AT THE MOUNTAIN'S BASE by Traci Sorell and Weshoyot Altrite and THE HOUSE THAT LOU BUILT by Mae Respicio

We began our April discussion with our picture book, At the Mountain's Base by Traci Sorell & Weshoyot Altrite. We all liked the simple, flowing text of this pictorial poem depicting a family awaiting the return of a member who had gone to war. We were puzzled by some of the illustrations, which were somewhat ethereal, showing several generations of women in their cabin at the base of a mountain. (Where were the men??) But when we saw a young woman flying a P-38 warplane -- about halfway through -- her depiction looked almost photographic. We found that confusing and somewhat jarring, and felt it might confuse young readers also. There were a few other things that were a bit off-putting after we learned more. Why did the Author's Note say that this was about a "fictional Cherokee family," and then inform us that it was an homage to Ola Mildred "Millie" Rexroat, an actual WWII pilot from the Oglala Lakota tribe? We also felt that another confusion was the depiction of various Native artifacts and cultural entities...and although the illustrations throughout the book portrayed cords/threads surrounding various parts of each page, we couldn't decide for sure what this actually meant. We were glad to learn about this undersung Native American WWII heroine, but we felt that a serious picture biography about her life and her many accomplishments would have been a better choice.

We all liked our novel, The House That Lou Built by Mae Respicio. We loved the portrayal of Lou, a 13-year-old biracial (Filipino/Caucasian) girl who was adept at using tools and relished building things. We also loved the relationships she had with her best friends, her cousins, her mom, and her multi-generational extended family who frequently gathered in her Lola's (grandma's) small apartment in San Francisco, CA where they enjoyed the food, music, and stories that had bonded them together for generations. Everything about the family and the Filipino culture and the conversations felt very real. We liked Lou's persistence as she worked toward her dream of building a 'tiny house' on the land in Marin County that her deceased father had left her, even though we knew that it might be a bit unrealistic to assume that she could actually accomplish this by herself. We liked the way that each character's personality was developed, and felt that drove the story more than the actual plot, which we felt was a bit too long and convoluted, and could have benefitted from cutting a few scenes. (Are our attention spans shortening??) We also discussed the fact that Lou told many lies to further her goals, and even though there were consequences, we wondered if so much lying should occur in a middle-grade story. We didn't actually arrive at an answer to this question. However we felt that middle-school readers would love reading this book, because of its lively language and great characters, and that they would root for Lou throughout. All things considered, it was a pretty good book, and we were glad to have read it also.