SNEAK PEEK PREVIEW: Bird in a Box

Bird in a Box by Andrea Davis Pinkney; published by Little, Brown & Co., New York; 2011.

Note: This review is based on an e-book ARC (advance reader copy) provided for free by the publisher.  The publication information is subject to change.  Expected release date: April 12, 2011.

As the images* and names indicate at the beginning of each chapter and sub-chapter, Bird in a Box is a story told from the perspectives of three 12 year olds: Hibernia “Bernie” Lee Tyson, Willie and Otis.  All three have suffered tremendous losses in their young lives.  They all have a few things in common: African-American heritage, Ms. Lila Weiss at the Mercy Home for Negro Orphans, and Joe Louis (The Brown Bomber).  Ms. Pinkney’s historical fiction gives us a glimpse of life for African-Americans during the Depression Era (1936-1937).

For me, one line from “Amazing Grace” kept repeating, almost an earworm, as I read: “I once was lost but now am found.”  Each soul in this book is searching for something, and as the back cover closed, I felt that they had found that something (or at least were on the path to making life better).  This is one uplifting snapshot of American history and will stay with me for a very long time.

Pinkney has succeeded in creating individual voices for the three main characters.  Using vernacular certainly put us in the minds of each.  Quoting real radio coverage of the Brown Bomber’s fights was also an important tool in setting the emotional and physical setting.  In the author’s note at the beginning of the book, the inspiration for the story is divulged; I believe the author has respected her family’s history and let us all sit at the table to hear the stories for ourselves.  In addition to the author’s note at the beginning, the book includes short biographies of each of the real people mentioned in the book.  A list of resources, in print and moving images, will help extend the story for many readers.

I would recommend this to upper elementary aged students (maybe as young as grade 3, definitely for grades 4-6).  Fans of the American Girl series should be encouraged to read this.  And reluctant boy readers will enjoy it from a sports-history perspective.  I would love to see this as a made-for-TV movie at the very least; there is so much heart and history to absorb!

*Final art was not available in the ARC I reviewed.  Any comments are based on the sketches included in the e-book.

Heavens to Murgatroyd! Countdown historical fiction is the bomb!

Countdown: The Sixties Trilogy, Book One by Deborah Wiles; published by Scholastic, New York; 2010.

Fall of 1962.  Khrushchev and Kennedy are in a Bay of Pigs stand-off.  Tension is mounting.  At school, Bert the Turtle is reminding children to “Duck and Cover” in case the Soviets bomb the neighborhood.  Franny Chapman, a fifth grader, is struggling with her own fears.  Her family is new to the Washington, D.C. suburb so friendships are a fragile commodity.  Her father is a fighter pilot in charge of protecting Airforce One and the President of the United States; her mother is overly concerned with appearances and polite society; sister Jo Ellen is a college student that disappears; and brother Drew is  a third grader aspiring to be an astronaut.  Uncle Otts, her pseudo-grandfather, is struggling with issues that seem like a cross between Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Alzheimer’s.  Heavens to Murgatroyd, it’s enough to send a girl into a bunker for a lifetime.  So much is going on in Franny’s life!

OK, so enough about the storyline.  There is deep, rich history interspersed, real primary sources (like transcripts of actual broadcasts and photographs) and tastes of the time (like song lyrics and biographies of important politicians and musicians).  How do you categorize a book like this?  Wiles describes it as a documentary novel and I like that; I’d go so far as to add “edutaining” documentary novel to the descriptor.

For me, Countdown reads like The Invention of Hugo Cabret and The Green Glass Sea. The end pages are rippled, like the grooves in an old lp or 45 recording.  Often the concentric circles, like on an old record or even like sound waves, are used in the graphics behind the non-fiction portions of the book.  Portrait photographs, images of the ships surrounding Cuba,  song lyrics, biographies, transcripts, all work together to set the historical backdrop of Franny’s story.  I had to read the book twice to squeeze out all the information and entertainment I could get.  If it were up to me, I’d quickly add this book to the short list for the Newbery Medal.

Although Countdown is nominated for YALSA’s 2011 Best Fiction for Young Adults, I think this book is appropriate for upper middle school students.  It’s like Brian Selznick’s The Invention of Hugo Cabret; written, perhaps, for an upper-elementary to early middle school crowd, but certainly appealing to young adults.  With its “documentary novel” style, this book works for a very wide-range of readers.  I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a Newbery nominee in addition to some YALSA nominations!

I’d definitely add this book to a list of superior historical fiction.  I think I’d also create a booklist highlighting uniquely crafted books, including Countdown and The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Of course it’s a natural for a display about the early 1960′s, with a couple of CDs (of course, including Del Shannon’s Runaway) as well as nonfiction about the political, social and entertainment settings.

Library heroes

Finding Lincoln, written by Ann Malaspina, illustrated by Colin Bootman; published by Albert Whitman & Company, Morton Grove, Illinois; 2009.

Heroes come in many shapes and sizes.  In 1951 Alabama, segregation included the public libraries.  Louis, an inquisitive student, desperately needs a book about President Lincoln as a boy.  No resources are available to him: his teacher and the satellite library at his church did not have what he needed for his report.  The young man, trembling inside, steps into the white-only library.  Two librarians were working; one angrily pointed to the segregation sign; one led him to the door, and whispered, “Come back tomorrow after 5:00.”  That night, the librarian’s hand trembled as she made a temporary library card for the young man.  Louis and the librarian took a shaky first step on the path to equality.

Malaspina’s story is compelling, truthful and moving.  She has a style that draws the students in without condescending or reaching over their heads.  Bootman’s illustrations tell more of the story.  The action spills off the pages in realistic snippets of the story.  Faces express every emotion Malaspina weaves with words.  Together, words and pictures build a setting that seems so, so real.

Students in upper elementary and even middle school should be using this book in social studies classes; perhaps it could be part of cross-curricular activities when students learn about Martin Luther King, Jr. or the Civil Rights Movement.  Maybe it could be paired with The Watsons Go to Birmingham (by Christopher Paul Curtis) for sixth graders.  In fact, there is even biographical information about Abraham Lincoln!  This book would be appropriate to display in February: covering both Presidents’ Day and Black History Month.  How many other books could do that?!

Nothing prickly about The Porcupine Year

The Porcupine Year by Louise Erdrich; published by HarperCollins, New York; 2008.

I didn’t realize that this is a sequel to two other books when I chose to read it.  Without reading the preceding books, I was able to garner enough information from the prologue to follow the story.  The Porcupine Year could stand on its own.  It is the engrossing tale of Omakayas, a twelve year old Ojibwe whose family was displaced from their Lake Superior home.  In 1852, they were forced to flee across Minnesota to find a new home among other Native Americans.

Even in this historical setting, this is truly the story of a young girl coming of age—growing from a playful child to new woman over the course of a year.  She suffers loss, finds new love, and struggles with her family.  I was swept away by the rhythm of the prose.  I felt like I was eavesdropping on a family in another world.  I understand why Erdrich’s books about Omakaya have been recognized with honors and awards (the second book won the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction).

I would pair this book with other stories of Native American children, including The Beaded Moccasins by Lynda Durrant (historical fiction about Mary Campbell), especially to support the upper elementary curriculum.

In fact, I did add this to a pathfinder for Ohio Native Americans for fourth graders as part of my practicum project.

Pay a visit to the Green Glass Sea

The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages; published by Viking, Penguin Young Readers Group, New York; 2006.

Dewey Kerrigan has bounced from relative to relative but is finally going to live with her father in a secret location in New Mexico.  She enjoys inventing “gadgets” out of scraps and discovers that her father has been working on a gadget himself—the atom bomb.  As the book opens, it is 1943, and we follow Dewey, her enemy-cum-best-friend Suze, their parents and all the scientists in Los Alamos as they work toward the ultimate weapon to end World War II.  Although this is historical fiction, we get to eavesdrop on two girls who are struggling with peer pressure, being different than others, and great loss.  Upper elementary aged children, and even middle schoolers, will identify with Dewey or Suze as well as learn a little bit of history.

I would pair this with the American Girl books about Molly, non-fiction about the era, and Molly’s movie in an educational box about the second world war.  I would also be sure to include it on pathfinders about that era.

Loved the movie, loved the book more

Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan; published by Scholastic, New York, 1996.

Anna and Caleb’s father has found a mail-order bride. Sarah, who describes herself as plain and tall, arrives in Kansas from her home along the Maine coast.  The story follows the development of love from loss from the perspective of Anna.

I might use this book, paired with the Hallmark movie, to explore the similarities and differences between the novel and the screenplay.  It would also tie in with a visit to Hale Farm or other social studies lessons.

More “auld lang syne”

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell; published by Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc., New York, 1960.

I hadn’t read this book since fifth grade and thought it would be good to read, since I just learned that Scott O’Dell has a book award named after him.  This book was beautifully written in the rhythm and language of Karana and her tribe.  It is an extreme coming of age story in which Karana has to care for others and ultimately, herself, in order to survive.  I think I would pair this book with My Side of the Mountain (Jean Craighead George) among others about survival in a display or in a pathfinder.