HOMESCHOOLING | Library Services, Montrose, Pa.

Susquehanna County Main Library, Montrose, Pa.

Some school teachers and administrators, are uncomfortable with homeschoolers in their area.

Even when that is the case, many hospitable connections may be made with local libraries.

(Not to mention sports programs at local schools, where homeschooled children in the appropriate age cohorts are often welcomed, especially for competitive sports.)

The Susquehanna County, Pa., library for example says on its web site that

the library has responded to the growing homeschooling population by offering benefits to families who are residents of Susquehanna County and registered in the Homeschool program. 

With a Homeschool library card, participants receive an extended check-out period. Registered families are also eligible to participate in the Homeschool programs held monthly during the school year. With notice, the outreach department will gather a collection of books according to a specific request, or conduct a tour of the library and its resources.

Click for future programs or the most recent past program.

The Homeschool Resource Center is located downstairs in the county's main library in Montrose, Pa. It contains a collection of homeschooling materials available to borrow. There is also a swap shelf for families to share instructional materials.

The library offers "Useful Links for Homeschooling Families":

• Susquehanna County Homeschoolers Yahoo Group: An email based group used to connect with other homeschoolers in Susquehanna County. Post or read about different local homeschooling activities or ask questions about homeschool related topics.
• About Homeschooling: About.com groups useful information and links from around the web. This is their page devoted to homeschooling.
• Homeschool World: The official website of Practical Homeschooling magazine. How to get started, forums, etc.

THE BOX HOUSE | Review by Marlene Rehkamp

The Box House cover by Brigid Marlin.
Excerpts of the book may be read here.

Boissevain Books has just released The Box House by Brigid Marlin - the story of an abused child, Cassie, as told to an adult who has befriended her.

Boissevain Books was interested in the opinion of someone who has worked in the children's-services field. We contacted Marlene Rehkamp, who used to serve New York City's Administration for Children's Services as Deputy General Counsel. She has just sent her review of the book, and we couldn't be more pleased at her reaction to the book:

"Ms. Marlin shares the real-life journey of an abused and courageous girl who uses her imagination and resourcefulness to help shelter her siblings from an abusive and neglectful home life in 1960s England.

"Fashioning a playhouse out of cardboard boxes in a nearby alley, the young ‘Cassie’ creates a safe haven of sorts; there, away from the imminent threat of harm, she provides the children some feeling of normalcy and tenderness.   The author knows Cassie well: soon after meeting her, Ms. Marlin reaches out to help and unwittingly becomes the girl’s model of good motherhood.

"Occasionally visiting the Marlins’ house and dreaming of creating a safe and loving home like hers, Cassie emerges poignantly as a model herself: one of lifelong commitment to family and faith. Ms. Marlin’s epiphany on the effects of taking time to help the young outcast is priceless.   Told through Cassie’s perspective, Ms. Marlin’s cinematic portrayal of violence and betrayal of trust, and of one child’s resilience, reveals youthful stoicism and terrifying realities rarely seen in young adult works.

"The author insistently details the profound effect of adults’ treatment of children over time, and the perils of passivity. The systemic, utter failings of family, school and government safeguards during this period in the history of the United Kingdom as well as of the United States, loom large. Given recent revelations surrounding the global trafficking of children, Cassie’s true story takes on new dimensions today.

"A lauded painter, Ms. Marlin paints with words. Her brushstrokes illuminate the young girl’s intimate experiences in a way that will move teen and adult readers alike to tears of sorrow and delight. This book is a joy, a bona fide page-turner and must-read for teens and for all parents and other adults devoted to understanding the unspoken yearnings of children in crisis."

The Box House can be ordered through Amazon.

BOIS BOOKS | Annual Meeting 2015

Emily and Charles Boissevain, c. 1872.

The 2015 Annual Meeting of Boissevain Books LLC will be held on Sunday, October 11, 2015, in Ottawa, Ont., Canada.

Boissevain Books, named after Charles Boissevain, editor of the Algemeen Handelsblad of Amsterdam, was created in 2007, a year after the death of Hilda van Stockum, to keep her books in print and publish new related books.

Charles Boissevain was Hilda van Stockum's maternal grandfather and her first publisher.

The financials for Boissevain Books for 2014 will be presented along with an account of 2015 results to date and a budget for 2016.

Expected attendance so far:
John Tepper Marlin
Randal Marlin
Brigid Marlin
Alex Marlin

NEW BOOK! | The Box House, by Brigid Marlin

Just Released: The Box House

Boissevain Books has just released Brigid Marlin's The Box House, a poignant and inspiring story of a child's ability to transcend neglect and abuse.

This remarkable new book is the true story of an abused and neglected child's struggle to survive.

Only eight years old when we first meet her, Cassie Drover is determined to protect her younger siblings and create a "real home" for them all.

The Box House is Cassie's story. Both heartbreaking and inspiring, this story will stay with you long after you finish the last page.

Set in a small English town in the 1960s, the story follows the Cassie's journey. She has taken on the role of caretaker to her younger siblings. 

She is determined to make a home for them. She literally builds a box house - a home constructed out of cardboard boxes. 

The heroine of the story is a young teenager. The book is not intended for young children, since it describes child abuse. It might be appropriate for young adult readers.

The Box House is the Brigid Marlin's third book. She previously authored A Meaning for Danny and From East to West: Awakening to a Spiritual Search. 

Ms. Marlin is known primarily as an artist and is the Founder and Director of the Society for Art and Imagination based in the UK.  She has also illustrated a number of books, including King Oberon's Forest, a children's book written by her mother, Hilda van Stockum.

Boissevain Books has primarily published books for children, building on those of Hilda van Stockum (1908-2006), whose books are the core of the list. Starting with Robert Wack's book, Time Bomber, Boissevain Books has opened up a list of biographies/memoirs, of which this book is the third. (The second was Brigid Marlin's A Meaning for Danny, about the tragic life of an autistic/epileptic boy.)

To order The Box House (preview of some pages is available), click here.

WW2 | The Dutch Resistance

Jan Boissevain with Mia, Walrave, Nella and Thijs, Heleen, Charles, Danil,
Walrave, Li, Aat van Hall, Wil de Vos, Sissy Blijdenstein, and Gi den Tex.

I am writing a book about the Dutch Resistance to Hitler, specifically the contribution of the Boissevain and the van Hall families.

The subject was suggested to me in 2014 by Ben Boissevain. I immediately received great cooperation from Charles Boissevain and Hester Boissevain Grinberg.

In February I visited many relatives in Holland and yesterday had a return visit from a van Hall relative and her daughter.

The Boissevain and van Hall families date back to two brothers, Jan and Charles Boissevain, each of whom had a daughter who married one of two van Hall brothers.

Writing about all this comes naturally to me because I was brought up on the stories my grandmother (Olga Boissevain) and mother (Hilda van Stockum) told me about their family and World War II. My mother wrote two books about the war in Holland:

• The Winged Watchman (1962), told from the perspective of two Dutch boys (aged 10 and 14) living in a rural windmill. 
• The Borrowed House (1975), told from the perspective of a German girl living in a "borrowed" house in Amsterdam with her parents, who were performers sent to entertain the German troops and SS; a Dutch translation was published in 2013, retitled Het Gestolen Huis (The Stolen House).

These two books are both among the 20 top-ranked (by Goodreads) books for children on World War II, out of 177 nominees. They have been optioned for a television miniseries.

These books have led the people interested in doing a miniseries, and a cousin, to ask me if I could document what my mother's relatives did during the Dutch Occupation. I have been building a database from:

• Stories I remember hearing from my mother, my siblings, and other relatives.
• Albums and boxes of letters and clippings, in English and Dutch - from wartime and post-war Holland, Ireland and England - entrusted to me as my mother's executor. 
• I have been transcribing, translating (with the help of Dutch speakers) and posting letters, many at  http://boissevain.us and http://hildavanstockum.com. My son Jay has helped type some of these letters and my wife Alice has read many of them with interest.
• Continuing contact with Dutch relatives - some who were were young children during the war - and other sources of information through letters, posts, emails and phone calls to fill in gaps in information and make the record as complete and useful as it can be.
• Cooperation from some of the people who were helped by my relatives during the war, and from their children. 

It's been an engrossing journey of discovery, with much left for me to learn (just found out about Audrey Hepburn's work for the Dutch Resistance).

The outline of the book with links to chapters is here.

BEA 2015 | Next Month in NYC

The BookExpo America autograph area. Photo by JTMarlin.

BookExpo America 2015 is coming to the Javits Center at the end of May.

There will be a Bloggers Conference on the first day, May 27.

I always wondered why the Frankfurt Book Fair claimed such a large share of the publishing industry's attention and budget.

Publishing has been broadening and deepening:
- More kinds of media for readers,
- More opportunities to publish for authors,
- More competition for traditional publishers.

It makes sense that the annual BookExpo in New York City has become increasingly important as a way for independent bloggers and authors to connect. The intermediary institutions are learning to work with the independents. Publishers are learning to harness the desire of authors to make their work more accessible and better known.

Here's an overall take what I posted on BookExpo America 2014 last June.

RONDO | Where UPS, FedEx, USPS Dare Not, He Goes!!

Rondo, ready to make the trip, waiting to be loaded

 up with his kit and the bag of presents.

You have heard that this year deliveries of Santa's goods were running behind.

The elves did their job.

Santa did his job.

But the last bit has depended upon UPS, FedEx and USPS.

Deep in the frozen forest, made treacherous by the snow and ice in the trees, a little girl named Ellen was unreachable.

Rudolph and the other reindeer bowed out. There was no chimney, not even a proper roof, because Ellen lived with her family in a hut amidst the trees.

Santa was distressed. Ellen had been very good and Santa Claus was eager to get her presents to her. She was down to get two books by Hilda van Stockum from Boissevain Books. How was he going to do this?

Finally, Santa had an idea. Would Rondo be willing to try to get through to her? Rondo had done this before.

Since he had received treats the last time, Rondo was agreeable to try again. Santa made sure that Rondo was signed up for health insurance and outfitted Rondo appropriately. Rudolf took Rondo as far as he could go. Rondo jumped off Rudolph's back and promised to get back as fast as he could.

He followed the map that Santa gave him until he could smell the cider cooking. Soon he was at the door. Ellen was so happy to get the presents! Rondo was given a bowl of cider, some extra treats and a lot of attention. Then he headed back to Rudolph.

When they got back, Santa beamed. Rondo got an extra treat every one of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Rondo was a hero, and someone suggested him for the next Hero Dog book. But as usual Rondo deflected all the attention to the elves and Rudolph. He said:

Thanks, but all this fuss over me is wrong. I was just doing my "Australian duty". The elves work all year getting the toys ready. They should get the recognition. And really, Rudolph did most of the distance. I just took care of the last little bit, and I consider it an honor. Thank you so much. Merry Christmas!

Spoken like a true Hero Dog.

P.S. This is not Rondo's first act of heroism. Here is another one: http://nyctimetraveler.blogspot.com/2013/05/hero-dog-rondo-proof-for-existence-of.html