module 6-Historical Fiction

Pink and Say

By Patricia Polacco

1994, Philomel Books

Summary:

The story is about a fifteen year old boy named Sheldon called Say for short who was fighting in the Union army. He was wounded above the knee and left behind. Another boy named Pinkus Aylee who had gotten lost from the forty eighth colored regiment, finds him and takes him back to his home where his mom takes care of them. Pinkus called Pink for short, was a slave but was left behind when the owner left. Pink is making plans to go back and fight but Say doesn't want to go. Marauders come and kill Pink's mom. The boys are taken prisoners by the Confederate army. Say survives but Pink is hung.

Impressions:

The most powerful part of the book is the remembering of Pink by the following generations of Say and how they tell his story throughout the years. I got goose bumps when I read that.  Patricia Polacco does it again. She certainly has a way with writing that just goes to the heart. Patricia Polacco is able to catch the human spirit in her writing. She brings the text to life with her language, and the mood she sets. You are there, with the characters, feeling what they feel.  You can’t put the book down. This needs to be read by an older child, middle school (6-8 grades). There is a lot to it that needs to have an understanding of the period in history.
   

Reviews:

From School Library Journal

…Polacco's artwork, in fact, has never been better. She uses dramatic perspectives, dynamic compositions, and faces full of emotion to carry her powerful tale. History comes to life in this remarkable book.
Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, IL
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

 From Booklist

Ages 5-9. Hands and gestures have always been important in Polacco's work. Here they are at the center of a picture book based on a true incident in the author's own family history. It's a story of interracial friendship during the Civil War between two 15-year-old Union soldiers…Throughout the story there are heartbreaking images of people torn from a loving embrace. Pictures on the title and copyright pages show the parallel partings as each boy leaves his family to go to war. At the end, when the friends are wrenched apart in prison, the widening space between their outstretched hands expresses all the sorrow of the war. Then, in a powerful double-page spread, they are able to clasp hands for a moment, and their union is like a rope. Say once shook Lincoln's hand, just as Say held Pink's hand, and Say tells his children, who tell theirs, that they have touched the hand that touched the hand . . . Hazel Rochman

Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Pink-Say-Patricia-Polacco/dp/0399226710

 Suggestions:

This book would be a great way to start a study on the civil war. Even though it is fictional, it gives insight to the lives of people during that time: the slaves wanting to fight “their” war, the hope of Lincoln and the fear of the battle itself.

Here Lies the Librarian

By Richard Peck

2006, Dial Books

Summary:

Jake and Peewee or Eleanor, McGrath, parentless, are living just outside of town, running an auto repair shop. One day a car with four girls driving by has a blow out and needs the tire repaired. Enter Irene Ridpath and her three sorority sisters. Finding out that the town’s only library has been closed since the death of the librarian 2 years ago, the girls, library students, decide to fix it up and reopen it. It helps that the girls come from very wealthy families. During this time, Irene takes Eleanor under her wing and helps her decide that being a girl isn’t so bad. Jake also falls for one of the other librarians, Grace Stutz. Jake enters his homemade car into the county fair race but Grace knowing that his car won’t win, kidnaps it and gets him to drive her new car in the race. During the race, Kirby, owner of a car repair shop in town, throws a wrench at Jake and causes him to crash. Peewee, jumps in the car and finishes the race, backwards. Jake ends up getting a job at Stutz factory and marrying Grace. The story ends with Grace and Eleanor attending a race when they are very old.
      

Impressions:

The author does a great job making the reading enjoyable with pieces about the characters such as Colonel who lives next door always thinking it’s the civil war he’s fighting in, or when he talks about the librarian “when they found her checked out under the card catalog”, or “in her country drives she’d killed more chickens than a hotel kitchen”. The author has a light touch sprinkled with humor throughout the book. His use of language like “I was a severed head sticking up from bald ground” or “I felt like a yanked up weed” highlights the characters and region they lived in and adds to the overall relaxed style of the book. This book lends itself for older children in grades 6-8.

Reviews:

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-9-Another gem from Peck, with his signature combination of quirky characters, poignancy, and outrageous farce. Parentless Peewee, 14, and Jake, the big brother she idolizes, live in rural Indiana in 1914…. A master of capturing voice, Peck aptly conveys the nuances of rural life in the early years of the last century while weaving in early feminism, the history of the automobile, and the message to be oneself. Kids will love the fast-paced action and librarians will guffaw over all the library puns.-Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

 From Booklist

Gr. 5-8. Stubborn, fearless, and loyal, 14-year-old Peewee (Eleanor) McGrath, who dresses like a boy, lives with her brother, Jake, in Indiana, "way out in the weeds." … Peck's one-liners, colorful physical comedy, and country dialect, prominent in most of his recent novels, are great as usual. And his characters, if not fully developed, are wonderfully quirky. Yet even with some exciting scenes of old-time dirt-track racing, the pace lags, and the story is choppy. Young fans of Danica Patrick, today's "Queen of the Road," may want to read this, but it will probably be librarians who'll have the most fun. Peck recounts an incident in an endnote in which one of the characters appears at the Indianapolis 500 with Janet Guthrie; unfortunately, there's not enough explanation to know whether or not it's all true. Stephanie Zvirin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

http://www.amazon.com/Here-Lies-Librarian-Richard-Peck/dp/0142409081/ref=sr_1_1_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341951137&sr=1-1&keywords=Here+lies+the+Librarian

Suggestions:

The story Here Lies the Librarian would be a great discussion starter about vocabulary. Perhaps start a word wall in the library with different words from various books that draw on other cultures to highlight our diversity and add to learning. The author enjoys language and plays with it. Perhaps set up an author visit and  talk to the older classes about writing.