In junior high I went through a phase of reading biographies. It feels like I read every biography on the shelf in my junior high school library. I have a visceral recollection of the study hall and library in the Ames Junior High School (Iowa). Dark wood, huge windows, creaking floors, and a raised platform for the study hall teacher. This was in the middle of the baby-boom so there were lots of students. I remember being very uneasy, even afraid, of the hour in study hall. Thus, I volunteered as a library aide to avoid the crowd. The building has been razed so when I return for reunions I cannot walk the halls. It is a ghost in my life.
I have read few biographies since that period. This was well worth a return to the genre. Heiligman's scholarship is quite remarkable. This, combined with a very well written story of the married life of Charles and Emma Darwin makes it a stunning biography. It is a love story, the story of Darwin's professional career after his return from his sea years and the story of a family. As a writer, it gave me great comfort to learn that it took Darwin 23 years to finish The Origin of the Species. Reading about his agonies in deciding to publish the book helped me appreciate the complexity of Charles Darwin's position. He loved his wife deeply and did not want to offend her religious beliefs. He had this same level of sensitivity to other friends and colleagues. He was very much aware of the controversy that his theory would incite and worried deeply about it.
Heiligman's book is not limited to a focus on Darwin's theory of evolution. Instead, although Origin occupies a large space in background, most of the book tells of daily life in the Darwin household and how this life sustained and distracted Darwin. Some things I came to appreciate about Darwin include: he was plagued with ill-health most of his life, he had a large family that he loved deeply, he was a respectful colleague who avoided the limelight and spotlight, he was a passionate scientist throughout his life, he and Emma both came from wealthy families (they had a houseful of servants and nannies). Some individual details, gleaned from letters, journals, and Darwin's autobiography make the rich complexity of daily life of this great man something that I will carry with me through the coming years. There are equally engaging details about Emma's life. Living with a "great man" required great support from his wife. It makes me contemplate how we have perhaps lost the space in our lives in which marriages can be great partnerships and individuals have time and quiet to carefully follow their scholarly pursuits. Emma was, in her own right, a thoughtful and supportive editor. She was Darwin's partner in every sense of the word throughout most of his professional career. I was cheered to learn that she also was a great reader of novels.
The stories of Darwin's careful scientific studies are particularly inspiring, yet subtly developed. For example, during the early 1850's Darwin decided to elaborate on his theory by an extensive study and classification of barnacles. He felt this was important to add substance and weight to his theory of evolution. The Down House (the family home) was filled with specimens and Darwin spent years detailing each separate species. Heiligman uses an anecdote from the family to show the passion with which this scientist worked instead of laborious accounts of Darwin's scientific methods. It is done simply--"He had worked so long on them (the barnacles) that once when one of the boys, Probably Lenny, went over to Sir John Lubbock's house to play with his son, he asked the Lubbock boy, where does your father do his barnacles?" What a wonderful detail that shows the passion and dedication of Charles Darwin. The book is filled with other such samples of great writing. I will use this book whenever I want to demonstrate "show don't tell" to developing writers.
At the end of the book I wept. Emma's loss of her husband fourteen years before her own death left me feeling bereft. It is a testimony to the strength of Heiligman's writing that she was able to produce such strong reaction. The book richly deserves all the awards and recognition it has garnered including: A Michale Prinz honor book, National Book Award Finalist, and YALSA-ALA award of excellence in young-adult nonfiction.
Showing posts with label prinz award. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prinz award. Show all posts
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Going Bovine, by Libba Bray
Cameron, a devoted pot-smoking, slacker is having some hallucinations. They get worse and more frequent and in a doctor's visit, after several visits to counselors and psychiatrists he is finally diagnosed with Mad-cow disease. The reviewer from the NY Times gives a wonderful, short summary of the book:
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The New York Times - Lisa Von Drasek
…manages to turn a hopeless situation into a hilarious and hallucinatory quest, featuring an asthmatic teenage dwarf, Gonzo; a pink-haired angel in combat boots, Dulcie; and Balder, a Norse god who is cursed with the form of a garden gnome…Libba Bray not only breaks the mold of the ubiquitous dying-teenager genre—she smashes it and grinds the tiny pieces into the sidewalk. For the record, I'd go anywhere she wanted to take me.
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I agree with her--this is a wonderful "on the road" adventure and offers some great opportunities to explore topics of friendship, life's purpose, death and dieing, peer pressure, and some of the social phenomenon on our landscape. On a personal level I especially enjoy Bray's treatment of Norse Gods and angels. A couple years ago I went on a streak of reading "god/goddesses" books--books by Michael Scott, Rick Riordan and Neil Gaiman. This is a nice addition to the collection.
I have also read Bray's other books, the Gemma Doyle Trilogy. The first two of these were wonderful explorations of the Victorian era with a supernatural twist. I was less enthusiastic about the final book in the series. I see lots of high school girls reading the series so I feel certain we are going to see more from Libba Bray.
This was the Michal Prinz 2009 award winner. I often find the Prinz books to be challenging and this is no exception.
A note about the tags--I don't know whether to categorize this as realistic fiction or fantasy. It combines both. If I was forced to choose I would go with the realistic fiction (with the caveat that the main character has hallucinations). It's also worth a trip to the Barnes and Nobel website to see the video clip of Bray--sometimes I find out a little too much about the authors behind to books.
Tales of the Madman Underground, by John Barnes
Barnes, John. Tales of the MADMAN underground: An historical romance 1973. (2009)--Prinz Award finalist
Karl Shoemaker lives in Lightburg, Ohio and is a charter member of the Madman underground. The Madman underground is the title that a group of kids have adopted for themselves based on their required participation in a school counseling program. The "group" is for kids with seriously disturbed behaviors that have gotten them referred to counseling. All this takes place in 1973 with a few flashbacks to Karl's childhood and the death of his father from cancer while Karl was in 8th grade. Most of the book takes place in Karl's senior year. He is trying to have one "normal" year and get out of the Madman Underground. To get out he has to reject his best friend. The plan for "normal" falls apart pretty quickly, instead we get a year of learning the value of the Madman underground and friendship in general.
There is quite a bit of sex, alcohol, and violence in the book. In fact, Karl attends AA meetings himself. In this small town in Ohio there is a lot of alcohol use and the resultant problems it can cause. There's also a realistic picture of how the social fabric of a small town both supports and fails to notice kids with difficulties. It may seem that for a small town there are an unusual number of kids with troubled lives but when I think back to what was happening in my own relatively small town (one high school, class of 368 students) it is within the boundaries of believable.
For much of the book I was pretty depressed. Karl has a truly terrible life and is looking to solve his problems by joining the army as soon as he graduates. Since this is set during the Vietnam War, joining the military to escape his life is pretty drastic. Karl, as a natural leader, becomes entangled in all sorts of messes primarily because of his friends from the Madman Underground. Karl's life at home is also pretty desperate. He works at least four different jobs each week to make money. His mother and her various boyfriends systematically steal Karl's money to buy alcohol and hang out in bars or host parties. He has taken to hiding his money in jars in a wide variety of places around the house and yard.
The rest of the Madman Underground have similarly dreadful problems. They are all realistic--neglect, abuse, poverty and violence. Almost all of them are fueled by alcohol or drugs. School is some relief--there are subjects Karl likes and several teachers seem to be supportive, although no one really knows the depth of the problems in his home or that of the other Madmen. Although the stories are gritty and depressing there is enough humor to have kept me reading. In fact, near the end of the book it kept me awake into the early morning hours to finish.
At first I questioned the place of this book on the Prinz award finalist list. The award is for "excellence in YA literature" and named in honor of a Topeka Kansas school librarian. This is definitely a book I would keep to the side in my classroom and recommend only to students who needed it or could handle the content. Of course, I find I am becoming increasingly conservative. I may not be the best judge of what is acceptable in schools. I know that this is a book that would be challenged (that's code for "censored") by a wide variety of groups if they were aware of it. But, having finished it I have decided that deserves the honor of being an honor book on the Prinz award list and it should be easily available to junior and senior high school readers. Alcohol and drug abuse is a plague that affects a devastatingly large percentage of kids in schools. This book explores the topic and does not romanticize drinking or drugging. It also offers a positive message of coping mechanisms that kids can use. Every school counselor and many teachers should be aware of this book to refer it to kids who have to deal with this in their homes or social group. Yes, it's really hard to read--but in the end worth every minute. I expect I will now be reading more of John Barnes work. If this is an example of the quality of his writing--I want more!
Karl Shoemaker lives in Lightburg, Ohio and is a charter member of the Madman underground. The Madman underground is the title that a group of kids have adopted for themselves based on their required participation in a school counseling program. The "group" is for kids with seriously disturbed behaviors that have gotten them referred to counseling. All this takes place in 1973 with a few flashbacks to Karl's childhood and the death of his father from cancer while Karl was in 8th grade. Most of the book takes place in Karl's senior year. He is trying to have one "normal" year and get out of the Madman Underground. To get out he has to reject his best friend. The plan for "normal" falls apart pretty quickly, instead we get a year of learning the value of the Madman underground and friendship in general.
There is quite a bit of sex, alcohol, and violence in the book. In fact, Karl attends AA meetings himself. In this small town in Ohio there is a lot of alcohol use and the resultant problems it can cause. There's also a realistic picture of how the social fabric of a small town both supports and fails to notice kids with difficulties. It may seem that for a small town there are an unusual number of kids with troubled lives but when I think back to what was happening in my own relatively small town (one high school, class of 368 students) it is within the boundaries of believable.
For much of the book I was pretty depressed. Karl has a truly terrible life and is looking to solve his problems by joining the army as soon as he graduates. Since this is set during the Vietnam War, joining the military to escape his life is pretty drastic. Karl, as a natural leader, becomes entangled in all sorts of messes primarily because of his friends from the Madman Underground. Karl's life at home is also pretty desperate. He works at least four different jobs each week to make money. His mother and her various boyfriends systematically steal Karl's money to buy alcohol and hang out in bars or host parties. He has taken to hiding his money in jars in a wide variety of places around the house and yard.
The rest of the Madman Underground have similarly dreadful problems. They are all realistic--neglect, abuse, poverty and violence. Almost all of them are fueled by alcohol or drugs. School is some relief--there are subjects Karl likes and several teachers seem to be supportive, although no one really knows the depth of the problems in his home or that of the other Madmen. Although the stories are gritty and depressing there is enough humor to have kept me reading. In fact, near the end of the book it kept me awake into the early morning hours to finish.
At first I questioned the place of this book on the Prinz award finalist list. The award is for "excellence in YA literature" and named in honor of a Topeka Kansas school librarian. This is definitely a book I would keep to the side in my classroom and recommend only to students who needed it or could handle the content. Of course, I find I am becoming increasingly conservative. I may not be the best judge of what is acceptable in schools. I know that this is a book that would be challenged (that's code for "censored") by a wide variety of groups if they were aware of it. But, having finished it I have decided that deserves the honor of being an honor book on the Prinz award list and it should be easily available to junior and senior high school readers. Alcohol and drug abuse is a plague that affects a devastatingly large percentage of kids in schools. This book explores the topic and does not romanticize drinking or drugging. It also offers a positive message of coping mechanisms that kids can use. Every school counselor and many teachers should be aware of this book to refer it to kids who have to deal with this in their homes or social group. Yes, it's really hard to read--but in the end worth every minute. I expect I will now be reading more of John Barnes work. If this is an example of the quality of his writing--I want more!
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