Cheryl Harness

Harness takes the reader on an imaginary journey through the 20th Century. The frame story begins at the turn of the 21st century as a class takes a field-trip to a museum commemorating the 20th Century. Josh, one of the children in the class, is looking at a wax statue of Einstein, and thinking to himself how Einstein would be the first to have regrets about the course of the century, and would want to travel back in time to change the past. To his amazement, the statue comes to life, and show more guides him through the successive decades of the 20th Century. Each page is a panoramic comic-book-like illustration that unfolds a single event from each decade, while a timeline at the bottom of each panorama highlights specific events that may have altered the course of history during each year of that decade (Harness includes milestones of children's literature as historical events also!)

In the midst of this trip from 1900-2000, Josh goes through various stages of disbelief, first wanting to interact with the events that he sees taking place in the 20's. Einstein informs him that nothing can change the past. When they get to the 40's, Einstein explains to Josh that the fall of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the real reason for the end of the Second World War, and that he feels in part responsible for horrifying the world by discovering the split atom. While an historian and many others besides would think this is a controversial statement, a teacher leading a discussion of this time period may be able to reconstruct the historical context from the voice of Harness's Einstein character. In the 1980's, Josh experiences a revelation when he realizes that if they cannot change the past, and the past "haunts" the present, then they must be presently haunting the future. Throughout this book, the illustrations show this concept by using different colors to distinguish the time-traveler's comic voice bubbles from the historical agents' voice bubbles. At the end of the story, when Josh returns from day-dreaming, and finds himself back among his classmates in the museum, all of their voice bubbles are still of the same color as the historical figures he has met throughout his day-dream. History moves on! An excellent read for ages 7-10. show less

This is a marvelous illustrated history book and artistic endeavor. It is a picture book, and its narrative follows a boy who sees a wax figure of Albert Einstein at a museum on a class field trip shortly before the Second Millenium. Einstein takes him on a trip of the Twentieth Century (using Ebeneezer Scrooge rules, not Bill and Ted rules, i.e. look but no touching), starting at Kitty Hawk in December 1903.
The art style is somewhat impressionistic, though focusing on scenes with people. show more Speech bubbles display dialogue in fantastic period cadence and diction: Einstein's dialogue summarizes the historic narrative, and the Twentieth Century citizens' comments to each other give an idea of the moods, hopes, and understandings of each moment.
The bottom of each page contains an illustrated timeline, with a broad scope of relevant events, including popular music, literature, political and scientific developments, etc. One could look up a year and see a thing that would have been the topic of discussion. For example: 1942, "110,000 Japanese-Americans are locked in 'Detention Camps.' film: Bambi. Irving Berlin's song: White Christmas." I would love if this book could be a series extending back further; what would fashion or discussion look like in the late 1820's or the early 1890's? At the end of the book is a map of Earth in 1900, a short bibliography, and chart with portraits and short biographies of influential 20th century personalities. All in all this is a wonderful book that any student would at least be somewhat interested in looking at. Some background would be helpful, but I think a student may be willig to investigate further something that might catch their attention. There is at any rate a fairly extensive glossary. I could see this being used possibly in a History class, perhaps in conjunction with some kind of artistic project, or if nothing else just to be in the classroom library. In a way this is a graphic textbook. It is certainly abbreviated but if a picture is a thousand words, perhaps not so much.
I have two problems with this book, concerning its end. One is the publishing date: 2000. The author even states that the century ends December 31st, 2001, so it seems a little premature to leave out a year. The other problem is not as fundamental and may reflect a difference in mindset between myself in 2012 and myself in 1999. The last stop on the trip is the late 1990's with a split-page of two teenage girls instant messaging each other. Their conversation is of current events, but the words are green on a black background that would be more appropriate for Doogie Howser in the 1980's than the technology I recall using. I suppose that it was less accepted in the 1990's to refer to a particular company and its interface (I'm picturing AOL Instant Messaging) in an artistic recreation of an event than it is today. In 2012 we expect that a literary creation using a computer function is best demonstrated by displaying that function through the rich and powerful company that holds a near monopoly on it, and I cannot help but wonder what the citizens of 1999 would think about the citizens of 2012 thinking nothing of accepting a word in the language meaning something as basic as "to research" being the name of a company, but thinking it strange that an author of 1999 would risk looking dated by avoiding the endorsement of a software product. Times have changed. Oh well, nothing on facebook, so I'll just tweet about going to Amazon.com now to find something else to Librarything, and then I guess I'll go coca-cola something and then hit the serta.
A very interesting book... show less

Cheryl Harness writes of the historical atmosphere of Mark Twain's times. The climate of industrial change, Civil War, and Reconstruction parallels the rise and fall of the steamboat on the Mississippi. The steamboat is shown to be a magnificent relic of the antebellum period, despite its short-lived popularity as a form of travel. The rise of the steamboat is outlined roughly parallel to Twain's life, since Twain lived to see the rise and fall of the steamboat and held the youthful ambition show more of becoming a steamboat captain. He is also portrayed as the most prolific writer of this period, even though he did not live in the South during the Civil War. Most of his famous writings were recollections of his youth in rural Missouri, embellished with his knowledge of the river gained from his short career as a steamboat captain before the Civil War. Harness also includes his reasons for not participating in the Civil War, most likely taken from his autobiography.

Harness includes colorful illustrations showing the timeline of the pre- and post- war period, noting significant peripheral events that may have impacted Twain's career decisions. She includes a labeled diagram of a steamboat, that helps Twain's readers learn the antiquated terminology. Certain terms like "bow" and "stern" are similar to modern ships but other terms used in Twain's literature, like the "texas" deck, the "hurricane" deck, and "boiler" deck, would be obscure for present-day readers, especially readers in the 6-10 grade range. Another aspect of Harness's writing that is quite appeasing is her use of historical coincidence to suggest "magical" auspices of Twain's birth. The appearance of Halley's comet at his birth and death was noted as more than a coincidence, even for Twain himself. She also suggests that the appearance of a comet in 1811 during the New Madrid Earthquake, was a foreboding sign of the steamboat's rise to prominence on the Mississippi. Harness's book makes for an altogether enjoyable reading experience. show less

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It was more informational than a "tale." It gives a brief background of 100 women who have made some sort of impact in the US in different eras. It is organized by time period and gives a quick background of each era included. The book contains a glossary and other resources that would be helpful to young students researching the women featured in this book. This could be incorporated into a lesson about women and gender equality, and it could even be show more used while teaching about certain eras through American History. show less