Day: July 28, 2010

The Buffalo Are Back

| Tasha

 

The Buffalo Are Back by Jean Craighead George, paintings by Wendell Minor

This is the haunting story of the loss of the buffalo herds that once thundered across the United States.  It is a story of the buffalo, the prairies and the Native Americans.  The Indians knew how to care for the grasslands and by caring for the grass, they took care of the buffalo which they depended on for survival.  So when the Indians stood against the American government and its settlers, defending the land, the government ordered the buffalos killed off.  Now the settlers battled the grass, tearing it up to create farmland.  Farmland that was doomed to become the Dust Bowl when the very soil crumbled to dust and locusts attacked their crops.  But the buffalo were not exterminated.  With Teddy Roosevelt came change and a love of the buffalo. Now there is a return of the buffalo and the grasses.

George captures a tumultuous and horrible history in this book for children.  She manages to take an overwhelming loss and condense it into something that is understandable for young children.  Her words are powerful, evocative and beautiful.  She captures the fragility of nature and earth with spirit and honesty.  The paintings by Minor take this book to another level.  His depictions of the glorious buffalo, the endlessness of the prairie, and the horrors of destruction are breathtaking.  His virtuoso art brings the entire history to life.

In the end, this book is about hope.  It is about the fact that we have choices to make, and that we can make a difference.  Beautiful and stunning, we must be part of creating the future this book tells us of.  Appropriate for ages 7-10.

Reviewed from copy received from Dutton.

Blindsided

| Tasha

Blindsided by Priscilla Cummings

Natalie has been losing her sight since she was eight.  She is still able to see in a tunneled form, but then receives the news that she will lose her sight completely in a short period of time.  Natalie is sent to a school for the blind to learn the skills she will need to have when she is blind.  She is taught Braille and how to walk with a cane. But she doesn’t consider herself in the same situation as the other teens at the school.  They are blind and she is not.  She does learn the skills, but inwardly refuses to accept the situation, hoping for a miracle to happen.  Eventually her sight does leave completely and now Natalie has to choose between using the skills she learned and becoming independent or remaining scared and protected at home.

This book is a mix of positive and negative for me.  Natalie was a fine character with intelligence, lots of doubts, and complex reactions to her situation.  She was well drawn and interesting.  The information on the school for the blind and her skills were also interesting, though they could have been woven more into the story itself so that they read more effortlessly. 

Unfortunately, the book suffered from heavy-handed writing that was often didactic in tone.  There was a sense that the author had a lot to say about overcoming obstacles and disabilities.  Her need to inform others intruded on the story itself, which would have been much stronger without the tone.  Additionally, there were often moments when Natalie grew to new understanding which the author underlined and pointed out, lessening their impact instead of strengthening it as intended.

I must also quibble with the foreshadowing of the action-filled ending, which would have been surprising except that it was built into the story too clearly with events leading directly to it.  Again, a more even-handed writing style would have raised it to another level.

Appropriate for ages 13-16.

Reviewed from copy received from Dutton.

Rush

| Tasha

Rush by Jonathan Friesen

The author of Jerk, California (winner of the Schneider Family Book Award) returns with another great read.  The only thing that will clear the clouds from Jake’s head is risking his life.  He jumps off of waterfalls, takes risky rides on his dirtbike, climbs the town watertower, and scales rock walls.  His father and older brother don’t understand what he does at all.  His father basically owns their town and his perfect brother is following in his footsteps as a firefighter, something that holds no appeal for Jake.  One thing with appeal is his best friend Salome, but he can never let it become anything more than just friends, because he hurts anything he gets close to and he can’t do that to her.  When Jake’s older brother loses his best friend and quits the firefighters, Jake is offered a place on a crew that rappels into wildfires.  It is a crew with a record of young firefighters dying.  Jake isn’t worried, this suits his thrill-seeking nature just fine, but Salome refuses to stand by and watch him die.   He now has to choose between his friend and the rush.

My short summary above just scratches the surface of this novel.  It is a novel of depression and trying anything to feel clarity and connection.  It is a novel of family, exploring the tension-filled relationship between brothers as well as fathers and sons.  It is a novel of love, of taking that final step and feeling a different kind of clarity and rush.  It is a novel of bravery, of honor, of betrayal.  It is a novel that reads at breakneck pace, yet never loses touch with the importance of character and setting.

Jake is a great character in the novel, exploring the reason why people take large risks.  He is a tormented soul, unable to form connections with those he loves, able only to bond with the thrills.  Yet at the same time, he has friends who love him, despite the ways he pushes them away.  The novel is beautifully written, exploring the danger and power of fire, which is used as a perfect metaphor for Jake and his own destructive nature. 

A novel that will appeal to a broad range of readers, from those who are thrill seekers themselves and want a great action-filled read to those who are interested in a well-drawn character facing incredible odds.  Appropriate for ages 15-18.

Reviewed from copy received from Speak.

Check out Jonathan Friesen’s website, his blog, and an interview about his inspiration for the book.