Children's literature has given us a few iconoclastic characters: Fern Templeton from Charlotte's Web, Claudia, From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Karana from Island of the Blue Dolphins, and Jess Aarons and Leslie Burke from Bridge to Terabithia. Add to that list Delphine Clark from One Crazy Summer.
One Crazy Summer has garnished numerous awards: Coretta Scott King Award for Author, Scott O'Dell prize for historical fiction, Newbery Honor Book, and a National Book Award finalist. All are well-deserved and speak to the quality of this book. I liked it much better than Moon over Manifest, the Newbery Medalist for this year.
Delphine (11), Vonetta (9), and Fern (7) Clark are put on a plane in Brooklyn in the summer of 1968 to visit their mother, Cecile, in Oakland, California. They have not seen her since right after Fern was born, seven years previous. On the bumpy plane ride they anticipate the warm welcome and hugs that they will get when they see their mother. But that is not to be. Cecile is not welcoming or affectionate. They are just a nuisance and this is evidenced from the way they are gathered at the airport, taken to her home, and virtually made to tend for themselves. Cecile asks Delphine to hand over the money that their father has given them and then sends them to Mean Lady Ming's Chinese Restaurant, down the block and around the corner, if they want anything to eat. The kitchen is off limits. She will not call Fern by name and makes fun of her clinging to her doll. Shown their bedroom, the sisters will share 2 beds among them. The visit has not had an auspicious beginning. The next morning the girls are sent to the Black Panther Community Center/School if they intend to eat breakfast.
And so the novel is set. Delphine, full of care and compassion for her sisters and a whole lot of common sense for a girl of eleven, is determined to make the best of the month that they visit in California. Cecile is a poet for the Black Panther movement and has taken the name Nzila. She is consumed with the movement and her poetry. The girls go to the center every day and learn about the movement that will forever change the complexion of the U.S and what their contribution to that movement can be. Williams-Garcia so carefully weaves history (Huey Newton, Bobby Hutton, the assassinations of King and Bobby Kennedy) and the culture of the time (Mike Douglas Show, The Monkees, Hogan's Heroes, and Mission Impossible) into everyday situations. One of the most touching scenes of the book is the day that Delphine plans and takes her sister on a tour of San Francisco. She is determined that they feel like they have been on a real vacation and she plans a tour of Chinatown, ride on a cable car, and purchasing just the right souvenirs. She is an amazing little girl.
The novel culminates in the arrest of Cecile and the girls' participation in a Black Panther Rally/Protest. This in turn leads to a real heart-to-heart talk between Cecile and Delphine. I dare anyone not to have teary eyes as the novel comes to its end. I love Delphine and I can't say that enough. Here is an eleven year old who acts as a mother to her two younger sisters, yet at the same time yearns for the protectiveness of her own mother. I love her because she is smart - after all she frequents the library for books to read and for information. She planned the San Francisco tour by doing research at the library. I love her because she knows what is right and what she must do in awkward situations. No, she didn't trash her mother's printing press, but it was right for her to clean it all up. Her character will be a part of me for a long time. I have wrestled with the idea of wanting a sequel to this book or have it a part of a new series much like the Dicey series. But then, part of me would like to just have Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern stay the way they are.
This is an important book book in the collection of children's literature because of the time period it covers and the point of view it gives. It should take its place next to The Watsons Go to Birmingham as one that can be taught in elementary grades. When history is taught in school, it often loses the personal side. One Crazy Summer captures this side in a beautifully and poetically written book. Don't miss it.
The Newbery Committee of the American Library Association once again surprised the library community by choosing Clare Vanderpool's debut novel Moon over Manifest as its 2011 winner. Set in Manifest, Kansas, the story takes place in 1936 during the Great Depression with flashbacks to 1918 and World War I.
We meet Abilene Tucker as arrives in Manifest by jumping off the train because it's "best to get a look at a place before it gets a look at you." She's come to stay with Shady Howard, a sometime pastor, salon owner, and bootlegger. Her father, Gideon, has taken a job on the railroad in Iowa and it wasn't appropriate for her to accompany him. Abilene is a spunky girl used to hopping trains and living without too many comforts. She arrives in Manifest the day before school is out for the summer. She meets Lettie and Ruthanne and the 3 become good friends.
Abilene discovers a little tin of momentoes in her room at Shady's. Each has an important significance in the life of the towns' people and indirectly or directly Abilene's life. The stories, told in flashback to 1918, are woven by Miss Sadie, a diviner. She is quite the character who knows the history of the town inside and out. Each time and place has its own story, mystery and excitement. I wondered if the young audience for whom the book was written would be able to follow the switching back and forth. Throughout the novel the parade of memorable characters make appearances from Sister Redempta, nun and teacher to Hattie Mae Harper, journalist and historian. Abilene must sort out the stories as she and Lettie and Ruthanne try to find a spy, understand who Jinx and Ned are, and why Abilene's father has left her. It was helpful to have a listing of the characters at the beginning of the novel.
This novel reminded me so much of others I have read: A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck, The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron, Nowhere to Call Home by Cynthia DeFelice, and Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo. This is a solid piece of historical fiction, though not groundbreaking. I liked the book, but did not love it. It would appeal to both boys and girls, but I think a hard sell on its own. Perhaps it is best shared by teacher reading it to his or her class.
The Graveyard Book will be added to the list of books that has an incredible and enticing first line: "There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife." The man Jack has killed a family of three. It was supposed to be four, but the baby has gone wandering and ends up in the nearby graveyard. So begins the story of "Bod" (Nobody) Owens. The 2009 Newbery Award winner is a macabre tale that is sure to become a classic read.
The story follows the adventures of Bod from his adoption by the Owens' through his childhood until he reaches the age of his emancipation. It is a story adopted from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book and provides adventure, fantasy, and the ability to touch every human emotion. In addition to the Owens, Bod is protected by his guardian, Silas with the lupine Miss Lupescu, Mother Slaughter, Josiah Worthington and the poet Nehemiah Trot, and my favorite, the Roman Caius Pompeius. Although still hunted by the murderer, Bod enjoys protection when he is within the confines of the graveyard. Such a setting provides the background for all sorts of macrabre adventures and ghostly encounters.
Bod's life passes in front of us and we grow to really love this boy who has his share of troubles. One very poignant scene is how he is bullied by his schoolmates when he attempt to attend a school outside the graveyard. He has thirsted for knowledge, but has to give up his dream when classmates make his life there totally miserable. As a little boy he develops a real friendship with a Scarlett, a girl who visits the graveyard with her mother. As the chapters ensue, she disappears for a while, but then reappears as the book reaches its climax. As one might expect Bod meets up again with a man Jack and the all the supernatural entities that Gaiman can muster.
As a reflect on the book, I realize that it was an incredibly written and complex story, full of ghostly haunts and "personages", but also that there was something missing in the first third of the book. It took me a while to really get into it, but by the end I was emotionally hooked and even a bit teary-eyed as the last pages were turned. It is a book that should satisfy all those who are looking for story that is scary and haunting.
Children's literature has given us a few iconoclastic characters: Fern Templeton from Charlotte's Web, Claudia, From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Karana from Island of the Blue Dolphins, and Jess Aarons and Leslie Burke from Bridge to Terabithia. Add to that list Delphine Clark from One Crazy Summer. 
