Literary Birthdays for May

Lena Anderson

Lena Christine Anderson is a Swedish author / illustrator of two children's books you “must read before growing up.”  One book is titled Stina, beautifully illustrated in a watercolor technique.  Stina is a young girl who visits her grandfather every summer at his seaside home.  She is a curious child who collects assorted things washed ashore by the sea.  One night a storm comes, bringing a special gift!

 I chose to read Anderson’s book Bunny Bath in recognition of her birthday, May 27, 1939.  This particular book has no words, so I should probably say that reading this book was more like a “show and tell” type of experience. 

This story, recommended for ages 0 – 3 years, is told with charming illustrations, involving two characters, a child and bunny.  I shared it with Elizabeth Mosley, a five-year old and it was a great conversation piece as well as inspiration for an entry in the library's Peeps Literary Diorama Contest.

Through my interpretation, the bunny looks slightly larger than the child and I'm not entirely certain if the child is a boy or girl.  Obviously this is not a realistic bunny, but a fantasy character that engages with the child in a parental sort of way.  

My young reader friend, Elizabeth, is an artist and very good at observing detail in pictures.  She told me the story as we flipped through the pages of this charming book.  Elizabeth referred to the child as a “boy with messy hair.”  The boy in the story is fully dressed, including a coat, mittens, and boots.  Holding the book and “reading the illustrations,” you see a bunny helping a boy shed his clothes piece by piece on the left-hand page.  Each removed item is enlarged, filling the right-hand page.  This technique gives the reader an opportunity to interpret the story. 

Elizabeth noted, “The mittens are dripping water, so maybe the boy was playing in the snow … and that's why he is wearing “snow” boots.  Those boots look tight, since the bunny is really pulling to get them off.”  

You can point out lots of things with each clothing item, such as polka-dotted underwear and striped t-shirt. Before his shirt comes off, you see the boy is hiding something under this last remaining garment. On turning the page, without explicit nudity, the child is now in the bathtub with the bunny and you will find out what the secret is.  At this point in my summary you may be wondering … “What? What is it?”  Now, one thing I hate to do is spoil a story.  My hope when writing about books is to encourage reading.  I will include a visual clue here with a photo of Elizabeth's Bunny Bath scene.  And personally I think creating a diorama with marshmallow Peeps is quite fun. 

Anderson has several wordless bunny books (alternatively titled as rabbit books) about other adventures and surprises.  Her unique art creates magical images that will delight all ages.  Bunny Bath is a great book for using your imagination too!   

Nobel Prize laureate, Henryk Sienkiewicz, was born on May 5, 1846.  The originator of the prize, Alfred Nobel, requires that this honor is given "in the field of literature, the most outstanding work in an ideal direction." This Swedish literature prize has been awarded annually since 1901, and Sienkiewicz received it in 1905 with his historical novel Quo Vadis: A Narrative in the Time of Nero.  In his acceptance speech, he said this honor was of particular value to a son of Poland: "She was pronounced dead — yet here is proof that she lives on.... She was pronounced defeated — and here is proof that she is victorious."  Quo Vadis is certainly the most famous piece of literature that came out of this country.

Henryk Sienkiewicz

Sienkiewicz was a Polish journalist who became popular in 1876 through writings about his travels in the United States.  When his wife contracted tuberculosis he traveled with her throughout Europe in search of treatment. He spent several years working as editor-in-chief of a Warsaw newspaper (The Word), and publishing various short stories and novels. Sienkiewicz was also a well-known philanthropist, establishing funds for social welfare projects to assist with starvation relief and building a tuberculosis sanatorium.  

 

It wasn’t until 1895 that Sienkiewicz began writing Quo Vadis in serial form for Warsaw’s Polish Gazette.  The series was converted to a novel the following year and soon became an international bestseller.  There is no doubt that writing this novel required extensive research.  It was translated from Polish into English by Jeremiah Curtain in 1906. Although, it is heavy with Latin vocabulary, making it a challenge to read at times.   I found an online quiz site with interactive flashcards for words in the novel.  This is a fun way to help learn unfamiliar terms and expressions.  For instance, quo vadis is Latin for “Where are you going?”  Another word I will remember is lector, meaning “a reader, or one who reads.”  

The story is set in Rome during the first century A.D. and carries a pro-Christian message.  Sienkiewicz describes immorality in this period of time as intolerable.  “The rich entertained themselves with drunken orgies while the masses went to the arenas where human beings where killed for their entertainment.”  

Several historical figures are prominent characters; of course the infamous emperor Nero Claudius Caesar and his empress wife Poppaea, Roman courtier Petronius Arbiter, Peter the Apostle and Paul of Tarsus (disciples of Christ).  This is a love story between fictional characters Lygia, princess of a deceased barbarian king, and Marcus Vinicius a military tribune.  Lygia is a Christian who finds loving Marcus, a non-believer, heart wrenching.  The book’s particular focus follows the spiritual journey of this typical pleasure-loving Roman into a new believer in Christ.  There is also a 1951 film starring Robert Taylor as Marcus Vinicius and Deborah Kerr, as Lygia.  My book club attended a special viewing of Quo Vadis at the Blue Ridge Movie Lounge.  It was truly amazing to see ancient Rome burning on the large screen.  For those interested in the film it is now available for check-out at the Ashe County Public Library.  

I am still tackling the print edition of this book, was able to listen to the entire audiobook for free on YouTube.  It is recorded by LibriVox volunteer, David Leeson, and can also be accessed in LibriVox’s catalog for a free iTunes download.  LibriVox is a website that provides “acoustical liberation of books in the public domain.”  Anyone can volunteer on this site to read and record a book or just a couple chapters with a group of other readers.  David Leeson did an excellent job as reader of Quo Vadis, even changing his voice for the princess Lygia and evil Emperor Nero.  I also discovered that Amazon Prime Video has a great closed caption film about Nero.   I learned a lot about historical Rome with Sienkiewicz’s cinematic book and recommend it to readers who are looking for an exciting and larger-than-life story!