Review #15: Dead End in Norvelt

Review:  Dead End in Norvelt

Bibliography

Gantos, Jack.  2011.  DEAD END IN NORVELT.  New York:  Farrar Strauss Giroux.  ISBN 9780374379933

Summary

Twelve-year-old Jack Gantos spends the summer of 1962 in Norvelt, Pennsylvania, a town with an unusual history full of eccentric characters.  Grounded by parents who catch their son in the crossfire of their domestic disagreements, he is assigned to help a neighbor who writes obituaries for local residents—who for some reason seem to be dying rather frequently….

Analysis

In somewhat postmodern fashion the author tells this story in the first person under his own name.  The story is semi-autobiographical, with much fiction and fantasy blended with actual reminiscences.  The whiny, self-centered narrative voice is believable in a character at this stage of life, but no less off-putting for that.

There is a great deal of humor, much of it of the gross-out variety.  In places it is rather morbid, especially when the narrator visits the local funeral parlor.  One gets the impression that the author is trying much too hard for a whacky, edgy feel.  There is something heartless in the way so much of the novel’s humor laughs at death.  In the early chapters of this overlong story the effect is mainly annoying.  By the latter part of the novel one gets the impression that the author is trying to work through some existential despair of the sort that has become the default mood of so much “serious” adult fiction.  Whether this is appropriate in a novel for younger readers is open to debate.

One could observe that there is probably nothing in the novel that most young readers will not already have been exposed to through movies and television, and that some of them will greatly enjoy the gross-out humor.  This reviewer nonetheless finds the novel a deeply unpleasant book and would not recommend it.

Review Excerpts

“Gore is a Gantos hallmark, but the squeamish are forewarned that Jackie spends much of the book with blood running down his face and has a run-in with home cauterization.”  Publishers Weekly

“Jack makes a tremendously entertaining tour guide and foil for the town’s eccentric citizens.”  Booklist

Connections

Norvelt was a real town founded as part of the New Deal under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was personally involved in the project.  Talk about the Great Depression and the federal government’s efforts to create new ways to help its victims, and how these form the basis of modern programs such as Social Security.  Include discussion of the role of Eleanor Roosevelt. 

Review #14: Hattie Big Sky

Review:  Hattie Big Sky

Bibliography

Larson, Kirby.  2006.  HATTIE BIG SKY.  New York:  Delacorte Press.  ISBN 9780385903325

Summary

During World War I sixteen-year-old orphan Hattie Brooks inherits an uncle’s homesteading farm in Montana and tries to prove herself as a homesteader.  As she faces the challenges of trying to build a viable farm she forms close relationships with neighbors and deals with ethnic tensions stemming from the wartime climate of suspicion.

Analysis

Inspired by the true story of the author’s own great-grandmother’s attempts to homestead in Montana, the narrative is not actually based on a particular individual’s recollections.  It is, however, clearly carefully researched from numerous sources and gives a strong sense of what life was like in that time and place.  In particular it affords a detailed picture of the challenges that homesteaders and their communities faced on the Great Plains in the late pioneer era.

Most of the principal characters are stock figures—kindly, eccentric neighbors, a ruthless rancher, a farm wife facing childbirth in a harsh environment—familiar to anyone with any experience of the long-established pioneer family genre.  A well-meant effort to deal with the harassment often faced by German-Americans during the war makes its point well enough, but never really rises above the level of caricature.  It is at least handled with restraint.

Overall this is a well-written story and is sure to please readers interested in the genre.

Review Excerpts

“Larson’s vivid descriptions of the harshness of the work and the extreme climates, and the strength that comes from true friendship, create a masterful picture of the homesteading experience and the people who persevered.”  School Library Journal

“This fine offering may well inspire readers to find out more about their own family histories.”  Kirkus

Connections

Have the class imagine that they are a group of homesteaders on their way to settle claims.  What sorts of things will they need to take with them?  What things will they have to do when they get there?  What kinds of challenges will they face?

Other books on pioneering and pioneer life:

Josephson, Judith Pinkerton.  GROWING UP IN PIONEER AMERICA, 1800 TO 1890.  ISBN 0822506599

King, David C.  PIONEER DAYS:  REDISCOVER THE PAST WITH FUN PROJECTS, GAMES, ACTIVITIES, AND RECIPES.  ISBN 0471161691

Steele, Christy.  PIONEER LIFE IN THE AMERICAN WEST.  ISBN 0836857909

Review #13: Night of the Howling Dogs

Review:  Night of the Howling Dogs

Bibliography

Salisbury, Graham.  2007.  NIGHT OF THE HOWLING DOGS.  New York:  Random House.  ISBN 9780385901468

Summary

In 1975 Dylan and his fellow Boy Scouts on the Big Island of Hawaii go camping on an isolated section of coast.  There they are joined by a group of paniolos—native Hawaiian cowboys—who have ridden to the area to go fishing.  During the night an earthquake and tidal wave strike the area and turn the camping trip into a struggle for survival.

Analysis

This is primarily an old-fashioned, straightforward adventure narrative, based on an actual 1975 incident in which the author’s cousin participated.  Told in the first person, it has a believable narrative voice and details that give a strong sense of place, period, and culture and speech of the time.  These elements are well-integrated into the story so that they do not hold up the movement of the plot.  An early element of foreboding (the strange howling dogs) helps the reader to keep the pages turning through the initial gradual buildup of the situation and characters until the climactic disaster and its aftermath.  The actual disaster is vividly described.

There is a good balance of humor, incident, and characterization.  The main characters are well-drawn.  Young readers should have little trouble identifying with the boys in the story.  The character of Louie—a troublemaker from a deeply troubled background who rises to the emergency and shows his good qualities—is a familiar figure in juvenile fiction, but is handled in a way that makes him seem believable and human.

This is a good “boy” book about youths facing challenges and rising to the occasion, written in a way that makes the story a fairly easy yet thoughtful read.

Review Excerpts

“Salisbury weaves Hawaiian legend into the modern-day narrative to create a haunting, unusual novel that will practically booktalk itself.”  Booklist

“Like any good survival story, this will make readers ponder what they would do when survival is on the line.  A sure-fire literary thriller.”  Kirkus

Connections

The major event of the story is the sudden arrival of a tsunami, or “tidal wave.”  Describe to students what causes tsunamis.  Talk about other real-life tsunamis, such as the ones caused by the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, the 2004 tsunami, and the 2011 Japanese earthquake.

Some characters in the story believed that the wild dogs were incarnations of the Hawaiian goddess Pele.  Talk about this and other traditional Hawaiian legends.

Review #12: Drawing From Memory

Bibliography

Say, Allen.  2011.  DRAWING FROM MEMORY.  New York:  Scholastic, Inc.  ISBN 9780545176866

Summary

Caldecott Award-winning illustrator Allen Say describes his childhood and youth in Japan in the 1940s and 1950s.  Despite a troubled family history, Say was able to get into an exclusive school and succeeded at the age of 12 in becoming an apprentice to his favorite comics artist.  This artist, Noro Shinpei, became the author’s mentor and a kind of surrogate for the father who had abandoned his family.  The memoir ends in 1952 when, at the age of 15, the author left Japan to join relatives in the United States.

Analysis

Say tells his story in a remarkable blend of text, watercolor paintings, pen-and-ink and pencil drawings, and photographs.  In several spots the illustrations form brief comics sequences; two such sequences even have word balloons. The illustrations are beautiful and complement the text perfectly.  In that sense the whole book may be considered a kind of graphic novel.

 The text is clear and lucid.  The overall tone is unusually objective by the standards of today’s memoirs, as if the author’s artistic training had made him able to step back and observe his own life as well as his surroundings.  At the same time the account of how he came to be Nobo Shinpei’s apprentice has a kind of fairy-tale quality—and makes one wonder whether perhaps some of the anecdotes have improved with the passage of time.

At any rate this is a lovely memoir of what was clearly a remarkable early life.  It is told without bitterness over the author’s childhood hardships, and with a great sense of warmth toward his kindly and wise mentor.  This would be an especially attractive read for fans of manga and anime, or for anyone interested in Japan and its culture.

Review Excerpts

“Throughout you can see canny artistic choices being made—color here, monochrome there, a cartoon, a snapshot—that reinforce content with appropriate form.”  Horn Book

“Aesthetically superb; this will fascinate comics readers and budding artists while creating new Say fans.”  Kirkus Reviews

Connections

Other artists’ memoirs:

DePaola, Tomie.  26 FAIRMONT AVENUE.  ISBN 9780698118645

Peet, Bill.  BILL PEET:  AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY.  ISBN 9780395689820

Review #11: Destination: Jupiter

Bibliography

Simon, Seymour.  1998.  DESTINATION:  JUPITER.  New York:  Morrow Junior Books.  ISBN 0688156215

Summary

This book introduces readers to the largest planet in the solar system.  It begins by describing what Jupiter looks like from Earth, its distance from Earth, and its size.  Then it describes the planet’s appearance and composition, its weather, and its family of moons, with special focus on the large Galilean moons. 

The book is lavishly illustrated with color photos of Jupiter and its moons taken by the Hubble telescope and the Galileo and other space probe flybys. 

Analysis

The large text font and limited text indicate that this book is meant for earlier reading levels.  While it is quite informative and accessible for young readers, the need to keep the text simple has resulted in a rather flat writing style.  Despite the use of such vivid observations as the fact that 1,300 earths could fit inside Jupiter’s volume, the text seems dry at times. 

The illustrations are of high quality and are well-integrated with the text.  It should be noted that many published images of the outer planets have been enhanced with brighter colors to bring out the details.  The text only touches on this in one spot, where it mentions that a blue sky shown in a picture of Ganymede was actually added by a computer.

Overall this is a good primary introduction to the solar system’s largest planet.

Review Excerpt

“Expertly balancing the verbal and visual presentation, Simon again demonstrates his ability to inform and entertain simultaneously.”  School Library Journal

Connections

Jupiter has extreme weather, with wind speeds of over 400 miles per hour.  How fast do the winds blow on the Earth?  Would it be possible to build a building that could survive winds of 400 miles per hour?

Jupiter’s moon Europa is covered with ice.  Scientists think that an ocean of liquid water might possibly lie beneath the ice, and that this ocean might possibly support life.  What sort of life could live in that ocean?  Would these creatures be able to see, or would they have to use other senses like some blind cave fish?

The discussion of Jupiter’s rings mentions that they only show up when a beam of light slants through them at the right angle.  Demonstrate how a beam of light in a darkened room can make a puff of dust particles visible.

Review #10: Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow

Bibliography

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell.  2005.  HITLER YOUTH:  GROWING UP IN HITLER’S SHADOW.  New York:  Scholastic Inc.  ISBN 0439353793

Summary

Bartoletti examines Nazi Germany from the perspective of those who spent their childhood and adolescence there.  The book’s 10 chapters follow the history of the Hitler Youth and of youth in Germany in general from Hitler’s rise to power through the defeat and aftermath of the Nazi regime.  While the progression of chapters is broadly chronological, each also develops a theme prominent during a particular time, such as Nazi education and the growing persecution of Jews.

The book begins with thumbnail profiles of 12 Germans born between 1916 and 1931.  The story is told largely through their life histories and reminiscences.  An epilogue describes what became of these 12 individuals.  Some, such as the Scholl children, were well-known for their resistance to the Nazis.  Others were simply ordinary children and youth caught up in their times.

Analysis

This carefully researched work draws on extensive primary and secondary sources.  It is well-written and accessible.  The numerous photographic illustrations are of generally good quality and are well-integrated with the text.  The end-notes, bibliography, and index are exceptionally good for a work of popular history at any age level.

Bartoletti goes beyond common clichés of the period to give an appreciation of the complexity of the conditions in which the people of Nazi Germany lived and the diversity of their attitudes and motives.  The use of the stories of a variety of actual German youth helps to put a human face on the upheavals and tragedies of the era.  At the same time, these stories are shown within their greater context.   This would be an excellent introduction to Nazi Germany for teen readers. 

Reviews

“Bartoletti has created an exceptional portrait of Nazi Germany by focusing on how Hitler created a new world on the shoulders of the youth of Germany.”  Book Links

“Bartoletti lets many of the subjects’ words, emotions and deeds speak for themselves, bringing them together clearly to tell this story unlike anyone else has.”  School Library Journal

Connections

Other non-fiction accounts of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust:

Armstrong, Jennifer and Opdyke, Irene Gut.  IN MY HANDS:  MEMORIES OF A HOLOCAUST RESCUER.  ISBN 9780679891819

Cartlidge, Cherese and Clark, Charles.  LIFE OF A NAZI SOLDIER.  ISBN 1560064846

Wiesel, Elie.  NIGHT.  ISBN 97803743999

Review #9: What My Mother Doesn't Know

Bibliography

Sones, Sonya.  2001.  WHAT MY MOTHER DOESN’T KNOW.  New York, NY:  Simon & Schuster.  ISBN  0689841140

Plot Summary

Sophie, a teenager in contemporary Massachusetts, describes her experiences with a series of boys she meets, from an intense crush on a dreamy fellow named Dylan, through a potentially dangerous online flirtation, to an encounter with a masked figure at a Halloween dance, to her eventual realization that the homely but good-hearted Murphy is “Mr. Right.”  Along the way she must deal with quarrelsome, negligent parents.

Critical Analysis

The story is told entirely in the first person by Sophie, through a series of unrhymed, free-verse poems, which range from a few lines to about two pages in length.  Their titles make them look like a series of tiny chapters.  E-mail exchanges use prose and different fonts.  Near the end a series of drawings of a kissing couple appears in the lower right-hand corners of the pages to symbolize the budding romance between Sophie and her Mr. Right.  In a clever touch the author, who has taught animation, drew them as a flip-book sequence—flip the pages and the reader sees the couple exchange a kiss.

The text has a strong stream-of-consciousness quality.  The reader is very much in the “boy crazy” Sophie’s mind, hearing her describe her feelings, actions, and impulses.  Hers is a believable narrative voice that many young female readers will likely identify with.

The book contains some four-letter language and quite frank descriptions of youthful feelings and fantasies.  It has been challenged in some areas.  One might also have concerns as to whether teens, who are often already obsessed with thoughts of romance, should be encouraged to think about it even more in their reading.  Recommend with caution.

Review Excerpts

“Sones is a bright, perceptive writer who digs deeply into her protagonist’s soul.”  School Library Journal

“Drawing on the recognizable cadences of teenage speech, Sones poignantly captures the tingle and heartache of being young and boy-crazy.”  Publishers Weekly

Connections

Other novels-in-verse by Sonya Sones:

ONE OF THOSE HIDEOUS BOOKS WHERE THE MOTHER DIES.  ISBN 9781416907886

STOP PRETENDING:  WHAT HAPPENED WHEN MY BIG SISTER WENT CRAZY.

ISBN 9780613349796

WHAT MY GIRLFRIEND DOESN’T KNOW.  ISBN 9780689876035

Review #8: Red Sings From Treetops: A Year in Color

Bibliography

Sidman, Joyce.  2009.  RED SINGS FROM TREETOPS:  A YEAR IN COLORS.  Ill. by Pamela Zagarenski.  Boston, MA:  Houghton Mifflin.  ISBN 9780547014944

Plot Summary

This book gives a tour of the four seasons, beginning with spring.  Each chapter-like division of 7-8 pages illustrates and describes the colors one sees at that time of year.  Colors are shown playing different roles according to season—green dominates spring and summer and fades in fall and winter; white is associated with storms in spring, ice cubes in summer, the autumn moon, and the snows of winter. 

Analysis

The unrhymed free-verse text seeks to evoke the sights, sounds, and tactile sensations of the seasons through descriptions of color.  The colors are treated as active agents.  White lightning in spring storms makes sounds.  Yellow, in the form of the summer sun, melts things, but also has a flavor in the form of buttered popcorn; in the fall it “grows wheels and lumbers down the block” in the form of a school bus. 

The mixed media illustrations show fanciful images of characters personifying the colors moving through semi-realistic seasonal landscapes.  Words and illustrations were clearly planned to work together here, with each verse depending upon the accompanying visual to help the reader to understand it.  For example, the line “Red:  crisp, juicy crunch!” appears beneath a tree laden with red apples in the fall.  Each color’s name is printed in that color.

Though the style of the art may not be to every reader’s taste, the images and text together do a wonderful job of evoking the experience of each season and the sheer delight that comes from slowing down long enough to pay attention to the environment around us.  While the text includes words such as “cerulean” and “lustrous” that younger readers may find unfamiliar, this should not deter offering the book to independent readers, or from reading it aloud.

Review Excerpts

“The changing seasons have been the subject of many a picture book, but this one has a particularly unique take on the topic.”  Booklist

“Children will find many small stories waiting to be told within the detailed paintings and enjoy looking at them over and over.”  School Library Journal

Connections

Create a list of evocative words like those in the poem.  Ask the children to close their eyes and listen to these words.  Ask them what the words make them think about or feel.

Other poems about color, nature, and the world around us:

O’Neill, Mary Le Duc.  HAILSTONES AND HALIBUT BONES.  ISBN 9780385244848

Stevenson, James.  CORN-FED.  ISBN 006000598x

Thomas, Patricia.  NATURE’S PAINTBOX.  ISBN 9780822568070

Review #7: Dinothesaurus: Prehistoric Poems and Paintings

Bibliography

Florian, Douglas.  2009.   DINOTHESAURUS:  PREHISTORIC POEMS AND PAINTINGS.  New York, NY:  Simon & Schuster.  ISBN 9781416979784

Plot Summary

Writer/illustrator Florian presents a series of poems describing 18 species of dinosaur.  These are bookended with brief poems on “The Age of Dinosaurs” and “The End of Dinosaurs” that serve, respectively, as a kind of introduction and coda.  A two-page “Glossarysaurus” at the end gives further information on the subjects of each poem.  Also at the end are a page of entries on several notable dinosaur museums in North America and several suggestions for further reading.

Critical Analysis

The rhyming poems have a delightfully humorous quality and wordplay reminiscent of the poems of Ogden Nash (“The pterrifying pterosaurs/Flew ptours the ptime of dinosaurs.”).  Each dinosaur poem is named for its featured species, with a pronunciation guide and translation of the creature’s scientific name below the title.  From 4 to 12 lines in length, each poem highlights a particular noteworthy aspect of the dinosaur species—the 3 horns of Triceratops, the massive head of Stegoceras, etc. 

Each poem has a two-page spread illustration.  The illustrations are done in gouache, collage, colored pencils, stencils, “dinosaur dust,” and rubber stamps.  In some illustrations children or objects are used to give some idea of the dinosaur’s scale.  Different media and graphic designs are used in different illustrations.  The art is interesting and varied, but is not realistic and gives only a vague idea of what many of the dinosaurs are supposed to have looked like.

The brief entries in the “Glossarysaurus” and the notes on museums and further reading are accessibly written and informative.  The book might be okay for reading aloud to small children, but would be best for older readers.  Dinosaur-loving children should love it, and might be stimulated to learn more about dinosaurs on their own.

Review Excerpts

“Florian’s art—in gouache, collage, colored pencil, stencils, etc.—is gorgeous and fun.”  NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

“This smart marriage of dinosaurs and poetry will delight a wide audience.”  SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL

Connections

Note how some of the illustrations illustrate figures of speech in the poems.  Have students make drawings of figures of speech they know.

Other early books of animal poems:

Alarcon, Francisco X.  ANIMAL POEMS OF THE IGUAZU.  ISBN 9780892392254

Florian, Douglas.  ZOO’S WHO.  ISBN 0152046399

Rosen, Michael.  THE CUCKOO’S HAIKU.  ISBN 9780763630492