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

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.