When my father, Odysseus, and his men sailed off to the Trojan War, they were confident their gods favored a quick victory. Instead, the siege of Troy lasted ten years. After Troy fell, the survivors made their way home to Sparta, Mycenae, Pylos, and elsewhere in the ancient Peloponnese. Neither my father nor any of his troops arrived home with the rest. We waited for years as the news grew worse. Odysseus was dead, we were told,or imprisoned, or, worst yet, he had married another woman and abandoned my mother Penelope, my brother Telemachus, and me.


If he is alive somewhere, his thoughts may wander to Penelope and Telemachus, but he won’t be thinking of me. I am the daughter he doesn’t know exists. Odysseus went off to the Trojan War when his son, Telemachus, was barely old enough to walk. His wife, Penelope, was a teenage bride, and is now a young wife, mother, and queen who has to try to rule Ithaca without him.


I was born seven months after he left. I am a hero’s daughter and a princess of his realm, but I have lived my entire life without a father. I’m nineteen now, and still waiting.


All over the world, and throughout history children grow up as I have. This website will focus on the children of those men and women who have gone off to fight America's wars, and provide information and resources for all who care about military families and want to help.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

All Those Secrets of the World

All Those Secrets of the World
If you are looking for a holiday gift for a military toddler, this might be the perfect one. Jane Yolen’s ALL THOSE SECRETS OF THE WORLD, illustrated with soft, reassuring watercolors by Leslie Baker,  is based on the author’s earliest memories of her father’s deployment in World War II.  
Janie, the four-year-old in the story, doesn’t understand where or why her father is going, but she gets caught up in the excitement of going to the boat and getting an ice cream, although she notices her mother cries all the way home. 
Later, Janie is on the beach with her cousin, and when she asks about the tiny specks on the horizon and he tells her they are ships, she doesn’t believe him.  This is one of the secrets of the title, for he tells her that things that are far away look small.
When her father finally returns after two years, the first thing he tells her is how much bigger she is. "Now you are here, so I am big," Janie tells him. 
According to Book List, “This timely, nostalgic story is told with simple grace, and Janie's thoughts and experiences are believably childlike. Baker's ( The Third-Story Cat ) watercolors are poignant, evocative and contain just the right amount of sentimentality.”
This is a Reading Rainbow book choice.
Posted by About AART at 7:09 AM

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