Review: GAME by Walter Dean Myers

Myers, Walter Dean. 2008. Game. New York: Harper Teen. ISBN 9780060582944.

PLOT SUMMARY:
In first-person perspective, Drew Lawson describes his struggles to succeed on and off the basketball court. Drew sees basketball as his chance to make it big and stay out of a life of crime and trouble. His plans become uncertain, however, when the coach starts focusing his attention on a new white player on the team.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
The language used throughout this book was a struggle for me. The combination of slang and basketball terms used during game sequences was enough to completely befuddle me. However, the plot was interesting enough to hold my attention and keep me reading. After a while, I learned to accept that I may never understand what it meant to “keep him off the boards,” but that I could still follow and enjoy the story.

The relationship that stood out the most in this story was that between Drew and his sister Jocelyn. Their scenes together are filled with a sense of camaraderie and humor. His mother is another important character in his life. She is protective and loving. Drew expresses his fear that he could lose his way and end up wasting his life on the streets, but it is easy to see that his family provides him with a place of security that even basketball won’t guarantee him.

REVIEWS:
School Library Journal: “Myers explores his themes with a veteran writer’s skill. Passages that could have read as heavy-handed messages come across, instead, as the authentic thoughts of a strong, likable, African American teen whose anxieties, sharp insights, and belief in his own abilities will captivate readers of all backgrounds.”

CONNECTIONS:
Other basketball-themed books by the same author include The Outside Shot, Hoops, and Slam!

Review: THE FIRST PART LAST by Angela Johnson

Johnson, Angela. 2003. The First Part Last. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0689849222.

PLOT SUMMARY:
In this short novel, a sixteen-year-old African-American boy describes a portion of his life as a single father. The chapters alternate between “Then” and “Now.” The “Then” chapters describe Bobby’s life during the pregnancy of his girlfriend, Nia. The “Now” chapters delve into the exhaustion he feels while caring for his infant daughter, Feather.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
In The First Part Last, Johnson deals with themes of family obligations, single parenthood, and love. All three themes are tied in closely. The realities of fatherhood are not sugarcoated at all. Bobby is tired, stressed, and scared. The varying reactions of Bobby’s mother and Nia’s parents are interesting to examine. Bobby’s mother purposefully distances herself as a way of forcing Bobby to ascend to his new role as a parent. Nia’s parents, on the other hand, become distant as a way of to cope with pain.

Johnson uses physical descriptions of characters sparingly throughout the book as is needed to give depth to someone’s personality. When describing characters, she focuses on details such as stature, skin tone, and manner. For example, when describing K-Boy, Johnson writes: “He’s mahogany and tall, and can’t walk down the street without everybody staring at him. He’s beautiful, but acts like he doesn’t know it.”

The entire story has a sense of tension to it. You can’t help noticing the glaring difference between the Then and Now chapters. In the latter, Nia is very obviously missing. Waiting to discover the reason for her absence held my complete attention to the end.

REVIEWS:
Booklist: “But from the first page, readers feel the physical reality of Bobby's new world: what it's like to hold Feather on his stomach, smell her skin, touch her clenched fists, feel her shiver, and kiss the top of her curly head. Johnson makes poetry with the simplest words in short, spare sentences that teens will read again and again.”

School Library Journal: “Brief, poetic, and absolutely riveting, this gem of a novel tells the story of a young father struggling to raise an infant.”

CONNECTIONS:
With shows like Secret Life of the American Teenager and Sixteen and Pregnant popping up on TV, this book’s subject matter is sure to catch the attention of teen readers. Teens might also try reading Hanging On To Max by Margaret Bechard or Dancing Naked by Shelley Hrdlitschka.

Review: BLACK COWBOY, WILD HORSES by Julius Lester & Jerry Pinkney

Lester, Julius. 1998. Black Cowboy, Wild Horses: A True Story. Ill. By Jerry Pinkney. New York: Dial Books. ISBN 0803717873.

PLOT SUMMARY:
This beautiful picture book describes Bob Lemmons’ journey to corral a herd of wild mustangs. Along with his horse, Warrior, Bob tracks the mustangs, gradually becoming one of the herd, before challenging the mustang stallion for leadership. When Bob and Warrior successfully win the battle, they lead the mustangs back across the plains into the corral.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
Lester makes liberal use of figurative language throughout the text. Although a review from School Library Journal claims that “overuse of metaphor is… a drawback,” I thought that the language was well-used. Lines such as “the rain came as hard and stinging as remorse” gave the story feelings of drama and emotion. The use of metaphor was mirrored in the Pinkney’s illustrations of mustang-shaped clouds. The impressionist watercolors are full of action and vitality. The dramatic perspectives Pinkney employs give the landscape a feeling of grandeur and scale.

Only a brief mention is made about Bob’s past life as a slave. Although the fact that Bob cannot read is mentioned, the subject is not treated with pity or shame. Rather, the focus is on Bob’s almost mystical ability to track the mustangs and his feeling of unity with the herd. The illustrations of Bob are realistic and expressive. The title page shows a straight-forward portrait of the cowboy, staring candidly at the viewer. He looks younger and more vulnerable than in any other images. Although the focus of the illustrations in the rest of the book is on action and movement, here Pinkney focuses on Bob’s features.

The book closes with brief notes from the Lester and Pinkney discussing the background for the creation of this book. Both were inspired by an interest in the role that African American cowboys played in the “Wild West.”

REVIEWS:
School Library Journal: “Lester and Pinkney's stated aims were to recast their childhood love of cowboys and the Old West with more recent historical research into the contributions of men of color, both black and Hispanic. They have done that, and achieved something else as well: youngsters will reflect on the relationships between humans and other animals."

CONNECTIONS:
This book could be used as the focus of a storytime on the Wild West. Although it is too long to hold the attention of small children, older kids would be riveted by the book’s beautiful language and illustrations and by the action-packed story. Pack a spare tissue, though. The short passage about a young colt is sure to cause at least one kid to sniff.

Review: THE PULL OF THE OCEAN by Jean-Claude Mourlevat

Mourlevat, Jean-Claude. 2006. The Pull of the Ocean. New York: Delacorte Press. ISBN 0385733488.

PLOT SUMMARY
In The Pull of the Ocean, French author Jean-Claude Mourlevat presents a modern retelling of the folktale of Tom Thumb (a.k.a. Le Petit Poucet, Hop-o’-My-Thumb, or Little Thumbling). Tiny, silent Yann Doutreleau is the youngest of seven brothers. He leads his brothers away from their home and their abusive father on a dangerous journey to the sea.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The story of the Doutreleau’s journey is told from various perspectives, including his parents, brothers, and strangers that he encounters on the way. Mourlevat manages to give each character his or her own distinctive voice.

The story’s setting in France is established through characters’ names and occasional mention of various locations. Without those mentions, I do not know that I would have been able to place the book’s setting.

REVIEW EXCERPTS
Mildred L. Batchelder Award, 2007

School Library Journal: “Poverty and hardship echo throughout this modern "Tom Thumb" story, but it is ultimately the spirit of brotherhood that is the highlight of this tale. It is a memorable novel that readers will find engaging and intellectually satisfying.”

CONNECTIONS
This book could be used as part of a program or lesson on modern retellings of folktales and fairy tales. Other modern versions include:

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

Review: THE THIEF LORD by Cornelia Funke

Funke, Cornelia. 2002. The Thief Lord. United Kingdom: The Chicken House. ISBN 043940371.

PLOT SUMMARY
Cornelia Funke spins an exciting tale in The Thief Lord. Prosper and Bo are orphans on the run from their unwanted guardians in order to avoid being separated from each other. In Venice, they find themselves under the protection of the “Thief Lord,” along with three other runaways. The Thief Lord, a boy not much older than Prosper, claims to be a first-class criminal. However, the home that the runaways have managed to make for themselves is threatened by the Thief Lord’s secrets and by a detective hired to find the brothers.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This book is crowded. By that, I mean that is filled with a huge cast of characters, several important plots, and even a surprise supernatural twist. While one might fear that this would make the book difficult to follow, Funke actually manages to hold her reader’s attention throughout the story. It helps that her characters are so well developed and quirky. Ida Spavento doesn’t appear until page 172, but was so immediately appealing that I found myself fervently hoping that she would stick around for the rest of the book.

According to Funke’s website, the novel’s location was chosen because “Venice is an enchanted place, but it is also very real.” This allows her to tell a story that contains some supernatural elements and allows the children who read her book to see “that the real world can be just as enchanting as our beloved fantasy.”

Funke effectively draws her readers into the city of Venice. She does this primarily through her vivid descriptions of the setting. These descriptions are reinforced with the small pen and ink illustrations at the start and end of each chapter, depicting various settings or props. Another way that the author draws the reader into the setting is her inclusion of various Italian words and phrases throughout the story. A short glossary is included at the back of the book. I never felt confused or slowed down by any use of Italian in the book, but the glossary is a nice feature for readers who are interested in the exact meanings of the words used. Another interesting feature of the book is a map of Venice which helps readers track the characters as they travel throughout the city.

REVIEW EXCERPTS
Mildred L. Batchelder Award, 2003

School Library Journal: “Funke delineates her characters and the changing textures of their relationships with masterful subtlety, as well as sometimes-puckish humor. It's a compelling tale, rich in ingenious twists, with a setting and cast that will linger in readers' memories.”

CONNECTIONS
Readers who enjoyed The Thief Lord might also like these books filled with orphans, compelling characters, and enchanted atmospheres:

The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

REFERENCES
Funke, Cornelia. "The Thief Lord". http://www.corneliafunke.de/en/books/fantastic-stories/the-thief-lord/more-about-the-thief-lord.html

Review: TOUGH BORIS by Mem Fox

Fox, Mem. 1994. Tough Boris. Ill. by Kathryn Brown. Orlando: Harcourt Brace & Company. ISBN 0152896120.

PLOT SUMMARY
The text of Mem Fox’s Tough Boris begins by describing a stereotypically scruffy, scary pirate. As the story continues, Fox describes the pirate’s sorrow over the loss of his beloved pet parrot. The illustrations by Kathryn Brown tells the additional story of a young boy with a violin who sneaks aboard the pirate ship, is caught, and eventually returned to his home.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Fox and Brown do a marvelous job of simultaneously telling two stories within this one book. Although the text and illustrations would still be entertaining if viewed separately, the combination makes for a more interesting tale. The text is kept simple and repetitious (“He was tough. All pirates are tough… He was scruffy. All pirates are scruffy”). The sparse text makes the books poignant ending all the more touching. The concise text allows the reader to spend time examining the expressive watercolor illustrations of vicious pirates and beautiful shores.

REVIEW EXCERPTS
School Library Journal: “Tough Boris is a treasure. This easy-to-read picture book features a repetitive, engaging text; a very popular subject; and an interesting subplot played out in the colorful illustrations.”

Booklist: “This picture book is full of surprises, both in the simple text and in the dramatic underlying story the pictures tell… Unfortunately, the design is confusing; the boy appears on the imprint page but then remains hidden until the middle of the book; some kids may be puzzled about where he comes from. However, for those who look carefully, the wordless story is a poignant counterpoint to the swashbuckling adventure scenes.”

CONNECTIONS
Tough Boris is an excellent choice to read aloud in both group and individual settings. When reading this to my two-year-old nephew, I found that he was particularly interested in tracking the boy’s progress throughout the book. You can hear the author read Tough Boris on her website at http://www.memfox.com/mem-reads-aloud.