Summer is a time when the SAS librarians are able to spend some time enjoying one of their favorite things - reading books. After months of curating lists, assisting students with research, organizing resources, cataloging books, engaging in professional development courses, the librarians take a short break to engage in some pleasure reading over the summer. When recommending books to patrons of the library, a role they take very seriously, they want to be able to say, they've read the book, read a recent review, or know the author's work.
Over the next month or two, in this same location, you can read brief reviews by the SAS librarians. Below is a review by library assistant, Noreen Tully P'09,'12, who describes Geraldine Brooks' novel Caleb's Crossing.
"Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks is inspired by the true story of the first Native American to graduate from Harvard in 1665. Written in Bethia’s Mayfield’s voice, the 12-year old daughter of Calvinists escapes her daily confines via the surroundings of the wild beauty of the island she lives on. When Bethia and a native Wampanoag boy (whom she names Caleb) tentatively and secretly approach respect and trust, they create an unbreakable bond of friendship."
"Geraldine Brooks takes her reader into a beautiful, natural rendition of a 17th-century New World as seen through the eyes of her brave, talented teen-aged protagonists. That natural world gives way as the setting shifts to a foreign and harsh Cambridge for Caleb to prepare for the Harvard boards; and in where Bethia is tested by expectations even while thrilled by the scintillating world of learning. While wrestling with differing beliefs, competing desires, and societal prejudices Bethia and Caleb emerge into their lives. Caleb’s Crossing is a tremendously satisfying read - engaging and lovely to read."