George by Alex Gino

George

by Alex Gino

Image Credit: George at alexgino.com

1. Bibliography

Gino, Alex. George. New York: Scholastic, 2015. ISBN 9780545812573

2. Plot Summary

When people look at George, they see a boy. But George knows she’s a girl. George thinks she’ll have to keep this a secret forever. Then her teacher announces that their class play is going to be Charlotte’s Web. George really, really, REALLY wants to play Charlotte. But the teacher says she can’t even try out for the part … because she’s a boy. With the help of her best friend Kelly, George comes up with a plan. Not just so she can be Charlotte – but so everyone can know who she is, once and for all. GEORGE is a candid, genuine, and heartwarming middle grade about a transgender girl who is, to use Charlotte’s word, R-A-D-I-A-N-T! (Summary Credit: George at alexgino.com)

3. Critical Analysis

George was an easy character with whom you can quickly relate because she is like any child you might meet. Gino does a good job taking us through several different stages of anxiety a transgender child has to go through. The book begins with George mistrusting who she is, how people see her while yearning to be who she feels. And when she finally feels brave enough, thanks to the help of her friend, Kelly, George admits to those who she hopes will care to listen: "I'm a girl." She pulls her confession deep from the pit of her heart, where readers had watched it simmer since chapter one, and presents it, first, to Kelly, her mother, and her older brother. And as she shows herself to others she must deal with evidence of disgust, rejection, bullying, and confusion. But George is able to find contentment in the acceptance she gains from those she loves. Her big brother, Scott has the ability to sense George's distress and attempt to cheer her up with video games paired with his typical teenage response to her admission ("Weird. But it kinda makes sense. No offense, but you don't make a very good boy."). George's mom struggles to understand her transgender daughter. There was no "Ah Ha" moment or hand-holding around the dinner table. There was rejection, frustration, trepidation for her child’s future, but, most importantly, always love. Kelly is the model "best friend" character. She was constantly happy for George and always supportive. And when George was mad and lashed out at poor Kelly due to her own feelings of hurt and frustration, it was understandable. They are kids, after all. There's a substantial section of the book where they're not speaking to each other and George is sad and lonely without her best friend. Yet, their make-up scene is incredibly short. Kelly quickly forgives George and is all excited and happy to help her again.  Since the setting is at home and school, it provides the opportunity to introduce classmates reactions to George’s coming out.  You see both the classic bully response like Jeff but also some positive reactions from classmates and cast mates.

Multicultural markers do not jump out at you like they do in some multicultural children’s literature; especially since this culture does not have its own celebrations, music, food or language. But, with that said, every time George refers to how hard it is to be a girl in a boy’s body, it is a cultural reference for the transgender community. The first such reference in the story is when George takes her stash of “girl” magazines in the bathroom to look at pictures of the girls she wishes she could be, brushes her hair down on her forehead like bangs and reads the articles on how to apply makeup. In class, she cries when Charlotte dies and her teacher calls her a “fine young man”. When George goes to the restroom to compose herself, the bathroom is blue (for boys) and at the end of the day, she has to line up in the boys' line. When it is time to audition for the school play, she admits to her friend that she wants to play Charlotte. When her friend says it should be alright because acting is pretending, George thinks “playing a girl part wouldn’t really be pretending” and when Kelly tells her that in Shakespeare’s day boys always played girls and even kissed on stage, this makes George tingle. Her mom calls her “Gee Gee”, she wears a towel under armpits after a bath and when they had to pick a color that represents them she wants to be pink. And, when she’s thinking in her head “what if I’m a girl”, Kelly is saying “it’s not like you want to be a girl.” When all the stress builds up and George has a really good cry she says she’s crying about crying in class about Charlotte dying, being mad at Kelly, Ms. Udell thinking that trying out for Charlotte was a joke and “crying about myself”.  When George’s mother finds her hidden magazines, her mother’s first reaction is, “I don’t want to find you wearing my clothes.”

When Scott is consoling George with video games; George plays with Toad but wishes he were the Princess (which she plays when she is alone).  Scott asks if George is having “Girl Problems?” After George gets in a fight and is called to the principal’s office, the principal has a rainbow flag and George gets the first inkling that she has allies.  One of the reason’s George wants to play Charlotte is so that her mom finally sees that she is a girl.  When Kelly finally calls her a girl, George feels a tickling in her stomach.  And, after she tells her brother he said he thought George was “like that” and that George finally made sense to him for the first time.  At the end of the play, George felt that even though Charlotte was dead, she felt alive in a way she had never imagined and at the curtain call she curtsied.  After the play, the principal tells her mother “you can’t control who your children are, but you can certainly support them.”  When George gets back to her room she twirled around and around like a spider dancing in a web.  Kelly gets the idea to take George to the zoo as “best girlfriends” and George becomes Melissa.  We find out that when George was young she was caught wearing moms skirt and that she always wanted to be a ballerina.  After she gets dressed up at Kelly’s house, she looked in the mirror and gasped and Melissa gasped back at her. When Kelly pulls out a bucket of shoes, George says that she didn’t know that Kelly was such a girly girl. And, her uncles comments that “you girls are dressed mighty fancy for the zoo.”  At which, a wave of warmth filled Melissa from deep in her belly and out her fingers and toes.

I greatly endorse George to book lovers of all ages. With its plain writing style, it is much easier to relate to the emotions of the characters. Nothing is overstated or exaggerated to impart a message. Alex Gino delivers a great story that both warms the heart and opens the mind. I only wish that George was required or suggested reading in many schools. 

4. Review Experts

~Stonewall Award

~Kirkus Reviews: “George, a fourth-grader who knows she is a girl, despite appearances, begins to tell her secret. The word “transgender” is used midway through, but far more work is done by the simple choice to tell George’s story using third-person narration and the pronouns “she” and “her.” Readers then cringe as much as George herself when bullies mock her or—perhaps worse—when well-meaning friends and family reassure her with sentiments like “I know you’ll turn into a fine young man.” Each year the fourth-graders at George’s school perform a dramatized version of Charlotte’s Web, the essentials of which are lovingly recapped (and tear-inducing ending revealed) for readers unfamiliar with the tale. George becomes convinced that if she plays Charlotte, her mom will finally see her as a girl. George’s struggles are presented with a light, age-appropriate, and hopeful touch. The responses she gets when she begins to confide in those closest to her are at times unexpected but perfectly true-to-character—most notably her crude older brother’s supportive observation that, “No offense, but you don’t make a very good boy.” A coda to Charlotte’s Web story, in which George presents herself as a girl for the first time, is deeply moving in its simplicity and joy. Warm, funny, and inspiring.”

~School Library Journal: “Melissa is like many other fourth-grade girls; she loves fashion magazines, experimenting with hairstyles, and talking with her best friend. But the outside world sees her as the gender to which she was born, not the one with which she identifies; they see her as George. Nailing the younger middle-grade voice, Gino offers a straightforward and authentic story, crafting a character whose universal need for recognition and acceptance will be embraced by all readers.”

5. Connections

Gather for classroom reading, the follow-on book by Alex Gino:

            You Don’t Know Everything, Jilly P! ISBN 0545956242

Read other winners of the Stonewall Award, these might include:

            Colbert, Brandy. Little & Lion. ISBN 0316349003

            Slater, Dashka. The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives. ISBN 0374303231

            Riordan, Rick. Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Hammer of Thor. ISBN 1423163389

            Charlton-Trujillo, e.E. Fat Angie. ISBN 9780763680190

            Cronn-Mills, Kirstin. Beautiful Music for Ugly Children. ISBN 9780738732510

Read other books with similar themes, these could include:

            Ewret, Marcus. 10,000 Dresses. ISBN 1583228500

            Polonsky, Ami. Gracefully Grayson. ISBN 1484723651

Palacio, R.J. Wonder. ISBN 0375969020

Use in a unit about bullying and allies

Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye

Habibi

by Naomi Shihab Nye

Image Credit: Habibi at kirkusreview.com

1. Bibliography

Nye, Naomi Shihab. Habibi. New York: Simon Pulse, 1997. ISBN 0689825234

2. Plot Summary

This soul-stirring novel about the Abbouds, an Arab American family, puts faces and names to the victims of violence and persecution in Jerusalem today. Believing the unstable situation in that conflict-ridden city has improved, 14-year-old Liyana's family moves from St. Louis, Mo., to her father's homeland. However, from the moment the Abbouds are stopped by Jewish customs agents at the airport, they face racial prejudice and discord. Initially, Nye focuses on the Abbouds' handling of conflicting cultural norms between American and Arab values as they settle into their new home. Then Liyana tests her family's alleged unprejudiced beliefs when she befriends Omer, a Jewish boy. She wants to introduce him to her but finds she must first remind him of his own words. (Summary Credit: A Boy and a Jaguar at publishersweekly.com)

3. Critical Analysis

The main character of Habibi is Liyana Abboud, a 14-year-old American girl whose family moves from St. Louis to Israel.  Liyana is a typical American teenager who has to learn how to live in a new culture foreign to her own.  Other characters in the story are mostly her family, immediate and extended; her father Dr. Kamal Abboud (Poppy), her mother (Susan the Arabs call soo-sun) and her younger brother.  Her father was raised in Israel and has fond memories of the “way it used to be”.  Her younger brother is young enough that he is more adaptable to his new environment.  The primary extended family character is Sitti (grandmother in Arabic).  She doesn’t speak any English but Liyana is able to connect through cooking and other chores her Sitti teaches her.  The rest are mostly referred to in a huge crowd that Liyana describes as “burst into the room, bustling, hugging, pinching cheeks, and jabbering loudly” or “trilling wildly”. The setting is mostly Jerusalem and the nearby Palestine village.  Locations mentioned help paint the picture of the setting. Towns mentioned include Ramallah, Mecca, Jericho, and Hebron. Sites that the family visit in Jerusalem include the Doors of Jerusalem, Church of Holy Sepulcher, Chapel of Calvary, Garden of Gethsemane, Via Dolorosa, Wailing Wall, Dome of the Rock, Damascus Gate, Herod’s Gate, Jaffa Gate, New Gate, Lion’s Gate (St. Stephen’s Gate), the Dung Gate, Kfar Kana Church, and Hisham’s Palace.  Other locations in the story are Liyana’s Armenian school of St. Tarkmanchatz, Dead Sea, Al-Makassad Hospital and the Jorden River.

There are many other cultural references and of many cultures; Palestine, Jewish, and Bedouin. A lot of the Palestine references come from Poppy and Sitti.  Poppy tells his children that they should know both sides of their history, he recounts stories of coming to America and thinking hot dogs were made of dog meat and that shiny trash cans were mailboxes. He tells Liyana that Arab women don’t wear shorts and she should comb her hair in private.  And, to explain why she needs to be a proper young lady he tells the story of a guy found kisses a girl who was beaten up by the girl’s brothers.  He speaks of “old anger” in Jerusalem and he is glad that Palestinians had a “public voice” again. He recounts a tale of being lowered into the village well as a child and finding secret shelves and shallow corridors dug into its sides above water level; on the shelf are ancient clay jars probably from before biblical times. Poppy tells the kids that Sitti’s stories have no logical sense of cause and effect and that in this part of the world the past and present are often rolled into one. Sitti wears old-fashioned long dresses and a smoky scarf. She tells Liyana that if a bird pooped on clean white sheets it is bad luck but if a bird pooped on your head then your first baby would be a boy. She says that her cold feet meant she would live longer. Sitti asked that when she died for Poppy to give money to the poor, the gravedigger and the women who washed her body and to leave space so she could sit up in the grave and talk to angels.

One of the first cultural references Liyana runs into is a woman on the planes traveling with Jell-O boxes, paper napkins, and coffee filters and Liyana questions whether you could get these things in Jerusalem. Liyana notices and experiences many new things in her new home: women soldiers, back of a women’s hands tattooed with the dark blue shapes of flying birds, people kissing on both cheeks, gold bangle bracelets, a shoemaker, a butcher with live chickens in cages, clotheslines on flat roofs, signs in Arabic, Hebrew and English, diesel exhaust, military checkpoints, orchards, minarets, olive trees, long cloaks, sitting on the floor, women carrying water from the spring on their head, arranged marriage, chicken pens, yarmulkes, oriental rugs, henna, gravestones with no words, olive oil soap, reading fortunes in the tea leaves, an antique scale, paper cone to pour things in a paper bag, sitting straight up in the salt of the Dead Sea, Israeli military tanks, cedar trees, a funeral procession (with an open coffin), donkeys, shepherd in dusty brown cloak, and a refugee camp. The Bedouins live in tents and own a camel.  And, one of the shops has the Hindu elephant Ganesha.

Liyana learns a lot of Arabic and these words are used throughout the story.  Some of the Arabic words include: booza (ice cream), kaffiyehs (male headwear), muezzin (person who gives the call to prayer), taboon (mounded oven where you slap bread dough), marhaba (hello), Ana Liyana (I am Liyana), Yimkin (maybe), nos-nos (half-half), Alham’dul-Allah (Praise be to God), wahad, min-fadlack (one, please), shookran, fidda (silver), urjawaani (purple), and souk (marketplace).  Character names are also Arabic and include: Liyana, Rafik, Kamal, Sitti, Tayeb the Elder, Fayed, Fowzi, Muna, Saba (means morning), Abu Mahmoud, Amal, Muhammad, Hamza, Zaki, Abu Janan (means father of Janan), Imm Janan, Ismael, Khaled, Kevork, Babgen Bannayan, Mr. Bedrosian  and the Hebrew name Omer. Foods eaten are from this region of the world.  Some of the food items mentioned include: round flatbread, maramia (tea), baked lamb, soupy yogurt drink, lentils, olives, baba ghanouj, hummus, baklava, roasted peanuts, pomegranate, almonds, sumac, hot tea with mint, pumpkin seeds, falafel, chickpeas, the spice saffron, dates, pistachio, katayef (pancake stuffed with cinnamon and nut, soaked in syrup), olive oil, and apricot. The extended family celebrates the Abboud’s arrival in Jerusalem with the killing of a lamb in their honor, red lanterns and shooting guns in the air. And, there is some mentioned of Muslim religious practices.  They mention the mosque, small blue prayer rugs, the call to prayer and a pilgrimage to Mecca.

4. Review Experts

~ ALA Best Book for Young Adults

~ALA Notable Children’s Book

~Kirkus Reviews: “Liyana Abboud, 14, and her family make a tremendous adjustment when they move to Jerusalem from St. Louis. All she and her younger brother, Rafik, know of their Palestinian father's culture come from his reminiscences of growing up and the fighting they see on television. In Jerusalem, she is the only "outsider'' at an Armenian school; her easygoing father, Poppy, finds himself having to remind her--often against his own common sense--of rules for "appropriate'' behavior; and snug shops replace supermarket shopping--the malls of her upbringing are unheard of. Worst of all, Poppy is jailed for getting in the middle of a dispute between Israeli soldiers and a teenage refugee. In her first novel, Nye (with Paul Janeczko, I Feel a Little Jumpy around You, 1996, etc.) shows all of the charms and flaws of the old city through unique, short-story-like chapters and poetic language. The sights, sounds, and smells of Jerusalem drift through the pages and readers glean a sense of current Palestinian-Israeli relations and the region's troubled history. In the process, some of the passages become quite ponderous while the human story- -Liyana's emotional adjustments in the later chapters and her American mother's reactions overall--fall away from the plot. However, Liyana's romance with an Israeli boy develops warmly, and readers are left with hope for change and peace as Liyana makes the city her very own.”

~Publishers Weekly: “Nye expertly combines the Abbouds' gradual acceptance of Omer with a number of heart-wrenching episodes of persecution (by the different warring factions) against her friends and family to convey the extent to which the Arab-Israeli conflict infiltrates every aspect of their lives. Nye's climactic ending will leave readers pondering, long after the last page is turned, why Arabs, Jews, Greeks, and Armenians can no longer live in harmony the way they once did.”

5. Connections

Gather for classroom reading, other books by Naomi Shihab Nye, these could include:

            19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East. ISBN 9780060504045

            The Turtle of Oman. ISBN 0062019783

            Going, Going. ISBN 0688161855

Read other books with similar themes, these might include:

Abdel-Fattah, Randa. Does My Head Look Big in This? ISBN 0439919479

Budhos, Marina. Ask Me No Questions. ISBN 1416949208

Dau, John Bul. Lost Boy, Lost Girl: Escaping Civil War in Sudan. ISBN 9781426307089

Robert, Na’ima B. Far From Home. ISBN 9781847800060

Ho, Minfong. The Stone Goddess. ISBN 0439381975

Use with a unit discussing different religions

Use in a unit about the Middle East

A Boy and a Jaguar by Alan Rabinowitz

A Boy and a Jaguar

by Dr. Alan Rabinowitz

Image Credit: A Boy and a Jaguar at stutteringhelp.org

1. Bibliography

Rabinowitz, Alan. Illustrated by Catia Chien. A Boy and a Jaguar. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014. ISBN 9781442474659

2. Plot Summary

In his first book for children, conservationist and adult author Rabinowitz frames his lifelong struggle with stuttering against his equally long-held love of animals, which led to a career spent studying and advocating for them. “I am a stutterer,” he explains. “If I try to push words out, my head and body shake uncontrollably.” With animals, however, his words flow easily, and a young Alan promises a lonely jaguar at the Bronx Zoo: “If I can ever find my voice, I will be their voice and keep them from harm.” (Summary Credit: A Boy and a Jaguar at publishersweekly.com)

3. Critical Analysis

The main character is a young Alan Rabinowitz, only referred to in the story in the first person (I, me, and mine). It is a story of him overcoming a severe stutter, he had all through his young life. The only time his stutter is not an issue is when he is singing or talking to animals. Rabinowitz manages his disability by not talking.  His parents try many solutions (special classes, doctors and hypnosis).  A specialist in college finds a way for Rabinowitz to cope (but never overcome) but Rabinowitz still feels broken.  The settings are many locations throughout Rabinowitz’s life (home, school, the zoo, and the jungle).

At no time is Rabinowitz’s stuttering elucidated. Rabinowitz’s describes what it feels like to stutter (“mouth freezes”, “avoid situations” and “broken).  The acrylic illustrations are indistinct enough that you can’t read an expression on the characters face, however, the color palette chosen gives a sense of the emotion behind the words. The story does a good job of being accurate to the disability described.  Even though the stuttering is ever expounded, this feels true to the fact that Rabinowitz’s avoided talking, therefore, you would not have heard him speak.  It also avoids stereotype by not making the stutter the focus of the story and spotlighting more how the stutter makes the main character feel.  Also, the story does not dwell on the disability, it rather talks briefly about how the character overcame and further how and why Rabinowitz finds his voice.

4. Review Experts

~ 2015 Schneider Family Book Award Winner

~Kirkus Reviews: “A simple memoir recounts a lifelong bond between a child who felt “broken” and the animals, especially jaguars that have informed his life’s work. The narrator explains his teachers must think he is “broken” when he is switched from his regular class due to his severe stuttering. But he can talk with his own small menagerie at home—in fact, he says, he can only speak fluently when he is singing or when he talks to animals. He promises the sad, caged jaguar at the Bronx Zoo that one day he will be a voice for the animals. In college, he finds ways to manage his stuttering; as an adult, he studies black bears and, later, jaguars. In a triumphant moment, he helps persuade Belize to set aside land as a jaguar preserve. Chien’s acrylic-and–charcoal-pencil art is filled with light and warm, rich colors, her edge-to-edge illustrations inviting, emotional and engaging. The forests of Belize are seen as deeply gray-green, a few animals faces peeking from the thick growth of vegetation. A note about Rabinowitz along with a brief Q-and-A pitched to young understanding confirm the promise kept: The author continues to use his voice to advocate for big cats throughout the world, as well as for stutterers. Moving and sweetly resonant.”

~Publishers Weekly: “The first-person present-tense narration creates an intimate connection to the author’s pain as he is placed “in a class for disturbed children,” subjected to unsuccessful treatments, and considered “broken” and disruptive by teachers. Shadowy charcoal lines and the often muted colors of Chien’s paintings amplify Alan’s solitude, but also reflect the profound joy, wonder, and healing he discovers studying animals in the wild. It’s a candid and deeply resonant account of a hard-fought battle against societal stigma, and an embrace of one’s true talent and calling.”

5. Connections

~Gather and read other books by Dr. Alan Rabinowitz about Giant Cat conservation including:

            An Indomitable Beast: The Remarkable Journey of the Jaguar.  ISBN 1597269964

            Cougar: Ecology & Conservation. ISBN 0226353443

            The Complete Tiger Man Diaries. ASIN B000FIHM8K

            Beyond the Last Village: A Journey of Discovery in Asia’s Forbidden Wilderness. ISBN 1559637994

            Chasing the Dragon’s Tail: The Struggle to Save Thailand’s Wild Cats. ISBN 9781559639804

~Use with other Schneider Family Book Award-winning picture books:

            Say, Allen. Silent Days, Silent Dreams. ISBN 9780545927611

            Bryant, Jen and Boris Kulikov. Six Dots: A Story of Young Louis Braille. ISBN 0449813371

            Thompson, Laurie Ann.  Illustrated by Sean Qualls. Emmanuel’s Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah. ISBN 044981744X

~Science: Use in a segment about the big cats.

The Thing about Luck by Cynthia Kadohata

The Thing about Luck

by Cynthia Kadohata

Image Credit: The Thing about Luck at simonandschuster.com

1. Bibliography

Kadohata, Cynthia.  The Thing about Luck. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2013. ISBN 9781442474659

2. Plot Summary

There is bad luck, good luck, and making your own luck—which is exactly what Summer must do to save her family in this winner of the National Book Award by Newbery Medalist Cynthia Kadohata. Summer knows that kouun means “good luck” in Japanese, and this year her family has none of it. Just when she thinks nothing else can possibly go wrong, an emergency whisks her parents away to Japan—right before harvest season. Summer and her little brother, Jaz, are left in the care of their grandparents, who come out of retirement in order to harvest wheat and help pay the bills. The thing about Obaachan and Jiichan is that they are old-fashioned and demanding, and between helping Obaachan cook for the workers, covering for her when her back pain worsens and worrying about her lonely little brother, Summer just barely has time to notice the attention of their boss’s cute son. But notice she does, and what begins as a welcome distraction from the hard work soon turns into a mess of its own. Having thoroughly disappointed her grandmother, Summer figures the bad luck must be finished—but then it gets worse. And when that happens, Summer has to figure out how to change it herself, even if it means further displeasing Obaachan. Because it might be the only way to save her family. Cynthia Kadohata’s ode to the breadbasket of America has received six starred reviews and won the National Book Award.  (Summary Credit: The Thing about Luck at simonandschuster.com)

3. Critical Analysis

Twelve-year-old Summer is the book’s main character, its hero and storyteller. She is of Japanese ancestry, curious about certain aspects of her heritage and identity and somewhat derisive of others. As the story evolves, however, it becomes clear that she is actively and honestly in search for the balance between being who she is as an individual and who she is in relation to her heritage. The former component seems to be more important to her, in that several of the narrative’s key situations (overcoming fear, a first infatuation, a bothersome little brother) seem to be problems that just about every young individual faces in one form or another, or at one time or another. Nevertheless, Summer’s ancestry is always present. The use of tender, character-driven examination of family ties, helps give this story characters filled with gentle power. The reader can identify with Summers struggles with her brother, her Japanese-American grandparents, her fear of getting bit by a mosquito and again getting malaria, and most of all, grappling with her growing consciousness of who she is and where she fits in her family. The setting is Middle America during the threshing season.  The family travels from Kansas to Texas to Oklahoma. Kansas is the state where Summer and her family make their home and where it is decided that Summer will work with her brother and Grandparents over the harvest. Texas is the second of the novel’s settings and is the location where most of the action takes place. It is the state in which Summer and her family take the first of the two “custom harvesting” jobs that they take on over the course of the narrative. Oklahoma is the third of the novel’s three settings. It is the place where the novel’s climactic action (i.e. Summer’s ultimate confrontation with her fears) takes place.

The story could be about just about any 12-year-old forced to grow up fast to help the family through a rough time. However, some cultural references are made that make you aware that Summer has some differences in her life with which she has she has to deal. Most of the cultural references revolve around her grandparents who immigrated to American after Summer was born in an American hospital while they were on vacation. The only physical reference is to Grandmother’s jet black hair (now dyed). But, many specific references are made to identify cultural aspects within the family. Summer mentions that the family is cursed and jinxed. Summer’s grandparents were the result of an arranged marriage and her grandmother goes to an acupuncturist. The family are custom harvesters which are made up of many minorities and immigrants. Her grandmother teaches her manners such as ‘never go inside if nobody let you in’, take off shoes before entering, important to be punctual, and Summer said she “felt like I had to use my best manners with people who didn’t deal with Asians. I felt like I represented the whole Asian race.” Grandfather tells tales; “tonight I tell you the story of a weed” and, “I tell you a story about life”. Summer said she was once told that you could tell your fortune by looking at the way the wind blew the wheat around you. Summer is reading A Separate Piece for her summer reading as say that it is about “two Caucasian guys who went to a boarding school during WWII. In other words, it was about a world completely alien to mine.” When kidding one of the harvester children she says ‘we put soap and water in the bathtub, and I stomp on our laundry.’ Her brother is doing his family ancestry and claims to have several samurais in his family tree.

Grandmother’s language patterns are those of someone who uses English as a second language.  She says things like ‘we having meeting-party. we invite boys we will consider for friendship with Jaz. I no interfere.’, ‘rah-rah land’, ‘Summer make’, No can be different by doing same thing as everyone else’, ‘Summer, you make one more trouble, my head explode and you guilty of murder’, Miss talk so good’ (grandmother calls Summer’s speech American English), “doctor give you pill and make you drug addict”.  And, many Japanese words are used some translated and other not.  Words used include: kouun (luck), unmei (destiny), umeboshi (soar plum good for healing power), oyasumi, oyasuminasai, saru (monkey), hai, kita makura (Japanese superstition that sleeping with your head to the north was bad luck), hara (stomach or gut), jan ken pon (rock paper scissors), tsukanoma, wabi-sabi.  Also, one of the Irish workers used the term gobshites (gullible people). Some of the names of character have Japanese names like Obaachan and Jiichan (grandmother and grandfather or Toshiro (Toshi) and Yukiko), Shika (previous dog), and Akiko (grandfather’s first love). The foods that family eats when in private are mentioned and include green tea, shabu-shabu (thick noodles with thinly sliced beef and vegetables), sashimi, and oxtail soup. Summer meditates by pressing a lucky amber against her forehead for luck, using alternating-nostril deep breathing, laying down on her back and spread out her limbs, picking a person to whom to open her heart, and saying “I accept you for who you are”.  And, the family prays in front of several sprigs of silk cherry blossoms.

4. Review Experts

~National Book Award Winner

~APALA Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature

~Six Starred Reviews

~Kirkus Reviews: “Twelve-year-old Summer and her Japanese-American family work every harvest season to earn money to pay their mortgage. But this year, they face unprecedented physical and emotional challenges. It has been a particularly hard-luck year. Among other strange occurrences, Summer was bitten by a stray, diseased mosquito and nearly died of malaria, and her grandmother suffers from sudden intense spinal pain. Now her parents must go to Japan to care for elderly relatives. So Summer, her brother and their grandparents must take on the whole burden of working the harvest and coping with one emergency after another. She writes a journal chronicling the frightening and overwhelming events, including endless facts about the mosquitoes she fears, the harvest process and the farm machinery that must be conquered. As the season progresses, her relationships with her grandparents and her brother change and deepen, reflecting her growing maturity. Her grandparents’ Japanese culture and perspective are treated lovingly and with gentle humor, as are her brother’s eccentricities. Kadohata makes all the right choices in structure and narrative. Summer’s voyage of self-discovery engages readers via her narration, her journal entries and diagrams, and even through her assigned book report of A Separate Peace. Readers who peel back the layers of obsessions and fears will find a character who is determined, compassionate and altogether delightful.”

5. Connections

~Gather and read other books by Cynthia Kadohata including:

            Kira-Kira. ISBN 0689856407

            Outside Beauty. ISBN 1416998187

~Use with other APALA Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature winners or honorees:

            Krishnaswami, Uma. Step Up to the Plate, Maria Singh. ISBN 1600602614

            Tan, Susan. Illustrated by Dana Wulfekotte. Cilla Lee-Jenkins: Future Author Extraordinaire. ISBN 1250144000

            Kelly, Erin Entrada. The Land of Forgotten Girls. ISBN 0062238655

            Dilloway, Margaret. Illustrated by Choong Yoon. Momotaro Xander and the Lost Island of Monsters. ISBN 1484746813

            Milton, Marilyn. Full Cicada Moon. ISBN 0147516013

            Kelly, Erin Entrada. Blackbird Fly. ISBN 0062238620

~Science: Use in a segment about agriculture.

Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin

Starry River of the Sky

by Grace Lin

Image Credit: Starry River of the Sky at gracelin.com

1. Bibliography

Lin, Grace.  Starry River of the Sky. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2012. ISBN 0316125954

2. Plot Summary

This mesmerizing companion to the Newbery Honor Book Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (2009) does not disappoint. Rendi has run away from home, stowed in the back of a merchant’s cart until he is discovered and left stranded in the scarcely populated Village of Clear Sky. There he becomes the innkeeper’s chore boy and is introduced to a cast of characters, including Mr. Shan, a wise older man; Madame Chang, a mysterious out-of-town guest with a gift for storytelling; and a toad whom Mr. Shan calls Rabbit. All the while, the moon is missing, and it seems only Rendi is tormented by the sky’s sad wailing noises at night. Madame Chang insists that for each story she tells—including one about ruler Wang Yi’s wife, who transformed into a toad and lived out the rest of her days on the moon—Rendi must tell one of his own.  (Summary Credit: Starry River of the Sky at booklist.com)

3. Critical Analysis

The main character, Rendi, was easy to relate to and although he had a tough time learning about himself and others, the reader is really given the chance to see him grow and learn to value those around him. He is only contented with his life, and those people in his life, when he learns the importance of forgiveness. The stories the characters tell reveal pieces of the larger, centuries-long tale, but it's also how we learn about the main characters themselves.  There is rich character development and all the characters names have meanings in the Chinese language. The story is primarily about Rendi however, each character and story told within was just as unique and riveting. The book is set in the same story world as Where the Mountain Meets the Moon; old, fantastical China. The story takes place in the Village of Clear Sky which used to be Village of Endless Mountain.  Other locations mentioned throughout the story have cultural references including the title location (Starry River of the Sky), Stone Pancake, Long River, Heavenly Palace, Liu, Fang, Palace of the Sun, Palace of the Moon, City of Far Remote, and Inn of Never-Ending Mountain.

Cultural markers abound but are incorporated into the story so you feel that you are in an ancient fantasy version of China. References to other characters and locations (proper named) are mentioned the Noxious Animals, Celestial Rooster, Half-Moon Well, Nan Ling water, and Spirit of the Mountain. And, non-proper named locations such as a palace of water jade and pearl. Locations are described as having a couch bed carved with ribbon-tailed birds and plum blossoms, silk scrolls hung on the wall, delicate paper cutting decorations, incense, stone tablets carved with names of dead ancestors, a jade vase, a lantern that must be lit, and a box made from a golden peach pit.  Characters are clothed in various outfits that depict their social and economic status including cotton robes of a commoner, crimson silk robes, goldfish slippers, gilded metal comb, an embroidered silk purse, jade bracelet, and a belt decoration with red cinnabar beads. There are Chinese folktales embedded within the story that tell tales about five poisonous animals (snake, scorpion, centipede, spider, and toad), six suns in the sky, flooding water serpent, a man transformed into a toad, a noxious toad (that haunts the inn, has blood eyes and breathes poison vapor), dust as thick as breath of an earth dragon, and a dragon’s pearl.  The characters own items such as two copper coins tied together with a red string, an abacus, a hollow gourd to draw up the water, chopsticks, a carriage, a string of gold and a blue, white and gold rice bowl with an ancient rabbit motif.

Other cultural references include: Rendi, while hiding in the cart, felt like he was ‘compressed like meat in a dumpling’; it was ‘unheard of for a woman to be staying alone at an inn’; ‘the sky, earth, and seas echoed with his (the hero) praises’; there are references to balance and harmony and use of a matchmaker.  Animals used throughout the story reflect those of the Chinese zodiac and folktales (cricket, tiger, cow, rooster, and toad).  Chinese words are used but explained contextually (gang, wang, qin).  The characters names all have meaning in Chinese and include Rendi, Master Chao, Peiyi, Jiming, Mr. Shan, Madame Chang, WangYi, Widow Yan, MeiLan, Tiwu, Magistrate Tiger, Duke Zhe, Queen Mother of the Heavens, and the Moon Lady.  There is an emperor in addition to a king.  And, individuals show affection by touching foreheads.  Food mentioned in the story include pork dumpling, rice wine, tofu, lychees, ice plum juice, dough deep frying in oil, rice, fried taro cakes, sesame balls, plums, ginger soup, rice balls, and a butchered pig.  Celebrations include Day of Five Poisons, a wedding with a sedan chair, wedding procession, firecrackers, red embroidered silk canopy, and costumed carriers, and coloring red eggs for festivities.  Religious practices include: rain ceremonies (makes them laugh so hard that they cry and then rain will fall, burning smoke in front of statues hoping their eyes will water, or throwing dirt on dragon figures), wine to protect the characters from the Noxious Animals, a wang symbol (symbol of power) on the daughters forehead, a shrine room, and the mention that the couple should not get married yet because ‘we don’t know if this is an auspicious day.

4. Review Experts

~School Library Journal: “The moon is missing from the sky, and its absence causes unrelenting heat and drought. At night, Rendi can hear the sky moan and whimper for the missing moon, a sound that has plagued him since running away from home and ending up as a chore boy at an isolated inn. When a mysterious and glamorous guest arrives, she brings stories and asks Rendi to tell her tales in return. These stories weave the characters and plotlines together while revealing the backstory of Rendi's flight from home, the village's geography, and the missing moon, and how they tie together. This follow-up to Lin's Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (Little, Brown, 2009), takes place centuries earlier when Magistrate Tiger's son was still young and missing. The stories the characters tell are based on traditional Chinese folktales, but Lin adds her own elements and layers and mixes them with original tales to form a larger narrative that provides the background and the answers for the frame story. This tight and cyclical plotting, combined with Lin's vibrant, full-color paintings and chapter decorations, creates a work that is nothing short of enchanting. Like the restored moon, Starry River outshines the previous work.”

~Publishers Weekly: “Lin’s signature device of interspersing the plot with stories told by various characters enriches this story on many levels, especially when Rendi, pressured by Madame Chang, begins to tell his own revealing stories. Neither sequel nor prequel, this fantasy is linked to Lin’s Newbery Honor book, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (2009), through numerous elements, including lush imagery, glorious full-color artwork, food similes (“Rendi’s muscles were as soft as uncooked tofu”), and the cruel and hot-tempered Magistrate Tiger. The lively mix of adventure, mystery, and fantasy, supported by compelling character development and spellbinding language, will captivate a wide swath of readers.”

5. Connections

~Gather and read other books by Grace Lin including:

            Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. ISBN 0316038636

            Year of the Dog. ISBN 9780316060028

When the Sea Turned to Silver. ISBN 9780316125949

~Use in a social studies segment about Chines Festival like the Dragon Boat Festival or Lantern Festival

~Use in a social studies unit about Rain Dances and Celebrations in different cultures

~Use in a science class about Fireflies or Goldfish

~Use in a science class about the Moon