My List of Dozen Best Books Read in 2021

  The Sound of the Sea, Cynthia Barnett (the story of seashells, their use in commerce and in adornment, their place in the ecosystem, and their future with global warming)

  The Seine, Elaine Scioline (it's not just the river that runs through Paris; the Seine in social, geological, and historical perspective)

  Beyond (The Founding of Valdemar, Book 1), Mercedes Lackey (Lackey's finally back on track with this story of how Baron Valdemar escapes a ruthless regime with his people)

 The Enigma Game, Elizabeth Wein (a biracial girl in World War II Britain looks for a place to serve; features a wonderful lead in Louisa and also Jamie Beaufort-Stuart from Code Name Verity)

  Northland, Porter Fox (Fox canoes, rides aboard ship, and travels along the US/Canadian border)

 The Secret History of Home Economics, Danielle Drellinger (not just for girls, but a fascinating book about how home economics studies led to women's freedom)

  A Valiant Deceit, Stephanie Graves (book two in the Olive Bright, Pigeoneer, series, and even better than the first)

  Uncle Tungsten, Oliver Sacks (Sacks' "chemical upbringing" in a decidedly non-stereotypical British family)

 The Vanished Bride, Bella Ellis (the first of Ellis' Brontё sisters mysteries, where Charlotte, Emily, and Anne manage to keep their characters and virtues while playing detective)

  Birder on Berry Lane, Robert Tougias (a year in the life of birder Tougias in just exploring the countryside around his home)

 This Hill, This Valley, Hal Borland (excerpts from Borland's long-running nature column in the "New York Times"; Gladys Taber suggested that everyone should have this book at their bedside)

  Bryant & May: Oranges and Lemons, Christopher Fowler (the penultimate in Fowler's delightful mystery series, with the elderly pair and their gang of misfits investigating a mystery that involves a nursery rhyme)

Honorable mentions to:

 The Consequences of Fear, Jacqueline Winspear (next in the Maisie Dobbs series, so always good)

 The Mitford Murders, Jessica Fellows (governess to the famous Mitford sisters helps solve a murder)

 The Story of the British Isles in 100 Places, Neil Oliver (British place hopping always good!)

  Once Upon a Wardrobe, Patti Callihan (a little boy with a heart condition and his older, maths-obsessed sister seek to find out "where Narnia came from")

Books Completed Since December 1

  Light of the World, Amy Jill Levine

 Re-read: Santa Claus: Last of the Wild Men, Phyllis Siefker

 A Lakes Christmas, compiled by Sheila Richardson

 The Case of the Missing Auntie, Michael Hutchinson
I admit, I still watch cartoons if they're good cartoons. And earlier this year PBS debuted a dynamite new series, Molly of Denali, about a Native Alaskan girl and her family and friends. The series opened with a sobering story called "Grandpa's Drum," about Molly's Grandpa Nat, who hasn't sung with the tribe since his childhood, and what happens when Molly finds out why. This entry in "the Mighty Muskrats" series travels similar ground.

This, the second in a new series by Hutchinson, who is a member of the Cree community, revolves around four children, Samuel, Chickadee, Atin, and Otter, cousins who call themselves "the Mighty Muskrats," who live at the Windy Lake reservation. Chickadee's grandfather admits to her that his younger sister Charlotte was taken away from his family in the late 1950s in what they called "scoops"—native children who were adopted (mostly to act as servants) for white people. Now with the Muskrats heading into the big city to go to an exhibition fair, a disturbed Chickadee thinks their first mission should be to try to track down their missing aunt, but the boys are full of anticipation about visiting cousins, going to the fair, and Otter just wants to see his favorite Native band perform.

No sooner are the kids at the much vaunted mall in the crowded, confusing city that they run into Brett, a boy who used to live on the "rez" and who Chickadee secretly had a crush on., and things start to go a little haywire. But Chickadee is still determined, no matter what, to find missing Auntie Charlotte.

This reads like an old-fashioned kids' adventure—the covers even look like a Happy Hollisters book—with modern sensibilities (internet, cell phones, etc.), real-life problems (Native people still coping with terrible laws once enacted by white settlers), and the problems of a usually-overlooked culture. The kids meet good and bad people of all cultures, cope with bureaucracy, find out some hard truths about their past, but also that they can help overcome it.

Maybe because I didn't read the first book the kids don't seem to be as individually fleshed out as I'd like, except for Chickadee (I still don't think I know how old each of them are, except that Atin is the eldest). Otherwise I found this really enjoyable, and a great way to introduce non-Native children to one aspect of Native culture. (The story is set in Canada, but the "residential homes" mentioned were just like the "Indian schools" like that in Carlisle, PA, which ended up with such an evil reputation, and for good reason.)

 A Christmas Party, Georgette Heyer

 The Book of Christmas Folklore, Tristram P. Coffin

 Bells, Spells, and Murder, Carol J. Perry

 Re-read: Merry Midwinter, Gillian Monks

 A Fenland Christmas, compiled by Chris Carling

 Re-read: The Story of Holly and Ivy, Rumer Godden

 Re-read: Sleigh Bells for Windy Foot, Frances Frost

 Re-read: The Tuckers: The Cottage Holiday, Jo Mendel

 Re-read: Dear America: Christmas After All, Kathryn Lasky

 Carols From King's, Alexandra Coghlan

 Ideals Christmas, from the Ideals Publication

 Re-read: A Little House Christmas Treasury, Laura Ingalls Wilder with colorized illustrations by Garth Williams

 Re-read: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Barbara Robinson

 Re-read: The House Without a Christmas Tree, Gail Rock