Module 5: Historical Fiction

Module 5:Book Reviews

Historical Fiction

Bibliography:

Ransome, Lesa Cline. 2018. FINDING LANGSTON. York, P.A.: Holiday House. ISBN: 9780823439607

Plot Summary:

This historical fiction novel, takes place in the early 1940’s during the Great Migration. Cline Ransome, starts the novel off by introducing a young eleven year old, named Langston. Langston is from Alabama and is trying to emerge himself in his new surroundings around the Chicago area. Langston lives in a beat-up, dirty, kitchenette apartment with his Daddy after they lost his Mama three months before. One day, as little Langston runs away from some unpleasant boys in his class, he runs right into the George Cleveland Hall Library. Here he finds a love of reading beautiful poetry written by Langston Hughes. The poetry reminds him of his Mama, Grandma, and friends from back home. When Langston least expects it, his grandmother has fallen ill back in Alabama, and soon receives news of her passing. His Daddy leaves for a week to settle some of the funeral arrangements, leaving Langston with their neighbor Mrs. Pearl for a week. Langston buries himself in the books he finds at the library and discovers new ones as well, in hopes to rekindle all of his fading memories he has of his Mama and his time back in Alabama.

Critical Analysis:

Cline-Ransome, creates a bittersweet story of a lonely young boy missing his late mother and his home in Alabama where he grew up. She incorporates historical elements in the early  1940’s time period such as the Great Migration and even a small reference to the Port Chicago Disaster in 1944. The setting is mainly in a neighborhood in Chicago named Bronzeville where many African American families congregated at that time. Langston’s living conditions, neighborhood, and library scenes gives readers a realization of what the circumstances were for African Americans during this time period post World War II. 

Langston the main character, experiences a difficult time adjusting to his new life without his Mama, a lack of friends, and his warm familiar home back in Alabama. The only connection and home-like atmosphere that Langston could connect to was at the George Cleveland Library, where Langston comes across a piece of literature written by Langston Hughes. Cline-Ransome incorporates the well-known pieces of literature that recognizes and celebrates many African American writers. One of the famous authors that Cline-Ransome embodies are excerpts of poems written by Langston Hughes. These poems are incorporated flawlessly within the storyline. When Langston discovers these poems his emotions and flashbacks of his hometown resonates with readers who have experienced the same longing of missing home.

Many of the topics found in this book relate to segregation, discrimination, and effects of the aftermath of war. These references allow the readers to be aware of the history of this time period and the emotions of the young protagonist and his struggles as an African American. Within the novel, there were many present themes such as family, loneliness, loss and relationships. One of the most significant lessons that Langston learns was the power of words and how to express his emotions, and he learned this by reading poetry. This lesson was very prevalent throughout the novel. 

Review Excerpt(s):

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, starred review: "An engaging, quick, and relatable read that skillfully incorporates themes of race, class, post-war American life in the North and South, and a bit of Langston Hughes' poetry. This is a story that will stay with readers long after they've finished it."

BOOKLIST, starred review: "The impact on the reader could not be more powerful. A memorable debut novel."

KIRKUS, starred review: "A fascinating work of historical fiction . . . Cline-Ransome at her best."

 THE HORN BOOK, starred review: "Written in short chapters, this crisply paced book is full of historical details of the Great Migration and the role a historic branch library played in preserving African American literary culture."

Connections:

*Students can read other historical books written by Lesa Cline-Ransome

• Ransome, Lesa Cline. BEFORE SHE WAS HARRIOT. ISBN:9780823444298
• Ransome, Lesa Cline. JUST A LUCKY SO AND SO. ISBN:9780823434282
• Ransome, Lesa Cline. BENNY GOODMAN & TEDDY WILSON. ISBN: 9780823423620 

*After reading the novel students can continue research about The Great Migration in 1940 and how it affected the African American community. Students can present their findings on a poster board, pamphlet, or slideshow.

* Students can research the historical importance of the George Cleveland Hall Library where most of the setting of the novel took place. Students can investigate which famous authors visited the library and who influenced the library.

Bibliography:

Giff, Patricia R. 2004.  A HOUSE OF TAILORS. NY: Random House. ISBN: 0385730667

Plot Summary:

A HOUSE OF TAILORS is a story about a young 13 year old girl named Dina in war time Germany in 1870. Dina’s mother is a widowed tailor for the Frau Outliner. Dina has been sewing buttons since she was 4 although, her only love is making hats. One day, Dina becomes bored with sewing buttons when her family receives a letter that has arrived from her wealthy uncle in America. Her uncle, wants Katherina, Dina’s older sister, to move to Brooklyn to live with them. However, while Dina was exchanging patterns with a friend across the river one day, some soldiers believe that she is a spy. Luckily, Dina was able to escape from their grasp, but her family decides that in order to avoid a treacherous outcome, Dina must take Katherine’s place to travel and live in America with their Uncle Lucas. Once she arrives in Brooklyn, unfortunately to Dina’s dismay, she is forced to help her Uncle with his sewing business. Dina is faced with many hardships and challenges while adapting to her new home. America did not turn out to be what she had imagined. Her Uncle’s family members catch smallpox, a fire breaks out at her Uncle's apartment and she must be quick on her feet to save her young cousins, and she ends up losing her life savings in the fire. In the end, Dina is torn between staying in America or returning home to Germany. To Dina’s surprise, she decides to stay and open up a shop with her Uncle in America and better yet, her sister Katherina decided to come to start a new life in America beside her.

Critical Analysis:

Patricia Reilly Giff, creates a wonderful story with historical ties throughout. The main character Dina, is a strong heroine who reveals many emotions of wartime Germany, immigration, and hardships that are faced in this time period. She also gives the reader great insight into the challenges that were faced in America when it was becoming a new country. Dina is a strong, loving, and bold 13 year old character who readers can relate to. Her thoughts and actions are courageous and daring when she escapes German soldiers but also soft and tender when she pours out her heart about longing for her family.

Patricia Reilly Giff’s style of writing is very detailed by allowing the reader to imagine the scenery, feelings, and emotions of longing for home through the main character Dina. For example, she writes, "I looked out at the city and thought about wrapping my arms around it. I was beginning to love Brooklyn, with its heat and its cold, its dust and its dirt." The storyline is very realistic for the time period and creates an accurate setting for readers to understand the trials and tribulations that young Dina and other immigrants face during this time period.

Some historical aspects that are pronounced in this novel are, wartime in Germany, challenges that are faced when traveling to the New World, and the smallpox epidemic. Patricial Reilly Giff incorporates these historical bits seamlessly into the plot of the story which enables the reader to get the gist of environments in both Germany and America during the 1870’s. 

This novel presents many themes, but a general theme that is apparent is the sense of family. Many times throughout the book Dina’s strong ties to her family always grounded her, kept her going, and pushed her to survive. For example, when Dina is forced to escape Germany to live with her Uncle, she also had to find a sense of belonging within a new family. Although she missed her family back home dearly, she knew deep down that her family in America is the best place for her to be.

Review Excerpt(s):

BOOKLIST: “There are many books about immigrants in the U.S; the strengths of this one are its profuse details and its cranky heroine....Dina is not a stock character; she's a real child, who works hard, literally and figuratively, to find her way.”

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: “This novel is rich with believable, endearing characters as well as excitement and emotion....Sprinkled with letters from home, the story captures the universal immigrant dilemma, ‘“we would always have a longing to go back, and a longing to stay.’"

Connections:

*Other historical novels that revolve around first generations living in America around the World War II era:

• Giff, Patricia R. WILLOW RUN. ISBN:9780440238010
• Kadohata, Cynthia KIRA-KIRA. ISBN:9780689856402

* Students can be encouraged to do research on immigrants, their hardships, and why they left their origin country. Students can then compare and contrast their findings and find similarities and differences. 

* After reading the novel students can act out the important scenes in the novel paying close attention to the perspectives of each character and what they were feeling for example: The fire scene: The Uncle’s perspective, Dina’s perspective, Dian’s Aunt and young baby, etc. Students can embrace the characters and add their own spin to the thoughts and feelings of each character as they act out the tragic scenes. 

Bibliography:

Schmidt, Gary. 2004. LIZZIE BRIGHT AND THE BUCKMASTER BOY. New York, N.Y: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN: 9780618439294

Plot Summary:

LIZZIE BRIGHT AND THE BUCKMINSTER BOY, is set in Phippsburg, Maine and is based on the true events of an island’s destruction called Malaga Island in 1912. Turner Buckminster, is the son of a minister, who traveled with his family from Boston to start a new life in Phippsburg. At first, Turner has a difficult time finding a place where he fits in, the local boys in town aren’t friendly, he gets teased about being a minister’s boy, and can’t seem to find a friend, until he meets Lizzie Bright. Lizzie is an African American 12 year old, who lives on Malaga Island along with her Grandaddy. She is full of sass, but wiser than most, and teaches Turner how to hit a baseball, dig up clams, and row a boat. 

Over the summer Turner and Lizzie become very close friends until a tragic accident that leaves Lizzie with a bleeding cut on her forehead, and Turner to be “forbidden” from setting foot on Malaga Island. With the influence of a powerful man named Mr. Stonecrop, the townspeople come to a conclusion that the shipyard is going out of business, and they must turn their town into a tourist spot to support their livelihoods. In order to create such a picture perfect scenery, they must push out all of the African American families that live on Malaga Island. One by one they are forced to leave their home. Both Lizzie and Turner experience death when a beloved neighbor named Mrs. Cobb dies peacefully in her home, and to everyone’s surprise Mrs. Cobb leaves her beautiful home to Turner, making Mr. Stonecrop very angry. Lizzie loses her only family member, her Grandaddy. Along with the others that are left on the island who refused to leave, both Lizzie and the Eason family are taken to Pownal, a psychiatric ward. Turner’s father steps in to help save Lizzie, but is sent to his death from a push off the cliff by a corrupt sheriff. Once Turner’s father is buried, he is able to go save Lizzie from the Pownal Ward, but to is dismay she had already passed. Turner and his mother remain living in Phippsburg and move into Mrs. Cobb’s house, where they are able to continue on living.

Critical Analysis:

This novel has many historical features. It discusses racial unrest, economic status, and gender descrimination of the time period. The storyline portrays the newly entered 20th century very accurately when describing the views of what the Phippsburg townspeople had about Malaga Island, and its residents that lived there. Schmidt’s writing enables the reader to view both sides of the dramatic plot between the two parties, the townspeople of Phippsburg, and the townspeople of Malaga island. For example, Turner is able to see the people of Malaga Island as he looks at everyone else despite their skin color, he doesn’t care what everyone thinks of him, yet on the contrary, his father seems to be very influenced and bothered by what people say about his son being affiliated with Lizzie Bright. 

Schmidt’s creates beautiful sceneries of the island with his descriptive, and nack for details. “In late September, the sea breeze stole the gold from the maples, the silver from the aspens...The sea breeze cooled the sun, which shone whiter and feebler against aging clouds. Some mornings, it seemed to want to sleep with the leaves.” This allows the reader to experience and visualize the setting of the novel.

The plot is very unpredictable, as it has many twists and unexpected turns towards the last three chapters of the novel. The main character, Turner, was very well developed and as each part of the story unfolds, Turner changes with each challenge that he is faced with. Several conflicts throughout the novel such as loss, descrimination, and perceptions of others are very evolved. The theme of the story ties effortlessly into the many conflicts that play out, such as standing up for what is right, trusting internal feelings, and a sense of belonging.   

Audiobook Analysis: 

I selected to listen to this book through an audiobook read by Sam Freed. As the audio book was read aloud, I followed along with the text. This audiobook was unabridged and followed the text word for word. The reader Sam Freed, was the only vocal reader. Sam Freed is an American actor who has performed on Broadway, television, and in the movies. The sound quality was excellent, Sam read with clear pronunciation of the words, inflection in his voice when needed, read with an acceptable volume, and was read without any distracting background noise or static. The only background effects where at the beginning and end of the novel when a thematic piece of classical music was played on an organ piano, which ties into the novel because Turner plays the organ every Sunday for Mrs. Cobb. 

Sam Freed, read with multiple voices for each of the characters in the story, for example when reading dialog for young Turner he would use a higher pitched voice than he would for Turner’s father or Mr. Stonecrop. Even when reading for female dialog, Freed would use a feminine tone. Freed’s introduction to the book was only the title of the book, and his name. Once the novel ended, he read the Author's note and then he concluded the audiobook with a statement including the production of the audiobook being created by David Rapkin, the author’s name, and a concluding sentence of hopes that the reader enjoyed the novel.

Overall the listening experience was difficult to get used to at first, but once I was able to get into the plot of the novel, and the voice of Sam Freed, I was able to immerse myself in the novel. Sam Freed’s use of multiple voices, was engaging and easy to follow along to. The novel lends itself to wanting to find out what would happen next, and became a page turner. I would suggest the novel to age 10 and up, due to the historical elements, death, and discrimination tie-ins to the novel. 

Review Excerpt(s):

KIRKUS, starred review: "Gloriously figurative language...brilliantly evokes both time and place...both beautiful and emotionally honest, both funny and piercingly sad." 

BOOKLIST, starred review: "A powerful tale of friendship and coming-of-age...haunting combination of fact and fiction has a powerful and tragic climax." 

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, starred review: "An evocative novel...with fully developed, memorable characters...fascinating, little-known piece of history...will leave a powerful impression on readers." 

HORN BOOK, review: "Historical incident ignites a rich novel...a drama that examines the best and worst of humanity." 

Newbery Honor Book (2005)

Michael L. Printz Honor (2005)

Connections:

*Students can create journal writings as they read the novel and discuss connections that they can make to the events, and feelings of the character. For example, write about a time when you were misjudged, or a time when you misjudged someone else. What do you think causes people to misjudge others?

* Students can read other historical fiction books that are similar and written by Gary D. Schmidt such as:

• Schmidt, Gary. THE WEDNESDAY WARS. ISBN: 9780618724833
• Schmidt, Gary. OKAY FOR NOW. ISBN:9780547152608
• Schmidt, Gary. ANSON’S WAY. ISBN: 9780141312293

Bibliography:

Holm, Jennifer L. 2010. TURTLE IN PARADISE. New York: Random House. ISBN:9780375836886 

Plot Summary:

Turtle is an eleven year old girl moving to the Florida Keys in 1935, to stay with her Aunt Minnie and three boy cousins. Her mother, Sadiebelle is a housekeeper, and her new employer does not want any kids around. Turtle travels to meet her cousins, Beans the oldest, Kermit who has a weak heart from Rheumatic Fever, and four year old Buddy. All the kids that Turtle meets on The Keys run barefoot, have funny nicknames, and seem to live a carefree life. As Turtle settles into the routine of her new life, she meets her grandmother, whom her mother had told her was dead. Just as Turtle forms a new relationship with her grandmother, she encounters a treasure map! Turtle and her cousins survive being stranded on an island through a hurricane, and in the end, Turtle finds family to lean on and a new life that is made to sway in a storm without breaking.

Critical Analysis:

TURTLE IN PARADISE, takes place after the Great Depression, however, mentions many historical aspects such as the Dust Bowl, President Roosevelt, and the Market Crash. Other notable mentions that create the authenticity of the book in the time period are the Labor Day Hurricane, as well as iconic child movie stars such as Shirely Temple, and Orphan Annie who Turtle refers to in the novel.

Through the details described by Jennifer Holm, the reader has a deeper understanding of the setting in Key West, Florida. The townspeople of Key West seem to be very neighborly and friendly as they all take care of one another through the hard times of the 1930’s. Turtle describes people in the town as laid back, barefoot, and tight knit, all while dealing with difficult circumstances. The island lifestyle, ties in seamlessly with Turtle’s narration. Both adults and children, work to support one another. For example, Turtles boy cousins, babysit the townspeoples’ children in exchange for candy.  

As the story is seen and told through Turtle’s eyes, the reader is able to see the perspective of an eleven year old girl striving to survive in this detrimental time period. Turtle is portrayed as a very well-rounded character who has a very demanding “tell it like it is” personality. Even with the storyline taking place in a different decade readers can surely relate to the situations that Turtle gets entangled in.  

A deep theme that runs throughout the novel is a sense of family, and always striving for the “American Dream.” Turtle dreams of having a home for her mother and herself to live comfortably, and does whatever she can to make that dream a reality. Her strong aspirations allow readers to have an understanding of the aftermath of the Great Depression as well as the strong family principles of this time period. 

Review Excerpt(s):

KIRKUS, starred review: “Sweet, funny and superb.”

BOOKLIST, starred review: "Turtle is just the right mixture of knowingness and hope; the plot is a hilarious blend of family dramas seasoned with a dollop of adventure."

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, starred review: "This humorous adventure effectively portrays Turtle as caught between her mother's Hollywood-inspired dreams and the very real family . . .that offer a different kind of paradise."

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, starred review: "This richly detailed novel was inspired by Holm’s great-grandmother’s stories. Readers who enjoy melodic, humorous tales of the past won’t want to miss it."

Newbery Honor (2011)

Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award Nominee (2012)

Texas Bluebonnet Nominee 2011-2012

Connections:

* Invite students to do a research project on the aftermath effects of the Great Depression. Students can present their findings on a diorama, poster, slide show, prezi, etc.

* Students can continue a historical fiction unit by reading other books related to the Great Depression such as:

• DeFelice, Cynthia. NOWHERE TO CALL HOME. ISBN: 9780380733064
• Peck, Richard. A YEAR DOWN YONDER. ISBN: 9780803725188
• Hesse, Karen. OUT OF THE DUST. ISBN: 9780590371254