Book Review: The Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn Green

The Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn Green

Robin Hood is a perennially popular figure. His adventures are legend and it is hard to tease out the historical truth from the fanciful embellishments that have accumulated over eight hundred or so years. This book is not really interested in the history (see this book for a historical investigation) but is a great compilation of the legends both famous and little known.

The story begins with the birth of Robert Fitzooth in Sherwood Forest. Son of a noble Norman father and Saxon mother, young Robert is born to nobility with a clear sympathy for both Normans and Saxons. He grows up learning all sorts of skills. When King Richard the Lion-hearted goes off to the Crusades, his brother Prince John begins to oppress the poor and take advantage of his high office for personal gain. Many nobles toady up to John but Robert goes rogue. He becomes Robin Hood and has his band of Merry Men in Sherwood rob the rich and give to the poor.

This Robin is an idyllic gentleman. He never molests women, not even the evil ones; he takes care of the poor and downtrodden. He's also a manly man, able to shoot an arrow straighter than anyone and nearly always able to beat others with a sword or a quarterstaff. His wedding to Marian is interrupted by Sir Guy of Gisborne, so that Robin and Marian can never be truly married until the return of the king. They live a chaste life in Sherwood, having adventures of a wide variety.

The stories are a bit episodic. Robin meets the famous Merry Men one by one, usually in some sort of friendly combat. More obscure characters like Allin-a-Dale (not just made up for the Disney cartoon!) and Much, the Miller's Son, are highlighted and become re-occurring characters. Famous scenes like escapes from castles or tournaments are interspersed with less famous, like Robin's encounter with a witch. The story does go on past the return of King Richard and the final union of Robin and Marian. Robin has a noble and tragic death that's a bit shocking because of the general lightness and fun of the rest of the book.

The book doesn't have a lot of depth but it is very entertaining and moves along quickly and captures that spirit of adventure that is so characteristic of most Robin Hood retellings.

Recommended.

Book Review: My Hero Academia Vol. 5 by Kohei Horikoshi

My Hero Academia Volume 5 by Kohei Horikoshi

The competition between the first year superheroes continues as the individual contestants go to the final four. The focus shifts from the main character, Midoriya, the quirkless (i.e. powerless) teenager who wants to be a hero and has received the power of All Might, currently the most popular hero. The focus is on Todoroki, another first year student who inherited his quirks from his parents. His dad is Endeavor, a fire-wielding superhero who is number two to All Might's number one. Naturally dad wants his son to be not only better than him but also better than All Might. Todoroki's mom has ice powers, so Todoroki is split--he has both fire power and ice power. But he's shunned his fire power because of his anger at his dad. That issue is explored in depth with Midoriya being a catalyst for change in Todoroki. But is the change for the better or for the worse?

The surface story of the rivalries between the students in the stadium is interesting enough. The deeper story of Todoroki's motivation gives this a lot more emotional and intellectual heft and interest. The bad guy conspiracy to take down heroes is revisited, keeping that narrative from being forgotten. Overall, this issues is better than the usual.

Recommended.

Movie Review: Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Avengers: Endgame (2019) directed by Anthony and Joe Russo

After failing to stop Thanos's plan to kill half the living things in the universe, the few remaining Avengers band together and take him out. But they still aren't satisfied. They try to move on with their lives. The devastation is very hard on everyone. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has settled the few remaining Asgardians on Earth but hardly provides any leadership. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) has settled down in the country with Pepper Pots (Gwyneth Paltrow). Captain America (Chris Evans) is trying to get people to move on with their lives, but both regular people and superheroes. When Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) returns from the quantum realm, he has a crazy scheme to save everyone. The other Avengers are desperate enough to try anything, so they go with it in hopes of changing things back to normal.

The story is a sprawling epic that rewards faithful viewers who have watch the twenty or so previous films. A lot of previous characters and plots are revisited in a clever and satisfying way. Some are given short shrift (Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) is basically a deus ex machina plot aid, not really a person) but not too many. Legitimate moments of suspense are balanced out with humanizing comedy and impressive action sequences. The ending wraps up a bunch of plot threads nicely while leaving new opportunities open (though some look more promising than others).

Highly recommended.

Thomas Jefferson's Monticello Part II

A continuation of yesterpost...

We followed the north cellar passage into Monticello's basement.

Secret passage!

This area under the house was mostly for storage, including the wine and beer cellars. And the bottom of the dining room dumbwaiter!

Storage cellar

Diagram of the dumbwaiter

Practicing the delivery

It doesn't go upstairs anymore

Jefferson's daughter Martha took over managing the household for her father in 1782 when his wife died. She worked with Burwell Colbert, a slave who helped run the household and was a personal servant to Jefferson. She's depicted handing over keys to him.

Giving the keys to Colbert

Trying out a key

The beer storage

Down the other secret passage (going out the other end of the house), we discovered the south pavilion. This area had the food preparation and preservation rooms. First, we saw the kitchen which was added around 1809. Jefferson used a lot of the technology, ideas, and equipment from his time in Europe (he was Ambassador to France in the late 1780s).

A very modern kitchen for 1809

The main preparation area

Lots of pots and pans, some foreign

Just beyond the pavilion is the various gardens that grew fruits and vegetables for the house.

The practical gardens

Just above the gardens is Mulberry Row, where much of the day to day work was done on the plantation. Several workers (slaves, indentured servants, and free men) lived here and had workshops.

Slave quarters

The location of the wash house is now a gravesite for Rachel Phillips Levy. The Levys bought Monticello and maintained it for a good portion of the late 1800s. The Thomas Jeffferson Foundation bought the property from the Levys in 1923 and took over the preservation of the estate.

Levy grave

The view back to the house is less than spectacular from here.

The south pavilion

One recreated workshop is the "storehouse for iron" where items like cups were made. Basically, anything needed on the plantation could be crafted in metal there.

Storehouse for iron

Cupmaking tools and diretions

Also recreated is a typical servant's house.

Servant's house

Inside the servant's house

Back up on the West Lawn is a fish pond. Jefferson built it to stock with fish. It was a good source for fresh fish needed while entertaining the many guests who came to the house.

Fish pond

View of Monticello from the west lawn

The west lawn has a walking path. Flowers were in full bloom and fragrance, making it very delightful for strolling on an April afternoon.

Flowers

The pathway

Flowers by the fish pond

Visitors have the choice of walking back down the hill to the visitor center or riding the shuttle bus. By this point, the children were wiped out so we rode down. One stop along the way is the Jefferson Cemetery, where Thomas and many of the family are buried. We took a drive by picture of the spot.

Jefferson's grave

Back at the visitor center, we did a little shopping and a visit to the restrooms before heading off. We loved visiting and highly recommend going to Monticello.

Thomas Jefferson's Monticello Part I

Thomas Jefferson's Monticello is the home Thomas Jefferson built just outside of Charlottesville, Virginia. He built it in 1773 following the neoclassical designs popular at the time. The site has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with nearby University of Virginia, which was also designed by Jefferson.

The house

The house is part of a plantation where Jefferson grew cash crops. At first the main crop was tobacco; wheat took over later. Jefferson inherited the property from his father. He also inherited most of his slaves. Near the parking lot, archeologists discovered an African American burial ground with over forty graves.

The African American burial ground

The house is situated on top of a hill ("Monticello" meaning "little mountain"). A modern visitor center is located lower on the hill by the parking area. Visitors can buy tickets, get food at the cafe, visit the shop, and see a movie about Jefferson's life.

Plaza of the visitor's center

Just down a staircase is the Griffin Discovery Room, an area where children can get a hands-on experience of what life was like on the plantation.

Going down to the discovery room

Jefferson was a bit of a scientist, inventing many things he needed to make life easier or to accomplish specific tasks. He made a cipher wheel to send encoded messages.

Trying out the cipher wheel

Sometimes he wanted to send duplicate letters and invented a device to write two letters at once! He called it a "polygraph," but that name has been taken over by a more modern invention.

Twice as much scribbling in the same amount of time!

The room also had some recreations of plantation jobs, including a nailery where they made nails. After trying out many things, my daughter also tried out the bed, which was cosy.

After a hard day's work

We took a shuttle up to the house for our tour. The view from the top was quite nice.

View of the mountains

East Walk to the house

Side view of the back of the house

The house also incorporated several inventions and clever devices to make life easier for the family. The wind vane on the roof is fairly typical. To make it easier to read, even on rainy days, Jefferson had the shaft of the vane go down through the house to the porch ceiling, so he could look up (or even just outside the door) to see the wind's direction.

Weather vane

Outdoor ceiling fixture!

We weren't allowed to take pictures during the inside part of the tour, but we did see the main floor. The dining room features a dumbwaiter built into the mantlepiece for delivering bottles of wine from the wine cellar! The library room still has some original books that Jefferson owned, behind protective glass.

Back outside, we saw the cistern that held water for the house.

Cistern

The grounds have many flower gardens. Since we visited in April, many blooms were in full glory.

Flower bed

West lawn

On the north pavillion of the house, a small gap in the tree cover shows the University of Virginia.

Kid holding UVA photo

UVA in the distance

More beautiful flowers

Just behind the north pavilion is a small farm shop with more children's activities. A popular one was writing with a quill pen. All of our children tried it out. After writing with the wet ink, the paper needed to dry. A clothes line was set up for hanging writings and drawings. We dutifully hung the children's up to dry and forgot to come back and pick them up later.

Trying the quill

Using an old shirt for protection

"Wait, I could have had ice cream!?!"

Drawing

A wash house is at the end of the north pavilion. Now it is the home of an orrery. It shows the relative position of objects in the solar system. The kids loved looking at this (and being out of the hot sun). Jefferson had one to help in his astronomical observations.

Explaining the orrery

The north pavilion was also the storage area for carriages and the stables for the horses. One carriage is still on display.

Carriage

Demonstration wheel

The ice house was right nearby. Ice was stored there in the winter and used to keep meat and dairy products fresh, as well as to make ice cream in the summer. Sometimes the ice would last through a whole summer!

Ice house

A privy is also located at the near end of the pavilion, so people could take care of business before heading into the house.

North privy

We told the kids that the north cellar passage was a secret tunnel underneath the house. They were excited to explore.

Secret passage!

More on this in the next post!