For to See the Elephant: A Novel in Verse and an Autographed Giveaway

 Congratulations to Tricia Clark who won Letters from Space.

Six months ago, author Tammi J. Truax contacted me after reading my review of Orchards on Goodreads. She deduced that I liked free verse historical novels and offered to send me a copy of her book, For to See the Elephant (Piscataqua Press, 2019).  Come with me into the pages of this amazing chronicle of the first two elephants who came to America, their keeper, and the people whose lives these honorable animals touched. This is a work of fiction, but as the author notes, "the found poems included in the work are taken from diaries, newspaper articles, advertisements, and songs from the time period." It is a saga of the enslaved.

REVIEW

For to See the Elephant is written from several different points of view including the men who purchased the elephants, the slave boy William who is their keeper, the elephants, and Hachaliah Bailey. A different font is used for each point of view and their voices are all distinctive. To best see the beauty of the poetry, I'm sharing excerpts from several different entries. The elephants' POV are written in narrative.

GAJA, At leaving Bengal, India, October 1795

My mahout was conflicted that day. I could tell by the silent language of his body. Further, I could tell that he needed me to go where he was leading me, but that in his heart he did not really want me to go. I also knew I had been sold...I let out a trumpeting roar, one I knew he could hear as his little bare feet flew across the wharf in the opposite direction that I was headed. I was but a baby and had never been left alone before. (p. 2, 5)

Captain Jacob Crowinsheild at sea. December 1795

I say with certainty

I've never heard 

a sadder sound 

than the cry of 

The Elephant.

Adding to the misery

of the cries,

the beasts thrusts itself

in rhythm with the rise

and fall of the sea,

against the pen

built to hold her.... (p. 9)

William at sea 1795

captain said

I'm to take care of

the Elephant

me

the smallest one here

captain said

I'm African 

so I should know-

what that mean

captain said

get the beast 

to calm down

and clean up

all her mess

captain ain't said

how (p. 11)

Mister Welshaven Owen, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. June 1976

Tonight she makes

her stage debut!

I have rented out

the Elephant

to the Philadelphia Theatre.

I'll have the boy

wash and oil her all up.

Not sure if I'll let the boy

take her on stage

or if I'll do it. 

She seems to like the boy

much more than me. (p. 21)

William on the Maine/New Hampshire border. late 1802

i know why 

folks call her

ugly or beast

or whatnot

i been called

lots of names too

some folks just dont

see things proper

sure she all wrinkled

an got a funny nose

an ears big enough

to make lookers laugh

but they missing somethin

so important

they not having

a good up-close

honest look

in her eye

all her beauty there

in her eye

it looks like

a topaz marble

a boy once showed me

an her pretty eye

have long lashes

that flutter like

a little birds wing

a big beautiful

round eye

full of feelings

.....(pp.54-55)

[Gaja is seriously injured when she falls from a bridge spanning the Connecticut River. ]

William, Amherst, Massachusetts. November 1803

she was hurt bad

I tole em all

she couldn't get up

gave her what comforts I could

I was so sorry

for what happened

but what I mos felt

was angry

I couldn't barely

stand for it

when they drug her

up the hill like that

finally got her

in the barn

master said hes

going to charge

people a nickel

for to see

the dying elephant

an he did...

....me and gaja

we lived likewise lives

I think she knew it  (pp. 74-76)

BIG BETTE IN A BARN AT BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. January 1804

I CAN TELL THIS IS NOT MY HOMELAND. I DIDN'T THINK I COULD BEAR IT WHEN I DETERMINED THAT FACT SHORTLY AFTER OUR ARRIVAL. I REALLY DID NOT. WHEN I WAS DELIVERED TO MORE STRANGERS AND MY LEG WAS CHAINED IN THIS NEW BARN I CALCULATED HOW I COULD TEAR DOWN THE WALL WITH MY LEG IF I USED ALL OF MY STRENGTH, AND PICK UP ANY OF THE MEN THAT CAME NEAR ME. SIMPLY PICK THEM UP AND CRACK THEM AGAINST A BEAM IN THEIR OWN FILTHY BUILDING....

AND THAT IS WHEN I MADE THE ACQUAINTANCE OF THE NEW MAHOUT I BELIEVE HIM TO BE FROM MY HOME LAND. HE DOESNT SEEM TO BELONG HERE EITHER. HE SHOWED ME THAT THE MEASURE AND CONTENT OF HIS HEART IS THE SAME AS MY OWN... (P. 84)

Hachaliah Bailey in a tavern at Danbury Ct. Spring, 1806

Of course I need to make some changes.

This is my livelihood.

I need the keeper to understand that.

I want him to teach

the Elephant

some more amusing tricks.

I intend to purchase more animals

we can pull along in cages.

And we must take to traveling by night.

Far too many people

are getting a free look at

the Elephant. (p.92)

[Big Bess is shot by a man who had been drinking. William is forced to help dig her grave.]

William, April 1816

...the thought that struck me was

maybe its just time

for me to go

to walk away

theres no more elephants

for me to take care of

this is a place

where maybe

maybe I can

make my own way

in the world

those merry dancers [Shakers]

told me I'd be welcome

at their holy land

and theres indians

up in the woods

where a man can live free

some kind of way

....

dug the dang hole

dug til my hands bled

   my back ached

but my back

wasnt the part of me

   hurtin most

(p. 173-4)

Hachaliah Bailey, Town Hall at Alfred, Maine. April 1816

I can't state plainly enough

that I want that man, that criminal

brought to justice. Further I expect 

to be reimbursed for my losses

which since I came to this town

have been egregiously high.

That elephant was worth

more than a thousand dollars!

And how my elephant keeper

has gone missing!

He's worth nearly that much.

My stop in your town

may just bankrupt me. (p. 176)

Boston, 1797

THE END...PERHAPS THE SPIRIT OF BIG BETTE THE MATRIARCH TODAY

I WAS MURDERED, WITHOUT CAUSE, AND, JUST LIKE GAGA, MY SKIN AND BONES WERE TAKEN IN A GRUESOME WAY AND PUT ON DISPLAY. OLD MAN BAILEY STILL PROFITED BY MY EXHIBITION, DRAGGING THE DEAD ME FROM PLACE TO PLACE. UNTIL AT LAST MY FLESH AND BONES WERE SOLD TO P.T. BARNUM, TO BE SHOWN FOR PROFIT, IN HIS LITTLE MUSEUM OF ODDITIES...IT IS OFT CLAIMED THAT MY REMAINS WERE LOST TO A FIRE THAT CONSUMED BARNUM'S BUILDING AND CREMATION IS AT LEAST, A MORE RESPECTFUL WAY TO TREAT SACRED REMAINS....  (P.191)

CURRICULUM RESOURCE

This novel would be an excellent curriculum resource for middle and high school language arts or history classes. I would love to hear students discuss the content as well as the beautiful way in which Ms. Truax delivered the story.  For more information on her other poetry projects, please consult her website.

BACKSTORY

When I asked Ms. Truax what inspired her to write this story she replied, "I had interviewed an elderly woman who still lived on property that had been in her family for a couple of hundred years. She told me that once long ago "an elephant had stopped by to drink from the well". I was intrigued by that but didn't get serious about research until I heard about the murder of an elephant in Maine and thought that must have been the same elephant. Then I took in on as a NaNoWriMo project in 2015."

                                      Tammi J. Truax next to the roadside marker

                                      in Alfred, Maine where Big Bette was killed.

GIVEAWAY

I have an autographed copy ready to be mailed to one of you. Please leave me a comment (along with your email address if you are not a frequent commenter) by 6 PM on January 8. If you subscribe to my blog I'll enter your name twice!

Audacity Jones Steals the Show: Review, ARC Giveaway, and a Mini-Lesson on POV

Congratulations to Sandra Warren for winning Augusta Scattergood's book, MAKING FRIENDS WITH BILLY WONG.

******

Here's the question:

On a multiple choice test, which would you choose?

a. Kirby Larson's newest book, Audacity Jones Steals the Show (Scholastic, 2017), is about an eleven-year-old girl ("Audie to her friends") who makes an elephant disappear.

b. Audacity Jones is about Cypher, who in his new job with the Pinkerton Detective Agency, is charged with the duty of keeping an eye on Theo Quinn. 

c. Audacity Jones is about a young scientist, Theo Quinn, who provides Houdini with the necessary illusions to cause a seven-foot elephant to vanish. 

d. Audacity Jones is about Harry Houdini's newest and most fantastic trick ever.  

e. Audacity Jones is about Min; a persistent, smart chocolate-striped puss, who speaks Dog, learns to speak Elephant, and refuses to let her girl out of her sight. 

f. Audacity Jones is about the fraud Oberon who thinks he can use Theo Quinn to outwit Mr. Harry Houdini and become the world's greatest magician in his place. 

g. All of the above.

Third Person Omniscient POV

The answer is probably obvious, but I gave you these glimpses into this story for a reason. Although Audi is the heroine, Kirby Larson uses third person omniscient point-of-view to show readers what these important secondary characters think and want.

The interplay between these characters moves the story forward at a fast pace. Since this device is not seen in too many contemporary books (and generally advised against, particularly for new writers), I asked Kirby what prompted her to write Audacity Jones in this manner. 

She said, "I do not have any fancy names or explanations for the method I used in writing this book. I was aiming for an old-fashioned storytelling feel, thus the moments of omniscient narration; I also chose to break the “fourth wall” by speaking directly to the reader on a few occasions (a nod to Jane Austen). And I do know that we writers of books for children are advised not to use multiple viewpoints, etc., but honestly that is how I felt the story needed to be told. And I am lucky enough that my editor and publisher supported my choice, no matter how many “rules” there are against it!" 

A recent Writer's Digest article, "Why Point of View is So Important" by Joseph Bates, concludes: "Oftentimes we don't really choose a POV for our project; our project chooses a POV for us...Often stories tell us how they should be told--and once you find the right POV for yours, you'll likely realize the story couldn't have been told any other way."

Min's Voice

As I think you'll see from this scene from STEALS THE SHOW, that's exactly what Kirby Larson has done. This is from the POV of Min, one of my favorite characters. In this scene, she has snuck on board a train bound for New York City, for "Where the girl went, so did she." (p. 15)

Despite her abilities and intuitions, Min was stymied by the cargo put aboard at the most recent stop. More cage than crate, it took six men to load it into the baggage car. The creature inside was ten times greater than the heft of both Corgis combined and a thousand times more intelligent than the chickens. Min struggled to interpret the new creature's language, reminiscent of Bison, with a hint of Eagle. It didn't help that the language--or perhaps it was the speaker; Min hadn't worked that out yet--was rather nasal in tone. Min had worked out that the creature was either named Punk or was a punk; at least that's what the men had called it. By its limited vocabulary, she had also surmised it was not full-grown. It smelled of hay and apples and something else: The young thing reeked of sorrow. Once the cage had been situated in the baggage car, that smell did more to keep Min awake than all the clucking of those flibbertigibbet hens.

Early on, Min had learned how to comfort little Audie during lonely nights. Min hesitated: Would this baby, huge as it was, also welcome such comforting? If Punk stepped on her, then farewell to one of Min's remaining lives. Yet, she could not bear the creature's melancholy any longer. She padded close, straw shifting and scratching under her paws, to rub her scent against the metal bars of Punk's crate. After a few moments, the creature slowed it's rocking. Made a snuffling noise. Min waited, not a muscle twitching. Then something stroked her back through the bars. It was Punk's curious appendage, the one that hung from between his eyes. If it was Punk's nose, it was the most ridiculous nose that Mind had ever seen on an animal, but she kept that to herself. Hard enough for this baby to be alone; no need to rub salt in the wound by pointing out how homely he was. But then truthfully, what animal compares to a cat?

"Moww-rr?" Min inquired, paw poised in midair. 

Punk snuffled again. Puffs of warm air from his long appendage blew tracks in Min's chocolate-striped fur. Min took this as permission and eased slowly between the bars, into the cage, a cage too small for Punk to do anything but stand. She pressed against Punk's front leg and he stopped rocking altogether. Then he slowly eased his solid self into a lean agains the metal bars. Min leapt to a spot at the back of Punk's flat head, between ears as big as boat sails. Turning once, twice, three times, she settled herself, purring. Though Punk could not lie down, Min felt him relax.

Min locked at the leathery skin beneath her. It was dry. Punk needed water. Needed rest. Needed...

He said something.

Punk said something. And Min understood.

Thank you, he said. Thank you, friend.  (p.39-41. Used with permission.)

Giveaway and Resources

I have an autographed ARC to send to one of you. If you share this on social media or become a new follower of my blog, I'll enter your name twice. Just be sure to leave me your email address if you are new to my blog and tell me what you have done. Giveaway ends on February 17. Kirby is donating a portion of her royalties to The Elephant Sanctuary.

For other resources on using the third person omniscient POV see:

Third Person Omniscient vs. Third Person Limited  by Nathan Bransford

How to Write in Third Person Omniscient POV by Brian Davis. Brian gives good examples of "head-hopping" (which is NOT what Kirby has done) and subjective vs. objective omniscient. 

Whose Head is it Anyway? by Janice Hardy.

Immersive POV by Donald Maas. Not specifically on third person POV, but excellent article. (Aren't all articles by Maas eye-opening?)