Walt Whitman Words for America By Barbara Kerley

Walt Whitman: Words for America. by Barbara Kerley illustrated by Brian Selznick. Scholastic Press, 2004. 42 pages.

Review/Personal thoughts:  Tweens can identify immediately with the young Walt Whitman at age 12 working as a printer’s apprentice.  He had a lifelong love of words.  Walt is portrayed as man who loved to travel and observe people, but he was equally enamored with forests, orchards, rivers and the beach. He found his true calling in life when he began to write poems.  In his own words, “the genius of the United States was in the common people.” This book focuses on Whitman’s passion for (or reaction to) the issue of slavery, Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War.  Once the civil war broke out, whitman was drawn to spending time with wounded soldiers. He was equally adept at prose and wort of his visits to hospitals by saying “I have many hours afterwards, in far different scenes, had the pale faces, the look of death, the appealing eyes, come curiously of a sudden, plainly before me.”  He was distraught to find his younger brother’s name listed among the wounded and finally found him in a camp hospital. He stayed among the wounded there for over a week and gave voice to the soldiers through his poetic words. 

“By the bivouac’s fitful flame,

A procession winding around me,

Solemn and sweet and slow...

While wind in procession thoughts,

O tender and wondrous thoughts,

Of life and death, of home and the past

and loved, and of those that are far away...”

Walt was profoundly affected by the death and injury that war unleashed on the young men and returned to work in military hospitals, always taking notes and writing poems.  I was profoundly moved by a letter Whitman wrote to the parents of a soldier who died in the hospital. His tribute to Lincoln (whom he loved) upon his assassination, O Captain! is included in this book.  Sometimes we want tweens to love a book.  That is the case with me and Walt Whitman: Words for America.

Genre: Non-Fiction

Reading Level: 6.6 Interest level: Ages 8 to 14.

Awards: Notable/Best Books (A.L.A.) 2005

Charlotte's Web by E. B. White

Charlotte's Web. by E.B. White. Harper Collins, 1980. 184 pages.

Plot: This is the story of Wilbur the pig and Charlotte the spider and their adventures as unlikely friends.  The story begins when Wilbur is born a runt and his owner plans to kill him because he will cost more than he is worth.  The farmer’s daughter, Fern, convinces her dad to spare the pig’s life. The father agrees to allow Fern to keep Wilbur as a pet.  This plan is short lived and Wilbur is sold to another farmer named Homer Zuckerman who lives down the road. Fern can visit Wilbur, but her visits decrease and Wilbur becomes lonely.  Wilbur longs for a friend and none of the other animals seem to have time for him with the exception of a grey spider named Charlotte. Their friendship grows deeper and stronger. The animals learn that Wilbur is to be slaughtered for Christmas dinner!  Charlotte starts a plan of action to save Wilbur.  She spins a web above the barnyard door with the words “some pig” in it and the gullible humans believe it to be a miracle brought about by Wilbur. Wilbur is saved again and is taken to the county fair where he wins a prize (because Charlotte has secretly come along and spins one final word “humble”).  Wilbur returns to Zuckerman’s barn and Charlotte has reached the end of her life span.  Wilbur manages to retrieve Charlotte’s egg sacks and cares for it until the baby spiders are hatched.  Wilbur never forgets the special friend he had in Charlotte.

Review/Personal thoughts:  This is a classic children’s story. It is well-written and award winning. Themes of friendship, loyalty, loneliness, growing up and mortality are explored in this simple story. Although this book will most likely appeal to younger tweens, it has withstood the test of time.  It is another book that is hard to put an age limit on because it appeals to adults as well. 

Genre: Fiction

Reading Level: 4.4 Interest level: Ages 8 to 11.

Awards: Newbery Medal/Honor 1953

Harry Houdini for Kids by Laurie Carlson

Harry Houdini for Kids: His Life and Adventures with 21 Magic Tricks and Illusions. by Laurie Carlson. Chicago Review Press, 2009. 136 pages.

Review/Personal thoughts:  Harry Houdini was a name created by a boy to reinvent himself.  He was born in 1874 in Budapest Hungary with the name Ehrich Weisz.  With his family he immigrated to the United States when he was 4 years old and settled in Appleton, Wisconsin. Life was hard and Ehrich began learning simple card tricks to earn pennies on the street. One of the great features of this book is the inclusion of 21 magic tricks and illusions that offer a start for budding magicians.  At age 17, Ehrich invented his new name, Harry Houdini as a stage name for his magic show. Harry travelled with circuses, dime museums and freak shows performing his act.  He slowly began adding escapes into his act. He would be bound by chains and handcuffs and amaze the audience with his ability to wriggle free from the chains.  More dramatic escapes followed with police attempting to shackle him and every time he would escape. With his wife as a partner, Houdini expanded the act to include a mind reading act that left audiences stunned and was all based on a simple code. As Houdini created evermore spectacular feats they started to become death defying, capturing the attention of thousands of people at a time. In the milk can escape Houdini is handcuffed, put into a metal container filled with water and locked closed. The secret to the escape is revealed in the book!  The death defying escape act culminated with the Chinese Water Torture Cell. The mystery and controversy around his death concludes the book.   I remember as a tween, being fascinated by the life and death defying acts of Harry Houdini.  This man’s life is so remarkable, tweens of today will be equally fascinated.

Genre: Non-Fiction, Biography

Reading Level: 6.6 Interest level: Ages 8 to 11.

Tony Hawk and His Team-Skateboarding Superstars by Lita Sorensen

Tony Hawk and His Team: Skateboarding Superstars. by Lita Sorensen. Rosen Central, 2005. 64 pages.

Review/Personal thoughts:  For the right group, this story of Tony Hawk will be of high interest. The introduction describes Tony as a hyper, skinny fifth grader who was clumsy. He went on to become one of the best skateboarders ever. At age fourteen, Tony became a professional.  Stressed throughout the book is the concept of teamwork, which Tony says accounts for his individual successes. He considers his family his first team and describes his parents as “very supportive of everything their kids wanted to try- from surfing to playing in a rock band.” Tony tried tennis, baseball and basketball before he became interested in skateboarding. Tony got a sponsor and entered contests around the time that the professional National Skateboard Association was formed.  Tony Hawk was the first National champion when he was still in high school! Wealth and fame soon followed. At age nineteen he was considering retirement. He instead continued in the sport and began his own company. At twenty-seven Tony won competitions at the first ever X Games. One of his greatest achievements was to complete a trick called the 900-a two and one half turn in mid air. Tony is still involved with skateboarding today.  The book is a great introduction not only to Tony Hawk, but to the entire extreme sport of skateboarding.  Reader’s are given a short history of the sport, pictures and descriptions of skateboard tricks, a glossary and resource page.  Tween skaters will love this book!

Genre: Non-Fiction, Biography

Reading Level: 6.6 Interest level: Ages 9 to 14.

Dancing Carl by Gary Paulsen

Dancing Carl. by Gary Paulsen. Bradbury Press, 1983. 105 pages.

Plot: The story is set in a small Minnesota town in 1958. Marsh and Willy are friends who are both twelve years old.  Life is simple, unstressful, has plenty of fun and most of the story is centered on the town’s well-used ice rink.  The outdoor rink is open for both hockey and free skating and there is a warming house where people go to put on their skates and it is attended by Carl.  Carl has a reputation around town of being a drunk (he does drink) and that he has psychological problems incurred in World War II. He doesn’t speak much and he first catches the boys attention when they see him after the ice rink has closed, out on the ice without skates, moving in what appears to be very awkward movements with arms flailing.  At first they are unsettled by this strange behavior.  They start to see other things about Carl that can be interpreted as strong and kind. He enforces rules and runs off bullies just by looking at them.  He is extremely helpful with skates and jackets for the kids at the rink.  He is mysterious, hard to categorize and in some way pathetic. The boys discover that Carl’s “dance” on the ice is a reenactment of a plane crash that only he survived in the war. A new lady begins skating at the rink and Carl seems to begin a transformation out of sadness in much the same way he seemed transformed when He dances on the ice. All the time the boys are secretly pulling for Carl to be better.

Review/Personal thoughts:  I will always have a soft spot in my heart for humans triumphing over their hardships and I was pulling for Carl right along with Willy and Marsh.  Tolerance and acceptance, a new way of looking at people, war, loss and love are themes Paulsen explores in Dancing Carl.  My hope is that tweens will embrace the lives of Willy and Marsh and come to see Carl for the positive human being that he is.

Genre: Fiction

Reading Level: 7.1 Interest level: Ages 11 to 14.

Awards: Best Books for Young Adults, 1983; American Library Association YALSA

You Are Not Alone - Teens Talk About Life After the Loss of a Parent by Lynne B. Hughes

You Are Not Alone: Teens Talk About Life After the Loss of a Parent. by Lynne B. Hughes. Scholastic Press, 2005. 192 pages.

Review/Personal thoughts:  Not every tween will need this book, but for that special group, the one’s who have lost a parent, this is an extremely valuable read.  The author is credibly qualified to write on the topic because both of her parents died, her mother when she was nine and her father when she was twelve. The grieving process is complex, but one common thread among all children who have lost a parent is the feeling of being terribly alone. It is this common thread that Hughes has used as a foundation to share her story and provide a space for children to share theirs.  She is the founder and director of Comfort Zone Camp for grieving children. Much of the book is a collection of the children’s voices while at the camp as they try to give meaning to, learn to cope with and share about their parent’s deaths. These are powerful words.  “Not only did I lose my dad, I lost my best friend, my mentor, my teacher, my history, his secrets. I lost all the things a dad teaches a son.”  “Some people say you stop grieving after five, ten or fifteen years, but the truth is it never stops hurting.” “ If I could say one more thing, I’d just reiterate how much I love him and thank him for doing the things that nobody else in my life does. I’d tell him how much these things meant to me and that I’ll never ever forget.” 

The book covers many aspects that one might never consider when they haven’t lost a parent; feeling different from others, how home changes, what helps, how to move forward. The emotions stirred in me when I read this book were powerful enough to bring me to tears.  I cannot comprehend the depth of sorrow these children endure. This book offers compassionate support and resources for children who have had a parent die.

Genre: Non-Fiction

Reading Level: 6.2 Interest level: Ages 12 and up.

Night by Elie Wiesel

Night. by Elie Wiesel. Hill and Wang, 2006. 120 pages.

Review/Personal thoughts:  This is the story, the true story, of Wiesel’s account of his internment in German concentration camps during World War II when he was a teenager.   It is a graphic account of the horrors of man’s inhumanity to man.  This is not a horror story to entertain, but so that, as the author himself states, the world will never forget. Wiesel, his parents and his two sisters are loaded onto boxcars and taken to an undisclosed destination. The description of the train conditions were only a hint of the incomprehensible horrors that  would come. “The heat, the thirst, the stench, the lack of air, were all suffocating us.” They arrived at their destination, Birkenau, which no one had ever heard of.  Immediately men and boys were separated from women and girls. Wiesel writes, “I didn’t know that this was the moment in time and the place where I was leaving my mother and Tzipora forever.” The accounts of violence, humiliation, starvation and death is recounted in Wiesel’s powerful words.  Throughout the ordeal, Wiesel is with his father who becomes weaker and closer to death. Here is a teenager watching helplessly as his father literally is dying.  One of the prisoners gave Wiesel some advice, “In this place, it is every man for himself, and you cannot think of others. Not even your father. In this place, there is no such thing as father, brother, friend. Each of us lives and dies alone.”  This was the brutal reality of survival. This firsthand account will give older tweens a glimpse into the holocaust. It is a book that one will not forget and that is the author’s purpose.  Elie Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.

Genre: Non-Fiction, Autobiography

Reading Level: 4.8 Interest level: Ages 12 and up.