The Great Gilly Hopkins

I love Katherine Paterson, but have never really ventured beyond Bridge to Terabithia. Keeping an open mind, I finished The Great Gilly Hopkins in almost one afternoon, turning the pages quickly while trying to predict the ending. There are several tough issues in this book, including abandonment, anger, and racial prejudice, as Gilly Hopkins is a foster kid, moving from home to home and all the while searching for love and acceptance though she didn’t acknowledge it. Gilly found these things in an unexpected place with people she hated at first, but then grew to love.

I was surprised at the end! Not to be a spoiler, but I wanted Gilly to end up with Trotter and William Ernest instead of her grandmother. It wasn’t exactly a “happily-ever-after” kind of story – it was more “life is tough, let’s deal with it”, as I would expect from Katherine Paterson. Though Bridge to Terabithia was not a happily ever after story either, the character of Gilly is so different from either Jess or Leslie. Gilly is so much angrier and actually reminds me of Janice Avery, the bully from Bridge. It’s like her perception of the world is purposely warped; she is convinced her teacher hates her as a way to validate her own distaste.

There was really no mention of setting for this book other than one reference to the Metropolitan area of Washington DC. I thought this was interesting because the story does not depend on the setting at all – it is a story without place and time, which could happen anywhere to anyone.

The Giver

"'We don't dare let people make choices of their own...Definitely not safe,' Jonas said with certainty. 'What if they were allowed to choose their own mate? And chose wrong? Or what if,' he went on, almost laughing at the absurdity, 'they chose their own jobs?'" (p. 98)

I can't imagine a world without music or color. I'm vaguely reminded of Pleasantville and black and white tvs, but even then there was music. It's hard to imagine that in a future world people would willingly relinquish their individuality and human rights for Sameness, a less complicated and more structured life. True, there's no hunger, and true, everyone has a job and a family unit, but this utopia is only perfect on the surface. Jonas and the Giver are the only ones who understand true feelings - everyone else plays along, though there is no depth to their emotions. The community is not even allowed to play with language. Precision is valued above anything else - sarcasm would have no place (and they'd kick me out for sure). Strange, though, that precision is so honored, yet their term for flat-out euthanasia is just 'release'.

Here is a community that believes it can learn from the past, but that not everyone should experience those memories. I can't imagine bearing the memories of the world alone, the strength needed to face other members of the community and know their past even while they do not. In this perfect world, there is much deception, and yet those who deceive others truly believe it is for the good of the community. I've read this book a few times now, and always get chills when I remember that Rosemary was The Giver's daughter. How difficult it would be to place all the joy and then pain of the world on the shoulders of someone so young. On the other hand, wouldn't it be so helpful, especially for teachers, if we could transmit necessary background knowledge to kids? Wow, we could even regulate the background experiences to be all the same...differentiation wouldn't even be an issue. If that worked, we'd have a better grasp on the nature vs. nurture argument.

I've noticed a trend in futuristic science fiction novels that the government regulates the number of children in a family, usually to two (one boy and one girl is usually desired). This was the case in Ender's Game, a book I read recently, and also a newer book called Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix and Cliff Nielsen. I guess population control is really on people's minds. In The Giver, there was little honor in being a birthmother. Another thing I thought was really interesting was the stressed need for interdependence. Though not expressed in love or good works toward others beyond volunteer hours, young children were required to wear jackets that buttoned up the back.

Though this is a short book and a quick read, there is much character development. Jonas is a sensitive and often articulate young boy who soon becomes much different than his robot-like parents and community neighbors. The Giver is, of course, very grandfather-ish and I imagine him to be like my own grandfather. In her writing, Lowry helps the reader identify with Jonas and The Giver quickly and emotionally in their struggle to face the outside world with their knowledge. This is the kind of book that requires some thought afterwards. I came back to the book and read the possible discussion questions at the end, but soon realized that I didn't want to think about Jonas and Gabriel possibly slipping into a cold-induced coma, remembering the joyful memory of family and love and holidays. I'd rather believe he had really found it, that it existed Elsewhere and would take him inside readily. Life is often ambiguous as it is...I need that happy ending.

The Flying Dragon Room

I was initially excited about this story because it was written by Audrey Wood, who is also the author of The Napping House, one of my favorites. Unfortunately, I was disappointed in this one. I even feel bad saying I didn't like it, but it didn't feel complete, as if it was only half of a story. It ended right when it was supposed to be getting started! The illustrations show Mark Teague's brushstrokes; there are bold colors and muted colors that bring out the well-defined characters.

Patrick and his family are repainting their house with the help of Mrs. Jenkins, who presents Patrick with her special tools and tells him to see what he can make. With these tools, Patrick creates a whole new world, each "room" named something new for his family to marvel at and enjoy. For example, there is a Subterranean room with creatures and plants that live in caves underground (though there is also a stone waterfountain), a Bubble room in which baby Sarah is carried off on top of a bubble, a Food room, a Jumping Room where everyone can defy gravity with twists and turns, a Snake Slide (which had no sides - too scary!), an adventure on the high seas, and an up-close-and-personal encounter with dinosaurs. True, these are exciting places, but where's the Flying Dragon Room? At the end, we find that Mrs. Jenkins created the Flying Dragon Room with her special tools and invites Patrick's whole family to come, but we don't get to see it! The book is titled The Flying Dragon Room, but we only get a taste of it at the end!

This story seemed very reminiscent of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It may have been a little more exciting if Willy Wonka showed up in the pictures...at least Gene Wilder or Johnny Depp. Thinking of how to use this book, it could be used for some interesting writing extensions. Students could write about the special rooms they would create for themselves, or maybe even write about the flying dragon room! It would be interesting to let them illustrate their own rooms. If anyone ever sees a good picture of the flying dragon room, let me know.

Baloney (Henry P.)

Back to my obsession with Lane Smith and Jon Scieszka, I've read this story a few times and am on a roll with my posts. Kids who love space and/or language would love this short story. Every page is "in character", even the title page which says "received and decoded by Jon Scieszka, visual recreation by Lane Smith". How fun! (Interesting that the title page uses all lower case letters and all the text afterwards is in capital letters.)

The story is about Henry P. who is late for school one too many times and is about to be given Permanent Lifelong Detention by his teacher, Miss Bugscuffle. Like many kids who are late and need a good excuse, Henry P. weaves a fanciful tale of, well, baloney. This is really a story that kids can relate to, and is great for figuring out words in context. At first, I thought that words like "zimulus" for pencil and "torraku" for truck were just nonsense words from the imagination of Jon Scieszka. I didn't figure out that these are real words but in a different language until I reached the long decoder in the back! What an awesome idea to have a story with words from languages of the world; this is only a gateway for getting kids excited to learn about foreign languages, and perhaps do some research on their own. Some of the languages represented are Finnish, Uqbaric, Maltest, Melanesian Pidgin, Inuktitut, and Latvian. There are also some fun spoonerisms ("sighing flosser") and transpositions ("cucalations" for calculations). I can only imagine the research that went into writing this book.

Baloney (Henry P.) is also a great start for a lesson on storytelling. Henry has an unbelievable story and each page is difficult to predict! The use of elipses carried the story forward as the reader just wants to know what happens next! I also made a text-to-text connection to Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. In his story, Henry P. lands on the planet Astrosus where he entertains the inhabitants with his "funny piksas". They wanted to eat him, but instead changed their minds and crowned Henry "kuningas" of the whole planet when he marveled them with "giadrams and cucalations". On a side note, I wonder if the Miss Bugscuffle even recognized that these words weren't just nonsense? Where did Henry P. learn all these words? What would you do if one of your students ever told an elaborate story like this, especially considering the language? I might just laugh and say "put it in writing".

The illustrations are so creative and truly caught my attention. With all the action throughout the book, the pictures carried a lot of meaning, especially when trying to figure out the meaning and context of the foreign words. They are a combination of drawings, photographs and what looks like computer graphics. Henry P has big eyes, freckles and looks like a kid.

Miss Maggie

This is one of the many Cynthia Rylant books I pulled from the shelves in the library. I read it pretty quickly and am not sure if I got everything out of it I should have. With Cynthia Rylant books, I think I get more out of them if they're read aloud and I'm given time to process the story. When I'm just reading for myself, I fly through and perhaps don't take the time to appreciate what is there. So I decided to go back.

The old woman, Miss Maggie, lives in a log house all alone. Her closest neighbor is Nat, whose grandmother sends him to Miss Maggie's house with buttermilk or beans. Nat's fear of Miss Maggie and the black snake that he believes lives with her keeps him from entering her house even when he's invited...until one day when he has to. On a winter day, Nat notices there is no smoke coming from her chimney. It is too cold to be without a fire, so Nat goes to investigate. He finds Miss Maggie sitting on her floor, holding a piece of cloth. In that cloth is a starling named Henry. Nat takes both of them to his grandad. In the end, we never find out if the starling lives, but I can assume it did not. From that moment on, Nat and Miss Maggie become special friends and when spring comes, Nat brings Miss Maggie a new pet, a black garden snake he has named Henry. Nat's good-naturedness and strength of heart helped him overcome his fear of the old woman. Sometimes it's the tough situations in which people just act instead of think that change the course of events.

The illustrations (done by Thomas DiGrazia) are what slowed me down the second time around. There is a sadness in them that captures the story. I was wondering why the illustrator chose to use only black and white. The only color is a faint green and blue on the front cover. But then I thought that this story is almost dream-like, a little blurred around the edges, "a story worth telling" as Rylant says on the first page. The first time I read this picture book, I wasn't crazy about it. But now that I've had to take the time to sit down and write my thoughts, I've found that I like it a little more. Aging is a difficult subject, but I think Rylant handled it tactfully and with grace.

p.s. - I was quickly searching for a picture of this book, and though I could not find one, I came across a site that was selling this book for over $50! I have a renewed appreciation for libraries that temporarily provide books for free.

The Midwife's Apprentice

I remember when almost everyone I knew was reading either this book or Catherine Called Birdy, both by Karen Cushman. I just wasn’t interested at the time, so I read neither. The Midwife’s Apprentice, however, received a Newbery Medal and I decided to catch up on what I’d missed. It is an engaging story about an orphan girl who goes from having no name, to being called Beetle, to calling herself Alyce after being mistaken for someone else by that name. She is taken in by the Midwife of the village as an apprentice, but the Midwife treats her like she is not worthy. After some successes and failures, Alyce runs away to an inn a few miles down the road and works there until some unexpected visitors from the village come to the inn. Alyce and her cat friend are reminded that the village was the only place they truly belong, even if being a midwife's apprentice was difficult and thankless. In the end, Alyce learns a life-lesson of inspiring work ethic. On page 117, Alyce says "I have come back. And if you do not let me in, I will try again and again. I can do what you tell me and take what you give me, and I know how to try and risk and fail and try again and not give up. I will not go away." Her dedication was a testimony to the self-esteem and appreciation she had gained throughout the book.

In more ways than one, this story is about birth. There is the obviously plotline of babies being born as the story is about a midwife and her apprentice, but then there is Alyce, lost and lonely, unrecognized by anyone in the world. On one particular day, she is helping sheer sheep and finds herself in a river with soap, washing down the wool. Unexpectedly, she washes off the caked-on dirt from her hands and legs, seeing that underneath her earthen shell, she is pretty and clean. In this moment, Alyce is reborn and rededicates herself to life and the many things she is able to learn, such as the alphabet, or the ability to sing. Her experiences bring her wisdom, but also friends and a make-shift family.

The character of Alyce reminded me of Miggery Sow from The Tale of Despereaux in that she was never asked what she wanted. Toward the end of the book, Magister Reese notices her and finally asks what it is that she would want more than anything. She thinks for a while about what most people would say: blackberry pie? new shoes? a snug cottage and a bit of land? Instead, she answers "A full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world" (p 81). Fortunately, Alyce receives all these things.

There is a lot of historical information in this book. I would not expect young readers to understand everything that happens - they would really need to bring any and all background knowledge they had to this story, especially when considering some of the vocabulary. As an adult reader, I found myself questioning how much of it was real when it came to folklore and practice of midwivery. There are so many superstitions and wives' tales that I was having a hard time sorting out the truth. With this in mind, Karen Cushman included an author's note at the end with much research on the real history of midwivery. I learned so much! I don't know what I would have gotten out of this story 10 years ago when it was written, but I appreciate it now.

A Pocketful of Goobers

My roommate is a third grade teacher in Williamsburg. When I told her I needed to read biographies, she pulled this book out of the teacher bag and handed it to me, prefacing it as an easy read that she did with her 3rd graders. When I saw it, I thought "this book has 64 pages and very few pictures. I'm not in the mood to read, it will take forever." Fortunately, it really was a fast read and I finished in about 40 minutes, with a few breaks in between. There are 5 main chapters that consist of very short sentences. The text is very straight forward and very informational, and yet it is a story, not a textbook. There is some interesting language that keeps the reader's attention instead of letting them become passive. For example, "He stood fascinated this night by the beautiful voice of the choir director" p. 21. Hm, fascinated this night, not that night...it feels so recent. Carver was depicted as a real person, with successes and failures. George Washington Carver is a well-known name for peanuts, but it is not well-known that he stuttered, or that he was friends with Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. Often when I study one particular person, I forget to put that time in context and am always surprised when I find out how people are connected. It's amazing how much we take for granted, how much was already done for us by the time we were already born. Where would we be without goobers and their 300+ uses?

Pencil shading is used for the illustrations, though the front cover looks to be done with watercolor. Whenever I see pictures made with pencil shading, I'm gripped with this illusion that I, too, can draw if I only have a pencil. Alas, it never works out that way. This biography was also great for vocabulary, especially for an agricultural unit. There were many words I wrote down, but then many I also chose not to, such as goober. I grew up loving that word because that's how my dad refers to peanuts, but I just decided to write down the words I didn't know. Some of the ones I did keep were: pellagra (p 28), sorghum (p 35), and chemurgy (p 57). Overall, I felt like I had really learned something in my 40 minutes with this book. I enjoyed the section in the back titled "More about GWC" that offered more information that did not fit well into the flow of the story. I walked away with some interesting connections and a sense of gratitude for the accomplishments of those who came before me.