Gene Luen Yang’s graphic novel, ‘American Born Chinese,’ a coming-of-age story, is ‘an excellent example of this popular genre.’ And Cynthia Lord’s ‘Rules’: ‘Don’t hesitate to wrap this
By Joan Ruddiman Special Writer
Each year in January, the big news in the book world are the American Library Association’s award-winning books for children and young adults. At one time, the world of young adult lit was my all-consuming passion and I was on top of the winners as soon as they were announced.
But here it is November, and I am just getting up to speed on the Newbery, the Caldecott and the other big awards announced months ago. The timing might be just right, however. We are entering the big season of gift giving, and nothing is better to give young people than books.
For loving adults who care to give the very best, the following offers some thoughts on what was deemed the best-of-the-best in children’s and young adult lit for 2007.
The Newbery Prize honors the best in children’s literature. But beware assuming that a Newbery book for “children” is appropriate for younger, elementary-age readers. Established in the 1920s, the prize hearkens back to the days when elementary schools ran K through eighth grade, and all pupils were classified as “children.” It is difficult in today’s world to think of middle schoolers, ages 12 through 14, as anything but “young adults.” Books, today, reflect that gap between “child” and “young adult” in our sophisticated society. The Newbery titles tend to lean to the pre-teen and young teen reader, rather than 8- and 9-year olds.
Sometimes the Newbery committee just misses the boat, like the year “Charlotte’s Web” was overlooked. The E.B. White classic took an honor while Ann Nolan Clark’s long forgotten “Secret of the Andes” won the Newbery Prize.
In what I would consider another miss, the Newbery Medal this year was awarded to Susan Patron’s “The Higher Power of Lucky” (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2006). It reads like a novel, but is illustrated with sketches by Matt Phelan. The big controversy with the book was the use of the word “scrotum” on the first page. This, however, isn’t my concern. The characters, the setting, the plot are so bleak that even the happy-ever-after effect on the last pages doesn’t redeem it.
Lucky is a motherless child who is being raised by her missing- in-action dad’s first wife who came from France to assume guardianship. They live in a trailer park and survive on government surplus foods. Even the weather on good days is threatening.
Lucky is just a child with a best friend who is only 5 — which may be the reason it is considered a children’s book. The story is told through her eyes, which captures the despair of this little girl who is not privy to what the adults know and won’t share.
Teens will read “problem books” such as this if the characters are their age or older. Lucky is too young and her running-away drama too childlike to appeal to the older Newbery readers. The dismal situations make this a tough one to share with younger kids. So skip it.
The Newbery Honor books, however, are grand. “Hattie Big Sky” by Kirby Larson (Delacorte Press, 2006) is based on the author’s step-great-grandmother’s story.
In the World War I era, an orphaned Hattie, age 16, moves from Iowa to Montana to “prove up” her uncle’s homestead that he had bequeathed to her. Told in Hattie’s voice, the novel is fast-paced, full of rich details. Homesteading always was a challenge. Hattie’s world is even more complex as this rural West is a mix of old frontier ways and the increasingly modern 20th century world. As Hattie experiences stampeding wild horses, motorcycles, anti-German harassment, neighborly kindness and the realities of the hard work of homesteading, readers will hurt for her, cheer for her and ultimately celebrate how she chooses to live her life.
“Penny from Heaven” (Random House, 2006) is a Newbery Honor book by Jennifer L. Holm, the author of the Boston Jane series and other ALA Notable titles. This book may have a special local appeal, given the setting is northern New Jersey and has a strong Italian theme.
Penny, named for the Johnny Burke-Arthur Johnson hit “Pennies from Heaven,” lives in two worlds just blocks apart. She is a beloved child of the feuding Falucci family, whom she visits regularly. She lives, however, with her widowed mother and staid grandparents. As Penny explains, “I am only half Falucci. The other half is plain old American and Methodist.”
Where “Hattie Big Sky” exposes the anti-German prejudice that swept the country during World War I, the underlying drama in “Penny From Heaven” is the tragedy of prejudice against Italian Americans during World War II.
Ms. Holm based her novel, in part, on another Penny — her mother. She has written a wonderful story, worthy of the Newbery Honor.
Saving the best for last, “Rules” (Scholastic, 2006) by Cynthia Lord took a Newbery Honor. It would have had my vote for the Newbery Prize.
Cynthia Lord is the mother of two children, one of whom is autistic. This first-time author says she wrote “Rules” to “explore some of my own questions about living with someone who sees the world so differently than I do … “
Twelve-year-old Catherine creates rules for her younger brother David, who is autistic: Keep your shoes on at the dentist’s but take them off for the doctor. You can take your shirt off at the pool, but never take your pants off. Say “hi” when someone says “hi” to you. No toys in the fish tank!
David — verbal, energetic, demanding — wears his mom and dad out. Catherine is weary, too, but in a different way. As she edges away from childhood, friends and being “normal” are becoming increasingly more important to her. David is far from a normal brother and makes her home life far from what kids her age consider normal.
The beauty of this book is that Ms. Lord makes some really tough stuff look very “normal” as Catherine faces the realities of her world with humor and grace.
“Rules” is a book I see many middle schoolers carting around. When asked about it, the response is, “I love this book!”
Don’t hesitate to wrap this one up for kids of all ages. It is a gem.
By the way, “Charlotte’s Web” was reissued as a Newbery Trophy book (HarperTrophy, 2004), as part of the 50th anniversary retrospective. It is never too late to acknowledge the truly great ones.
In the late 1990s, the American Library Association, recognizing that the Newbery was moving to the young adult level rather than what we now consider “children’s” lit, established the Michael L. Printz Award to honor the best in Young Adult literature.
This year’s award honors for the first time a genre that is truly appreciated by young adults. “American Born Chinese” (First Second, 2006) by Gene Luen Yang is a graphic novel that incorporates cartoon elements with the classic Monkey King myth in a coming-of-age story.
Many adults just don’t get the graphic novel — much like adults of an earlier generation disparaged comic books. But the teen brain seems to love the “busy-ness” of the medium, whereas the excess of images and action overwhelms adult readers.
Kudos to the Printz committee (all adults) for recognizing an excellent example of this popular genre. The sophisticated storyline — the pain of growing up outside the mainstream of society — is infused with elements that appeal to kid readers (fantasy, fisticuffs and scatological humor).
Mr. Yang has drawn cartoons since he was a kid. He now is a high school teacher in San Francisco, which may explain how he has created a story that appeals to kids — to boys in particular.
“American Born Chinese” is not the first of its kind, but it is one of the best — so say the experts. Mr. Yang’s graphic novel was in the Top 10 on the ALA’s Best Books for Young Adults list, Publishers Weekly’s and School Library’s Best Book of the Year as well as a National Book Award finalist.
Joan Ruddiman, Ed.D., is the coordinator/facilitator of the gifted and talented PRISM program at the Thomas R. Grover Middle School in the West Windsor-Plainsboro School District.