"Doing Everything You Can"

The most detailed information I have on World War II is my Dad's perspective as a soldier in the United States Army.  Several photograph albums are filled with small black and white snapshots representative of his tour of duty.  Many of the stories he told are as fresh in my mind as if I only heard them yesterday, rather than twenty years ago.

I know much less about how it was for those here at home.  Filling this gap are compelling historical fiction books by authors whose meticulous research is evident page after page.  Until I read Duke (Scholastic Press), Kirby Larson's most recent title, I had no idea family pets were used to assist military personnel during the war.

Hobie pushed harder against the bike pedals, harder against the cold wind scrubbing his face, as he followed the Adairs' Chrysler sedan.

It's January 1, 1944 in Seattle, Washington.  Eleven-year-old Hobie Hanson is saying good-bye to his best friend; the family is moving to Portland so the father can work in the Navy shipyard.  Hobie's Dad is flying a B-24 on missions in Europe and his Mom has joined the Red Cross.  His seven-year-old sister, June, is even attempting to knit socks for the soldiers.

Remarks by a neighbor, announcements on the radio and even a conversation after his favorite radio show, Hop Harrigan, all urge people to do their part by loaning their pets to Dogs for Defense.  Hobie's head is telling him he should give up Duke but his heart won't let him do it.  He constantly worries about whether he is as courageous or committed as the other men in his family.

An incident with the school bully, Mitch Mitchell, and a chance meeting with the assistant regional director of Dogs for Defense, cause Hobie to reluctantly loan Duke to the program.  As if the sadness of Duke being gone is not enough, tensions at school escalate when a new student, Max Klein, joins their class.  Mitch continues to pick on Hobie, calling him names, looking for opportunities for subtle physical contact, and starts a campaign against Max due to his German heritage.  What's hardest for Hobie to understand in himself is his inability to stand up to Mitch.

A letter from the Marine assigned to Duke increases Hobie's worries.  He thought Duke would be a guard dog here at home with the Army.  Despite the kindness extended by the Marine writing the letter as if it is from Duke, Hobie, to his shame, starts to think of ways to get Duke back.

Special events at school, summer vacation baseball games, more letters from Duke and Pfc. Marv Corff, helping on his family's fishing boat and finding an abused stray dog, make up the days of Hobie's life.  Hobie learns through trial and error some tough lessons about friendship, the difference between knowing the right thing and doing the right thing and the value of family.  News from a Western Union messenger and a nurse at the naval base on Pearl Harbor change everything for Hobie.  Readers will wonder along with Hobie, if he will see his Dad or Duke again.


We quickly become attached to the characters, especially Hobie, in Kirby Larson's Duke through her brilliant writing skills.  Each chapter is titled with words designed to hint at what readers can expect within the next few pages.  Readers are made to feel more personally involved in the story with a date assigned to the chapters.

Descriptions of radio programs, products used during this time period, the buying of Victory stamps by the students, meals cooked (Porcupine Meatballs) and rations used for the purchase of certain items contribute to the authenticity of the story; you are there experiencing life on the home front during World War II.  Dialogue between the characters, the exchange of letters between those serving in the military and Hobie's family and Hobie's thoughts about all the decisions swirling about him, draw you emotionally into this book. Here are a couple of passages from this title.

"Get off," Hobie hollered. "That's mine."
"Finders keepers." Mitch pedaled faster.  Hobie picked up his pace.  He snagged part of Mitch's jacket.  The bike wobbled.  Mitch shook him off.
"Give it back!" Hobie ran harder.
"When I feel like it," Mitch called over his shoulder.  He bumped the bike over a tree root. "Ya-hoo!"
"Young man!" the Doberman's master called. "That's enough. You've had your fun."
"Yeah. Come back here," Hobie yelled.
"Come back?" Mitch repeated. "Okay." He wrenched the bike around sharply, legs pumping like pistons, and headed straight at Hobie.

Hobie and Duke sped for home together, as they'd done hundreds of times before.  But something was different for Hobie.
Like a record with a scratch in it, Mr. Rasmussen's story played over and over in his head.
And in his heart.
His are-you-doing-everything-you-can heart.


Once started Duke written by Kirby Larson will be one of those books read from beginning to end without stopping.  Readers won't be able to turn the pages fast enough, wanting to know the outcome of all the little and big things happening in Hobie's life.  There is so much love in this book; love of country, love of family and the love of a boy for his dog.  I can't recommend this book highly enough.

Please follow the link embedded in Kirby Larson's name above to access her personal website.  Enjoy her conversation about Duke in the video below.

Always...

The lines shaping who we become, are colored in by the people who enter and leave the days of our lives as well as our response to them.  For readers those numbers increase by leaps and bounds being introduced to real people in works of nonfiction and truly memorable characters in all forms of fiction. Probably more than we understand, these additional people, rarely met outside the pages of a book, influence and inform our personalities in varying degrees.

To connect with a real or imagined person, who has faced and conquered obstacles whether similar or different than ours, is to make their story part of our story.  In 2006 author Kirby Larson, introduced readers to Hattie Inez Brooks, a sixteen-year-old orphan.  Hattie left Iowa in December, 1917, never having felt welcome in the home of her Uncle Holt and Aunt Ivy, to live on her late Uncle Chester's homestead near Vida, Montana.  Hattie Big Sky, winner of a 2007 Newbery Honor award, is the story of her successes, failures, happinesses and heartbreaks as she set forth to "prove up the claim".  We were immersed in those, meeting a cast of characters who helped and hindered her attempts, as the history of the time swirled around them all.

On February 12, 2013 Hattie Ever After celebrated a book birthday.  Kirby Larson brings us back to Montana in June of 1919.  She opens the door; we gladly step through into a past we have come to know and love.

As she did in the previous title a letter begins chapter one.

June 4, 1919
Great Falls, Montana
Brown's Boardinghouse

Dear Perilee,
      You will never guess what I am posting in the mail besides this letter to you: my last check to Mr. Nefzger!  After these long months, Uncle Chester's IOU is paid in full. ...

Hattie finds it ironic she is making money doing the very thing which she left Iowa to avoid; cleaning and cooking in a boardinghouse.  She harbors a secret dream though; being a newspaper reporter after her articles, Honyocker's Homily, sent back to Iowa were published in The Arlington News.  Fate decides to intercede in the form of love.

Long-time friend Charlie Hawley, back home from his service during World War I, questions Hattie about their relationship when he makes a surprise visit.  The wardrobe mistress of a group of performers staying at Brown's has unexpectedly run off with a member of the cast.  A letter for Hattie's deceased Uncle Chester from a mysterious Ruby Danvers is forwarded to her.

These three seemingly unconnected occurrences chart a course for Hattie's new future.  Still unsure but determined to pursue her dream she finds herself in San Francisco as Charlie begins his new career in Seattle.   From Big Sky Country to big city living, we shadow Hattie as she makes her way.

People and moments connect in a chain of events leading to Hattie's employment at the San Francisco Chronicle as...yes...a night crew cleaning woman.  Her curiosity to uncover the truth about her uncle's past, her instinctive nose for news, her beliefs about human nature and her baseball pitching skills, learned from Charlie, all contribute to her being at the right place at the right time.  Plenty of excitement from the good and not-so-good people who cross her path lead Hattie to the best possible outcome.


With precise and painstaking research, Kirby Larson places her vivid, true-to-life characters within a historical setting so real, readers feel as though they've willingly ridden on a time machine.  Through dialogue, letter writing and musings by Hattie we are privy to the distinguishing personality traits of each person in Hattie's world.  With adept skill in her use of words and language Larson conveys a depth of emotion completely captivating her readers.  Here are a couple of passage from Hattie Ever After. (It was hard to narrow it down to only three.)

First impressions might lead one to think that a newspaper morgue was as quiet as...well, as a morgue.  Not that I knew about that firsthand.  But I did not think of "my" morgue as quiet.  Even in the wee hours, a symphony of sounds reverberated throughout this place.  First heard was the thump as one weighty volume was slid from its shelf, followed by the satisfying thump as it was placed on the library table. Then the whisk-whisk refrain of pages being turned enhanced the concerto.  One last set of sounds rounded out the music of a city's memories; each time I delved into those huge leather books, each time I traced my finger over the yellowed columns of newsprint, each time I studied a worn and faded photograph, papery whispers spoke to me of things that had happened long ago, and in so many places it would take an entire atlas to contain them all.  These stories were as irresistible to me as the Italian nougats one of Maude's suitors had brought her.

At the door, he took my hand.  When his palm slid next to mine, it was like a key slipping into my heart.  

Lacy clouds frothed around the seaplane like spun sugar.  We continued to push through to the clear sky above, and I pushed myself up in my seat, worries dissolving like the clouds.  There was no room for fear when faced with such a vista.  From my ever-ascending perch, I could take the city in all at once:  the Palace of Fine Arts, the wharves, Nob Hill.



In an interview Kirby Larson said, of Hattie Big Sky,  the story caught my heart when explaining her purpose in writing about Hattie.  She then goes on to say readers will know if a story is from your heart.  When continuing to tell the tale of Hattie's life after leaving Montana, the fullness in Larson's heart for this character has filled the pages of this remarkable new title, Hattie Ever After.  I have read it twice; receiving an ARC earlier, again after it's release and many of the treasured marked spots repeatedly.  This is historical fiction at its very finest.  Hattie Inez Brooks will become part of your story.

To listen to Kirby Larson's earlier podcasts follow this link to the Hattie Big Sky home page.  Here is a link to some resources at the publisher page for Hattie Big Sky. This link will take you to the Educator's Guide for Hattie Ever After.  A link to Kirby Larson's website is embedded in her name above.