Final Note: End of Summer

Tonight, July 31, it's back to work in Phnom Penh after a great summer in Wisconsin. Overall, I enjoyed the books I read this summer and am looking forward to reading more YA Lit in the next course. Sorry if the "Critical Analysis" part of these reviews got a bit longish at times. There was a lot to say...and I never seem to shy away from wordiness.

Great books...I'd recommend each of them heartily.

G6: The First Part Last

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Johnson, Angela. 2003. THE FIRST PART LAST. New York: Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster). ISBN: 0-689-84922-2.

Nia and Bobby are in love. They have a baby they name Feather. During the pregnancy, Bobby watches Nia grow larger with their child and affectionately satisfies her cravings for different kinds of food. Perhaps it should be mentioned that Bobby and Nia are in high school, and that this contemporary, realistic story is Bobby’s story of his life before and after fatherhood, divided into alternating chapters entitled “Now” and “Then.” In these chapters, he discusses his relationships with his family and friends both before and after Feather is born. He also spends a lot of time describing what fatherhood means to him and his life, focused on the smaller daily moments with his daughter and the larger questions about his future. At the end of this novel that reads like a diary, he sprinkles in two additional chapters, “Nia” and “Heaven,” each of which adds a bit more understanding to the story of why Bobby and Nia did what they did and what the future holds for each.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Mature young adults will find in this short, powerful and easily accessible book an honest narrator with a strong and natural voice. Johnson captures Bobby well as he tells his story in short sentences with a natural use of slang and an ability to focus on the most important details for the series of short stories he tells. His believability as a character increases as he expresses a range of emotions, reflections and desires.

Due to its alternating chapters describing the past and present, this book does not have a cohesive plot in the traditional sense. The chapters are short explorations of his life before and after the birth of his daughter. Beginning the story with a “Now” chapter shows his reality: he’s got a daughter, and he’s trying to figure out where she fits in his teenaged life. The “Then” chapters tend to build on what first happened after Nia told him that she was pregnant, though they move further into the past to describe his relationship with his friends, J.L. and K-Boy. Once she tells him, the story then moves into predictable areas of informing each set of parents, figuring out what will happen with school, and learning what being pregnant is like. Instead of running, he stays with her.

During the “Now” chapters, Bobby and Feather have a lot of time together, and he has a chance to explore not only what she means to him but also to remind himself of what fatherhood entails. He’s not the kid anymore—even if he still is one—carefree and thinking about going out with his buddies for a slice of pizza or running around New York because they love the city. He is very candid on the need to focus on his daughter, even if he might not be prepared for consistently assuming the responsibility for it. This understanding of doing what’s best for his daughter becomes a reality at the end of the book. He makes the decision to leave his beloved hometown and go to Heaven (Ohio) to live with his brother.

Throughout all of the “Now” chapters and, essentially, the whole novel, one question nags readers: “Where’s Nia?” She appears in the “Then” chapters and is well-drawn as a confused girl who understands the magnitude of the change in her life. Throughout the novel, she is brave whenever she appears, but during half of the chapters she appears very little. Johnson drops hints as to her whereabouts during a scene on page 44 when Bobby talks with his British Literature teacher.

“The mother go to this school?”
“She used to,” I say.

“Did she transfer to another school?”
“No.”

Johnson could have told readers about what happened to her earlier, but in a sense her decision to delay echoes the title. She gives us “the first part” about Bobby and Nia and the circumstances of Feather’s birth during the “last” part of Bobby’s story about having a daughter but losing her mother. Readers can thus understand the pain, loss, promise and hope he has.

To find the voice of a teenaged male, Johnson uses abbreviated spellings, slang (“Moms” as a singular noun and “whacked” as a synonym for “crazy”), ungrammatical language (“…knowing I got to catch up”) and a direct, plain way of speaking. Bobby does not describe a lot, unless he has to, such as when he describes Nia’s beauty. He tells his story and moves along, beginning many of his sentences with “and”. Even in the climactic scene, he does not bog himself down in describing the characters’ emotions or actions or even the setting. He renders the situation in a handful of simple and clipped sentences. Readers can imagine what everything looked like, but for Bobby the important thing seems to be that Nia is gone from his life. The rest of the book explores the repercussions of that critical moment.

One review (PUBLISHERS WEEKLY) suggested that the only “misstep” in the book was the chapter entitled “Nia.” Another (SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL) thought there was melodrama in two places: the chapter where Bobby engages in vandalism, and the chapter where we learn of the “twist” in the story. Sandwiched between chapters where Bobby tells Feather about her mother, and before the climax, the brief “Nia” chapter serves up another hint at her impending fate. This is the first time where any negatives are introduced in the blood she sees and her thoughts on flying and drifting away.

Regarding the other two criticisms, the chapter dealing with the climax (the “twist”) is critical, as noted previously. As for the vandalism, Bobby may be a great guy who sticks by his girlfriend and loves his baby daughter, but he is also a 16-year-old with rollercoaster emotions. His honest appraisal of these emotions and the events that created them leave his readers with an exceptional, worthwhile story. After hearing his voice, all readers will hope for the best for him, not because he deserves it but because he is working hard to better himself.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
--This compelling tale of a teenage father provides a stellar addition to young adult fiction. Bobby makes mistakes, and his life is very difficult, but his courage, love, and hope enable him to carry on. The supportive adults and friends in his life aid him as well. Realistic characters, an honest look at teen pregnancy, and Bobby's thoughts and dreams combine in a wonderful novel sure to appeal to most young adult readers. (VOICE OF YOUTH ADVOCATES, June 2003)
--Brief, poetic, and absolutely riveting, this gem of a novel tells the story of a young father struggling to raise an infant. (SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, June 2003)
--As the past and present threads join in the final chapter, readers will only clamor for more about this memorable father-daughter duo-and an author who so skillfully relates the hope in the midst of pain. (PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, June 2003)
--From the first page, readers feel the physical reality of Bobby's new world: what it's like to hold Feather on his stomach, smell her skin, touch her clenched fists, feel her shiver, and kiss the top of her curly head. Johnson makes poetry with the simplest words in short, spare sentences that teens will read again and again. The great cover photo shows the strong African American teen holding his tiny baby in his arms. (BOOKLIST, September 2003)

CONNECTIONS
--Teens’ Top Ten (TTT), 2003
--Coretta Scott King Book Award, Author Award, 2004
--ALA Best Books for Young Adults, 2004
-- Michael L. Printz Award winner, 2004

--This book could easily be examined in a high school health class for its topic and theme. For its writing and narrative styles, it would be well-suited for close examination in English class.

--Other books in the HEAVEN trilogy:
HEAVEN. 1998. ISBN: 978-1442403420. Coretta Scott King Book Award, Winner, 1999. (THE FIRST PART LAST is the prequel to HEAVEN)
SWEET HEREAFTER. 2010. ISBN: 978-0689873850

--Other books by Angela Johnson for readers in upper elementary, middle and high school:
A COOL MOONLIGHT. 2005. ISBN: 978-0142402849
HUMMING WHISPERS. 1996. ISBN: 978-1860390999
LOOKING FOR RED. 2003. ISBN: 978-0689863882
TONING THE SWEEP. 2003. ISBN: 978-0780745766. (Coretta Scott King Book Award, 1994)

--Other books on teen pregnancy targeted at young adults:
Bechard, Margaret. 2003. HANGING ON TO MAX. ISBN: 978-0689862687
Draper, Sharon. 2009. NOVEMBER BLUES. ISBN: 978-1416906995. (Coretta Scott King Book Award, Author Honor, 2008)
Hrdlitschka, Shelley. 2002. DANCING NAKED. ISBN: 978-1551432106
Olsen, Silvia. 2003. A GIRL WITH A BABY. ISBN: 978-1550391428

G6: When You Reach Me

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Stead, Rebecca. 2009. WHEN YOU REACH ME. New York: Wendy Lamb Books (Random House). ISBN: 978-0-385-73742-5.

This fantasy novel about time travel has a gritty, realistic edge to it. Narrated by Miranda, an 11-year-old sixth grader, and set in New York City in 1979, it includes a colorful cast of characters and large and small plot lines. There’s the impending appearance of Miranda’s mother on the TV game show, The $20,000 Pyramid. There’s the relationship between her mother and Richard, and her mother’s dead-end paralegal job. There’s Miranda’s relationship with Sal, a boy in her grade who lives in her building and whom she has known since she first moved into the building when she was young. There’s the mysterious Marcus who appears one day to change her life, and the scary laughing man who lives on the street. There’s the gang of neighborhood toughs who seem to do little more than push each other around and make cat-calls to those weaker than they, And, true to form in a story about growing up, there are friendships made and broken, school-centered shenanigans, and life through the eyes and voice of a young girl.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Upper elementary and middle school readers will have little difficulty related to the character of Miranda. This is her novel, and she shows herself in a number of different guises. She’s the lonely latchkey child who wonders what that word would be in German and asks her mother’s boyfriend. She hates where she believes her name originated. (It doesn’t seem to be from Shakespeare’s THE TEMPEST.) She’s the sniping sixth grader who makes fun of a girl in her class who always waits too long to go to the bathroom, while also making and breaking alliances with her peers. She’s positive toward those she likes and positively nasty when speaking about those she doesn’t. She’s the daughter who wants the best for her mother but who has little difficulty commenting negatively on the outfits her mother wears to work or on her mother’s job. She’s the observer who sees the people in her neighborhood and school and is not ashamed to give them nicknames or say something about them that may or may not be charitable. In short, she combines mature and immature qualities but never hesitates to speak out.

Early in this story, Stead builds mystery when Miranda begins receiving notes. The first asks her to write a letter to the anonymous note writer after she or he tells her that her friend’s life will be saved. Miranda, “freaked” after the note, hears a “tiny bell” in her head that she disregards at first. (61) At this point, readers might ask if this story she tell is the letter she’s asked to write. (It turns out later at the climax that it isn’t, but I have to say I still believe it.) This idea seems more legitimate when she receives the second note describing the letter more closely: “Your letter must tell a story—a true story” (67). The writer asks her to stay quiet about the notes, which completely unsettles. Now, she is alone, having to write a letter to a person she has addressed so far as “You.” As other clues arrive, Miranda always feels she is missing something, and, as it turns out, she does.

Woven into and around these notes are the other plot lines, many of which seem to fuse together at the end of the book. Her lifelong friend, Sal, has been punched for no reason by Marcus. Sal then avoids her even though they have grown up together. As a result, her days after school are spent alone. Later, she befriends the boy who punched him who introduces the idea of time travel. She also gets close to Annemarie, and the two of them, along with Colin, work at a sandwich shop near school. Julia, once friends with Annemarie, has turned into Miranda’s antagonist, even though she isn’t a few chapters later. (If readers are having difficulty keep all of this straight, they are not alone: a lot of things happen in this novel.)

Many of the chapters begins with the word “things”: “Things You Give Away,” “Things You Line Up,” “White Things,” “Things You Keep Secret,” et al. The ones that do not begin with “Things” seem to have more descriptive names, such as “The First Note,” “Christmas Vacation” or “The $20,000 Pyramid.” The “Things” chapters seem to reflect all of the activity that Miranda has going on in her mind and even what she sees or does not see around her, while the others seem to be straighter descriptions of events in her life. By not giving the “Things” chapters proper nouns as names, Stead is almost telling readers that they are part of the larger mystery or at least the collection of thoughts of a young girl learning about life.

This novel demands a lot of attention on the part of readers, but the seemingly divergent plot lines come together in the chapters during and after the one entitled, “The Last Note” on page 157. In this chapter, Stead, perhaps sensing confusion on the part of the readers, numbers the major points of the action 1-47. Sal is saved by the laughing man, who is really Marcus who has time-traveled to be the hero. The laughing man dies, but Marcus lives. Miranda says she understands at that moment, but her true understanding comes later, once her mother has won The $20,000 Pyramid. At this point, appropriately occurring during the “speed” round, Miranda loses the “veil” that has blinded her throughout the book, especially in her relationships with Sal, Annemarie, Julia and Marcus. She asserts that “Time travel is possible” and that “None of it makes sense,” but that “All of it is true” (188-9). As someone stuck in reading and rereading A WRINKLE IN TIME, Miranda should have picked up on the notion of time travel earlier, but she needed the veil lifted, a sign of her metaphorical maturity.

With all of its intertwined plot lines, this novel was difficult on the first reading, but began to make more sense on the second. Readers will enjoy Miranda’s view of the world, with its alternating and constant emotions. They will recognize their own need to look carefully at the world around them and listen to what others are actually saying, rather than what they might want to hear. Miranda does this in the end. Her relationships with her friends improve, and she makes it so that her mother can pursue a career she left long ago. Miranda has had a difficult year, but she has pulled through it triumphantly.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
--(Stead) skillfully weaves written notes into each scene and repeats clues when necessary. The climax is full of drama and suspense. This story about the intricacies of friendship will be a hit with students. (SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, December 2009)
--This unusual, thought-provoking mystery will appeal to several types of readers. (SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, July 2009)
--Stead accomplishes this by making every detail count, including Miranda's name, her hobby of knot tying and her favorite book, Madeleine L'Engle's A WRINKLE IN TIME. It's easy to imagine readers studying Miranda's story as many times as she's read L'Engle's, and spending hours pondering the provocative questions it raises. (PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY, June 2009)
--The '70s New York setting is an honest reverberation of the era; the mental gymnastics required of readers are invigorating; and the characters, children and adults, are honest bits of humanity no matter in what place or time their souls rest. Just as Miranda rereads L'Engle, children will return to this. (BOOKLIST, June 2009)

CONNECTIONS
--Newbery Medal Winner, 2010
--With its focus on maturing young people and their relationship among themselves and with the adults in their lives, this novel would be an excellent addition to a 6th grade English/Language Arts curriculum class. It could be read out loud or as a whole class. Discussions and activities could center on student experiences of growing up.

--Another book by Rebecca Stead:
FIRST LIGHT. 2008. ISBN: 978-0440422228. (Reprint)

--Other books worth reading on Manhattan, time travel or maturing (suggested by reviewers):
Fitzhugh, Louise. 2001. HARRIET THE SPY. ISBN: 978-0440416791. (Reprint)
Kelly, Jacqueline. 2009. THE EVOLUTION OF CALPURNIA TATE. ISBN: 978-0805088410. (Newbery Honor Book)
Konigsburg, E.L. 2007. FROM THE MIXED-UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER. ISBN: 978-1416949756. (Reprint, Newbery Award Winner, 1967.)
L’Engle, Madeiline. 2007. A WRINKLE IN TIME. ISBN: 978-0312367541. (Reprint, Newbery Award Winner, 1963.)

G6: American Born Chinese

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Yang, Gene Luen. 2008. AMERICAN BORN CHINESE. New York: Square Fish (Macmillan). ISBN: 978-0-312-38448-7.

Three stories are presented in this graphic novel about the difficulties of finding an identity while being stereotyped by others. In this case, the search for a personal identity concerns Chinese in the U.S. The first story is the Chinese legend of the monkey king overcome by pride and self-importance. He loses his kingdom when he tries to be someone he is not and angers the wrong gods. This becomes sort of a parable for the other two stories, those of Danny and Jin, a high school and a middle school student. In each of these, an American of Chinese descent strives for acceptance. Danny wants to make the basketball team and find a school where people will see him for who he is, while Jin wants a date with the beautiful Amelia. Complicating Danny’s life is the arrival of his cousin “Chin-kee” (get it?) from China, who with his clothes, look, attitude and English pronunciation embodies every negative Chinese stereotype. These three seemingly different stories connect at the end and lead to new self-knowledge and personal awareness.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
What can a person say about a novel such as this one? Mature teen readers of any ethnic descent anywhere would understand get the message of the need to stay true to themselves and not to attempt to be someone they’re not. To drive home this message in a sometimes subtle and sometimes sledge-hammering way, Lang employs exceptional storytelling through words and pictures, in addition to a sense of juvenile and adult humor and a willingness to tackle culture, perception and misconception. (For a novel with a similar theme but a completely different storyline, see my JAR OF DREAMS review.) “Serious” moments by themselves are few and far between in a novel that can be characterized as “serious silly” in tone.

The plot opens with the popular fable of the Monkey King, ruler of Flower Fruit Mountain. In this section, Lang tells a story, but, more importantly, he sets the stage for the humor he uses in the rest of the novel to make his point. He also reveals the light and serious sides of Chinese culture. The Monkey King oversees his domain as a tough yet benevolent ruler, but he wants more. He wants immortality, which he can attain by mastering kung fu and “the four disciplines” (10). However, when he attempts to legitimize himself by attending a heavenly dinner party, he is asked to leave because he is still a monkey and smells like one, no matter what he has done to improve himself.

With the Monkey King brooding back at Flower Fruit Mountain, the plot then turns to Jin, the young Chinese boy whose upwardly mobile, well-educated parents just moved from the city to the suburbs. Jin’s story allows Lang to take advantage of the opportunity to discuss what happens to second-generation people of any descent when they leave their enclaves and attempt to settle in the “dominant” culture. The children must straddle the language and customs of two distinct and often colliding worlds. Jin is no exception, and the fact that he plays with a “Transformer” doll only shows his confusion. At school, Jin is subject to dominant culture stereotypes and ignorance: Chinese eat dogs, their names are easily mispronounced, their origins are misunderstood, they are indistinguishable from other Asians, and they all have overbites. Fittingly, he is bullied and isolated, only able to make friends with a newer Chinese student after first resenting him for being exactly what Jin was when he first came.

The plot then moves on to the story of Danny, opening with him distracted by the beauty of one of his American classmates during a study session. If Jin accepts his isolation, Danny does not. He strives to be “normal” (as if he is not) and shyly attempts to ask her out, only to be interrupted by the arrival of his cousin Chin-Kee. This is “Slam!” stereotypical humor at work here: Chin-Kee arrives with his luggage in Chinese take-out cartons, wears a “typical” Chinese outfit, has two prominent front teeth and slanted eyes, transposes his “Ls” and “Rs” (“Harro Amellica!”) and spouts flowery parodies of “Chinese-isms.” (“Chin-Kee happy as ginger root pranted in nutritious manure of well-bred ox!” on page 48 is particularly hilarious.) He also embarrasses Danny in front of Melanie by complimenting her beauty and stating that she should marry him. In Chin-Kee, readers see how close the fear of stereotyping is to all immigrants and their children. It is fitting that the picture of Chin-Kee on the back cover is in a television screen, reminding everyone how stereotypes are easily transmitted through mass media.

Once these stories are established, the rest of the plot moves toward the climax. The Monkey King attempts to “improve” himself but runs afoul of the gods and gets himself imprisoned under a rock mountain of his own making. Chin-Kee continues making Danny’s life miserable in a series of school scenes worth reading over and over for their humor. Jin falls in love with one of his classmates and gets a perm to change his look, only to be told by one of her friends that they shouldn’t be together because it wouldn’t look good socially as they move on to high school. In the climax, Jin decides to change his look and become Danny, Chin-Kee becomes the Monkey King sent to rescue Danny, and Wei-Chen, the “fresh off the boat” student who Jin befriends earlier in the book, becomes the son of the Monkey King, an emissary originally sent to save Jin. Oh, and Danny becomes who he was all along: Jin. (The scene where Danny fights Chin-Kee and gets beaten by a series of kung fu moves with Chinese food names should cause readers to laugh out loud.)

If the ending seems confused, it isn’t. “True identities” are revealed. Jin finally accepts himself and his background, and in the last scene is contrasted with Wei-Chen, who spurns his father’s (the Monkey King’s) teachings to adopt a Westernized Chinese “gangsta” lifestyle that evidently involves driving a fast car, smoking, and wearing too much jewelry. True to its comic book roots, this novel packs a lot of action, characterization, and commentary into its panels, so much so that readers will always seem to find something they missed. It might be a facial expression, a piece of dialogue, a side comment, a piece of Chinese lore, or a depiction of the rolling action of the story. Whatever these individual pieces might be, taken together they all add up to a powerful work on personal identity for all readers. Lang lays bare stereotypes and hopes and fears about growing up and does it all with drawings at once lifelike and stylized. Its design has a Chinese feel to it, with an abundance of ideograms in conversation and name seals on the top of every page.

This book is too good to miss, especially for high school students struggling to find out who they are, regardless of their ethnicity.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
--The trivision approach and treatment are unique and moving. The art is simple, colorful, and both attractive and effective. (LIBRARY JOURNAL, March 2007)
--This graphic novel could be especially cathartic for teens and adults of Asian descent, but people of any ethnicity would find themselves reflected in the universal themes of self-acceptance, peer pressure, and racial tensions. (VOICE OF YOUTH ADVOCATES, October 2006)
--This much-anticipated, affecting story about growing up different is more than just the story of a Chinese-American childhood; it's a fable for every kid born into a body and a life they wished they could escape. (PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY, June 2006)
--The stories have a simple, engaging sweep to them, but their weighty subjects--shame, racism, and friendship--receive thoughtful, powerful examination. (BOOKLIST, September 2006)
--Yang's crisp line drawings, linear panel arrangement, and muted colors provide a strong visual complement to the textual narrative. Like Toni Morrison's THE BLUEST EYE and Laurence Yep's DRAGONWINGS, this novel explores the impact of the American dream on those outside the dominant culture in a finely wrought story that is an effective combination of humor and drama. (SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, September 2006)

Review excerpts from BOOKS IN PRINT database.

AWARDS
--Michael L. Printz Award winner, 2007
--ALA Best Books for Young Adults, 2007
--Best Book of the Year: PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY & SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL

CONNECTIONS
--This novel would be an excellent addition to units on immigration, personal identity and growing up at the high school level.
--It would also be valuable to examine in English and visual arts classes on storytelling through comics, due to its “traditional” comic book style and characteristics.
--It was originally published on the Internet at http://www.Moderntales.com
--Other books by Gene Luen Yang:
ANIMAL CRACKERS: A GENE LUEN YANG COLLLECTION. 2010. ISBN: 978-1593621834
THE ETERNAL SMILE. 2009. Ill. by Derek Kirk Kim. ISBN: 1596431563
GORDON YYAMAMOTO AND THE KING OF THE GEEKS. 2004. ISBN: 978-0943151953LOYOLA CHIN AND THE SAN PELIGRAN ORDER. 2004. ISBN: 978-1593620059
PRIME BABY. 2010. ISBN: 978-1596436121
ROSARY COMIC BOOK: INCLUDES THE LUMINOUS MYSTERIES. 2003. ISBN: 978-0819864796
SECRET IDENTITIES: THE ASIAN SUPERHERO ANTHOLOGY. 2009. ISBN: 978-1595583987. (Collection with other graphic artists)
UP ALL NIGHT (SEVEN SUNSETS SEVEN STORIES). 2009. ISBN: 978-0061370786. (Collection with other graphic artists)

G5: The Game of Silence

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Erdrich, Louise. 2005. THE GAME OF SILENCE. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN: 0-06-029789-1.

Life near what is now called Lake Superior in the mid-19th century is predictable for the young Omakayas (Little Frog) and her extended Ojibwe family and tribe. Divided into seasons and opening in summer, her story opens with the arrival another group of Ojibwe who have narrowly escaped from land belonging to another tribe where they were resettled after white settlers were given their land. Early in the story, able-bodied male members of Omakayas’s tribe venture in four directions to determine exactly what the whites want, while the new arrivals and the women and children remain behind. Until these messengers return at the end of the book and apprise members of their group of the future of their tribe, the bulk of the story concentrates on the games, seasonal preparations, stories, daily events, and relationships among themselves and with local white missionaries of this small group of people.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Erdrich has balanced providing the historical and social context of the Ojibwe with an appealing story for young people. Omakayas is an exceptional protagonist who grows and changes throughout the novel. She puts up with her annoying younger brother (Pinch), looks for acceptance from her older sister, resents her cousin Two Strike’s excessive pride while feeling shame at what she perceives to be her own inadequacy, finds comfort in her grandmother’s warm embraces and stories, endures a tumultuous relationship with her mother, and befriends a young white girl (Break-Apart Girl) while simultaneously attempting to understand her culture and introduce her to her own. When she has her dream in Spring (Zeegwun), she saves her father and becomes widely respected for her understanding of the spiritual world. Where she was just an aimless girl before, she has, like many young people, found and developed a talent and grown up because of it.

The book is peopled by characters who contribute to Omakayas’s growth and show both Ojibwe and white culture. Old Tallow, the one who found Omakayas originally when she was abandoned, embodies Ojibwe self-sufficiency with her hunting and living in isolation. Like the others who know that the inevitable move is coming due to the whites, she works throughout the story on a strangely designed canoe. She is also grateful to Omakayas for alerting her to a plot that a band of child “warriors” led by the prideful Two Strike have to attack her dogs. Similarly, the minor characters of Father Baraga and the shopkeeper reveal different sides of white culture. One is the stubborn missionary with a knowledge of the Ojibwe language who cannot understand the existence of deities other than his own and who almost gets Omkayas’s father killed. The other is the welcoming but slightly patronizing local trader impressed by the bargaining talents of Angeline, the older sister, who quietly wants to buy a gift for Fishtail, her future husband.

The plot runs through the four seasons, which suggests how connected the Ojibwe are to the land on which they live. In addition to the games and other diversions, much of what they do on the land is devoted to preparing for the next season. Rice is gathered, fish are caught, and belongings are prepared for the long, cruel winter. Introducing the escapees early in the book allows Erdrich to give a feeling of impending doom in the face of westward expansion by the whites. This doom, however, is not realized until the end of the book when Omakayas interacts with the bears while she is out on her own in the forest exploring her new-found spirituality. At that point, she realizes that the life depicted in the book is over and will have to be recreated elsewhere if her group is to survive. In short, the plot and setting consist of two threads: the Ojibwe viewpoint on the common “settlement” history of westward expansion and the practices of their daily lives. They accept forces beyond their control and work to survive on the bounty of nature. Their loss is poignant, and their future uncertain.

Younger readers will find an abundance of ideas to which they can relate, and they will also be taken with the detailed descriptions of life in that time. The title, THE GAME OF SILENCE, refers to a game played by children in which the first one to talk loses. (They play the game while the adults discuss the serious business of the future of the tribe.) The English transliterations and definitions of their language and descriptive names will increase appreciation of the Ojibwe. Alcohol (ishkodewaaboo) is the “water that scorches the throat,” while Break-Apart Girl is named because her corset seems to split her in two. Advice on the proper time and way to do things and stories designed to teach also feature in this book, which could be almost a primer on how the Ojibwe lived in harmony with their place. Simple pencil illustrations of the characters and their context are sprinkled liberally throughout and add to the cultural understanding.

Thematically, the novel combines a coming-of-age story with the need to remain dignified and true to oneself in the face of adverse circumstances. Erdrich does not preach as she paints her picture of Omakayas and the Ojibwe. Readers of all ages will appreciate their spirit and dignity in how they live on their land even as they are bound to lose it. All of the events and ideas in the book are delivered matter-of-factly, as if they are part of the natural order of things. When the new people come, they are integrated as cousins and siblings, as Omakayas was when she was found. The Angry One changes without a lot of fanfare, and even Pinch the mischievous brother comes around to appreciate his older sister. When Fishtail finally returns and he and Angeline hug, the younger children make kissing noises. Nothing in the action is overwrought; instead, it is almost journalistic in style and described thoroughly.

According to the author description at the back of the book, Erdrich was inspired by research into her own family history. By concentrating on the “small” history of this particular girl and those around her in the context of expansionism, she is able to avoid stereotypes and stay true to the time period. Its ending of a people in search of a new life after saying goodbye to the life they knew will resonate with everyone.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
--The action is somewhat slow, but Erdrich's captivating tale of four seasons portrays a deep appreciation of our environment, our history, and our Native American sisters and brothers. (SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, July 2005)
--Like its prequel, this meticulously researched novel offers an even balance of joyful and sorrowful moments while conveying a perspective of America's past that is rarely found in history books. (PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY, May 2005)
--The threat that the federal government poses to the community is more than just a framing device; it penetrates all the other concerns of the novel, drawing them tightly together. This novel combines all the emotion and joy of THE BIRCHBARK HOUSE with an impressive deftness of structure. (VOICE OF YOUTH ADVOCATES, August 2005)
--(Erdrich’s) research into her ancestors revealed the horrifying history and also a culture rich, funny, and warm. In this heartrending novel the sense of what was lost is overwhelming. (BOOKLIST, May 2005)

Review excerpts from the BOOKS IN PRINT database.

CONNECTIONS
--This novel would be an excellent choice to supplement or even begin a middle school unit on Native Americans in social studies. Activities could include attempting to use natural materials to recreate Ojibwe belongings, in addition to examining Ojibwe life and the history of the time.
--ALA Notable Book for Middle Readers (Association for Library Services to Children), 2006
--Winner, Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, 2006
--Louise Erdrich’s first and third novels about Omakayas:
THE BIRCHBARK HOUSE. ISBN: 978-078681454. (ALA Notable Book, 2000)
THE PORCUPINE YEAR. 2008. ISBN: 978-0060297879 (ALA Notable Book, 2009)

G5: A Millions Shades of Gray

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kadohata, Cynthia. 2010, A MILLION SHADES OF GRAY. New York: Atheneum (Simon and Schuster). ISBN: 978-1-4169-1883-7.

The year is 1973, and the place is in the central highlands of Vietnam during the waning days of what the Rhade tribespeople refer to as the “American War.” Eleven-year-old Y’Tin Eban hates school and wants to become an expert elephant handler and open the first school in Vietnam to train others. In the first two chapters, he learns his craft from Tomas Knul and accompanies his father as a guide on raids with the U.S. Special Forces. In the third chapter, the time shifts to 1975 after the Americans have left. Y’Tin has gotten his wish and is responsible for Lady, who, like the other elephants among the mountain people commonly known as “Montagnards” (Rhade) are used for work. Unfortunately for Y’Tin, the North Vietnamese army is bent on punishing the Rhade for their collaboration. They attack and destroy Y’Tin’s village, forcing its people and elephants to flee to the jungle. The Americans are not coming back to help, so Y’Tin and his people are forced to survive using their bravery and knowledge of their surroundings.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Adult readers old enough to remember the Vietnam War will view this novel as an interesting sidebar to the conflict. It does not spend a lot of time on the war and its major battles. For many Americans, the “war” ended with the Paris Peace Accords in 1973. As Kadohata makes clear on page 37, the war continued as the Communist North Vietnamese attempted to subdue South Vietnam and unify their country, which they would in 1975. Though this is the background of the novel and the reason for much of its action, it does not overshadow the basic story of a young boy who does not like school and only wants to spend time doing what he loves the most, tending to his beloved elephant. For this reason alone, upper elementary and middle school readers will appreciate and enjoy this novel.

When it becomes clear that the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) is close by, the villagers call a meeting to decide what their next move will be. From this, we learn a bit more about the Rhade, besides what we have already learned about women making important familial decisions (especially in regard to Y’Tin’s loathsome education). Culturally, they are beholden to the spirit world, more like other indigenous people than the “citified” Vietnamese, and rely on their shaman to interpret its signs. Also, they meet in councils to make decisions that affect their village. To survive in otherwise difficult conditions, they understand their jungle surroundings viscerally and are expert trackers. Ultimately, this expertise will prove fatal to them when they are punished for assisting the Americans. The only aspect of Rhade culture missing from this novel or not explored as much as it could have been is more on their daily lives so that readers could see what exactly they lose when they flee.

Y’Tin is a compelling character in a quick-moving story. His father often repeats the adage, “The jungle changes a man,” and this is true of Y’Tin. He changes from being carefree and devoted to his elephant in his isolated mountain village, typical of school-shirking boys everywhere who disappoint their parents. All of this is shattered when the NVA comes to the village. Two of his friends are killed, he must help dig a mass grave for his neighbors, and he gets separated from his parents. When he and Y’Juen escape to the jungle and meet Tomas, he is unsure about the fate of his family, but he still has Lady and his friends. Soon, however, his friends begin acting strangely, excluding him from making decisions and eventually leaving him altogether. As if to parallel Y’Tin’s story of survival and underscore his desperate circumstances, the pregnant Lady has begun to roam with wild elephants. Y’Tin has changed. He loses his family and his elephant, his two pillars of support, and is bitter toward his (former) friends and the surrounding war for intruding on and altering his life.

Leaving the novel at this point in the plot would have increased readers’ empathy toward Y’Tin, but would not have explored his growth. Once he finds the camp to which his village has escaped, more complications arise which must be resolved: Y’Juen is missing, and the camp commander wants to eat the other village elephants. Only Y’Tin can resolve each, and in doing so overcomes his negative feelings about his friend. Just as he knows the Americans are not returning to help, he also learns about suppressing his own desires and working to better the lives of others. He rescues Y’Juen with the help of Lady, but then he understands that she, too, must be let go in order to live. It’s almost as if he begins to see the complexity of things in “a million shades of gray,” the title line used to describe the jungle in the morning and the color of an elephant’s hide. The war has changed all he knew, and yet he is mature enough to examine his losses carefully and chart a future course.

All of this is described in a straightforward, inviting writing style that mirrors the story. Parts of the beginning are subtly humorous, especially how Y’Tin sprinkles colloquial Americanisms into his speech and finds new and creative ways to demonstrate how he hates school and pales in comparison to his high-achieving older sister. The heightened action of his escape to the jungle and the descriptions of elephants and elephant-handler knowledge are also well-drawn and accessible to the target young adult audience. While Kadohata could have described the lives of the mountain people in more detail, her broad stroke treatment provides enough fundamentals on how French colonialism, American intervention, Rhade collaboration and Vietnamese retribution affected the lives of people in one remote corner of the world.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
--Kadohata depicts the questions, fears, confusion, and apprehension skillfully. Y'Tin is a thoughtful young man searching for clear answers where there are none. (SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, March 2010)
--Kadohata delves deep into the soul of her protagonist while making a faraway place and the stark consequences of war seem very near. Y'Tin's inner conflicts and changing perception of the world will haunt readers. (PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, December 2009)
--The boy's viewpoint does open up political history that is seldom explored from this perspective in books for youth (Why did Y'Tin's father join the Americans? Why did the Americans abandon the Vietnamese?), and teen readers will be caught by the jungle adventure and the village conflict, as well as by Y'Tin's personal battles with friends and enemies and his playful bond with Lady.-- (BOOKLIST, December 2009)
--Middle school students will enjoy not only the story's historic aspects but also the action adventure of Y'Tin's flight into the jungle. (VOICE OF YOUTH ADVOCATES, February 2010)

Review excerpts from the BOOKS IN PRINT database.

CONNECTIONS
--If middle school or upper elementary classes in Language Arts and social studies needed a readable book to supplement a unit on Vietnam or one on how living in wartime (or any other extreme circumstances) changes young people, this would be a useful, entertaining book.
--Students could research the histories of other groups displaced during the war and how they were resettled in the U.S.: Montagnards, South Vietnamese, Hmong, and Cambodians, for example. It might be interesting to chart the various routes these refugees took and read more about what they had and what they left behind. If populations live close by, finding guest speakers would give a personal perspective on war and displacement.
--Other books by Cynthia Kudohata:
CRACKER!: THE BEST DOG IN VIETNAM. 2008. ISBN: 978-1416906384/
KIRA-KIRA. 2006. ISBN: 978-0689856402. (Newbery Medal winner, 2005)
WEEDFLOWER. 2009. ISBN: 978-1416975663.

G5: A Jar of Dreams

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Uchida, Yoshiko. 1981. A JAR OF DREAMS. New York: Atheneum. 0-689-50210-9.

The poor, hardworking Japanese-American Tsujimura family dreams of a better life in Berkeley, California in 1935 during the Great Depression. Rinko, the 11-year-old middle child, narrates this story of how she, her immigrant parents, and two brothers change their attitude toward their dreams after the events of one summer. After numerous failures in business, her father, known as “Papa,” is a barber without many customers who dreams of owning his own garage someday. Originally brought from Japan to marry Papa, her mother wants to start her own laundry, while her brother, Cal, attends university and studies engineering. Rinko herself wants to be a teacher. Unfortunately, anti-Japanese sentiment among their American neighbors thwarts the pursuit of their dreams, at least until Aunt Waka arrives to remind Rinko and her family of who they are and why they came to the U.S. in the first place.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Uchida uses the Tsujimura family to remind young adult and even adult readers on the need to stand up for themselves and pursue their dreams in the face of what seems to be insurmountable adversity. With a tight timeframe of a long-ago summer and a diary-like writing style through the eyes of a quiet, young and self-conscious Japanese-American girl, this novel demonstrates to us both the negative effects of allowing ourselves to be pushed into silence by those around us and the liberating feeling of finding our own voices and making ourselves heard.

Rinko narrates honestly what she sees and how she feels about it. True to her young view of life, she describes how discrimination affects her and her family, but she never uses any form of the words “racism” or “discrimination.” Instead, she tells us how Mr. Starr scares her by yelling slurs at her, or how she feels “pressed down and small and not my own true self” (41) at school. When her friend Tami speaks up after the girls are told they could not swim at a local pool, Rinko sees her as brave but is also embarrassed at making a scene.

Although she is silent outside of the cocoon of her family, she makes up for her silence with her narrative voice and even a sense of humor when talking about her family. Papa is a dreamer, a barber who embarrasses his daughter with the haircuts he gives her and who is happiest when fixing things. Hired originally to pick fruit and vegetables, his schemes to provide for his family are humorously outlined by Rinko. She also picks up on the idea that he wants to be an American and “loved America even if it didn’t love him back” (83).

Mama, with her belongings in a trunk in the family’s basement, seems never to have fully unpacked her own life in the U.S., though she runs her household with a strong will and does anything to help her family. According to Rinko, Cal is the glorious hope for the family. Papa will do anything to ensure that he completes school, but she faithfully repeats his cynical response that he’ll “probably end up selling cabbages and potatoes at some produce market just like all the other Japanese guys I know” (8). Joji, her do-nothing younger brother, is her nemesis, and Rinko lets everyone know exactly how she feels about him and his slovenliness.

The two main threads of the plot move along and end up colliding somewhat predictably, especially after Mama decides to begin a family laundry business in their house to help the family get out of debt. Everyone in the family will pitch in, but her decision puts her in direct competition with the evil Mr. Starr. True to form, laundry disappears, tires are slashed, and Joji’s “watchdog” has his throat cut by people working for the man who hates “Japs.”

The impending visit of Aunt Waka is the second thread. Early in the novel, Rinko can only wonder what she is like. She knows of a foot deformity but not much else, so when her aunt arrives and shows her strength by reminding the adults about the need to stand up for themselves, Rinko is amazed. Aunt Waka, with her own tragic past, is connected with Japan and its traditions and “could see things we couldn’t see for ourselves. As if we were in a glass box and she could see us from the outside” (87). For the plot, Starr provides the conflict and complications, but Aunt Waka is responsible for the climax and a happy resolution.

Not all Americans share Wilbur Starr’s animosity toward his Japanese neighbors. Mrs. Sugar is the kind woman who lives next door who makes cookies for Rinko and a lap on which to sit. She provides comfort and also a horrified voice when told of how Starr is undermining Mama’s laundry, suggesting that they go to the police. Although this is not much of an option, it does suggest there is hope for Japanese-Americans to become integrated. On a narrative level, it also increases the veracity of the novel by showing smaller acts of kindness and not succumbing to the type of broadly dismissive behavior practiced by Starr. During the upbeat ending, Mrs. Sugar promises to visit Japan where she will presumably continue her very un-Japanese practice of hugging those about whom she cares.

After Papa and “Uncle” Kanda confront and defeat Starr in a scene where readers will surely applaud, the plot resolves itself quickly. Cal stays in school after his earlier threat to drop out to help the family, Papa opens his garage with Kanda as an investor, and Mama has her laundry business without the threats. The mood in the Rinko’s narrative voice lifts, even if there is a bit of tension when Kanda gets hurt. In this tension, however, there is an opportunity for Rinko to assert her newfound confidence with the nurse during her visit to Kanda. Once she does that, she shows her growth and paves the way for her Japanese family to act like “normal” Americans just trying to improve their lives.

The “jar of dreams” appears as a metaphor at the beginning and ending of the story. Rinko first describes it as her savings bank to finance her education. She is committed to adding to it, but Joji can only spend his on candy. Later, when Kanda is in the hospital, he mentions the importance of maintaining it so that she can achieve her dream of becoming a teacher. He bolsters her hope by saying that Cal wants this for his sister. The final mention occurs when Aunt Waka is leaving. Rinko expresses a desire to visit Japan, and her aunt suggests that she begin another jar. Even though the idea appeals to Rinko, she knows she must pursue her own dreams first. She has heard her aunt’s advice about accepting and pushing herself, but she will worry about Japan in the future. Teaching will come first for her.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
--The family--kidding each other, helping each other--has discovered its own Japanese-American resources. An affecting, spirited coming-to-terms. (KIRKUS, September 1981)
--Reading this delicious novel aimed at young teenagers is like chatting on the phone with a friend who can make you laugh even while she’s describing the worst day she’s ever had. (ASIAN REPORTER, March 2004)
--Packed into this novel are themes and plot enough to keep a TV series going for years. Unfortunately, the story has the depth and styles of most TV shows, too. (SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, August 1981)...This is a tough review to post because its viewpoint does not align with mine. (JK)

Hard to come by for this out-of-print novel, book review excerpts are from online sources.

CONNECTIONS
--A few years after the events in this novel, during the post Pearl Harbor hysteria of World War II, Japanese-Americans were interned in camps. They lost much of what they had built for themselves, even though they were loyal Americans. At this point, Rinko would have been in her late teens, old enough to go to a beauty salon. For more on this experience, which could supplement a unit on the war or stand on its own, please see:

PBS Documentary: CHILDREN OF THE CAMPS
This contains not only information on making the documentary but also numerous links on that time in history and how it affected everyone involved.

Photos on the Internment Camps by Ansel Adams

--Other books by Yoshiko Uchida:
THE BRACELET. 1996. ISBN: 978-0698113909
THE BEST BAD THING. 1993. ISBN: 978-0689717451
DESERT EXILE: THE UPROOTING OF A JAPANESE-AMERICAN FAMILY. 1984. ISBN: 978-0295961903
THE HAPPIEST ENDING. 1985. ISBN: 978-0689503269. (Another Rinko Tsujimura novel!)
JOURNEY TO TOPAZ: THE STORY OF A JAPANESE-AMERICAN EVACUATION. 2005. (ALA Notable Book). ISBN: 978-1890771911
THE SAMURAI OF GOLD HILL. 2005. ISBN: 978-1597140157

--Other books on the experiences of Japanese-Americans:
Cooper, Michael L. REMEMBERING MANZANAR: LIFE IN A JAPANESE RELOCATION CAMP. 2002. ISBN: 978-0618067787.
Ford, Jamie. 2009. HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET. ISBN: 978-0345505347. (For high school and adult readers)
Kadohata, Cynthia. KIRA-KIRA. 2005. ISBN: 978-0689856402. (Newbery Award, 2005)
Salisbury, Graham. UNDER THE BLOOD-RED SUN. 2005. ISBN: 978-0553494877. (Winner, Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, 1995)
Wakatsuki Houston, Jeanne & James D. Houston. 2002. FAREWELL TO MANZANAR. ISBN: 978-0618216208. (Nonfiction)

Please note that more titles exist at various reading levels, usually that of middle school and older.

G4: Living Color

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Jenkins, Steve. 2007. LIVING COLOR. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN: 978-0-618-70897-0.

This book examines color in nature, specifically how and why insects, reptiles, birds, amphibians and marine animals use their colors for different purposes. Each of the seven sections is divided by color—-red, blue, yellow, green, orange, purple and pink—-and explores anywhere from six to 15 creatures. Short explanations accompany the lifelike collage illustrations, along with largely first-person “captions” that humanize the subjects. After the color sections, there are two further informative sections. The first asks and answers questions about colors in nature, while the second provides smaller illustrations of and facts on the sizes, habitats and diets of the creatures.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Though the baseline audience for this book begins in kindergarten, according to reviewers and the publisher, its accuracy and wealth of information would attract older readers as well. Younger readers would enjoy to its lifelike and detailed collage illustrations but could experience difficulties in comprehending its explanations, answers and background information independently.

The language throughout is not scientific, but its nouns are specific, its verbs strong, and its adjectives exact and descriptive. Readers learn that an “anemone’s body is colorless and transparent” (Green), that yellow crazy ants “kill or blind other animals by spraying them with acid from an opening in their abdomen” (Yellow), and that “potential predators recognize the bright color of the wrasse and do not eat it” (Blue). To his credit, Jenkins repeats “scientific” words throughout—“predators” and “tentacles,” for example—a stylistic practice that would assist younger readers in acquiring new vocabulary items. For all readers, a helpful yet non-technical pronunciation guide is included for the more difficult names.

Each of the explanations generally consists of anywhere from three to five straightforward sentences, usually fronted by a subject-verb combination. In the rare cases where this is not the pattern and the subject appears after a subordinate clause, the writing is still clear. The answers to the “frequently asked questions” in the back of the book are longer than the animal explanations, but they use devices such as questions, repetition, and numbering for clarity. Finally, the section on size, habitat and diet rounds out the information for each animal with shorter, table-like specifics and two or three sentences of additional focused and easily memorized information. As in Jenkins’s other books on nature, animals and science targeted at younger readers, the information in this book is accurate and to the point.

Organizationally, the idea of using predominant colors works well. Dividing the book by species would have added just another predictable animal book to the mix, but the color divisions in this one allow for lesser known and more far-flung creatures to receive a bit of attention. Who has encountered the leafy sea dragon, the garibaldi (fish), ringed caecilian (amphibian), or the olm (amphibian) elsewhere? Well, they’re here, open to all on two-page spreads with the color written in large type, six to eight collages on each, and cute captions that seem to summarize some aspect of the animal in a minimum of words. Many of these captions are humorous and could be use to connect with younger readers: “Don’t touch!” “Boo!” and “I’m very emotional.” (This last one is for the African chameleon that changes colors according to its emotions.) The question and information sections are more jam-packed with information, but each is still laid out with ample white space and a consistent, easy-to-follow design.

The collages are the centerpiece of each page of this book, literally jumping out at the reader to create a sense of interaction with the animals. Each collage seems to consist of a number of layers of different shades and subtle changes in color, assembled in what must have been a painstaking process. While the large collages of the white uakaris (Red), the great hornbill (Yellow), and the long-wattled umbrella bird (Purple) demonstrate Jenkins’s craftsmanship, his deftness emerges in the detail of his smaller pieces. The green tiger beetle (Green), blue-tailed skink (Blue), and even his drab mammal in the question-and-answer section are extraordinary. Though the animals are rendered in a lifelike manner, their size is not, as evidenced by the orange pygmy seahorse, which measures over four inches in the book but is less than an inch in its native habitat.

With the combination of his collages and approachable, informational text that reinforces at every turn the idea that colors means survival in what can be a harsh world, Jenkins has given readers a captivating scientific book. Did you know that a female parrotfish can change her sex in the absence of a male? Or that mammals are brown and gray to blend in with their environment, just as the leaf oyster with its orange sponge blends in with its environment? Or that you can find a tomato frog in Madagascar? If not, you may want to consider reading this book. Even if you did know these things, you may want to keep this book close by if only to entertain yourself.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
--Cleverly organized around seven colors, including purple and pink, this book is jam-packed with visual and written information about scores of animals… Back matter includes more facts about animal color and about the creatures themselves. Another amazing work by a master illustrator. (SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, June 2005)
-- Jenkins once again astounds with his amazing lifelike paper collage in this book about animal color and the many functions it serves…The combination of easy-to-understand language and gorgeous illustrations makes this a prime choice for any young animal enthusiast's collection. (PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY, March 2005)
--From the pink fairy armadillo to the purple deep-sea dragonfish, readers will be fascinated by the panoply of critters that often seem the stuff of fairy lore and educators will applaud the clever concept of presenting survival adaptations as a biological fashion show. (BOOKLIST, August 2007)

Review excerpts from the BOOKS IN PRINT database

CONNECTIONS
--The collage illustrations would be a perfect accompaniment to a visual arts unit built around studying how to depict natural phenomena or even portraits. (Many of the collages have the feeling of being almost alive.)
--The descriptions of how animals use color in all sections of the book would be excellent exemplars for scientific writing to be explored during science or English classes.
--Don’t forget to read more Steve Jenkins, especially his Caldecott Honor book, WHAT DO YOU DO WITH A TAIL LIKE THIS? 2004. ISBN: 978-0618256280. (The main thing to remember is not to limit yourself to these two…read them all!)
--Other books on animal color, as suggested by the author in a helpful bibliography at the back of the book:
Collard, Sneed B. 1998. ANIMAL DAZZLERS: THE ROLE OF BRILLLIANT COLORS IN NATURE. ISBN: 978-0531159187.
Fogden, Michael & Patricia Fogden. 1974. ANIMALS AND THEIR COLOR: CAMOUFLAGE, WARNING COLORATION, COURTSHIP AND TERRITORIAL DISPLAY. ISBN: 978-0517514894.
Knight, Tim. 2003. DRAMATIC DISPLAYS. ISBN: 978-0613609623.
Stockland, Patricia M. 2005. RED EYES OR BLUE FEATHERS: A BOOK ABOUT ANIMAL COLORS. ISBN: 978-1404809314.

G4: The Adventures of Marco Polo

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Freedman, Russell. 2006. THE ADVENTURES OF MARCO POLO. Ill. by Bagram Ibatoulline. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books (Scholastic). ISBN: 0-439-52394-X.

Designed to look like an illuminated manuscript documenting the travels of Marco Polo, this elegant, slim biography begins at the end of his life and charts the provenance of his book, THE DESCRIPTION OF THE WORLD. From there, Freedman chronicles young Marco accompanied his father and uncle on a journey to the court of the Mongol ruler, Kublai Khan, in what is now northeastern China. Polo became a sort of emissary for Kublai Khan, visiting modern-day Myanmar and Tibet but spending most of his time in eastern China, from what is now Beijing southward along the Grand Canal to the cities of Quinsai (Hangzhou) and Zaiton (Guangzhou). Eventually, Polo, his father and his uncle embarked on one final adventure on their way back to Venice. At home, he was greeted with amazement by his relatives and neighbors and was imprisoned after the Venetians were defeated in a battle. In prison, he met a writer to whom he told his story, which was retold and embellished in manuscripts written in a variety of languages throughout medieval and Renaissance Europe. Pages from these manuscripts accompany this biography, as do original, modern illustrations. The work ends with a final chapter entitled “Did Marco Polo Go to China?” the central question of the biography to which readers receive no definitive answer.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
If Marco Polo and his documented travels “affected the course of history and ended up not merely describing, but actually changing the map of the world” (58), this book does an exceptional job of showing this “shadowy, enigmatic figure” (59) accurately. Beginning with a publisher’s note expressing gratitude to two scholars at Columbia University at its beginning, the book also lists the Chinese, Persian and European sources of its artwork that complement and enhance the text throughout. Additionally, in his Author’s Note at the end of the book, Freedman refers to a number of classic translations of Polo’s book that he presumably used to inform his research. References for the text are about the only missing element here, and it remains to be seen if the Author’s Note is enough of a substitute for them.

Perhaps the most accurate feature of the book is that it does not accept or refute Marco Polo wholeheartedly. Instead, readers get a balanced, nuanced text of what he purportedly saw during his travels as well as skepticism and questions from the author when Polo’s claims become too farfetched. Although it seems at times that Freedman does believe Marco Polo’s story, he tempers any sort of fawning with his use of “Marco tells us,” “Marco reports,” or “His claims that he…” These, along with question structures such as “Was Marco exaggerating…?” show a balance in approach toward the subject, upon which Freedman elaborates in his five-page final chapter, “Did Marco Polo Go to China?” Here, he discusses and attempts to respond to various questions scholars have had over the years about Polo’s claims. Rather than attempting to quell the controversy surrounding Marco Polo, Freedman seems to concern himself with telling readers who his subject was, why he was so important and what others think about his claims.

In terms of organization, the biography begins its first chapter, “Nothing But the Truth,” with a mysterious and almost literary sentence: “As Marco Polo lay dying, friends and relatives gathered anxiously by his bedside and begged him to confess” so that he would have a “clear conscience” (5) when he died. The story then moves incrementally backward for the remainder of the chapter, where readers learn about Marco Polo’s ghostwriter, Rustichello, with whom he shared a prison cell. The second chapter, “The Polo Brothers,” takes readers back to the true beginning of how his father and uncle began the travels that would later include a young and impressionable Marco. It then proceeds chronologically until his death is revisited and he leaves us with his final words: “I have only told the half of what I saw” (53).

This structure allows Freedman to address skeptics and naysayers immediately and to provide readers with room to raise their own questions throughout the biography while Polo’s tales and descriptions are recounted. Had he begun with the second chapter, it would seem to indicate an acceptance of DESCRIPTIONS OF THE WORLD as inherently truthful. Then, at the end of the book, readers would not be prepared for the author’s discussion of each side of the argument. This way, readers can see the both the descriptions and skepticism for themselves and form their own opinions.

The design of this book is appealing on a number of different levels. It is oversized yet thin, allowing it to be held without a burden. Its pages are heavy with an almost parchment-like feel to them, and the fonts for its chapter titles look like they came straight out of an illuminated manuscript from the Renaissance. A dropped capital adorns the first letter of each chapter to further the antiquated feeling. The text font is small but has serifs, and spacing between the lines gives enough space to enjoy the dappled parchment of the pages. Even the page numbers are tastefully done, with an attractive piece of a border design placed next to the page number.

Detailed, mixed-media illustrations appear on the left page of each chapter opening, acting as overviews to the chapters and companions to their titles. Generally bordered with a variety of Islamic and Chinese motifs, these illustrations mimic period artwork with similarities to Islamic miniature paintings or Chinese landscapes. To further the historical veracity of the text and add visual elements to the story, the book includes actual period artwork from European, Islamic (primarily Persian) and Chinese sources, usually one or two pieces per spread. In these, readers are introduced to the same cultures Marco Polo experienced. Two maps with modern political boundaries and 13th-century names show the routes he traveled and also give an idea of how far he went and an appreciation for what he must have seen. (That is, if he actually traveled that route.)

With the attention to detail for all of its visual aspects, as well as its organization and willingness to provide a balanced argument, this book is an accessible work of well-researched history. Freedman provides his audience with a balance of narrative from the original work, historical transitions, and pertinent details to heighten learning about this important historical figure. Its questions about whether Marco Polo did what he claimed to have done are subtle and will not detract readers from late elementary school and up from looking at its art, reading the often lavish descriptions of different times, events and cultures, and enjoying a compelling story.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
--The accounts are accompanied by original and archival illustrations and maps; extensive endnotes provide further documentation. (SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, November 2006)
--With its thick, mottled pages and attractive design, this is a glorious piece of bookmaking; readers will find it a pleasure to explore. (BOOKLIST, October 2006)
--Creamy pages resemble parchment, and attentive design elements include illustrated boards with gilt inlay. Freedman's impeccable research, historical fidelity and flair for engrossing narrative nonfiction combine with handsome bookmaking for a highly recommended biography. (PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY, October 2006)

Review excerpts from Books in Print database.

CONNECTIONS
--Visual arts and social studies classes could use the illustrations by Bagram Ibatoulline, as well as the archival artwork, to explore the relationship between design, culture and history.
--Russell Freedman’s numerous biographies and social histories could be explored for style and historical research by older students assigned to create their own.
--This book could be used as part of a “Great Explorers/Adventurers” unit.
--The “original” book by Marco Polo, the one that caused the fuss in the first place:
THE ADVENTURES OF MARCO POLO, THE GREAT TRAVELER. 2010. (Reprint). ISBN: 978-1141670338

G4: Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bartoletti, Campbell. 2005. HITLER YOUTH: GROWING UP IN HITLER’S SHADOW. New York, Scholastic. ISBN: 0-439-353793-3.

This social history begins with the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and ends with Germany’s eventual surrender in 1945. However, as Baroletti notes at the beginning of her Foreword, “This book is not about Adolf Hitler” (7). Instead, it uses Hitler’s rule of Nazi Germany and his desire to reshape and dominate all sections of German society as a backdrop for the more individual histories of young Germans, those who either joined the Hitler Youth or somehow resisted the Nazis. The lives and actions of twelve young people comprise the bulk of the individual stories set against the history happening around them, although many other younger and older Germans appear as minor but equally important characters affected by that tumultuous, tragic period. To add power to this history, it also includes maps, a timeline, period photographs and an explanation of their sourcing, extensive end notes, a bibliography, an author letter about her inspiration and research methodology, and “before and after” synopses of the twelve main characters.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The reviewers seem mixed on the intended audience for this book. Two out of the three suggested at least a fifth grade level, while the other may have committed either a purposeful or accidental error by suggesting that five-year-old readers and older would benefit from this book. This book is too mature for a five year old. It is for students at least in fifth or sixth grade. This is a detailed, well-researched book for older readers able to process and contextualize information, while understanding on a deeper level what the implications of life in Germany were at that time.

To attain the level of accuracy required to ensure the success of this book, Bartoletti researched this exceptionally well. Her 115-item bibliography includes not only historical texts about the war, its major characters, and the Hitler Youth, but also letters, diaries, autobiographies, and oral communications with the survivors. Many of them are by the twelve young main characters of this book. As she explains in her Author’s Note, to find the “voice” (my quotations) of the people involved, she searched for them assiduously and used a variety of techniques and practices to hear and record their stories.

Having an extensive bibliography is important, but perhaps more important is how Bartoletti makes it digestible to her readers. She divides her sources into smaller categories (“About Herbert Norkus, Including Firsthand Accounts” is one of them), numbers them, and then refers to the numbers in her end notes. Most of her reference notes source conversations that are able to give a flavor of the period by people who lived at that time. Along these same lines, each two-page spread features photographs, many from family albums.

The text begins with the sad story of Herbert Norkus, who in his death became a rallying symbol for the Nazis in their attempts to mobilize young people to participate in the preparations for a reborn Germany. This story is a technique Bartoletti uses throughout the book in her prose and image selection to remind her readers that all of these world-shaking events affected individuals. Even as the story moves chronologically, her chapters begin with some anecdote about her young main characters and then move into what larger events were occurring outside of their lives. Adding to this movement from specific to general, the photograph on the left side of each opening spread complements the chapter title, which itself is part or whole of a quotation that surfaces later. A more descriptive subtitle appears beneath the quotation, further preparing the reader for the content. “A Nazi Education,” “Preparing for War,” and “The Holocaust Begins” are among these concise subtitles.

Just as the war moved from success to disillusionment to resistance to defeat and to soul-searching, so moves the content in this book. In the beginning of the book, Bartoletti builds the Hitler Youth as something of an unstoppable force, attracting teenagers with camping trips, war games, and motorcycles. Though some young Germans such as Sophie Scholl disagreed with the militarization, others like Elizabeth Vetter embraced it and even went so far as to have her parents arrested. As the book progresses, the author illustrates how the resistance began with compelling stories of White Rose and Helmuth Hübener. The final chapters describe how the war was ultimately lost. For those desiring a less wordy (and far less interesting) version of the events in the book, the timeline is thorough.

This 176-page book is published in a large format. The decision to do this was the correct one for two main reasons. First, a smaller format would have meant less visual appeal, and the photographs in this book are excellent. Second, the larger format allows for less text on each page and also affords the opportunity to connect at least two photographs and captions with the text. This combination of words and images brings life to the story and, with the use of short paragraphs, leads to a work easy to browse and accessible to all readers.

Bartoletti’s writing is clear, focused on the people and their context. She does not burden readers with facts except to illuminate the stories she wants to tell. As a result, she transports readers back to that time period and provides them with further avenues of study should they be interested. She does not try to say everything, just the important things. Readers will find themselves flipping back and forth between the character sketches, chapters and Epilogue to learn more about the people and their stories.

About the only weak part of the book, the one time when she moves away from telling the story, is its final paragraph. Here, she asks a question of her younger readers: “What are you willing to do to prevent such a shadow from falling over you and others?” Though it is easy to see her point, especially in light of what she has just written, it almost diminishes the rest of the book as a sort of morality play with the author as a teacher, rather than a social historian. Allowing the story, the Epilogue, and the items suggested in the bibliography to speak for themselves by eliminating the last paragraph would have been more effective. However, one misplaced paragraph or sentence should not detract from the importance and relevance of this social history to its young adult (and wider) audience.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
-- 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, June 2005)
--Bartoletti's portrait of individuals within the Hitler Youth who failed to realize that they served "a mass murderer" is convincing, and while it does not excuse the atrocities, it certainly will allow readers to comprehend the circumstances that led to the formation of Hitler's youngest zealots. (PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY, May 2005)
--The handsome book design, with black-and-white historical photos on every double-page spread, will draw in readers and help spark deep discussion, which will extend beyond the Holocaust curriculum. (BOOKLIST, April 2005)
--This book offers through simple and powerful primary sources an important though tearful lesson in history, citizenship, and responsibility. (VOICE OF YOUTH ADVOCATES, August 2005)

Review excerpts from Books in Print

CONNECTIONS
--Social studies classes from grades 5 and up examining World War II or the Holocaust could use this as a basis for research, both with the material in this book and the items in the bibliography. Selected chapters could also be used to show how to enliven history by connecting it to its audience.
--Other selected histories by Susan Campbell Bartoletti:
THE BOY WHO DARED. 2008. ISBN: 978-0439680134
BLACK POTATOES: THE STORY OF THE GREAT IRISH FAMINE. 2005. ISBN: 978-0618548835
THEY CALLED THEMSELVES THE K.K.K.: THE BIRTH OF AN AMERICAN TERRORIST GROUP. 2010. ISBN: 978-0618440337
(There are others, too, that look to be worth reading.)
--Selected books on World War II recommended by the author for younger readers:
Dumbach, Annette and Jud Newborn. 1986. SHATTERING THE GERMAN NIGHT: THE STORY OF THE WHITE ROSE. ISBN: 978-0316604130
LEWIS, BRENDA RALPH. 2000. HITLER YOUTH: THE HITLERJUGEND IN WAR AND PEACE. ISBN: 978-0760309469
Scholl, Inge. 1983. THE WHITE ROSE: MUNICH, 1942-1943. 1983. ISBN: 978-0819560865
Vinke, Heermann. 1984. THE SHORT LIFE OF SOPHIE SCHOLL. ISBN: 978-0060263034

G3: Footprints on the Roof: Poems about the Earth

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Singer, Marilyn. 2002. FOOTPRINTS ON THE ROOF: POEMS ABOUT THE EARTH. Ill. by Meilo So. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN: 0-375-91094-8.

The 19 poems in this slim yet powerful collection all focus on topics associated with nature. Nature may appear as a phenomenon to be described, appreciated and sometimes humanized, as in the poems entitled “Go-Betweens,” “Summer Solstice,” “Prehistoric Praise,” “Dormant Dragons,” “Caves” or “Dunes.” The other poems in the collection remind readers of their interactions with nature and feature first- and second person perspectives and musings on their surroundings. Each poem is given its own two-page spread, with ample white space and a readable font. The ink illustrations always appear on the right page of the spread, but, in approximately half of the poems, they cover all or parts of both pages.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Singer’s straightforward vocabulary, clear imagery, variety in forms and use of topical twists provide for a work that readers at many levels could enjoy. Though younger, less experienced readers may not be able to comprehend the poems independently, they would easily be able to enjoy the poems if someone were to read them aloud and discuss them. Meilo So’s stylized, brush-stroked illustrations of the “critical moment” in each poem would also enable understanding, at least of the larger topics and themes.

Singer uses different formalistic elements to make her poems accessible. Generally, the poems are all in free verse, though she does incorporate subtle rhyming in “Summer Solstice” or “Dormant Dragons,” for example. The way she uses it, free verse allows for the reader to focus on the next image or line, instead of getting pulled into determining the rhyme or rhythm of the poems. When she does use rhymes, they are barely noticeable, often with words that may be anywhere from two to five lines apart. Complementing the free verse and acting as a substitute for commas and periods, she also breaks lines into words and phrases and indents them at different points in all of the poems. By showcasing her lines in this manner, she is almost telling readers to slow down and mull over a certain image or phrase before moving on to the rest of the poem. Colons and “long dashes” (“M” dashes?) are about the only punctuation she employs, giving the poems the contradictory feeling of flowing freely and meandering to their main points.

Another noteworthy aspect of her poetry is her use of repetition of words and phrases and parallelism of grammatical structures. In “Natural Disasters,” she begins with “We were talking disasters” and follows that with a participle to elaborate on what was occurring at that moment in time. Later in the poem, after using similar grammatical structures to list different types of disasters, she repeats the line, “We were talking disasters” with the same elaborative participle. In “Mud,” the narrator shows her longing for nature after staying for awhile in the city. She sets her goal, “I’m in the mood for mud,” and then fronts three lines with “When” clauses to show three unnatural aspects of the city life for her. Her use of “Then” at the end of the poem could be considered a completion of the repetition, a way for the narrator to show her resolve and find nature in the city. Singer also does the same in “Fens” with the repeated phrase “those (adjective) places.” Readers see fens as mysterious places and are left to wonder why the narrator sees them as so inviting. “Desert” is also an exceptional example of her ease in employing this technique.

Alliteration and hyperbole play a role in many of the poems in this book, but, like the rhyming, they are used with restraint. Animal and reptile burrows are “mazy metropolises” (in “Burrows”—an excellent poem, by the way), and the thought of “Volcanoes venting” is scary. For hyperbole, “Dining Out” begins, “Each day I eat the earth/I drink the rain,” impossible to do on the surface, but then Singer explains in “smaller” terms how the earth sustains and entertains all of us.

A final feature worth noting is how Singer “twists” the ending of each poem. In “Winter Solstice,” the twist begins in the middle of the poem with a transition from the northern to southern hemisphere. This is actually one of her longer twists. “Caves” spends most of the poems describing features of, well, caves and ends with the idea that language is “culturally” specific: “and there are twenty words for darkness/but none at all/for light.” Throughout “Patience,” the narrator is wistful about she didn’t become “taller,” “braver,” or “wiser” after visiting the mountains, but she has become “more patient/in the mountains/And I can wait.” The trees in “Go-Betweens” accomplish a list of functions (another deft use of parallelism and repetition) throughout the poem, their “work” that “never seems like work at all.” While this practice is not unique to Singer, it does serve to make these poems more memorable and worth reading again and again.

Spare in words, focused in image, and direct in their discourse, the poems in this book and their accompanying Asian-inspired illustrations comprise a fine set of meditations on nature and our place in it.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
--Singer and So have created a work of minimalist art, in which harmony is achieved between text and image with no extraneous words or strokes. A welcome addition to nature-poetry collections (SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, May 2002)
--Meilo So's illustrations, rendered in India ink on rice paper, evoke the serene quality of Japanese silkscreen. (PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, March 2002)
--The poems in Singer's latest collection are deeply earnest celebrations of the natural world… So's fluid, childlike watercolors might suggest an elementary audience, but middle-school and teen writers will probably enjoy this book the most. (BOOKLIST, March 2002)
--The poems are sometimes dry and sometimes didactic, but most are straightforward and occasionally giddy. So's art is by turns whimsical, wild, or reticent. (KIRKUS REVIEWS, January 2002)
--The book's format is polished and attractive, with its narrow creamy pages and artistic but readable font…(and) So's ink illustrations show an astonishing variety of textures, from precise tracery to glimmering gray washes, throughout evincing a dash and naturalness that usefully complement the poetry. (BULLETIN OF THE CENTER FOR CHILDREN’S BOOKS, July/August 2002)

CONNECTIONS
--FOOTPRINTS ON THE ROOF would be an excellent resource for use in language arts classes to examine the poems by themselves or to compare them with other poems dwelling on nature. It would also be useful to supplement topics in science classes.
--Meilo So’s illustrations could be used in visual arts classes as models for their simplicity and beauty or to show how to illustrate literature.
--Other mixed-age books of poetry by Marilyn Singer:
MIRROR MIRROR: A BOOK OF REVERSIBLE VERSE. 2010. ISBN: 978-0525479017
CENTRAL HEATING: BOOKS ABOUT FIRE AND WARMTH. 2005. ISBN: 978-0375829123

G3: Tropical Secrets:Holocaust Refugees in Cuba

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Engle, Margarita. 2009. TROPICAL SECRETS: HOLOCAUST REFUGEES IN CUBA. New York: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN: 978-0805089363.

The main character of this novel in verse, Daniel, is a 13-year-old German Jew from a musical family that decided to flee Berlin after the events of Kristallnacht (“The Night of the Broken Glass”) in 1938. Unfortunately, his parents could only afford one passage on a ship they hoped would land in New York but is turned away and finally lands in Havana. Without his family and unsure if they will ever join him, he meets Paloma (María Dolores), a Cuban girl of about the same age who has volunteered with the Quakers to help the arriving refugees. Her father, El Gordo, is a corrupt Cuban official who finds creative ways to line his pockets at the expense of the refugees. With the assistance of an old émigré Russian Jew named Davíd, Daniel and Paloma eventually help an older couple of mixed-religion as well as people on the two final refugee ships to land in Cuba. At the end of the novel, after it has become clear that his parents will not arrive in Cuba, Daniel grows to accept and make the most of his new situation in his new home.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Through its easily comprehensible free verse poetry, this novel offers a view of life in Cuba at four different times (June 1939, July 1939, December 1941 and April 1942) through the different perspectives of four characters: Daniel, Paloma, Davíd, and El Gordo. Of the approximately 130 poems, over half are narrated by Daniel, whose story forms the backbone of the novel. Paloma accounts for nearly a third of the poems. To establish that the book will be about the transformation of Daniel from a displaced, angry yet hopeful refugee, his poems dominate the first section. Later, as the character of Paloma begins to affect the plot with her earnest assistance and growing concern toward Daniel, the ratio of poems between the two drops from about 70% to 60%. While this may not seem significant, it should be noted that many of Daniel’s poems in the final three sections are clumped together and concentrated on the development of one idea.

For a young adult audience, the plot moves along quickly. The exposition covers the character development of the four narrators as well as the plot. Daniel arrives in Cuba and subsequently attempts to make sense of this new but very foreign “home.” Readers also see two sides of Paloma. The first is that of the idealistic dreamer whose nickname means “dove” in Spanish because she spends a lot of her time in the dovecote at her house, “my castlelike tower/in our huge, forested garden” (20). Here, she feeds her doves, “who come and go as they please/gentle friends, not captives in cages” (20). The other side is the rebellious young girl disgusted by the money-hungry actions of her father. Even though El Gordo only speaks in two poems in this section, Paloma makes certain everyone knows about how her father sells visas to hapless refugees and takes bribes to decide if they are able to land in Cuba.

Thus, the eventual conflict comes clear early: Daniel needs a place to settle and help doing so, while Paloma contravenes her father who does not see his daughter for who she is: “Paloma is just a fantasy name/the girl dreamed up” (53). His bitterness and avarice stem from the fact that his wife “ran away/with a foreigner” (53) and contrast with the character of Davíd, an old Russian Jew who fled his homeland “long ago” (23). With only a handful of poems throughout the book, his character is developed mainly through the eyes of Daniel and Paloma. He sells ice cream to her, dispenses much-needed resettlement advice to him, translates when the two of them come together, bemoans how Jews are portrayed in the newspapers, and represents the refugee experience when he asks:

…what else can I offer
to all these frightened people
who are just beginning to understand

what it means
to be a refugee
without a home? (29)

Engle cleverly and effectively uses historical events as backdrops to the unfolding friendship between Daniel and Paloma and to the various conflicts in the book. These “large” geopolitical events end up influencing the plot in a number of ways, especially in the later stages of the novel. From December 1941, readers learn that the U.S. has entered the war and that “Cuba is arresting/not only Japanese citizens/but Germans as well” (113), endangering not only Daniel but also Miriam and Mark, an older Jewish-Christian couple that had survived a harrowing escape from Europe. Because secrets are being smuggled out of the U.S. via Cuba by German spies, Cuba decides to stop the arrival of refugee ships. Throughout the whole of the novel, Daniel has hoped to be reunited with his parents so that they can play music together once again. The ships represent his final chance to see his parents and, when they are not aboard, his opportunity to come full circle and assist a final group of refugees. Additionally, the existence of concentration camps in Europe reminds readers of the possible fate of the refugees turned away from Cuba. As Davíd aptly mentions (125), “How can people stay sane/in a world that makes/no sense?”

True to its title, secrets also play a major role in the book. Paloma leads a double life, keeping secrets about herself from her father and about her father from Daniel, adding tension and necessitating that she tell Daniel the painful truth about her father and his actions. Cultural “secrets” are shared as Paloma and Daniel learn about each other and their respective religions. El Gordo, who has his own secrets with the Germans, is humanized by the secret he shares about his wife. Miriam and Mark are secretly spirited to the dovecote at first and then across the island in a narrow escape. Finally, Davíd, from the marginalized, secretive life he has led in Cuba since arriving as a voiceless refugee, prompts Daniel and others to write the “tale of these years in Cuba/even if they write it in verse, in song…” (187), in an attempt to share what could become one of history’s forgotten sidebars. Secrets large and small are revealed in this work of historical fiction.

A final note about the language in the book is critical. Essentially, each poem is a series of sentences, with images focused often on music and doves that are easy to understand. To ensure understanding and emphasize certain words and phrases, lines are broken as in the above examples. This style lends itself to approachable poems that are not heavy on details when read individually. Read as a whole, however, they collectively become a powerful story of two young people, what Paloma means at the end of the novel when she says, “Now we are all free/to tell what we know” (190).

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
--This book is an outstanding choice for young people of all reading skills. Reluctant readers will be encouraged by the open layout and brief text, and everyone will be captivated by the eloquent poems and compelling characters. (SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, June 2009)
--Engle gracefully packs a lot of information into a spare and elegant narrative that will make this historical moment accessible to a wide range of readers. (PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, April 2009)
--The international secrets make for a gripping story about refugees that becomes sharply focused through the viewpoint of the boy wrenched from home, haunted by the images of shattered glass and broken family. (BOOKLIST, January 2009)
-- Succinct free verse poems by Margarita Engle relate this interesting, little known piece of world history…The full-cast narration gives an authentic and distinct voice to each character and will engage listeners. This is historical fiction at its best. (SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, September 2009)
-- Readers who think they might not like a novel in verse will be pleasantly surprised at how quickly and smoothly the story flows. (VOICE OF YOUTH ADVOCATES, April 2009)

CONNECTIONS
--TROPICAL SECRETS would be a fine addition to a social studies unit on World War II, the Holocaust, or even any movement of refugees in other, more recent conflicts. Students could perhaps examine the lives of refugees in their own or nearby communities. For example, in parts of Wisconsin, there are significant Hmong communities, and in Burlington, Vermont and Long Beach, California, there are Cambodian communities.
--This book could also be supplemented by ANNE FRANK: THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL. ISBN: 978-0671824495, or any other work of fiction or nonfiction set during World War II.
--Other books by Margarita Engle:
SKYWRITING. 1996. ISBN: 978-0553377750
THE POET SLAVE OF CUBA: A BIOGRAPHY OF JUAN FRANCISCO MANZANO. 2006. ISBN: 978-0805077063
THE SURRENDER TREE. 2010. ISBN: 978-0312608712
THE FIREFLY LETTERS: A SUFFRAGETTE’S JOURNEY TO CUBA.2010. ISBN: 978-0805090826
--Other books of historical fiction in verse for young adult readers*:
OUT OF THE DUST. Karen Hesse. ISBN: 978-0590360807
WITNESS. Karen Hesse. ISBN: 978-0439272001

*A very limited list