The One and Only Ivan

The One and Only Ivan

            One of the greatest works of Children’s Literature, The One and Only Ivan written by Katherine Applegate is one of the greatest stories I have read in a long time. Winner of the Newbery Award last year, The One and Only Ivan focuses on the life of a silverback gorilla named Ivan and his friends that remain caged up in a mall. Ivan grows up and spends most of his life in a small habitat where he can watch television (with a particular liking of old westerns) and drawing for his visitors. Most of his time is spent either in seclusion or talking with his friends who aren’t exactly other gorillas. His friend Bob is a dog and Stella is an elephant. Throughout the story, we learn Stella has passed away due to living her life in small quarters and not living with her family and other elephants in the wild. Before Stella dies, a new younger and spunky elephant named Ruby joins the gang and is relentless when it comes to questions. Before Stella dies, she wishes that Ivan takes care of Ruby and find her a better and more suitable home than being locked up in a mall. Then there’s Julia, a little girl who is the daughter of the Mall’s janitor who often comes and spends time watching and talking with the animals. With Ivan’s promise to help Ruby, Ivan is persistent and finally is able to communicate with Julia that he must free and find Ruby a new home. With Julia’s help, Ivan, Ruby and the other animals at the mall are finally freed and taken to a zoo where they can live a better life.

            After reading and looking over the criteria and terms for the Newbery Medal and thinking about the story of The One and Only Ivan, there’s no question why this novel won the award. The author paints a beautiful and quite clear picture of this gorilla and his life in a very small cage in a mall. The detail and description creates a clear picture in the readers mind of what is going on behind the cage of each animal that is presented in the story. It’s a story that in a simple and fresh tone explains the life of a caged animal and away from their natural habitat. With a complicated concept of understanding the lives and characters of these animals, the author does a wonderful job describing the loneliness and sadness each animal is faced within this story. This particular novel is written at a third grade reading level making easy for young readers to really engage in the story and really learn about each character.

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The Book Thief

The Book Thief

            A particular story, The Book Thief written by Markus Zusack is set in Nazi Germany and is told from the perspective of death who has a secret fascination with a little girl named Liesel. It begins in a small town right outside Munich where Death chronicles the life of many but focuses on the life of a peculiar little girl. An interesting approach at storytelling, Zusack does an fantastic job at telling the story from this particularly different point of view. The Book Thief starts with on a train looking in at a young and frightened girl who has a mother and a brother. On their way to live with foster parents, Liesel arrives at her new parents home with a brother who has passed away and never hearing from her mother again. On her way to her new family, her brother is buried and in shock of his death Liesel takes her first book, it is in fact a book on how to properly bury the dead. Throughout the story, Liesel’s book thievery is used in many ways to comfort her even though she knows she can barely read. In a world where death surrounds her and she must salute a dark power she doesn’t believe in, her books become her friends. It was a source of comfort, a piece of her brother that she would always have. Throughout the story, Liesel comes across many friends like Rudy and the Jew that is hiding in the basement of her foster parents home but through time the stories, the ones she kept and the one should write remain an important part of how she overcame so many hardships.

            This book received The Michael Printz Award and has been nominated for several others and remains to be a national best seller as well as recently being adapted for the big screen. Like most awards, the criteria is simply looking for literary excellence. Zusacks does an incredible job at painting an extremely visual story through his profound text in The Book Thief and is definitely a story that readers can remember in great detail. The profound use of death as the voice and narrator is an excellent source at grabbing the attention of the reader and the characters he creates are truly unforgettable. I think one of the reasons why this novel is so engaging, beloved and unforgettable is because it deals with a child’s experience during war time and her trying to make sense of the world and her place in it especially as an orphan living with parents who are not her birth parents. Although Liesel grows to love her foster parents and the friends she makes throughout her life, it’s really about her growing into a woman during an incredibly dark period in her own life and around her in a Nazi occupied village when she despises what Nazism stands for.    

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One Crazy Summer

One Crazy Summer

The first in the series of the Gaither Sisters, One Crazy Summer written by Rita Williams Garcia follows the journey of three young sisters as they make their move from Brooklyn to Oakland to spend the summer with their mother. It’s the summer of 1968 and Delphine, Vonetta and Fern leave their father in Brooklyn to try and get to know their mother, a poet and a Black Panther supporter. Dreaming of sunny California and hoping to visit Disneyland, the three sisters are in for a rude awakening when they are forced to live in tight quarters and spend their days in a Black Panther summer camp. Most of the story centers around the uneasy relationship between the girls and their mother (and understanding their place in the midst of the Black Panther Movement) but after getting to know their mother through her poetry (sneakily), the tension begins to fade.

            Although this story revolves around the relationship between the mother and her daughters, it really focuses on the transformation of each character in relation to what is happening in society at the time. It’s 1968 and the Black Panther Movement is strong and powerful, although a scary place for children to grow up and be surrounded by, we really see each character of the sisters throughout the story. Being the oldest, Delphine tries to protect her sisters from the dangerous radical people who become involved in the movement. Watching them grow throughout the story and reading it from the perspective of a child, it’s  chilling but helps young readers gain an appreciation of other cultures and helps them understand who they are in the world, how they relate to one another and understand different cultures and histories.     

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Farewell to Manzanar

Farewell to Manzanar

            This haunting memoir Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston (and her husband James Houston) recounts the days following the attack on Pearl Harbor and remains to be one of the most popular works of American History from the perspective of a young Japaense American girl trying to understand her place in the world in the midst of World War II. The story begins the day of the Pearl Harbor bombing, Jeanne is a seven year old Japanese American and doesn’t realize her young life is about to change forever. Not understanding the seriousness of war, Jeanne’s father is taken away from her and her home is being raided, her mother is left crying and soon she will be shipped off to live in an internment camp in Manzanar, near Lone Pine, California. During her time at Manzanar, Jeanne continues to question why, why she and her family must be punished for an act they didn’t commit.

            This book is not only an excellent source to remind us what the American homeland was like during World War II, it’s retold from the eyes from a young girl held in internment camp and growing up behind fences and in close quarters with other Japanese Americans. Stories like these are important for young readers to engage in because for a greater knowledge and appreciation for other cultures and their histories. Obviously having the story told from a young perspective helps grab the attention of our youth and helps them understand the harshness of the world in a child’s mindset. Introducing and encouraging multicultural literature into the reading list of tweens and young adults is important to expand their knowledge, vocabulary and becoming more aware of their place in the world and feeling connected with the world.     

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Harriet the Spy

Harriet the Spy

            After reading for a second time, Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh remains not only a timeless piece and fine work of children’s literature, I still consider this novel one of my absolute favorites from my childhood. The story revolves around a precocious sixth grade girl who is on a mission to see everything and meet as many people as she can, so she can scribble away in her infamous composition notebook with the word PRIVATE plastered on the front in all caps. Following in the words of her nanny (Ole Golly) to always speak and write the truth, Harriet’s hurtful words and spy work ends up costing her friendships, several worried parents and a club dedicated to catching spies. After receiving a letter from her beloved old nanny, Harriet turns herself around and become editor of the sixth grade newsletter; speaking the truth in a careful and polite tone and wins back her friends.

            This book was written in the early sixties but continues to be considered a classic for many children in our current younger generations for many reasons. It offers the perspective of a smart and talented young girl who is far from wanting to play dress up with tiaras and tutus. It follows the story of a girl who wants to pursue writing and is curious about the world around her. Sure it leads to Harriet coming across trouble once her notebook is taken from her and briefly losing her friends, but her character is very relatable to the children reading this book and children her age. Intended for a fourth grade reading level, Harriet’s characters is open to the world around her, she teaches young mind to embrace independence and curios

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A Wrinkle In Time

A Wrinkle in Time

            A little embarrassed to admit this is actually the first time reading A Wrinkle in Time by acclaimed children’s author Madeline L’Engle. This wonderful sci-fi fantasy is in short a race against time to save the father of his two quite famous children, Meg and her brother Charles Wallace Murray. The story starts with their scientist father already gone missing. With the aid of three not so normal women who are in fact witches, whom the characters grow to love are the beloved Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Which and Mrs. Who. These women guide and teach the three main characters, Meg, Charles and their friend Calvin O’Keefe to travel through space via a tesser or simply a wrinkle to find their father and bring him back to earth. An epic and timeless story, A Wrinkle in Time will forever remain a classic for both children and adults.

            Winning the Newbery Award, Madelin L’Engle wrote A Wrinkle in Time in the late fifties; however this still very popular book remains to be one of the most notable works in children’s literature. A race through time, intergalactic wars and relationships with other species, this theme seems to still be popular for both young mind and adults. However, space travel through the mind and perspective of a child brings a unique story and is still captivating the minds of children today. Although written over fifty years ago, this story and its continuing quest with Meg, Charles and Calvin still remains at the top of reading lists and relevant in children’s literature today.   

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