Module 15 - The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things

Bibliographic Information

Mackler, C. (2003). The earth, my butt, and other big round things. Cambridge: Candlewick Press.

Summary

Virginia Shreves felt like she didn’t belong with her perfect, smart, and thin family.  She thought that she must have been switched with another baby at the hospital the day she was born.  Virginia was upset with herself most of the time because she was fat, had trouble in school and hated athletics.  She often hurt herself, but never enough for anyone to see.  She wrote a fat girl’s code of conduct and rated herself just a little above a dork.

If it weren’t for a wonderful teacher, who understood her feelings, Virginia would have quit school.  School was a struggle, not only with her classes, but being around super-thin girls who make cruel remarks about her.  Her best friend Shannon had just moved, so Virginia felt alone.  Virginia would spend her lunch hour in the bathroom, sitting in a stall, eating Twinkies and reading a magazine.  She wanted to stay away from the crowded lunchroom, where she never had anyone to sit with.  One day she heard three girls talking about her.  One said that she would rather be dead than to be as fat as Virginia.

Virginia liked a boy named Froggy, who played the trombone for the school band.  He started coming over every Monday afternoon.  They enjoyed being together, but they never went anywhere but her bedroom.  She enjoyed his attention, letting him kiss her or place his hand under her blouse.  She always locked the bedroom door, but her parents were never home early.  She was afraid to even speak to him in school because she thought he didn’t want anyone to know they were spending time together.

Her parents should have had some idea about how she felt, but with their busy careers, they didn’t seem to notice.  They did, however, make little remarks about her weight and compared her to Byron, her handsome college brother and Anais, her beautiful skinny sister.  Byron had always been the one who understood Virginia.  Before he went to college they spent hours together.  She adored him.  Anais was older and had joined the Peace Corp.  She was far away in Africa, so Virginia didn’t get to talk to her.

One day, Virginia and Froggy were kissing and making out pretty heavy when her mother came home.  Froggy had to hide under her bed.  Her mom came in and told her to get ready to go for a doctor’s appointment that she had made for her.  When Virginia asked why, her mother told her that she was too fat and needed some help.  Virginia was so embarrassed because she knew Froggy had heard what her mother said.

Virginia went to see Doctor Love and it really wasn’t that bad.  He was very kind and encouraged her to try to be healthy and active.  Virginia started a diet that day.  It was so hard, but she kept at it for several weeks.  Her dad promised her a shopping trip.  Virginia hated to shop.  Her mother always took her to a large size shop called Salon Z where the clothes looked like they were made for an old grandmother.  She wanted something younger and not so plain.

One evening, Virginia was watching TV with her dad while her mother was at exercise class.  Virginia enjoyed being with him, but it was rare.  He always spent his leisure hours with her mother playing golf or traveling.  He usually took Byron to football and basketball games when his office had tickets.  They were having a great time when her dad got a phone call from the college dean where Byron attended.  Byron had been accused of date rape and was being suspended from college.  He would have to move home immediately.  The whole family was shocked.

Virginia couldn’t believe what her brother had done.  It was hard for her to even look at him.  Byron was rude to Virginia after he moved back home, but she didn’t care.  She had had this illusion of him being so great and popular and now she didn’t know what to think.  She got off her diet, and began eating all the time.  She avoided Froggy.  She was just too embarrassed and felt she couldn’t handle any more hurt in her life.

On Thanksgiving, Virginia’s friend Shannon invited her for a weekend in Seattle.  Her parents told her she could not go because they were trying to keep things as normal as possible with Byron’s trouble at college.  A family holiday together was her mother’s idea, but Virginia couldn’t stand to be around Byron.  She was determined to go and purchased her own plane ticket.  When the time came, she insisted they take her to the airport.  Her mother even called the airline to get a refund, but it was too late.  They finally let her go.

When Virginia got to Seattle, she felt like a burden had been lifted.  She and Shannon talked for hours.  They ran around Seattle and enjoyed their time together.  Virginia didn’t even think about her weight.  She enjoyed being friendly and talking to everyone.  Virginia began to feel good about herself.  They decided to do something to commemorate their weekend together.  Virginia gets an eyebrow ring.  Shannon gets her tongue pierced.  “I can’t believe it,” Virginia kept repeating as she stared at her reflection.  It was like she was seeing herself for the first time and it felt very good.  She thought it made her look “unique and interesting”.

Things at home weren’t going too well.  Virginia and her mom were making a lot of snippy comments back and forth.  Her mom even asked her to remove the eyebrow ring, but Virginia told her that “It’s here to stay”.  They go on a shopping trip to a teen shop.  Virginia needed something dressy to wear to one of her mother’s annual Christmas parties.  Nothing seems to fit and the saleslady suggests Salon Z.  Virginia gets so upset, he mom leaves the store.  Virginia kicks the wall leaving an indentation.  She started sobbing and kicks it again breaking her toe.

The next day at school, Virginia can hardly walk.  She decided to go see Dr. Love.  Her toe was broken, so he tapes it up and starts asking her questions about her activities.  He told her that weight is really not the problem.  It’s about feeling good about yourself regardless of your body type.  He suggested that when her toe healed she might try kickboxing.  He said that it was an activity which could help to release anger and build strength and flexibility.

Virginia goes shopping on her own and finds a purple dress that she loves.  Even the saleslady said that it was perfect.  When she brings it home, her mom tells her that purple doesn’t go with her hair.  Virginia decides to go purchase hair dye that matches her dress.  Mom has a fit when she sees the purple hair, but Virginia just grins.  Virginia makes an impressive entrance when she goes to her mom’s Christmas party.  Everyone gushes over her eyebrow ring, purple dress, and hair.  On the way home from the party, her mom tells her that she wished that she would have had the nerve to try something like purple hair when she was younger.  This made Virginia feel very good.

For a New Year’s resolution, she had vowed to do something good for her body and soul.  Virginia starts a kickboxing class.  She couldn’t stand to think about starting another diet.  She is actually excited about going back to school after the holiday break.  She has a plan to start a webzine where people can talk about whatever is on their minds, and has several students who are interested in helping her with this project

Everyone likes her purple hair and even the skinny girls compliment her eyebrow ring.  She even has the nerve to speak to Froggy in front of some people in the hall.  She finally decides not to let her big size ruin or control her life.  She breaks a few rules on her fat girl’s code of conduct and realizes that things are not as bad as she had made them out to be.

Impressions

A lot of memories of my teenage years came back to me as I read this book.  I felt so much pain for Virginia.  Teens have so much pressure, regardless of their size, and they struggle with self esteem and low self-image.  There were a few sexual issues in this story, but with careful wording it didn’t sound too vulgar.  I would recommend this story for older teens.

Reviews

"You can tell that Ani is angry, but at the same time she's also funny and strong and sassy." Though she's talking about punk folksinger Ani DiFranco, fifteen-year-old Virginia could easily be describing herself. Unfortunately, Virginia buries her anger (toward her picture-perfect but dysfunctional family) and is unable to see herself as anything but a fat girl who's kind of smart. When her brother Byron, whom she worships, is found guilty of date rape, Virginia finally begins to acknowledge what her older sister Anais has tried to tell her: that Byron and their parents are far from perfect. Virginia's transition from an insecure girl desperate for her family's approval to a confident young woman might be a little messagey, but it's believable, and she doesn't do it on her own. Support comes from her best friend, from a teacher with eating-disorder experience, from a doctor who stresses health not weight and recommends channeling anger through kick-boxing, and even from the college student her brother assaulted. Readers will cheer Virginia on when she tells her father not to comment on her weight loss ("my body [is] just not yours to discuss"); tells her brother he's "an asshole for date-raping someone"; ignores clothing advice from her appearance-obsessed mother (who recommends "strategic layers and camouflaging colors") and buys a sexy purple dress instead; and realizes that the guy she's been making out with behind closed doors actually wants to kiss her in public. Mackler does a fine job introducing girls to a very cool chick with a little meat on her bones.

(2003, September/October). [Review of The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things]. Horn Book. Retrieved from http://www.hbook.com/magazine/reviews/single/sep03_mackler.asp

Froggy Welsh the Fourth is trying to get up my shirt," begins this eminently accessible journey from self-hatred to confidence. Virginia is 15 and likes fooling around with Froggy, but she's mortified by her fatness, a shame fueled continually by her emotionally distant and pressuring family. Has she been switched at birth? Why isn't she perfect like her adored, overachieving older brother? But her brother isn't perfect after all, and he commits a horrifying act that rocks her world-and prompts her to begin questioning her family's values. Readers will be rooting for Virginia all the way as she moves from isolated TV-watcher to Website-creator with purple hair and an eyebrow ring. Sexuality, refreshingly, is treated as a good thing. Virginia's emotions progress from despondence to anger, joy, and strong independence, all portrayed with clarity. An easy read with substance and spirit. (Fiction. YA)

(2003, June 15). [Review of The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things]. Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved from http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/childrens-books/carolyn-mackler/the-earth-my-butt-and-other-big-round-things/?spdy=2003#review

Library Use

Librarians could use this book in a book club for teen girls discussing issues that teenage girls face.

Book Trailer by Diana Pemberton

Module 14 - Tap Dancing on the Roof

Bibliographic Information

            Park, L.S. (2007). Tap dancing on the roof. New York: Clarion Books.

Summary

This is a book of very witty and cute poems which are written in a Korean form of poetry called sijo.  There is an explanation and history of sijo at the beginning of the book which helped to explain its format.  Some of the poems had a surprise or twist at the end of them.

These poems deal with small experiences of everyday life.  Breakfast, Long Division, School Lunch, and Art Class were very cute with a new way to look at common things.  October was a good one, and I could almost feel the leaves blowing in the wind.  Each poem was unique in its own way. 

The November Thursday poem was my favorite, with the memory of a turkey and pie and needing my stomach to “S-T-R-E-T-C-H.”  The Laundry poem was also good with the mention of a joyful reunion of socks.  Who hasn’t had to match up socks and is happy when a match is found?  I enjoyed all the poems in this book and was glad to get to know a little about the sijo form of poetry.

Impressions

I would recommend this cute little poem book for all ages.  The sijo poems are written about everyday life.  They are fun and easy to understand.  The illustrations are done in gray and black with a touch of color.  It was very interesting to learn about this Korean form of poetry.

Reviews

“Sijo,” Park tells readers of this beguiling wee book, “is a traditional Korean form of poetry. . . . The first line introduces the topic. The second line develops [it]. And the third line always contains some kind of twist.” Thus, “Pockets”: “What’s in your pockets right now? I hope they’re not empty: / Empty pockets, unread books, lunches left on the bus—all a waste. / In mine: One horse chestnut. One gum wrapper. One dime. One hamster.” Some sijo rhyme, some use six short lines instead of three long. All provide an intriguing glimpse into an art form that, like haiku, seems simple but is in fact exacting. The poems spring from roots in a child’s everyday life, from school to the out-of-doors to sports to homey activities, each inviting readers to examine their familiar world in new and surprising ways. Banyai’s whimsical decorations evoke the early 20th century, tiny moppets clad in knee pants gamboling about the page, adding their own droll commentary to the verses. A concluding note provides background, resources and tips for readers to try their own sijo. Fresh and collegial, this offering stands out. (Picture book/poetry. 9-12)

(2007, September 1). [Review of Tap Dancing on the Roof]. Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved from http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/childrens-books/linda-sue-park/tap-dancing-on-the-roof/?spdy=2007

Similar to the Japanese haiku, the Korean sijo packs image, metaphor and surprise into three long (or six short) lines with a fixed number of syllables: “Lightning jerks the sky awake to take her photograph, flash!/ Which draws grumbling complaints or even crashing tantrums from thunder—/ He hates having his picture taken, so he always gets there late.” Newbery Medalist Park’s (A Single Shard ) sijo skip lightly from breakfast (“warm, soft, and delicious—a few extra minutes in bed”) to bedtime (about bathing: “From a tiled cocoon, a butterfly with terry-cloth wings”), with excursions to the backyard, the classroom, and the beach (“Are all the perfect sand dollars locked away somewhere—in sand banks?”). The sijo’s contours are clean and spare, qualities echoed in the blue-gray, black and white architecture and crisp shadows of Banyai’s (Zoom ) digital illustrations. In the spirit of Park’s experiments with this verse form, Banyai’s miniature children bounce through a series of imaginative leaps unencumbered by the rules of the real world. They sleep in teacups, grow wings and fly among the flowers, snip mathematical equations to bits with gigantic pairs of scissors, and wreak havoc with bottles of ink. Park wants readers to try sijo for themselves, and in an extensive author’s note she offers history, advice and encouragement; her own sijo and Banyai’s cheeky images will supply the motivation. Ages 9-12. (Oct.)

(2007, October 15). [Review of Tap Dancing on the Roof]. Publishers Weekly. Retrieved from http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-618-23483-7

Library Use

Librarians could use this book in a poetry unit.  It could also be compared to and contrasted with other different types of poetry, such as Haiku.

Module 13 - Junie B. Jones Has a Monster Under Her Bed

Bibliographic Information

            Park, B. (1997). Junie B. Jones has a monster under her bed. New York: Random House, Inc.

Summary

Junie B. Jones is a kindergarten student that is frightened of monsters.  She tries to get her classmates to agree with her that there are no such things as monsters, but they just feed right into her fear by telling her that they do believe in monsters and that they probably live under her bed.  They also have her convinced that you can tell the monsters have been in your room at night because the monsters leave slobber on your pillow when they have been trying to fit your head into their mouths. 

     Junie comes up with some clever ideas to get rid of the monster including having mother bash it in the head with the broom just like she does to other bugs, and having grandmother vacuum it up and smash the vacuum cleaner bag with the car.  Junie refuses to go to bed and then crawls into her baby brother’s crib (and puts him down on the floor) thinking she could escape the monster that way.  She sneaks into her parents’ room, and gets caught repeatedly and returned to her own bed each time.

     On Junie’s worst night of all, she wakes up with drool on her pillow and decides that the monster has been practicing on her.  The next day the class school photos come back from the photographer.  Junie had not been prepared for the pictures and finds that she has her face in horrible poses for each of her pictures.  In exasperation, when sitting on the side of her bed with her horrible pictures she gets the idea to throw the pictures under the bed and scare the monster away with the theory that her face in the picture is just as scary as any monster. 

Impressions

This story is very humorous.  It takes normal childhood fears and twists them around in a way that should make children laugh.  I enjoyed the story when she tries to explain that her daddy told her there was no such things as monsters and one of the other children explains to her that parents have to say that and that is why moms and dads sleep together so that they can protect each other.  I also got a good chuckle when Junie explains that her mother was talking to her very scary with her teeth gritted together.  A parent reading this story aloud to a child would have to be careful that the story didn’t reopen the whole “fear of monster” thing, but overall most children will and parents will have a good laugh at Junie and all of her ideas to get rid of the monsters.

Reviews

Gr 2-3--Junie's kindergarten classmates convince her that an invisible monster lives under her bed. Her parents and grandmother are unable to convince her otherwise until Junie hits upon the idea of putting her unflattering school picture under the bed to frighten the monster. In Junie B. Jones Is Not a Crook, the little girl discovers that "finders keepers losers weepers" is not an appealing philosophy when she loses the special gloves her grandfather gave her and the child who finds them doesn't take them to the lost and found. Junie's first-person narration is sprinkled with deliberate grammatical errors and misunderstood word usage in an attempt to show a five-year-old's viewpoint ("I runned home," "They got stoled on purpose."). Precocious use of sophisticated language is also used to achieve an intended humorous effect. The black-and-white, full- and half-page illustrations reflect Junie's cockeyed view of the world and will help attract beginning chapter-book readers. The issues the child is dealing with are right on target for the intended age group, but Junie's personality is more annoying than endearing and the humor lacks freshness and spontaneity.

(1997, November). [Review of Junie B. Jones Has a Monster Under Her Bed]. School Library Journal.

Library Use

This would be a great introduction to chapter books for young readers.  The librarian could use any Junie B. Jones book for a read-a-loud to be continued during library time until the book is finished.

Module 12 - The Boy on Fairfield Street

Bibliographic Information

            Krull, K. (2004). The boy on Fairfield Street. New York: Random House.

Summary

This is a biography about Ted Geisel and how he came to be known as Dr. Seuss.  Ted Geisel was born in 1904.  He lived with family in Springfield, Massachusetts.  He loved books and animals.  His father was the director of the zoo, so Ted spent many hours there.  His mother always made sure he had plenty of books to read.  Her dream for Ted was for him to be the first to get into college and become a doctor.  Ted had a great imagination and loved to doodle and draw on his walls in his bedroom.  He drew imaginary creatures and whatever popped into head.

Ted’s grandparents were German immigrants, so the Geisels were considered outsiders.  Ted could speak German as well as English.  He was often teased and bullied at school.  During World War I, no one questioned his patriotism because he was in the Boy Scouts.  He became one of the top selling Scouts by walking door to door selling United States Liberty Bonds to support the war effort.  He was supposed to receive an award with nine other Scouts, but a mistake was made.  Former president Theodore Roosevelt was presenting the ribbons and ran out just as he got to Ted.  Roosevelt blurted, “What’s this little boy doing here?”  Ted was guided offstage without an award.  Ted avoided being in public after that day.

In high school, Ted would rather doodle than take notes in class.  He played banjo, wrote stories and drew cartoons for the school paper.  He could easily make his classmates laugh.  Ted was clearly gifted, though no one knew at exactly what.  He was discouraged by the art teacher in school for his unusual drawings.  She thought he was just fooling around with his art.  He quit the art class.

Ted went to college at Darmouth, but was voted “Least Likely to Succeed” by his classmates.  It was during this time that Ted started writing for a magazine using his mother’s maiden name “Seuss.”  This was also his middle name.  He started signing all of his work after that time with “Dr. Seuss.”

After a while, he met a young lady who encouraged him with one of his drawings of a flying cow.  This helped to “put the world into focus for Ted.”  Ted married that young lady named Helen Palmer when he was twenty three.  She never stopped encouraging him.

His career was off and on during that time.  He kept up his cartoon and advertising work as well as trying out children’s book ideas.  His books were written from his experiences from childhood, such as the zoo, parades, neighbors, and even a street.  He wrote a book called “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,” which was written when he was thirty three.  The book didn’t make much money, but the reviews were good.

In 1957, Dr. Seuss wrote The Cat in the Hat.  This book was written using a list of words first graders needed to learn to read.  That same year How the Grinch Stole Christmas was published.  In the career of Dr. Seuss, his books sold hundreds of millions of copies.  They were the bestselling children’s books ever.

Impressions

This is a great biography.  I enjoyed the story and learned things about Dr. Seuss I had never heard before.  I always thought his drawings were a little different, but enjoyed his books.  This book can encourage children to follow their dreams, even with discouragement along the way.  This book follows Dr. Seuss from his childhood and college years, and ends with him moving on as a cartoonist and finally a successful children’s book author.  The paintings in this book along with the cartoons by Dr. Seuss help make it enjoyable.  I would recommend it for all ages.

Reviews

“Once upon a time, there lived a boy who feasted on books and was wild about animals.” So begins this young biography of Dr. Seuss. Taunted at school because he was German, his escapes were drawing, the comics he loved, and the zoo, where his father was the parks superintendent in Springfield, Mass. His high-school art teacher warned him he’d never be successful at art; in Dartmouth he was voted “Class Artist and Class Wit,” and he left Oxford to draw and write verse. Truly only about his youth, the narrative ends at age 22, when Seuss goes to New York City to launch his career. Four following pages provide a synopsis of his life and a timeline up to his death in 1991. Bordered, full-page oil-on-gessoed-paper illustrations evoke pertinent scenes, while spot art of Seuss drawings dot the opposite pages. Some of these original images are absolutely haunting; the magic of his name will make this a huge hit, but it’s the lively writing that puts the hat on the cat. (bibliography, citations, Web sites) (Picture book/biography. 7-11)

(2003, December 15). [Review of The Boy on Fairfield Street]. Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved from http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/childrens-books/kathleen-krull/the-boy-on-fairfield-street/?spdy=2004

Just in time for Dr. Seuss's one hundredth birthday comes this biographical tribute, an affectionate survey centered on Ted Geisel's boyhood, plus a bit on his brush with higher education (neither Dartmouth College, where he was voted "Least Likely to Succeed," nor Oxford University engaged his full attention), concluding with the first months of his career. Four additional pages summarize the high points and pivotal moments of his entire life in somewhat more detail, but the real story here is of a boy who couldn't stop doodling, who "feasted on books and was wild about animals," and who "excelled at fooling around." Krull does a good job of linking such early propensities with what turned up later, visually and thematically, in Geisel's books. Johnson and Fancher provide nostalgic full-page paintings that nicely recall illustrations of the period; a wealth of adroitly chosen vignettes from Seuss's own books (listed at the end) illuminate points made in the text (teenage Ted "knew his art broke the rules," observes Krull on a page sporting a gleefully determined race car-driving fish from One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish). Fans are sure to enjoy meeting the irrepressible man behind the ever-popular books.

(2004, January). [Review of The Boy on Fairfield Street]. Hornbook.

Library Use

This could be used as an introduction to biographies, a study on children’s authors, or in celebration of Dr. Seuss’ birthday.

Module 11 - Leonardo's Horse

Bibliographic Information

            Fritz, J. (2001). Leonardo’s horse. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons.

Summary

This is a story about the life of Leonard da Vinci and his dream to build a statue of a large bronze horse.  Leonardo da Vinci has been mostly remembered in history for his paintings of Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, but he had a dream of building a bronze horse.  He knew that he could do the job and be able to put his mark on history.  He studied horses and learned where every muscle was.  He wanted the horse to be perfect.  Events beyond his control prevented Leonard from completing the job.  He died in 1519 grieving for his horse.

Hundreds of years later, in 1977, Charlie Dent read a story about Leonardo’s unfinished horse.  Charlie was also an artist and art lover.  He decided to try to complete the project and make the horse a gift to the people of Italy form the American people.  He built a special building with a dome roof, tall enough for the statue.  He studied horses just like Leonardo.  He worked very hard on the project, but became very ill and died in 1994 before he could complete the statue.

Charlie’s friends knew what this project meant to him, and they wanted to see his dream fulfilled.  They contacted a sculptor named Nina Akamu.  She agreed to finish the project and soon it became her dream too.  Using her talent after many years of study in Italy, she was able to carry on the dream.

In 1999, the bronze statue was finally unveiled in Milan.  Nina had written in tiny letters “Leonardo da Vinci” on the pupil of one eye of the horse.  One the other eye, she had written “Charles Dent.”  She put her own name in the curly mane of the horse.  The dream had taken five hundred years to complete.

Impressions

An interesting feature of this book is its shape.  It has a half circle on top of the book.  This domelike shape is perfect with the illustrations by Hudson Talbott.  The history, pictures, and the story are very interesting.  There is also a step-by-step chart showing how a sculpture is made.  This book is a great tribute to the talent and imagination of Leonardo da Vinci.

Review

A veteran writer of lively biographies has turned her attention to quite an engaging story: the biography of an equine sculpture. She starts with Leonardo da Vinci and his fascination with everything—drawing, sketching, writing, and musing—and with making: sculpture, weapons, even party tricks. He made a 24-foot-high clay model of a horse for the Duke of Milan, but before it could be cast, French archers and rain destroyed it. This haunted Leonardo for the rest of his life. It haunted American Charles Dent in the 1970s, also, and he vowed to produce Leonardo’s horse as a gift from the American people to the people of Italy. He died in 1994, but sculptor Nina Akamu and a host of others kept his promise. In typical Fritz (Why Not, Lafayette?, 1999, etc.) fashion, her story is filled with engaging details of Leonardo’s personality and his world. Likewise, the contemporary process by which the horse was created and cast is described with enough detail to fascinate but not to bore. Talbott (Forging Freedom, 2000, etc.) uses mixed media and collage to create his illustrations, which range from utterly recognizable scenes of Florence to the ghostly horses at Leonardo’s deathbed. The contemporary images are drawn with as much spirit and vitality as the Renaissance ones. An unusual biography for young people, and one well worth poring over, its format is also noteworthy. It has a rounded top, giving the artist ample opportunity for the dome under which the horse was built as well as a chance to explore a unique way of picturing a unique world. Together, Fritz and Talbott have forged an extraordinary tribute to two dreamers 500 years apart. (author’s note, Web site) (Biography. 7-12)

(2001, September 15). [Review of Leonardo’s Horse]. Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved from http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/childrens-books/jean-fritz/leonardos-horse/?spdy=2001

Library Use

This book could be considered a type of biography, informational book, and a story for the entertainment of readers about a dream that continued through various people until finished.  It is a unique combination, and students in the library will enjoy a discussion about multiple genres deciphering what qualities make the book like a biography, an informational book, or for entertainment.

Module 10 - Elijah of Buxton

Bibliographic Information

            Curtis, C.P. (2007). Elijah of Buxton. New York: Scholastic Press.

Summary

Elijah Buxton is an eleven year old boy that lives in the Elgin Settlement at Raleigh in Canada West.  The settlers refer to this as the town of Buxton.  The story takes place in the 1860’s.  Elijah was the first child in the settlement that was born free.  The story is based on a true historical site called Buxton that was established in 1849 by a white minister named Reverend William King and fifteen slaves and six escaped slaves.

In the story, one of the escaped slaves (Mr. Leroy) has been working for years clearing land for the town.  He is given several hundred dollars to help in his endeavor to buy his family out of slavery.  Mr. Leroy cannot go get his family himself, because he will probably be caught and put back into slavery himself.  So, he hires another man (Preacher), whom Elijah has recommended, to do the job.  Elijah’s dad does not trust Preacher and begs Mr. Leroy to take another man along.  Preacher ends up shooting the other man and running off with the money.  Elijah feels responsible for all the problems with Mr. Leroy’s money because he is the one that said Preacher was an honest man.  When Elijah really thought about how many lies and tricks Preacher had actually played on him as well as other townspeople, he should have spoken up and said that Preacher was not an honest man after all.  Mr. Leroy and Elijah take off after Preacher, but Mr. Leroy dies of a heart attack just as they get to the town that Preacher has last been in.  Elijah decides that he will find Preacher anyway and will get the money back because he just can’t believe that Preacher would be so dishonest.  On his search for Preacher, he enters a dark, broken down barn and discovers his own worst nightmare.  Although he has spent his life listening to his parents and the other townspeople speaking of the horrors of slavery, Elijah thought that it was mostly exaggerated tales until he entered that barn.  In the barn, he found a woman with a small child, her husband and two African men and one African boy a little younger than himself.  These six slaves had been attempting to cross into Ontario in order to be free.  They were just about an hour from the border when they had been recaptured, chained and thrown into the barn.  They had not been fed, nor had they had any water.  Elijah tried desperately to help them escape and came up with some great plans, but to no avail.  Elijah also found Preacher hanging in the barn.  He had been beaten to death and had the money that he stole, stolen from him.  The only way that Elijah could help these poor slaves was to leave them Preacher’s revolver with six shots.  The reader is left imagining that the woman is either going to kill the slavers or that she is going to kill her husband, the other slaves, and herself as a release from slavery.  The woman gives her baby girl to Elijah for him to take back to Buxton so that the baby can grow up free.  When Elijah crosses the river and is back in Canada, he makes plans for the baby girl’s future.

Impressions

The story is full of humor.  Anyone that is afraid of snakes will love the opening chapter and will thoroughly enjoy reading about Elijah’s fear of snakes and the irrational ways that his parents try to help him get over the fear.   At times, Elijah is very responsible for his age.  He goes to school, and although he isn’t one of the brightest, he does value his education.  He also works every afternoon in the livery stable and often helps Mr. Leroy clear land.  But there are glimpses of his youth throughout the story, too, such as the tricks he plays on his mom to supposedly help her get over her fear of frogs, and the whopping lies he writes when he decides to run away and help Mr. Leroy find Preacher.  Elijah grows up drastically in the end of the book.  The horrors he faces in the barn force him to become more mature.  The last chapter of the book is so sad.  The mother and father kissing their baby goodbye and telling her to have a better life was very touching.

Review

Eleven-year-old Elijah Freeman is known for two things: being the first child born free in Buxton, Canada, and throwing up on the great Frederick Douglass. It’s 1859, in Buxton, a settlement for slaves making it to freedom in Canada, a setting so thoroughly evoked, with characters so real, that readers will live the story, not just read it. This is not a zip-ahead-and-see-what-happens-next novel. It’s for settling into and savoring the rich, masterful storytelling, for getting to know Elijah, Cooter and the Preacher, for laughing at stories of hoop snakes, toady-frogs and fish-head chunking and crying when Leroy finally gets money to buy back his wife and children, but has the money stolen. Then Elijah journeys to America and risks his life to do what’s right. This is Curtis’s best novel yet, and no doubt many readers, young and old, will finish and say, “This is one of the best books I have ever read.” (author’s note) (Fiction. 9+)

(2007, August 15). [Review of Elijah of Buxton]. Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved from http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/childrens-books/christopher-paul-curtis/elijah-of-buxton/?spdy=2007

Library Use

This book could be used as an introduction to historical fiction, as well as in a study of slavery for middle school or high school students.

Module 9 - The Face on the Milk Carton

Bibliographic Information

            Cooney, C. B. (1990). The face on the milk carton. New York: Detacorte Press.

Summary

This is a story about a fifteen year old girl named Janie Johnson.  She had what they called “fabulous red hair with curls glinting gold.”  She was an only child and had always wondered where her red hair came from, since her mom and dad didn’t look like her. 

She would soon start driving lessons, and needed her birth certificate to complete her application.  Every time she asked her mother about it, she was told it was in the safety deposit box at the bank.  Her mother was always too busy to get it for her.  Janie noticed that there were no pictures of her anywhere in the house from birth until she was about three years old.  She asked her mom and dad about it, but they said they had no camera.  She thought that was strange because every store in their town had a photography studio.  She wondered why they didn’t take her for pictures. 

One day when she was eating lunch at school, she noticed a picture on her friend’s milk carton of a missing child.  She spoke out loud that the little girl looked just like her.  No one seemed to notice, so she took the carton, flattened it, and put it in her notebook.  Janie kept looking at it and wondering why it seemed so familiar to her.  She had daydreams, or what she called “day mares” about the pretty polka-dot dress that the girl was wearing in the picture.  She could see a set of twins in high chairs, and other children running around a large kitchen in her mind.  Why had she never thought about these people before? 

The name on the carton was Jennie Spring from a small town in New Jersey.  A phone number was listed on the carton, and several times Janie called the number, but got scared and hung up.  She loved her parents and her home, and didn’t want to believe that she was someone other than Janie Johnson. 

One day she talked her friend Reeve into skipping school and driving her over to the small town in New Jersey.  They found a phone booth and looked up the name of Spring in the phone book.  Since it was a small town, there was only one listed.  They got the address and went by the house just as the school bus stopped in front.  Out of the bus came four children toward the house with bright red hair.  Janie also saw the twins.  Reeve told her it could be a coincidence that they all had red hair, but she was still upset, and they decided to go home.

After that day, Janie looked for more clues.  She loved her parents and she knew they loved her, but she could not keep from remembering little bits of things she knew were real.  She went up into the attic while her parents were gone one day.  In the corner, she found an old trunk with a rusty lock.  It broke when she tried to open it.  She was very surprised when she looked in the trunk.  There were pictures of a little girl named Hannah.  She looked through all of the things in the trunk, and noticed there was something wrapped in tissue at the bottom of the trunk.  She pulled it out.  It was the polka-dot dress like the one in the picture.  That evening she asked her mom and dad about who she was, and who Hannah was.  At first, they just sat and looked at her, and then her mother told her that Hannah was their daughter, and that she was actually their granddaughter.  Her mom told her that Hannah had ran away several years ago, and joined a religious cult called Hare Krishnia.  They tried everything to keep her out, but even the police could not keep Hannah from returning to the cult. 

One day Hannah showed up at the door with a little girl by her side.  She told her parents that the little girl was hers and that the father was a leader of the cult.  Hannah wanted her to be protected even if she could not save herself.  Her parents took the little girl and moved away, so that the cult would never be able to find the little girl.  The little girl was Janie.  The mother told Janie that they lost contact with Hannah and raised her as their own child, protecting her as best as they knew how.

Janie had mixed feelings about this, but was relieved to know that the people that raised her were not kidnappers.  Still, she kept in the back of her mind the memories of the picture and the polka-dot dress.

Her friend Reeve told his sister who was a pre-law student about this odd situation of Janie and her parents.  His sister told Janie to check out the kidnapping in the library archives of old newspapers.  She soon discovered that Hannah was probably the one who kidnapped her.  She actually remembered a nice girl who bought her an ice cream at a malt shop when she was three.  Because she was so nice, Janie left with her.  Janie told her parents about this, and they decided they would contact the family in New Jersey.  Janie knew she always be their daughter, but she wanted to reach out to the family she was kidnapped from.

Impressions

I enjoyed this book.  It kept me interested until the end.  The story line was easy to follow and the characters seemed real.  I felt sad about some of the parts, and happy about others.  Overall, I would recommend this book for an interesting read.

Review

One brief glance at a face on a milk carton turns 15-year-old Janie's life upside-down. For there, looking out from the picture of a missing child, is the face of Janie as she was 12 years ago. Was she kidnapped by her own parents? But who are her real parents and who is she? Follow Janie as she struggles to learn the truth of her identity and regain control of her life without destroying the lives of those she loves.

S., K. (n.d.). [Review of The Face on the Milk Carton]. Charlotte Mecklenburg Library. Retrieved from http://www.plcmc.lib.nc.us/readers_club/reviews/tresults.asp?id=1054

Library Use

This mystery book along with others can be used in the library for discussing qualities of mystery books, and what makes them interesting to readers.  Students can then create their own mystery stories with partners or in groups and have classmates read their creations.