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Children’s Fiction of 2007: Paint the Wind by Pam Munoz Ryan

Dec7

I’m really not an animal person. I don’t much like animals, and I don’t really own any. (My kids have a cat that’s supposed to stay outside, but that’s another story.) I never went through the junior high love of horses phase nor the phase that all my friends went through when they wanted to go to Texas A&M and become veterinarians. I haven’t ever read a single Marguerite Henry book all the way through.

However, I really, really enjoyed Pam Munoz Ryan’s new book, Paint the Wind, billed as “a breathtaking horse story in the enduring tradition of Marguerite Henry.” The story is told mostly from the point of view of Maya, an orphan whose parents died in a car accident and who lives with her insanely over-protective paternal grandmother. When Maya’s grandmother dies, Maya goes to live with her mother’s family, a family that Grandmother has always warned Maya to avoid because they “live with animals. Like animals.”

But, of course, it’s time for Maya to make her own way and come to terms with her mother’s family, a family of ranchers in Wyoming, and decide for herself whether she’s suited for the freedom and wide open spaces of the West.

Aunt Vi leaned back on her elbows, and her eyes turned wistful, like when she sang around the campfire.
‘Look around. Out here in all this bigness, every single thing matters and stands out. When the horses run against the wind with their manes and tails flying, I think they look like fleeting brushstrokes of color. I consider them the artists on this enormous outdoor canvas, making it more beautiful.'”

That description reminded me of West Texas where I grew up. Maybe that’s a part of my fondness for this story, but it’s only a part. Ms. Ryan does do a fine job of describing and placing the reader in the “bigness” of Wyoming ranching country. Here’s another example:

Maya . . . slowly turned in a circle and looked up at an endless and cavernous sky. There was far more heaven above her than there was earth below, and the horizon seemed worlds away. Without a white wall to define her boundaries, how would she ever know when she disappeared from someone’s view?”

I like that thought because I’ve felt the opposite. When I first came to Houston, I felt trapped and enclosed by all the trees. Even in the town in West Texas, it’s fairly easy to find a place where you can see the horizon stretching out in a long line in front of you, but here there is no horizon, just more and more trees. Too many boundaries. I’ve become accustomed to it for the most part, but I still feel a wonderful sense of freedom and limitless possibility when I drive out to West Texas and see the horizon out in the distance.

Paint the Wind is a book about boundaries and about freedom, about wild horses and the dangers and the advantages of running free. Aunt Vi tells Maya not to let the sky “swallow you up.” But she also advises Maya that some horses, at least, are better off in the wild even though it’s perilous and the horses are exposed to predators and to the whims of men who sometimes capture the wild horses in what’s called a “gather.” Interspersed throughout the book are several short chapters that are told from the point of view of Artemesia, lead mare of a wild horse band whose fate becomes intertwined with Maya’s.

Maya travels from sterile safety to adventure and excitement as the story progresses, and she grows from a spoiled, over-protected girl into a confident young lady. I found the story, the setting, and the characters intriguing and beautifully realized.

Paint the Wind is one of the nominees for the Cybil Award for Middle Grade Fiction.

Other bloggers reviews:

Miss Yingling didn’t much care for Paint the Wind.

Camille at Book Moot, however, says “the book will have great appeal for those same horse loving book readers.”

Franki at A Year of Reading: “I always read for character–plot is secondary to me as a reader-and Maya will stay with me for a very, very long time.”

Children’s Fiction of 2007: Dear Jo by Christina Kilbourne

Nov27

Back when I was a teenager, the book Go Ask Alice was published (1971), the purported journal of a heroin addict who ended up committing suicide by overdose. I remember reading the book and believing every word of it. I also remember as an adult that I found out it was probably a fictional account, and I was disappointed, but not terribly surprised. Cautionary tales read like fiction somehow because everything in the story combines to carry the message.

Dear Jo is another cautionary tale written in the form of a journal, but this time the moral of the story is “don’t meet stranger through the internet because they might be internet predators or even murderers.” Maxine, the journal writer, is writing about her feelings in aftermath of the disappearance of her best friend, Leah. Leah went out to meet a boy she first met on the internet and never came back. At the beginning of the story, it’s been six months since Leah was last seen, and it doesn’t look as if she’ll ever be found.

This novel doesn’t claim to be the journal of a real person or based on a true story, but just as Go Ask Alice warned kids of the 70’s of the dangers of drugs, Dear Jo warns kids of the twenty-first century of the dangers of the internet. And just as Go Ask Alice didn’t keep a lot of kids from experimenting with drugs, I doubt a book like this one will keep kids off the internet. (In fact, Brown Bear Daughter read it, liked it because it was so sad, and immediately asked if she could get a Xanga.) However, it may make them think twice before engaging in risky behaviors such as corresponding with pseudonymous guys or arranging meetings with strangers.

The story itself is decently written with lots of pop culture references: Avril Lavigne, the Goo-Goo Dolls, downloading MP3’s, Bratz dolls, Bob the Builder. Many of these references will be dated in only a few years, but maybe the information about internet safety will be dated by then, too. Predators and police alike may have developed new methods and new gimmicks by even next year. All an author can do is include the most current information possible and hope that parents and kids take heed.

I did have a little trouble with the time element in the book. A lot of Maxine’s journal is her memories of Leah and what happened before Leah was abducted. Then, the narrative switches to events that are happening six months after Leah’s disappearance and following. And sometimes Maxine writes about what happened immediately after Leah left. So the sequence of events gets a little confusing. But I think most kids would be able to keep up with what happened when.

The book does describe some pretty serious crimes: abuction, murder, and child endangerment. However, the descriptions are never gratuitously graphic, but more matter of fact. Most of the book deals with Maxine’s feelings as a survivor and her struggle to come out of her depression and make something good or redemptive out of a very bad thing. Dear Jo would be a great book to have available in every library and to reccomend to teens and pre-teens who spend a lot of time on the internet. (Are there any kids who DON’T spend time on the internet these days?) It’s propaganda, but it’s good propaganda for a worthy cause. And the story is absorbing enough to keep kids reading all the way to the end where the obligatory page of “tips for internet safety” is printed. I just hope they read those tips, too —and use them.

Dear Jo has been nominated for the Cybil Award for Middle Grade Fiction, and here’s what another blogger thought about it:

Charlene Martel of The Literary Word: “Via way of this journal, we follow along this painful story of loss and tragedy. A story that is all too real as these things can, and do happen all the time. It’s a great book in that it really brings home the message about the perils of the internet and why parents should be more “hands on” in supervising when their kids use it.”

Children’s Fiction of 2007: My Last Best Friend By Julie Bowe

Nov27

Bethy-Bee’s review:

Iva May has one last best friend, Elizabeth Evans who moves away (she didn’t even get to say good bye!). When Iva May goes to her first day of school Jenna still picks on her and —wait a minute, let me tell you about Jenna. Her name is Jenna Drews and she is bratty, bossy and other mean things. Anyway, Iva May comes in the bus, and mean old Jenna is there waiting for her. Jenna is the meanest girl ever. Anywhere. You get the picture. She gets on and Jenna picks on her and she sits down and wishes Elizabeth was there to comfort her, but she was not. Later, in recess she wishes Elizabeth was there to play with her, but she was not. Iva May needs a new friend, but not Jenna.

Sherry’s thoughts:

This book is another one about friendship, making friends, telling stories in order to impress a new friend. It reminded me of Tall Tales, another Cybil nominee, without the alcoholism and pitched to a little bit younger audience. Iva May is an engaging character, and the story feels believable and fun. The idea of having a secret friend with whom you exchange notes hidden in a secret hiding place is a great device. Kids love secret messages and secret languages and secrets in general. Does anyone remember The Secret Language by editor and author Ursula Nordstrom? It was one of my favorite stories many, many years ago. I should re-read and see if it’s held up to the passage of time.

My Last Best Friend is a cute school story about how to and how not to make friends. It may not last a hundred years, but it should be good to pass an afternoon for the younger set and inspire them to their own secret-message writing and receiving.

Other bloggers review My Last Best Friend:

KidsReads: “Without meaning to do so, Ida has slipped into another special friendship. Should Ida risk revealing her true identity?”

Laura Bowers: “Debut author Julie Bowe tells a charming story that will win the heart of any girl who’s faced her fear sideways.”

Little Willow interviews author Julie Bowe.

Children’s Fiction of 2007: Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis

Nov26

I was prepared to like this new historical fiction novel by Newbery award-winning author Christopher Paul Curtis. After all, Bud, Not BUddy, the book that won the Newbery in 2000, is a great story. In fact, I was not disappointed, although I must say that the book starts out a little slowly. I read someone’s review of the book comparing it to The Great Brain series (sorry, I don’t remember who), and the book does begin with that flavor. Elijah is an eleven year old boy living in a settlement for free (escaped or bought out of slavery) Negroes in Canada just across the border from Detroit, Michigan. The year is 1860, and the name of the settlement is Buxton. (It’s a real place, by the way. A little of its history is recounted in the author’s note at the back of the book.)

In the first few chapters, Elijah gets into all sorts of scrapes because of his fra-gile constitution or because of his typical boylike mischief. He runs from an imaginary “hoop snake”, scares his mother with a toad frog, and finds out he has a gift from God, the gift of “chunking rocks” quite accurately. The story reads like a typical boyhood adventure story, with a bit of an atypical setting.

About midway through the tone and plot turn serious as Elijah learns to get past being fra-gile in order to help a friend redeem his family from slavery. There’s also a great discussion of why it’s inappropriate for even black people among themselves to use the n-word. Elijah casually uses the word “nig—” to refer to himself and his friends, and his friend Mr. Leroy jumps all over him, saying, “How you gunn call them children in that school and you’self that name them white folks calls us? Has you lost your natural mind? You wants to be like one n’em? You wants to be keeping they hate alive? . . . You thinks just ’cause that word come from twixt your black lips it man anything different? You think it ain’t choke up with the same kind of hate and disrespect it has when they say it? You caint see it be even worst when you call it out?”

Elijah learns his lesson, and I think the author meant for there to be a lesson embedded in there for kids of today, too. Derogatory terms have a history; words have meaning; sticks and stones and words can all hurt.

The entire book is written in first person from Elijah’s point of view, and it’s all written in dialect like the language Mr. Leroy uses in the above quotation. Some kids may have a little trouble with the dialect, but I don’t think it will be too bothersome. I thought after I got used to it that it gave the book a sense of history and transported the reader back in time as well as or better than any other device the author could have used.

As I said, the ending turns serious and pretty much heart-rending. This is not a book for younger readers, and older ones (grades 5-8) may have some challenging questions about what happens in the book and about the dark side of U.S. history. That’s a good thing, but be prepared for the discussion.

Wonderful story. Probably a Newbery contender. Nominated for the Cybil Award for Middle Grade Fiction.

Children’s Fiction of 2007: Three for Another Reader

Nov25

I read the following three books because they were nominated for the Cybil Award for Middle Grade Fiction. As my mom would say, if these books come in parts, you can leave mine out.

Runaround by Helen Hemphill.
From the inside cover blurb: “Everything eleven year old Sassy knows about love comes from romance magazines. But now that she has her eye on her handsome neighbor, Boon, she wants more details.”
Yuck. I will admit to reading my grandmother’s copies of True Romance in secret when I was a kid of a girl, and like Sassy, I had lots of questions about what went on in those magazines. But in Runaround Sassy has no other source of information. Her mother is gone, and her dad is uncommunicative. Her sister, Lula, is only thirteeen and already has boyfriends galore. And Sassy flirts outrageously with Boon who’s a year older than Lula, until Sassy finally gets Boon to kiss her. Again, yuck. They might as well be reading True Romance magazine, not a practice I would recommend for eleven year olds or twelve year olds or teens or even adults.

Other views:
Kidslit: “This is a well-crafted novel that is perfect for tween readers. It has just the right amount of romance, including french kissing, but doesn’t go so far that it would make it more appropriate for older readers.”
Camille at BookMoot: “There are some wonderfully funny and painful moments as Sassy and Lula learn about guys and life. You do not want to get into a haircut fight with these sisters.”

Penina Levine Is a Hard-Boiled Egg by Rebecca O’Connell.
“I’m Jewish, and I shouldn’t have to write a pretend letter from the Easter bunny because the word “Easter” offends me. And my teacher is a jerk because she gives me a zero for not completing the assignment. Oh, and by the way, I’m jealous of my little sister because she gets more attention than I do.”
That’s my summary of the book. I think Penina is a brat, and the teacher really is a jerk or at least unbelievably dense. Any teacher I know of would have given an alternate assignment when Penina started yelping, even though I agree with the teacher that her complaints were unjustified and overblown. (A bid for attention?) There are an interesting couple of chapters about the celebration of Seder in a large Jewish family. That part might be worth reading aloud to kids, but the rest of the story is forgettable.

Other views:
JessMonster at BookPyramid: “At any rate, while part of me sympathized with Penina for being the religious outsider (rebelling against attending mass in honor of the Immaculate Conception, anyone?) I also found her profoundly irritating on some level.”
Behind the Stove: “Penina herself is a winner – I liked the kind and intelligent way in which she ultimately makes her point to her teacher, and I loved Penina’s stubbornness, her enthusiasm for her heritage, and her refusal to be untrue to her nature. I found Penina downright endearing, the sort of little girl I would have liked to be friends with.”

Bird Springs by Carolyn Marsden.
Ten year old Gregory and his mother and baby sister have to move from their Navajo reservation home in Bird Springs to a homeless shelter in Tucson when Gregory’s father skips out and the rains don’t come. The blurb says the story has a “sense of hope,” but I thought it mostly had a dearth of action. Gregory wanders around the shelter, worries, makes a new friend, worries some more, gets a haircut, worries, and goes into a sewer tunnel with his new friend Matt. And Gregory talks like a six year old: “My dad is a warrior. He gots a horse called Blackie, and one day when he gets Blackie back he’s gonna ride on down and get me.”

I couldn’t find any other blog reviews of Bird Springs. If you’ve read the book and have a second opinion, please leave a comment and a link.

Children’s Fiction of 2007: Perch, Mrs. Sackets, and Crow’s Nest by Karen Pavlicin

Nov25

I liked the quiet, natural references to God and prayer and spiritual solace. I liked the family vignettes and country cozy details. I liked this conversation between Andy and his mom. Andy’s father is dead, and his mother is trying to answer some of Andy’s questions about the future:

“Mom set down the bag of mulch and sat back on her heels. ‘Andy,’ she said, ‘Our lives are like novels. The first book didn’t end the way we thought it would, but it was still a really good book.’

She brushed her hands on her jeans. ‘Now we begin the second book,’ she said. ‘There will be some of the same people in this book, but some new characters, too. We don’t know what will happen next or how the story will end up, but what fun would it be to read the last chapter first?’

She picked up a few stray pieces of mulch from the grass.

‘The best part of reading a good book,’ she added, ‘is seeing the story unfold, page by page, chapter by chapter, even with all its surprises.’ She leaned over, kissed my forehead, and smiled. ‘We can still suggest edits to God along the way.’

I nudged her back and swallowed hard. Our next book sounded sad and hopeful at the same time.”

However, the short, episodic chapters made the story choppy and disjointed. It almost felt as if I were reading photo blurbs for a summer vacation, vignettes that attempted to encapsulate the story of Andy’s “summer of courage.” And Andy himself, the fourth grade protagonist who’s lost his father, is a bit too good to be believable. I’m tired of reading about bratty, out-of-control kids, but there is a happy medium. Andy’s father has died, and his best friend has moved to Colorado. As the story begins, his mom has decided to spend the summer in the country at Andy’s grandma’s house. While they’re at grandma’s Mom reconnects with an old flame, and Andy isn’t sure where the relationship will lead. Still, the worst feeling that Andy experiences is a “knot in my stomach.” He never acts out or questions, and his worst fault is a bit of laziness which is cleared up with the help of a five dollar bill.

Mrs. Sackets is a neighbor, and I’m not sure what her place in the story is. She’s eccentric, which is OK, but in this instance she’s unbeleivably eccentric and serves no purpose in moving the story along. And Andy thinks the things Mrs. Sackets says and does are odd, but he just plays along and never criticizes even in his mind. My kids would be much more taken aback by Mrs. Sackets dancing around catching moonbeam messages from heaven.

Show, don’t tell. Tie the narrative together in smoothly connected whole. And most of all, give me believable characters with flaws even if everything does turn out all right in the end.

Texas Bluebonnet List

Nov20

The Texas Bluebonnet Award (TBA) reading program was established in 1979 to encourage Texas children to read more books, explore a variety of current books, develop powers of discrimination, and identify their favorite books. All school libraries, public libraries, and home school associations are encouraged to participate in Texas Bluebonnet Award. The program is aimed at students in grades 3-6. Participating students must read a minimum of five books from the current master list before they may vote for their favorite title. Teachers and parents are encouraged to read some of the books aloud. The author of the book receiving the most votes statewide is declared the winner of the Texas Bluebonnet Award.”

2008-2009 Master List (Nominees):

Auch, Mary Jane. One Handed Catch. Henry Holt, 2006.
Carman, Patrick. Atherton: the House of Power. Little, Brown, 2007.
Cheaney, J. B. The Middle of Somewhere. Alfred A. Knopf, 2007. Semicolon review here. An interview with J.B. Cheaney.
Day, Karen. Tall Tales. Wendy Lamb Books, 2007. Semicolon review here.
DeFelice, Cynthia. One Potato, Two Potato. Illustrated by Andrea U’Ren. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006.
Florian, Douglas. Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars. Harcourt, Inc., 2007.
Graff, Lisa. The Thing About Georgie. Laura Geringer Books, 2006. Semicolon review here.
Harper, Charise Mericle. Just Grace. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007.
Hart, Alison. Gabriel’s Horses. Peachtree, 2007.
Jenkins, Emily. Toys Go Out. Illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky. Schwartz & Wade Books, 2006.
Lauber, Patricia. What You Never Knew About Beds, Bedrooms, and Pajamas. Illustrated by John Meanders. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2006.
McCully, Emily Arnold. Marvelous Mattie: How Margaret E. Knight Became an Inventor. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006.
O’Connor, Barbara. How to Steal a Dog. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. Karate Kid’s review.
Patterson, Nancy Ruth. The Winner’s Walk. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006.
Paulsen, Gary. Lawn Boy. Wendy Lamb Books, 2007.
Selznick, Brian. The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Scholastic Press, 2007.
Sidman, Joyce. This is Just to Say. Illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski. Houghton Mifflin, 2007.
Thimmesh, Catherine. Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon. Houghton Mifflin, 2006.
Tingle, Tim. Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship and Freedom. Illustrated by Jeanne Rorex Bridges. Cinco Puntos Press, 2006.
White, Ruth. Way Down Deep. Farrar, Strass and Giroux, 2007. Semicolon review here.

Thanks to the Cybil Award process, I’ve actually read some of these books. If the ones I’ve read are any indication, the children of Texas should have a good time this next year (voting deadline: January 31, 2009) reading some great books.

By the way, nominations are still open through November 21st (tomorrow) for the Cybil Awards. If you haven’t nominated your favorite 2007 titles, now is the time.

Children’s Fiction of 2007: Tall Tales by Karen Day

Nov17

First lines: “I want to make a friend.

But as I stand in the entrance of the lunchroom, panic ringing in my ears, all I think is Here we go again. New town. New school. Same old feeling.”

That’s a fairly conventional beginning for a children’s book. And the conventionality continues. Meg decides to deal with her new kid jitters by making up stories that make her life before moving to Indiana sound exotic and adventurous and interesting. The real story of Meg’s family history and the real reason for their move to a new town is not so exciting: Meg’s father is an alcoholic. He’s promised that this time he’ll quit drinking for good, stay in his new job, and help his family make a new start.

Meg’s famlly, her mom, her older brother Teddy, her younger sister Abby and Meg herself, all live life on the edge of Dad’s alcoholism. They’re all afraid of doing something or saying something that will set Dad off, make him start drinking again, make him continue drinking, make him abusive and drunk. Dad has them all convinced, or else they’ve convinced themselves, that his alcoholism is their fault. The family’s actions and reactions are scripted like something out of a book on families of alcoholics. Meg’s family keeps Dad’s drinking a secret, covers up for him, makes excuses for his abusive behavior.

Alcoholism is a very real problem, and for a child of an alcoholic who’s trapped in a family dynamic like that of Meg’s family, this book could be a godsend, sort of bibliotherapy. However, I’m not sure other children will understand, identify or take much away from this ABC afterschool special of a novel. It’s well written, with good engaging characters, and a decent, believable ending. Maybe not for everyone, but it’s definitely a keeper for some.

Tall Tales is Ms. Day’s first published novel for children. She has another book coming out next year called No Cream Puffs about a girl who “becomes the first girl in Michigan to play baseball on an all-boys’ little league team in the 1970s.” I’m looking forward to reading it.

This bit of writerly insight is from Ms. Day’s website: “Originally TALL TALES was written in past tense, journal form. Several editors told me that this style put too much distance between the story and the reader. So I rewrote it first person, present tense, and the story was much more immediate. And much better.”

Question: I understand how the change to first person draws the reader in, makes us identify with the narrator. But how does writing in present tense do that? Does it make me feel as if I’m living the stroy as I read, instead of looking back on something that happened in the past? Is this a good thing if you want your reader to gain some perspective and grow in understanding over the course of the novel?

Other bloggers review Tall Tales:

A Fuse #8 Production: “The fact that this book acknowledges the truly slow nature of change can either be seen as the story’s strength or weakness. Nothing here happens too quickly. Make of that what you will.”

Granny Sue: “the immediacy of Meg’s predicaments ring with truth, pain, and hope. A fine story, well told.”

Little Willow: “Meg is fully aware of her exaggerations and big lies. She is likable and vulnerable without being naive. Readers will want someone to find out the truth and help her family. Hopefully, those who relate to her story will be inspired to confide in trustworthy friends and adults so that they can get the help they need as well.”

Little Willow interviews Karen Day.

Children’s Fiction of 2007: Celeste’s Harlem Renaissance by Eleanora E. Tate

Nov16

I like historical fiction. I liked this book set partly in Harlem, New York City, 1921 and also in Raleigh, N.C. But I must say that the author is a namedropper. Every single famous or semi-famous black American who could have been expected to show up for a cameo appearance in Harlem in 1921 is in this book: Caterina Jarboro, Duke Ellington, Bert Williams, Marcus Garvey, James Weldon Johnson, even Madame C.J. Walker, who was dead by the time of the story, but living on in her prosperous business of providing hair care products for “Colored folks’ hair.” Then, too, the author uses historical events and places to lend authenticity to her story: the lynching of two black men in North Carolina in 1921, the North Carolina Negro State Fair, the first musical produced on Broadway starring black entertainers called Shuffle Along, and many historical markers and occasions.

I did feel as if I were in a Black history class every once in a while when I read the book, but then the story would come along and pick me back up and deposit me inside a narrative about family and friendship and forgiveness that was absorbing and universal in its themes. Celeste, the main character, lives in Raleigh with her father and her Aunt Society. Celeste’s mother died four years before the beginning of the story. In the first part of the book we spend some time getting to know Celeste (shy and quiet, but talented at playing the violin), Aunt Society (grouchy and strict), Celeste’s Poppa (hard-working and indulgent toward his only daughter), and Celeste’s almost mythical Aunt Valentina who lives in a mansion in Harlem, an actress who drives a big car and wears fancy clothes.

Then, everything changes for Celeste when her beloved Poppa must go to a sanatorium to rest and recover from tuberculosis. Aunt Society can’t take care of Celeste, and the only option left is for Celeste to go to Harlem and live with Aunt Val. Harlem life isn’t anything like what Celeste expected, and later the book changes course once again when Celeste must leave all the friends she’s made in Harlem to go back to North Carolina. The characters in the novel are complicated and multi-dimensional, and Celeste must learn, as she grows up physically, to grow in her assessments of other people, to forgive, and to understand, even as she becomes more confident in her own decisions and abilities.

I think I’ll give this book to my sixteen year old daughter who’s studying twentieth century history this year. We’re covering the decade of the twenties, and even though my dear daughter is a little older than the target audience for this book, she could learn something and enjoy reading it.

Other views:

Celebrate With Books: “This is a delightful book, rich with a strong female character, who is witty and very self reliant. The author (Tate) makes the reader feel as though you are there in 1921 Harlem, New York.”

A Fuse #8 Production: “It’s so frustrating that I liked this book. I liked it so much. I thought the story of Celeste was fascinating and that the arc of the story said some wonderful things. But there were at least 75 pages that could and should have been taken out right from the start.”

Eleanora Tate’s website (including a study guide for Celeste’s Harlem Renaissance)

Children’s Fiction of 2007: Bearwalker by Joseph Bruchac

Nov15

Possible taglines for the movie version:
Class camping trip turns to horror story when the mythical Bearwalker comes to life.
OR A young Mohawk boy faces his fears and becomes an unlikely hero.
OR Bears and humans shouldn’t mix; see what happens when they do.
OR Dances With Wolves meets Friday the Thirteenth. Only this time it’s bears.

OK, so I’m not going to be hired as a movie publicist anytime soon. Bearwalker was actually a great story; it would be especially appealing to guys who like adventure mixed with nature mixed with a little bit of horror and violence. The plot device of “greedy relatives try to buy up the wilderness in order to turn it into a parking lot or a housing development” is a little thin, and naming the villain Jason seems to be a rather-too-obvious nod to Friday the Thriteenth and its sequels. Nevertheless, it’s an entertaining story with some lessons on the appreciation of Native American culture embedded not too deeply for junior school readers to pick up and take to heart.

In fact, there’s nothing too deep about this one. It’s straightforward adventure with some Native American traditions and customs and love of nature, especially bears, thrown in for spice. Boy Scouts, campers, bear lovers, and red-blooded boys and girls should love it. The Mohawk Indian mysticism is not carried too far, but it is there if that sort of thing bothers you. Baron, the Mohawk protagonist and hero, is a member of the Bear Clan, and he carries a wooden carved talisman in the shape of a bear with him wherever he goes. This bear charm either inspires him or actually helps him, whichever way you want to read the story, and he also gets help and/or inspiration from the ancient stories and customs of his people, who have respected and even revered the Bear for many centuries.

Like I said, I wouldn’t try to read too much into the Native American philosophy or the back-to-nature message; it’s mostly a horror/adventure story with a happy ending.

More reviews:

BookLoons: “Joseph Bruchac’s Prologue sets the tone of Bearwalker with a Mohawk folktale about an otgont. Half-human and half-animal, it leaves large bear tracks that switch to human tracks en route, and is considered responsible for disappearances of village people. Lore tells that the otgont was once a human who lusted for the power of a bear, and that the transformation requires the sacrifice of a relative’s life.”

Becky’s Book Reviews: “Baron’s heritage of stories with strong and brave heroes and scary monsters may just save the day. If you are in the mood for a thrilling adventure–a wilderness adventure–then this is the book for you.”

I wrote this last year about Mr. Bruchac’s WW II story, Code Talker: Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac. A Navaho boy, Ned Begay, hears about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, disguises his age, and joins the Marines. Because of his ethnic background and fluency in the Navaho language, Ned is given a special assignment that tests his commitment, patriotism, and endurance.

If you read either Code Talker or Bearwalker and like it, Mr. Bruchac is a prolific writer who’s written many books, picture books, fiction, nonfiction and even plays, mostly with a Native American flavor and theme. Here’s a link to his website where you can get more information.