Module 15: Lush by Natasha Friend

Friend, N. (2006). Lush. New York: Scholastic Press.

BOOK SUMMARY

In addition to dealing with the typical problems and concerns that arise during the early teenage years, Sam is weighed down by the fact that her father is an alcoholic, something she doesn't think anyone she knows can understand.  In a strange twist of fate, she connects with a stranger who irks her, and yet understands her, in a way no one else does.  As events at home escalate, Sam reaches out to her secret friend to help her sort through the complex emotions she is feeling.  In the end, she discovers she might not be the only one struggling.

Impressions and opinion of the book

Many teens are faced with alcoholism and yet, the subject still seems to be somewhat taboo in middle or even YA literature.  At most, we are confronted with teen drinking; rarely have I encountered a book that delves into the issues a child faces from a parent consumed with alcohol addiction.  Friend broaches the topic in a relevant, yet poignant manner.  She does not sugar coat the subject matter, but she does not sensationalize it, either.  The emphasis is more on the emotions Sam feels due to her father's actions as opposed to focusing on her father's actions.

Friend also gives a peek into the entire family dynamic, speaking to the fact that each member is  affected in a way unique to their relationship with Sam's father.  The fear Sam feels at the discovery of her father's alcoholism by others is a feeling that can be relatable to anyone who thinks they are harboring family secrets.  Friend does not end the novel with everything working out perfectly.  There is no neat little bow to wrap it up.  Still, she shows that families can work through difficulties, and friends can be more accepting and forgiving than we give them credit for.

Full-Text Review

After years of pretending she has a “normal” family, a worried teen finally confronts her father’s alcoholism. Thirteen-year-old Samantha knows her father has a drinking problem, but her parents seem oblivious. Sam’s father makes empty promises to stop drinking while her mother immerses herself in yoga classes, defending her husband as a “good man.” Although Sam carefully camouflages the situation by inviting friends over only when her father’s away, his binges are getting worse and she’s afraid he will lose control. Desperate to confide in someone other than her friends, Sam leaves notes in the library asking for advice from an older girl she doesn’t really know. When her drunken father injures her little brother and the family’s future is jeopardized, Sam must deal with anger and uncertainty as she makes some surprising discoveries about her family, her friends and herself. Sam comes across as a savvy as well as naïve teen who tells her own story with humor, honesty and hope. Realistic family drama. (Fiction. 12-15)

Kirkus (2006). [Review for the book Lush by Natasha Friend].   Retrieved from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/natasha-friend/lush/

Library Use

Broaching topics such as alcoholism or abuse with students can be difficult.  Pre and early teens are developmentally wired to be concerned with what others think about them.  Creating a safe haven in which such topics can be explored is needed, but it's not always easy to find a way where one can show the students these resources are available without singling them out or making them uncomfortable.  Chances are, like Sam, these are the kinds of things students will keep to themselves.

A possible way to highlight Lush and other works like it would be to create a rotating book case called "Exploring the Hard Topics."  There could be a different topic for each shelf (ie: alcoholism, stress, death, college, etc.)  On each shelf, there could be fiction and non-fiction books related to the topic.  Every few weeks, the topics could change, and this would give students an opportunity to see what books they might relate to.  Changing out the shelves would also give students a chance to check out the book later if they are concerned someone might connect them to the topic.  Just knowing it is available, they could wait until the topics have changed.  Perhaps there could be a place where students could even suggest other books that have helped them to deal with and better understand hard topics they are facing.

Module 3: Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall/illustrated by Barbara Cooney

Hall, D. & Cooney, B. (1979). Ox-cart man. New York: Viking Press.

Summary

The journey of a hard-working man and his family, Ox-Cart Man follows a man as he takes things to the market to sell.  While at the market, he purchases new items that he takes home to his family, who use the new purchases to create new things for the market.  He sells everything, down to the ox, and the cycle begins again.

Impressions of the book- 

Similar to many children's books, Ox-Cart Man follows the cycle of an everyday occurrence, giving the reader insight into how things are related and connect to one another.  The refreshing thing about Hall's telling is that it doesn't start at the beginning of the cycle.  Instead, the reader meets the family in October as they are loading the wagon and the father is taking everything to sell at market.  The reader follows as he sells all the items his family has made throughout the year, and then as he buys new supplies and heads home.  The story could logically end here, but Hall takes it one step further, showing how the items the man has purchased are used by each family member throughout the year to make new items to take to market.  Where many stories begin with the making, Hall chose to end this way, further emphasizing the cycle and putting a simple, yet poignant twist on an otherwise familiar story.

Professional Review

Like a pastoral symphony translated into picture book format, the stunning combination of text and illustrations re-creates the mood of nineteenth-century rural New England. Economical and straightforward, the narrative achieves a poetic tone through the use of alliteration and  repetition, as in the description of the ox-cart man’s preparations for his journey to Portsmouth. “He packed a bag of wool / he sheared from the sheep in April. / He packed a shawl his wife wove on a loom/ from yarn spun at the spinning wheel / from sheep sheared in April.” As an appropriate contrast, the full-color illustrations, suggesting early American paintings on wood, depict the countryside through which he travels, the jostle of the marketplace, and the homely warmth of family life. The various phenomena of the New England landscape —  the vibrant foliage of autumn, the lurid sunsets of winter, the delicate abundance of an orchard in spring — evoke the pattern of a lifestyle geared to the rhythm of the seasonal cycle. Quiet but not static, the book celebrates the peacefulness of a time now past but one which is still, nevertheless, an irrefutable part of the American consciousness.

Horn Book (1980). [Review of the book Ox-cart man by D. Hall and B. Cooney]. Retrieved from     http://www.hbook.com/2013/10/news/awards/horn-book-reviews-caldecott-medal-winners-1980-1989/

Library Use

While it would be easy to use this book to discuss sequencing, cycles, and cause and effect, a less obvious though not completely unexpected choice would be to explore the illustrations and the illustrator who created them.  The book was, after all, the Caldecott winner in 1980.

The pictures seem to come from the same simple bygone era they represent in the story of the Ox-Cart man and his family.  However, multiple interviews from the Horn Book throughout the last few decades highlight how difficult it was for Barbara Cooney to actually create artwork for picturebooks, and the limitations that the technology of the time put on illustrators.   Her process of researching and creating her artwork is also explored.   An illustrator study of many of Cooney's works, as well as a look into the history of printmaking and picturebook making would be a great tie-in for Ox-Cart Man.  Below are the links and references to a few of the interviews and articles I stumbled upon that might assist in such a lesson.

Zuckerman, L. (2001). Letters to the Editor. Horn Book Magazine, 77(1), 3-4.

http://www.hbook.com/2012/11/authors-illustrators/making-picture-books-the-pictures/

http://www.hbook.com/2000/09/authors-illustrators/barbara-cooney/

Module 14: Hidden by Helen Frost

Frost, H. (2011). Hidden. Harrisonburg, Virginia: RR Donnelley & Sons Company.

BOOK SUMMARY

As a young girl, Wren is accidentally kidnapped in a gas station robbery gone wrong.  Darra, the daughter of the unintended kidnapper, connects with the girl, despite the fact that she never sees her. Six years later, the two end up crossing paths again at the same summer camp, each ultimately having to face their past so that they can move on from the events that haunt them both in their own ways.

Impressions and opinion of the book

The premise of Helen Frost's book is as unique as is the style in which she presents it.  Anyone doubting the power a novel written in verse might hold should definitely pick up this book.  The kidnapping of Wren is the catalyst for many changes in both girls lives, and while we learn what happens through flashbacks, the emphasis of the story is actually on how the girls have carried their past with them, Darra harboring anger towards the girl who caused her father to be taken away, and Wren trying to deny the past even happened.  When the two meet again, they are forced to work through the feelings they have shored up, ultimately learning pieces of the story they never knew.

Frost beautifully delineates between characters, giving them each their own poetic form.   The title encompasses so many elements of the story, from the child, Wren, who remains hidden to survive, to the facts that keep Darra certain she could have prevented her father from being arrested.  Even the initial friendship of the girls as they begin to work through their fear and anger is a secret from the rest of the people at camp.  In addition, Frost creates a hidden poem within the story, revealed only to those who read the author's note at the end.  

The sense of connection one gets to the main characters as well as the multiple layers within the novel make this one that students will be eager to analyze and reanalyze, most likely finding something new with each reading.

Full-Text Review

From the award-winning Frost comes a wildly imaginative, thought-provoking novel in verse that centers on the unlikely friendship that arises between two teenage girls as a result of an accidental kidnapping. Darra Monson’s father, an abusive, unemployed mechanic, steals a minivan, not knowing that 8-year-old Wren Abbott, daughter of the local school superintendent, lies hidden in the back. Told entirely from her perspective, Wren’s unwitting capture and eventual escape comprise the first third of the story before the narration switches to Darra, who relates how her father is caught and imprisoned, all the while blaming Wren for his arrest. Though from opposite sides of the tracks, Darra and Wren’s paths cross again six years later at summer camp, where the 14-year-olds see each other for the first time. Slowly the two begin to unpack that uninvited trauma. After breaking the ice and overcoming Wren’s nearly drowning Darra, the two begin to talk, and Frost’s lyric narrative resolves movingly by alternating between the two protagonists. Frost’s tale exhibits her trademark character development that probes the complexities of intimate relationships. Here Wren’s touching statement, “I was a happy little girl / wearing a pink dress,” eventually leads to Darra’s private admission to Wren: “None of it was our fault.” Both tender and insightful, this well-crafted, fast-paced tale should have wide teen appeal. (notes on form) (Poetry. 10-16)

Kirkus (2011). [Review for the book Hidden by H. Frost ].   Retrieved from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/helen-frost/hidden-frost/ 

Library Use

At the end of the novel, Helen Frost mentions that while she has studied many forms of poetry, she likes to create her own.  She even states that she has done so in many of her books.  Upon the completion of their poetry unit in the classroom, it would be fun to introduce students to some of the forms Frost has created, perhaps even asking them to try and determine what structure she used.  After analyzing her new forms, allowing students to create their own forms and emulate the newly created styles of their classmates would surely generate a new kind of excitement around poetry and verse.