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books

All the Broken Pieces by Ann Burg

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The Vietnam war is something I am pretty underinformed about, aside from what I learned in a few history classes and those classes, as any student of history knows, are biased. But perhaps what is more a disservice than some of the bias is the fact that the Vietnam war lessons come at the end of a long semester (unless one takes a whole class) and gets short changed. A lot of what happened goes unlearned.

All the Broken Pieces by Ann Burg is a novel about the Vietnam war without being about the physical war itself. This quick novel, written entirely in verse, takes place in the aftermath of the war. More specifically, it is set when Americans had the opportunity to save Vietnamese children Vietnamese children of war and give them homes in America.

Burg’s book opens with Matt, one of the rescued children, recalling something that happened in his life — but as readers, we’re left blind to what experiences he had as a child in the war-torn nation. His mom was Vietnamese and his father was an American soldier who raped her and left her. When his mother sends him with Americans, he is adopted into a family that loves him dearly and gives him every opportunity they can. He’s got a natural baseball talent, but even great talent doesn’t stop members of the team he made from making fun of him and his heritage. Tensions were high after the war, as it touched the lives of so many. Rob, one of his teammates, really dislikes him and goes out of his way to make Matt’s life difficult.

As the novel moves forward — and it moves VERY fast — we watch as Matt makes decisions about what he shares and doesn’t share about his experiences. At the same time he is involved in truly American pastimes, including baseball and music lessons, his mind reminds him of his uniquely non-American life. This comes to a head when he and Rob are paired for an exercise on the baseball field that causes them to come to total understandings of one another and of themselves. It is at this moment we as readers develop a total understanding of Matt and his life both in Vietnam and America. At this same time, Matt learns about how the war impacted other people he interacts with daily in America and he relates with them in a new way because he, too, is able to share his experiences on the other side. All the Broken Pieces is a novel that highlights cultural understanding in a way that readers of all ages can relate.

I found this to be quite a moving book; Matt is an exceptionally drawn main character with a great voice that left me wanting to know more. I felt like his adoptive family in hoping he would share his story with me and I felt great satisfaction when he did. Along with that satisfaction, as a reader I felt utter sympathy for him and his experiences. Moreover, this is the sort of book that left me as a reader wanting to know more about the Vietnam war’s outcomes and effects on civilians both American and made-American.

All the Broken Pieces is a Cybils nominee in the middle grade category, and while I don’t disagree with that age appropriateness, I think it might be better appreciated by those who are a little older. This is a story that has less in the way of action and more in character development, and the verse use is spot-on. Berg could not have picked a better way to share her story, and I am excited to see what she does in the future. I think this is a title that’s been under the radar this season, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it get its due come awards time. At least I hope so!

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose

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Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose is the fourth book in my quest to read all five National Book Award nominees for Youth Literature. Unlike the prior three books, Claudette Colvin is a work of non-fiction.

Claudette Colvin was the catalyst for the Montgomery Bus Boycotts during the 1950s and Civil Rights Movement. But unlike Rosa Parks, she was forgotten and overlooked for her major contribution to integration.

Hoose’s story is meant to share Colvin’s story and shed light into her role into the monumental and oft ignored Browder v. Gayle case that ruled integration the law in Montgomery and all of Alabama.

Claudette refused to give up her seat on the bus as a teenager, and she didn’t go quietly. She was beaten and degraded as police officers dragged her off the bus for not giving up the seat upon the bus driver’s request (which, back then was de facto for blacks). She was sentenced for the crime, but her cause was taken up by Dr. King and Rosa Parks shortly thereafter. As students of American history, we have an idea of what happened when they became involved in the situation in Montgomery.

But Colvin faded from the spot light, even though it was her action that spurred movement from blacks and equal rights supporters of all colors and backgrounds. Why? She became pregnant and birthed a light-skinned baby. Scorned by white culture for being black and refusing to follow Jim Crow and equally scorned by her black community for having a child out of wedlock with what they assumed was a white father pushed her story to the periphery.

Hoose’s book was engaging and solid — I felt like the prose moved in a story-like fashion enough to keep audiences who may not otherwise have found a non-fiction book about a lesser-known history maker reading. Fortunately for Hoose and for readers, Colvin is still alive today and was able to provide insights into the story herself.

The book has segments of her interviews, along with a selection of photos, sidebars, and other graphics to tell the story. Additionally, Hoose fills in many of the holes between Colvin’s interviews to give the book shape and structure.

This, however, made me sad — I actually found Hoose’s additions the dullest and slowest portions of the book. I wanted to read more of Colvin’s own words and I feel like she got short changed for his prose. I’m a big fan of graphics, and I almost would have preferred more, as well. I consider myself a fairly well educated reader and I felt like having more visuals would have helped me better construct an understanding; I imagine for the age range this book is intended for that adding more graphics would be not only helpful but crucial to better capturing the essence of the Civil Rights struggle, particularly in Montgomery.

Although I believe this is a fantastic book, I do wonder how receptive audiences would be to this if it were not hand sold or used as part of a classroom collection/unit on the Civil Rights movement. I think this because she is (unfortunately!) a little known member of such an important era and she will be overlooked on the shelves in favor of King or Parks. That’s not to say she doesn’t belong, for sure. Additionally, I did find the section about her becoming pregnant a bit non-essential — the graphic details about sex here were tangential to the larger issues, and I think they will be a sticking point for use with younger readers.

I think this is a worthy NBA nominee, for sure, but I still hold my torch for Lips Touch. Fortunately for Claudette Colvin, the nomination will get more librarians, teachers, and book loves to read this story and talk up this lesser known but utterly important member of the Civil Rights movement and perhaps will bring a renewed interest in learning about the faces and stories behind it.

Double Take, Part XIII

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Here’s another great double take for you!


Does This Book Make Me Look Fat? is a collection of short stories about body image. It was published in December 2008 by Clarion Books. Pretty memorable cover and I think it’s quite fitting to the book itself.


Check it out — it’s the same image but they’ve given this one a bit of a different crop. They did the same thing with the book, too.
Writing Great Books for Young Adults was published by Sourcebooks in September 2009.

Who did it better? I personally like the first one better because she looks more like a teen than the second one. Something about the cropping makes her look way older.

Lips Touch, Laini Taylor w/ Jim Di Bartolo

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I’m going to do something I haven’t done before: I’m reviewing this title without finishing it.

Lips Touch by Laini Taylor and with illustrator Jim Di Bartolo is one of the nominees for this year’s National Book Award. I’m going to go out on a limb and say — even without reading the other two nominees just yet — that this is going to be the winner.

Why?

This book is fantastic, it is beautiful, and it is a book worthy of such an accolade. Although this definitely strikes me as a book that would speak in that way to an awards committee, this is also a book with high appeal, though it’s definitely going to appeal most to those who love fantasy, mythology, or fairy tale worlds and older teens. That’s not to say it’s got a lot of questionable content that wouldn’t be appropriate for younger teens but more because it is written in a very sophisticated manner with dense language. And the allusions and depth Taylor has is going to be most appreciated by those with a little reading and literary currency.

Lips Touch is a series of three short stories that revolve around kissing. They’re wildly different but are related through that common theme. Each story is preceded by a few pages of fantastic illustration by Di Bartolo which tell the story graphically. The art uses red, black, and grey to set the tone and the colors are throughout the book, as titles, page numbers, and chapter titles are red themselves. The extra money that the publisher spent on the color was well spent and as a reader, I just loved the beautiful book itself. Sorry Kindle users, but you will miss out on a piece of art.

The first story is an exploration of Christina Rosetti’s famous poem “Goblin Market.” This a poem that, like Taylor, I’ve been fascinated with for a long time. Kizzy, the main character in the story, is one of those girls who wishes she had the boys interested in her like others in her class do. She never will, of course, because she’s not that attractive and well, she has a very, very weird family.

That is, of course, until a new boy comes to town and rouses the goblins. Will they ruin her or him? Will they ever get to experience a true kiss or will they become victims of the goblins out to haunt Kizzy?

Taylor’s second story is a story about a curse placed upon a baby. Based heavily in mythology — and I believe this is Middle Eastern mythos — Taylor crafts a story where the Devil can kill at will, but it is through the promise to a woman with power to travel between life on earth and Hell that he chooses no longer to kill children. That is, if this child who will be given the most beautiful voice on earth never utters a word. When a solider sees the cursed individual upon her late teen years, and she falls deeply in love, will she break the curse? Will she break it for love?

And the third story, admittedly, I did not get through. This is a story that relies a lot on world building and development and will definitely appeal to fantasy readers. This is not my genre and because I was so enamored with her first two tales, I did not want to read through the third knowing that I could not appreciate nor evaluate it well. The preceding art I did enjoy but knew from that and the short summary following the illustrations that it wouldn’t be for me.

Lips Touch was so enjoyable, so different, and so memorable. I first heard of this book from a webinar I attended wherein David Levithan raved about the book but had a heck of a time finding it anywhere. I wanted to purchase it for my library when I first learned of it but could not locate it through my vendor. A few trips to a number of big chains proved fruitless, as well, both before and after the NBA nomination announcement. So, if you’re interested in reading it and can’t find it easily, don’t be surprised. I did land a copy through Amazon.

This is a literary work. It is based deeply in language and imagery, and it alludes to many myths, legends, and other literature. This will not have wide appeal, but I think that any reader can appreciate at least one story in here. If for no other reason, pick up Lips Touch for incredible language use and for the unique use of visual story telling.

I’m pretty okay taking the risk in saying this will be the winner this year — I suspect that Claudette Colvin and Charles and Emma are going to be great reads, but this book has so much more to it than the text and for a fiction title just glows differently.

Jumped by Rita Williams-Garcia

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On to my second book out of the five nominees for the National Book Award in Youth Literature. This time it’s Rita Williams-Garcia’s Jumped, which is also a Cybils nominee this year.

Jumped is an urban novel, told from three perspectives and takes place over the course of one school day — about 7:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. with a bit of story taking place later. This is the story of a girl full of confidence and pride who inadvertently got in the way of a girl with a mission to cause trouble (to make herself feel better about her troubles) and a third girl – the one who saw it coming.

Leticia has to take class during 0 hour to make up for not doing so hot in school last year. She’s a sly one, of course, and tricks her teacher into thinking she needs to use the bathroom desperately and is able to ditch out of class early that day.

Dominique, at that time, was making her way to her basketball coach’s office to ask for play time in the game. She’s not passing with a high enough grade in one of her classes and coach has benched her. She isn’t happy. When her coach tells her she can’t play, she leaves his office, rage rising.

And Trina? Well, her day is great. She’s looking cute and her art work’s put on display in the hallway. Girl’s floating through her day … and floats right past Dominique in the hallway who swears she’s going to beat her at 2:45.

Leticia saw it all go down. But is it her responsibility to tell Trina? Should she intervene in a situation that could only get her in deeper trouble? Trina did nothing to warrant the anger Dominique has for her.

Jumped is an interesting story and it gives a good perspective into a culture I am totally unfamiliar with – the urban high school. With the proliferation of stories in the news lately, I thought this book was so contemporary and so well done without becoming an issue novel. But unfortunately, I think the enjoyment I got stopped there.

I found the book very slow for being such a small book. I think the pacing is intentional, building up how each character proceeds through their school day through the end scene. The end scene unfolds precisely as we imagine it will, but when it’s over, well, there’s no resolution. An issue novel would go the mile to resolve the story, and since this ISN’T an issue novel, there’s not a good resolve. I’m still undecided how I feel about that as a reader taken into such an unfamiliar world. I believe readers who find this a familiar world may feel similarly.

Williams-Garcia knows the language and the people well. I don’t think, though, that their voices are well developed. If this is intentional, it’s brilliant, but my reading on the story — and my understanding in the format of a very short time line and short novel more generally — maybe didn’t lead to that conclusion. The characters are pretty flat, built as just their situation. As a reader, I know why Dominique is mad and I know what Trina did to irritate her. Kind of.

Maybe I’m meant to feel like Leticia, unsure of what’s going on and what to do about it.

That said, this is a quick read that will be enjoyed by so many teen girls, both those who know about this urban landscape and those who don’t. I don’t think this one will walk away the winner of the award, though — but I think it was highly deserving, whether or not it was one of my favorites. I understand entirely why it is appealing and worthwhile, and the press it will get from its nomination is justly earned.