortage of good literature in 1942, when it was awarded.