Historical Fiction

 By Christopher Paul Curtis

This book won a Newberry Award Honor Medal and the Coretta Scott King Award for its outstanding plot and underlying peace-promoting message. This book is a feel-good read containing both humor and sincere human emotion. I found myself either laughing, smiling or crying while reading it. Even though he includes humor in every chapter,Curtis touches on several serious and heart-wrenching  aspects including the physical disability of a child, poverty, bullying, gangs, racism, and hate acts. These hard topics are woven into the lighthearted plot revealing friendship, love, and trust. 

The book is told in first person narrative by the main character Kenny, the middle child in a "wacky" Watson family.  Kenny's experiences and relationships with his family and friends serve as the basis for the book's plot.  Kenny's relationship with his older brother Byron is especially important in the plot because it acts as a "gateway" for several of the book's main themes: childhood experiences, sibling rivalry, unspoken "family" bonds, and the realization of the many cruelties in the world. The character Rufus, the "new" kid in town (and eventually Kenny's best friend) promotes an emotional and mental growth in Kenny. Kenny learns a few hard lessons from Rufus and becomes more in tune with others' feelings and their situations. 

The last few chapters in the book are by far the most powerful and emotional.  It is during this part the reader understands Curtis' book dedication which is in memory of the three young African American girls who were killed during a church bombing. Curtis states that their deaths were "the toll for one day in one city." After reading the dedication at the beginning of the book, I expected the plot to be  most sad and serious. By the time I was halfway through the book, I wondered why Curtis chose his specific dedication. The last part of the book put an end to my speculations and brought the book's many themes together. 

I enjoyed every aspect of this book. Curtis is a strong and profound writer who possesses the ability to acclimate tough subjects into children's literature all while including humor and sentimental themes. I would recommend this book to upper elementary, middle and high school students. 

                                      By John Steinbeck 

 This book centers around the tragic story of the complex bond between two migrant laborers in Central California. They are George Milton and Lennie Small, itinerant ranch hands who dream of one day owning a small farm. George acts as a father figure to Lennie, who is a very large, simple-minded man, calming him and helping to reign in his immense physical strength. Both men possess a dream of a better life specifically, one in which they own a farm with abundant land, a house and rabbits.  Their actions in the novel reflect this dream and their attempts to achieve happiness.

 This book is one that every well-rounded person should read. It is considered an American classic.  The plot is thought-provoking, engaging, and affects the reader on an emotional level. Through inference, the reader discovers Steinbeck’s writing style which promotes the book’s themes through symbolism, and recurring metaphors. 
The characters are well-defines and they possess realistic attributes and represent society during the time of the book’s setting (the 1930's in the Salinas Valley of California). Of mice and men, like many of Steinbeck’s novels, reflects western American history.  In 1929, the Great Depression occurred causing millions of Americans to lose their jobs and savings. There was also the Dust Bowl, where sand literally wiped out land and farms causing farmers and workers, such as George and Lennie, to move west towards California to find work on ranches doing laboring work. Steinbeck himself migrated to Salinas, California as a teenager where he settled with his family, spent his adulthood and was buried after he died.

Of Mice and Men was supposed to be a play, but Steinbeck decided to write it first as a novel. However the manuscript was destroyed (by Steinbeck’s dog) and with only three months until publication, Steinbeck had to re-write it all from memory which therefore made it into a shorter novel. Although he was hesitant about the book’s reception, it became a worldwide success encouraging him to write many more books about the itinerant workers of America such as The Grapes of Wrath and Cannery Row.

Steinbeck has always been my favorite author. Although this isn’t my favorite book from him, I believe it contains important themes reflecting American history. The book is a quick read but the “hidden” themes and symbolism in its content may be too complex for younger students. I would recommend using this book as a mentor text in the middle and high school grade levels. 

                                     A Mostly True Tale

                  By Margaret McNamara and Illustrated by Barry Blitt

This book dissipates many of the famous "rumors" associated with the life of George Washington.  Many tales have emerged overtime embellishing facts linked with Washington's childhood.  For example, many people have heard the rumor that George Washington cut down a cherry tree then truthfully admitted "It Was I that cut down the cherry tree" to his father. The book informs the reader that this rumor emerged as a result of Washington's honest and noble personality. People trusted him so much that they liked to believe that Washington would have made such an honorable confession over a minute mistake. Another famous myth associated with George Washington is the story of how he was so strong that h threw a stone across the Rappahannock River. The river that ran beside Washington's family farm was over two hundred feet wide. Therefore, it would have been impossible for him to have done such a thing. 

The book's layout includes text telling the story of the "myths" or "facts" surrounding large, medium and small illustrations (varying page to page). At the end of each short myth, McNamara includes a framed text box, written in a smaller font and different style, labeled either "Myth" of "Fact" followed by an explanation.  These informational tidbits are strategically placed off to the side or at the bottom of the page so that they don't retract from the story.  Each short story supports the theme of Washington's family "forgetting" his birthday (they plan a surprise party for him at the end of the book). McNamara cleverly uses this base-plot to create a balance between each of the stories (which ultimately lead up to his evening party). 

The Illustrations are presented in the style associated with Barry Blitt.  Blitt is a famous political cartoon artist who has frequently been criticized for his controversial images. One of the most well known controversial image was his portrayal of the Obama's on a 2008 New York Times cover (left). Many readers felt Blitt's illustration was very "anti-American." Fortunately, Blitt's illustrations in George Washington's Birthday are anything but. In fact, one could consider him to be "patriotic" for their creation. Here is a link to a story about Blitt defending his drawing for the 2008 cover: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/13/barry-blitt-addresses-his_n_112432.html.  What do you think?