A Long Walk to Water
Written by Linda Sue Park
Salva Dut is 11 years old when war raging in the Sudan separates him from his
family. To avoid the conflict, he walks for years with other refugees, seeking
sanctuary and scarce food and water. Park simply yet convincingly depicts the
chaos of war and an unforgiving landscape as they expose Salva to cruelties both
natural and man-made. The lessons Salva remembers from his family keep him
from despair during harsh times in refugee camps and enable him, as a young man,
to begin a new life in America. As Salva’s story unfolds, readers also learn about
another Sudanese youth, Nya, and how these two stories connect contributes to the
satisfying conclusion. This story is told as fiction, but it is based on real-life
experiences of one of the “Lost Boys” of the Sudan. Salva and Nya’s compelling
voices lift their narrative out of the “issue” of the Sudanese War, and only
occasionally does the explanation of necessary context intrude in the storytelling.
Salva’s heroism and the truth that water is a source of both conflict and
reconciliation receive equal, crystal-clear emphasis in this heartfelt account.
(Fiction. 10-14)
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian
Written by Sherman Alexie
Alexie nimbly blends sharp wit with unapologetic emotion in his first foray into
young-adult literature. Fourteen-year-old Junior is a cartoonist and bookworm with
a violent but protective best friend Rowdy. Soon after they start freshman year,
Junior boldly transfers from a school on the Spokane reservation to one in a tiny
white town 22 miles away. Despite his parents’ frequent lack of gas money
(they’re a “poor-ass family”), racism at school and many crushing deaths at home,
he manages the year. Rowdy rejects him, feeling betrayed, and their competing
basketball teams take on mammoth symbolic proportions. The reservation’s
poverty and desolate alcoholism offer early mortality and broken dreams, but
Junior’s knowledge that he must leave is rooted in love and respect for his family
and the Spokane tribe. He also realizes how many other tribes he has, from “the
tribe of boys who really miss . . . their best friends” to “the tribe of tortilla chipsand-salsa lovers.” Junior’s keen cartoons sprinkle the pages as his fluid narration
deftly mingles raw feeling with funny, sardonic insight. (Fiction. YA)
Nectar in a Sieve
Written by Kamala Markandaya
An affecting chronicle of life in a South Indian village is told with simplicity and
compelling wisdom. Rukmani, daughter of a village headman, came to tenant
farmer Nathan with a plain face and tender heart, and after the devoted white
doctor Kenny, who uneasily inhabited two worlds, had seen to her health, their
marriage was blessed with tenderness, a daughter, and sons. The coming of the
tannery changes the life of the villagers and despite increased work complicated
the struggle against starvation. It brings the death of a son and departure of other
sons and even the loss of land as the factory engulfs it. Nathan and Rukmani
journey to the city to live with a son they do not find; and they join quarry diggers
to earn the rupees for their homeward trip. Only Ruckmani lives to return to the
remainder of her family, for she leaves Nathan in a gentle death far from his
beloved land. With her she brings the diseased and wily street boy she accepts as
her son. There is an epic quality in this short book that emanates from the character
of Rukmani and Nathan; from their patience and their acceptance of a fierce fate so
far from Western conception (Kenny upbraids them for it), in the story of personal
lives told with insight and compassion and humor, in the transcendence of the
spirit over the terrible world of man and nature's making.
Bless Me, Ultima
Written by Rudolpho Anya
I have just finished reading Bless Me, Ultima in my English class and I can say that it is a good
choice.
The book is about a young Mexican boy, Antonio Marez, growing up in New Mexico during the
mid 1940s. It begins when he is six years old, and Ultima, a curandera or healing woman, comes
to live with his family because she is getting too old to live by herself. Through Ultima's gentle
guidance and support, Antonio faces his uncertainties and learns to go on with life.
Antonio's parents are opposites, his father being a Marez, people of the llano (the desert land in
New Mexico), and his mother being a Luna, farmers and people of the moon and the earth. His
father wants Antonio to grow up free to roam the land and become a vaquero, as he once was.
His mother wants Antonio to be a priest, a man of learning. Antonio is torn between them
regarding his future.
Throughout the story, Antonio also faces confusion over religion and spirituality. Ultima
believes in God, but she also believes and works magic. But there is no evil in Ultima and
Antonio is confused over Catholicism. His mother wants him to become a priest, and though he
does believe in God, he wants understanding from Him, answers to his many questions.
From a very young age, Antonio witnesses death. Through the trials he is faced with, Antonio
learns to go on with life and leave the past behind. He realizes the power of good over evil and
understands that truth is more powerful than that which is prescribed by custom.
A lot of what goes through Antonio's mind through the story is similar to the questions I have
had through growing up. I can relate to him and to the other characters in the book. And I have
learned that mankind is no different in spite of age, race, religion, culture, and upbringing.
Kudos to Rudolfo Anaya for his first novel that brings Mexican-American culture to the reader
and a genuinely poignant "growing up" story that can be read by all ages.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Written by John Boyne
After Hitler appoints Bruno’s father commandant of Auschwitz, Bruno (nine) is
unhappy with his new surroundings compared to the luxury of his home in Berlin.
The literal-minded Bruno, with amazingly little political and social awareness,
never gains comprehension of the prisoners (all in “striped pajamas”) or the
malignant nature of the death camp. He overcomes loneliness and isolation only
when he discovers another boy, Shmuel, on the other side of the camp’s fence. For
months, the two meet, becoming secret best friends even though they can never
play together. Although Bruno’s family corrects him, he childishly calls the camp
“Out-With” and the Fuhrer “Fury.” As a literary device, it could be said to be
credibly rooted in Bruno’s consistent, guileless characterization, though it’s
difficult to believe in reality. The tragic story’s point of view is unique: the
corrosive effect of brutality on Nazi family life as seen through the eyes of a naïf.
Some will believe that the fable form, in which the illogical may serve the
objective of moral instruction, succeeds in Boyle’s narrative; others will believe it
was the wrong choice. Certain to provoke controversy and difficult to see as a book
for children, who could easily miss the painful point. (Fiction. 12-14)
Farewell to Manzanar
Written by Jeanne W. Houston
The American concentration camps of World War II where Japanese-Americans
were sequestered were not the barbarous places Hitler established. Inmates were
not generally abused, much less gassed or turned into soap. But the incident -- a
massive violation of the Bill of Rights perpetrated by the executive and approved
at the time by the High Court -- left its psychic scars, both on the nation and the
hapless people who endured the internment. Mrs. Houston's account -- like the
Kikuchi Diary (p. 859) -- provides an intimate picture of one of those camps,
Manzanar in California. At the time she and her family entered Manzanar, she was
only seven and her recollections are those of a child trying to understand what had
happened to her world, trying to comprehend what had turned her father into a rice
wine alcoholic (""He was suddenly a man with no rights who looked exactly like
the enemy""), trying to cope with the terrible dynamics of a family in
disintegration, trying to sort out the ambivalent currents of the Issei-Nisei
generational conflict, trying to accept Granny's words, shi kata ga nai (this cannot
be helped). It took Mrs. Houston a quarter of a century to unrepress the experience
of Manzanar, to admit to herself ""that my own life really began there. . . .
Manzanar would always live in my nervous system."" Mrs. Houston survived to
write this sad memoir of an American injustice, admittedly, as a friend told her, ""a
dead issue."" But like the true stories of all honest survivors, it reminds us that no
one -- least of all the innocent -- can escape the indignities of the past.
The Help
Written by Kathryn Stockett
The relationships between white middle-class women and their black maids in Jackson,
Miss., circa 1962, reflect larger issues of racial upheaval in Mississippi-native Stockett’s
ambitious first novel.
Still unmarried, to her mother’s dismay, recent Ole Miss graduate Skeeter returns to
Jackson longing to be a serious writer. While playing bridge with her friends Hilly and
Elizabeth, she asks Elizabeth’s seemingly docile maid Aibileen for housekeeping advice
to fill the column she’s been hired to pen for a local paper. The two women begin what
Skeeter considers a semi-friendship, but Aibileen, mourning her son’s recent death and
devoted to Elizabeth’s neglected young daughter, is careful what she shares. Aibileen’s
good friend Minnie, who works for Hilly’s increasingly senile mother, is less adept at
playing the subservient game than Aibileen. When Hilly, an aggressively racist social
climber, fires and then blackballs her for speaking too freely, Minnie’s audacious act of
vengeance almost destroys her livelihood. Unlike oblivious Elizabeth and vicious Hilly,
Skeeter is at the verge of enlightenment. Encouraged by a New York editor, she decides
to write a book about the experience of black maids and enlists Aibileen’s help. For
Skeeter the book is primarily a chance to prove herself as a writer. The stakes are much
higher for the black women who put their lives on the line by telling their true stories.
Although the exposé is published anonymously, the town’s social fabric is permanently
torn. Stockett uses telling details to capture the era and does not shy from showing
Skeeter’s dangerous naïveté. Skeeter’s narration is alive with complexity—her loyalty to
her traditional Southern mother remains even after she learns why the beloved black maid
who raised her has disappeared. In contrast, Stockett never truly gets inside Aibileen and
Minnie’s heads (a risk the author acknowledges in her postscript). The scenes written in
their voices verge on patronizing.
This genuine page-turner offers a whiff of white liberal self-congratulation that won’t
hurt its appeal and probably spells big success.
House Rules
Written by Jodi Picoult
A young autistic man obsessed with criminology is charged with the murder of his tutor,
in Picoult’s suspenseful but anticlimactic latest (Handle with Care, 2009, etc.).
Jacob, now 18, first exhibited signs of Asperger’s syndrome at three, shortly after his first
vaccination series. Highly verbal and analytical, but flummoxed by the most ordinary
social interactions, Jacob negotiates a world fraught with terrors by adhering to a rigid set
of rules and calming rituals. Jacob’s life centers around a CSI-esque TV show called
CrimeBusters, which he must watch each afternoon as punctiliously as Rain Man watches
Wapner. Usually, Jacob beats the CrimeBusters cast to a solution of each episode’s
mystery by about 20 minutes. He’s created his own forensics lab in his bedroom, and,
alerted by a police scanner, has snuck out at night to “crash” crime scenes in his small
Vermont hometown. His mother, Emma, is a financially struggling, part-time advice
columnist. Jacob’s father fled the chaotic household after Jacob knocked his younger
brother Theo’s highchair over, wounding the infant. Theo, now 15, resents the oxygen
sucked out of his family life by Jacob and, yearning to observe “normal” domesticity, has
begun breaking into homes. […]
The body of Jess – Jacob’s tutor – is discovered in a culvert, and, on the pretext of
seeking his advice, a police detective interrogates Jacob, who handily incriminates
himself, even reciting his own Miranda Rights from memory. Emma hires a rookie
attorney who gamely cobbles together a defense, with Jacob’s coaching.
Worth the read for the detailed dramatization of Asperger’s; however, like Jacob, the
reader will solve this whodunit far in advance of the principals.
Wonder
Written by R. J. Palacio
After being home-schooled for years, Auggie Pullman is about to start fifth grade,
but he’s worried: How will he fit into middle school life when he looks so different
from everyone else?
Auggie has had 27 surgeries to correct facial anomalies he was born with, but he
still has a face that has earned him such cruel nicknames as Freak, Freddy Krueger,
Gross-out and Lizard face. Though “his features look like they’ve been melted,
like the drippings on a candle” and he’s used to people averting their eyes when
they see him, he’s an engaging boy who feels pretty ordinary inside. He’s smart,
funny, kind and brave, but his father says that having Auggie attend Beecher Prep
would be like sending “a lamb to the slaughter.” Palacio divides the novel into
eight parts, interspersing Auggie’s first-person narrative with the voices of family
members and classmates, wisely expanding the story beyond Auggie’s viewpoint
and demonstrating that Auggie’s arrival at school doesn’t test only him, it affects
everyone in the community. Auggie may be finding his place in the world, but that
world must find a way to make room for him, too.
A memorable story of kindness, courage and wonder. (Fiction. 8-14)
The Kite Runner
Written by Khaled Hosseini
Here’s a real find: a striking debut from an Afghan now living in the US. His passionate
story of betrayal and redemption is framed by Afghanistan’s tragic recent past.
Moving back and forth between Afghanistan and California, and spanning almost 40
years, the story begins in Afghanistan in the tranquil 1960s. Our protagonist Amir is a
child in Kabul. The most important people in his life are Baba and Hassan. Father Baba is
a wealthy Pashtun merchant, a larger-than-life figure, fretting over his bookish weakling
of a son (the mother died giving birth); Hassan is his sweet-natured playmate, son of their
servant Ali and a Hazara. Pashtuns have always dominated and ridiculed Hazaras, so
Amir can’t help teasing Hassan, even though the Hazara staunchly defends him against
neighborhood bullies like the “sociopath” Assef. The day, in 1975, when 12-year-old
Amir wins the annual kite-fighting tournament is the best and worst of his young life. He
bonds with Baba at last but deserts Hassan when the latter is raped by Assef. And it gets
worse. With the still-loyal Hassan a constant reminder of his guilt, Amir makes life
impossible for him and Ali, ultimately forcing them to leave town. […]
Rather than settle for a coming-of-age or travails-of-immigrants story, Hosseini has
folded them both into this searing spectacle of hard-won personal salvation. All this, and
a rich slice of Afghan culture too: irresistible.