Fire and Brimstone (Journals)

The Brimstone Journals by Ron Koertge. 2001.

A novel in verse. First person with various voices and stories that weave in and out of one another all culminating in one hate-filled young man’s desire to blow away everyone on his sh@t list. Brilliant, beautiful.

Ok, this is horrible to say, but Columbine sort of ruined it. This story is so much better as fiction. Well, that’s not so horrible. Columbine would be better as fiction. I’m sure the families involved wish it were too. But these poems are moving and amazing. I only wished for a little more. More of everyone and all their lives and stories.

I thought the anorexic, in particular, was thinly drawn. (*groan*) 

Racial Harmony in Picture Book Form

The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson. Putnum, 2001.

Beautiful, moving, inspiring. Woodson writes with a lovely, authentic voice and tells a story of hope for racial reconciliation by showing instead of telling. The fence is an obvious metaphor, but the symbolism could easily transcend race and encourage harmony and healing in other areas as well.

Delightful, timeless illustrations take the book from the here and now which, somehow, makes it all the easier to apply the lesson to our current circumstances. In the end the girls don’t break the rules of segregation, they just find a way around them, all to the mother’s wonder at their ingenuity. Lesson learned: creativity and persistence can overcome any obstacle.

Little Girls in Two Straight Lines

Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans. 1939.

Sweet Matisse-like illustrations with a strong plot. Madeline is characterized as being fearless, but she cries at her pain (her appendix!), so the severity of her illness is obvious. Everyone’s concern for her is touching and makes boarding school a little less lonely.

The rhyme is more organic than sing-song, which greatly enhancing read-aloud pleasure. 

The commentary on cultural expectations for girls brought out in Inside Picture Books (Yale Nota Bene) (Spitz) was interesting, however. I too had noted the slight phallic nature of the nuns, but I thought it was just me.

I'm so Frankweilerely Mixed Up!

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by EL Koningsburg. Aladdin, 1967.

The story of a girl (and her brother) running away to find herself. The plot is not as tidy as Because of Winn Dixie, which was wonderful. The story is told in Mrs. BEF’s voice and her telling, so smooth and easy, is the perfect way to get inside both children’s heads and facilitates perfectly this mystery set-up. And since Mrs. BEF is an adult, every detail is believable. Also her sharp (sardonic?) voice, which is similar to Claudia’s, perhaps provides early foreshadowing, a mirroring of theme. Some other thoughts:

• I loved the theme of finding oneself.
• The mother in me was tormented by the thought of children missing for a full week, and the letter that never made it home? Why not? This is never answered.
• It all comes together (minus the letter) for an emotionally and logically satisfying solution.
• It strikes me that the story is ahead of its time for the 1960s and is oddly timeless despite the solid setting. It reminded me, too, quite a lot of The Westing Game (which is a unique and fascinating puzzle book for the same reading level).