Boys without Names (Balzer & Bray, 2010) by Kashmira Sheth is a very powerful book which demonstrates the power of story in the book itself.
11-year-old Gopal and his family have to move away from their village to Mombai in order to survive. But things don’t go well there either. His father lost, Gopal decides he must earn money for the family and trusts someone he shouldn’t. Gopal ends up as a slave in a sweatshop with other boys, who can’t even share their names. It’s Gopal who makes a difference to all their lives. First by giving them names, next by telling stories.
Don’t miss it! I know I’ll be rereading it.
Thanks to Ruta Rimas for introducing me to this book.
Read about the author here: http://kashmirasheth.typepad.com/my_weblog/
Tag: diversity
Sweetgrass Basket
You thought you had it tough?
Try early 1900s when you are forced to leave your father and go to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School where people look down on you!
In Sweetgrass Basket (Dutton, 2005) by Marlene Carvell, Mohawk sisters, Mattie and Sarah, are sent away after the death of their mother. This novel is told in verse and from both girls’ viewpoints. It’s hard for them to have to think in English and to give up their culture, but it’s harder knowing they can’t see their father.
Thanks to Readergirlz for introducing me to this historical novel!
Marlene Carvell was inspired to write this story based on her husband’s great-aunt’s experience. Read more about the author at Readergirlz and on the Strong Nations site.
Character Growth – Red Glass & Mexican WhiteBoy
I recently read two award-winning books which give some insight into the Hispanic culture. Both were very good and in both the main character grew and changed.
Red Glass (Delacorte, 2007) by Laura Resau features Sophie, who is afraid of everything. She and her family have taken in her great aunt, Dika, a refugee from Bosnia, and Pablo, a 6-year-old Mexican boy, whose parents die trying to cross into America. Dika meets Mr. Lorenzo and becomes friends. Mr. Lorenzo, his son, Angel, Dika, and Sophie travel to Mexico to take Pablo to his village to see if he wants to be with his family there and for Angel to find his lost mother. The story is powerful and memorable and Sophie learns what is important to fear and what is not.
Laura has another book coming out this month. Read more at her website: http://www.lauraresau.com/.
Mexican WhiteBoy (Delacorte, 2008) by Matt de la Pena has a character with several dilemmas. First, Danny is white to the Mexicans and Mexican to the whites. He lives with his mom and step-dad in San Diego, but goes to spend the summer with his Mexican uncle’s family. People in National City don’t understand why he can’t speak Spanish. Secondly, Danny’s great at baseball, especially pitching, but at his private school in San Diego, he can’t keep control over the ball. In National City he becomes friends with Uno who has a Mexican mother and a black father. The two help each other figure out what is going on in their lives. Warning: This book does have language that may be offensive, however, it does fit the culture.
Matt also has a new book coming out this month. Check it out at his website: http://www.mattdelapena.com/index.html.
Interview with Pamela Ehrenberg – Tillman County Fire
Since I enjoyed Ethan, Suspended so much, I thought I’d chat with author Pamela Ehrenberg about her newest book, Tillman County Fire (Eerdmans, 2009), which unfortunately I haven’t gotten to read yet, but will!
QUESTION: What lead you to write the book as a series of stories?
PAM: I was inspired by the Ernest Gaines novel, A Gathering of Old Men, which tells about a community event (in that case, a murder on a plantation) from the viewpoints of various people involved. That book really made me think about what it means to be part of a community, and how everyone’s got just a piece of whatever the story is.
QUESTION: How/why did you choose to write about the topic of an anti-gay hate crime?
PAM: You know, for this book I actually knew what the format would be–the different stories from different perspectives–before I knew what the book would be about. So I knew something was going to happen in this community that had the potential to bring people together or pull people apart as much as that murder did in the Ernest Gaines book . . . I don’t know that I ever decide what happens in my books–it feels more like I discover what happens, by being open to the world of the story.
QUESTION: I understand each story is about the same event, yet each focuses on a different character. Are the stories written from each character’s viewpoint or is there a narrator? If the former, did you struggle with writing in so many viewpoints?
PAM: Each story is first-person from a different perspective, except that the last story is told in the third person and there’s one story where multiple voices come together, with different characters narrating a section. I think I avoided a lot of the struggles that might come with the multiple voices by really viewing the project for a long time as a collection of short stories–it took my writing group a fair amount of effort to convince me that I was really writing a novel. Even though I agree with them now, each story is still pretty well self-contained–as I think real teenagers (and real grown-ups) are–each narrator sees his or her own concerns as the central ones.
QUESTION: What was the most difficult thing for you in writing this particular book?
PAM: It’s not technically part of the writing of the book, but I’d have to say the hardest thing is not having my husband, Eric, here to celebrate with me. He died last summer at age 37–and though he got to read two drafts, provide valuable legal consultation, and even see the cover art, it was hard not having him here when the box of books showed up on the doorstep. He was always the one to remind me to stop and celebrate these moments in life, and not be so focused on forging ahead to the next thing that you don’t take time to celebrate what’s in front of you.
QUESTION: What’s been the best about working on this book?
PAM: The best thing was the chance to “live,” for a while, in Tillmon County. The county was inspired by the place in far western Maryland where I was an AmeriCorps member in the mid-1990s, and working on the book is the closest I’ve come to a second chance to live in the mountains.
QUESTION: Reading your writing tips on your website, I noticed in the revising section, you said, “Make it Shorter.” You said you have a list of weak words that you search for in your manuscript. Do you mind sharing that list?
PAM: Gosh, I’d forgotten all about that! It turned out I didn’t use it as much this time around–maybe the exercise of searching for all of these things in Ethan, Suspended meant that fewer of them turned up in the early drafts of this book? I don’t know. But I’m happy to share!
WORDS TO SEARCH FOR
WORDY:
a little
a lot
about
all
all of a sudden
all over
almost
already
and everything
as soon as
at least
at the same time
be
decided
depends on
done
even
felt
finally
gotten/getting
had
had no idea
it
it was like/it’s like/it wasn’t like/it isn’t like/it’s not like
just
kind of
knew
look(ed) over
-ly words
maybe
myself (telling_, thinking to__)
notice
off
on the other hand
on top of
or anything
or something
out
pretty
probably
realize
really
right
said
seem
some kind of
sometimes
start
stuff
suddenly
suppose
that
that had
that was
that were
there
this
thought
try
was sure
well
whole
wondered
you know
Got voice? – Penny from Heaven & Elijah of Buxton
Penny from Heaven (Random House, 2006) by Jennifer L. Holm definitely has good voice. It’s 1953 and Penny can’t go swimming because of the fear of polio. She lives with her mom and Pop-pop and Me-me, but spends a lot of time with her dad’s side of the family. Nonny still doesn’t speak good English and Uncle Dominic lives in his car, but the food is great at her grandmother Falucci’s house. Readers will learn along with Penny how her father died and why the two families don’t have much to do with each other.
This book is a 2007 Newbery honor book. Author Jennifer L. Holm also won a Newbery honor for her first novel, Our Only May Amelia. Read about her other books here.
If you’ve ever read any Christopher Paul Curtis, you’ll expect his historical novel Elijah of Buxton (Scholastic Press, 2007) to have good voice. You won’t be disappointed. From the humor of hoop snakes to serious business of freed slaves saving money to buy their family member’s freedom, this story flows.
Fra-gile Elijah is 11 and the first free born child of freed slaves in the community. Everyone remembers how as a baby he throwed up on Frederick Douglas, but by the end of the story Elijah accomplishes something else that he thinks they’ll be remembering instead.
Memorable story!
Christopher is a great speaker, too. If you ever get a chance to hear him, go! Here’s his website.