When I downloaded this book, I wasn’t sure what it would contain but I have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised. What J.C. Dublin has done is gathered together a daily record of facts, occurrences, natural phenomena, history…I could list them all but I am sure that the general idea has been received. And he has done this for every day of the first six months of the year.
Each page contains a date (and they are obviously listed in chronological order, like a journal) and under the heading “On this day in…”, Dublin has briefly described something memorable that happened on that day in an earlier year. This is followed by “Dive In” where the event is expanded on and then “Speak Up” where the journal holder is invited to write something, the stimulus being created from ideas suggested by the previous two headings. The author has then provided some lines for musings to be recorded by the journal owner and then, at the bottom of the page is “Act Out”, a linked piece of advice that prompts the journal owner into challenging themselves. Each month then ends with an “Outro” for further reflection.
Oh, how I wished to be a young girl again with my trusty pencil and head bursting with ideas! Actually, I wholeheartedly indulged in some of the discussion points that Dublin instigated in my head whilst I was reading it. For example, January 16th deals with Donald Trump’s impeachment trial commencing and the “Speak Up” prompt is “Even if you knew that impeaching a President would not likely remove him or her from office, would you still vote to impeach if you were convinced that person did something wrong?” What a great question! Thought-provoking in the way that it is worded as well as being a great subject to start a debate. In fact, I would argue that this book could be used as a teaching tool as the way that it is presented provides starting points for lots of instruction to broaden a child’s knowledge and get them thinking about issues and events that have been fundamental to the past, from ancient worlds to more contemporary ones, and indeed, fairly recent dilemmas that people have faced as described in the example above.
This book is simple in its purpose and accessible. I think that it is an inspiring idea, well done. It is also not solely for girls although I believe that Dublin may have already geared other books to boys under the same structure and I am pleased that he has, although it would be interesting to see what alternative facts he has chosen to include for them.
Most of this review was first published on Reedsy Discovery where I was privileged to read it as an ARC.
Scuffed Granny 