Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

I was googling other titles by Russell Freedman when the tense used in the author description caught my eye; apparently, I was so distracted by life last month that I missed the fact that he passed away.  Granted, the man was 88 and had suffered a series of strokes, but now he’s gone.   Which means that the number of his books I have yet to read is going to dwindle down to zero, and THAT is a sad thing, indeed.  For those of you who don’t follow the intermediate and youth literature scene, Freedman has been writing well-researched, approachably readable, and impressively interesting nonfiction for the 8-12-ish crowd for decades.  He’s got one Newbery Medal and three Newbery Honor books to his credit, not to mention a slew of Golden Kite awards and too many others to try and list, and the honors are well deserved.  Tonight I finished reading Out of Darkness:  The Story of Louis Braille to my two older girlies, and they were riveted, albeit for slightly different reasons.  (My oldest wanted to know why Braille was a better system than embossed letters and all the relevant details; her sister was heartbroken over the circumstances of the accident that took Braille’s sight.  Both perfect expressions of their personalities!)

So was I.

From how Braille lost his sight and how he dealt with it to the hows and whys of the evolution of his method of reading and writing for the blind, Out of Darkness was a fascinating story of an incredible young man.  (Braille was hard at work experimenting with what became his life’s work in his mid-teens; he died in his mid-40s of TB.)  I can’t really think of anyone for whom this wouldn’t be a worthwhile read, so I’m just going to recommend it to, well, everyone.  Go find it–go read it!  And–thank you, Russell Freedman, for telling important stories in a way that young readers can enjoy.  We will miss you!

By the way, I absolutely meant to post a recipe on Saturday, but the evening got away from me.  My apologies–it’s coming!