Harvey by Herve Bouchard and Janice Nadeau

Bouchard, H. (2010). Harvey. Toronto: Groundwood Books.

Plot Summary:  Harvey and his little (but bigger) brother are playing on the late winter streets of their hometown.  When they see a commotion in front of their house, they know something has happened.  Soon they find out that their father has had a heart attack and died.  Through Harvey’s eyes, the reader experiences the confusing and scary reality of losing a loved one for the first time.  Harvey and his brother struggle to make sense of their father’s death as they deal with the adult emotions and reactions surrounding them.  Through Bouchard’s sparse but beautiful writing (translated from French by Helen Mixter), and Janice Nadeau’s haunting illustrations, an emotional and heartfelt story of loss is revealed. 

Critical Evaluation:  Janice Nadeau’s surreal and dreamlike illustrations help complete the emotional experience of Harvey, by Herve Bouchard.  Cloudy images and disproportionate people and rooms help convey Harvey’s confusion and sadness in the wake of his father’s sudden death.  Repetitive images, such as Harvey’s mother being held by the priest and Harvey walking into his uncle’s waiting arms, allow the reader to slow down and feel the moment happen rather than rushing to the next picture (as so often happens with graphic novels).  Characters are set against vast geometric (slightly off-kilter) landscapes that dwarf their bodies while also drawing attention to their posture, facial expression and demeanor.  At times Nadeau draws with sharp clarity – Harvey’s little brother’s face and clothing, the living room rug, the interior of the coffin – as if to highlight the things that draw Harvey back into reality.  Adults are blurry and ill-proportioned,  often fading into the background.  Near the end of the book Harvey tries to stop his brother from watching the adults closing the coffin: “Instead I would show him all the different ways our Father could be using words and drawings and colors and expressions. ‘Come see, we’ll show each other all of his looks and the thousands of ways to draw his arms.'”  Even within the text, Harvey uses drawings to help actualize and make sense of his experience.   Likewise, Nadeau helps the reader experience the death of a father through his son’s eyes.

Reader’s Annotation:  Harvey’s father dies suddenly one late winter day.  Can a young boy make sense of death when the adults around him just make it more confusing?

Author Information:  “Herve Bouchard is a professor of literature at a community college in Chicoutimi, Quebec, and a novelist.  He lives in Saguenay, Quebec.

Janice Nadaeu is an illustrator who studied graphic design at the Universite du Quebec a Montreal and illustratioin at the Ecole supierieure des arts decoratifs in Strasbourg, France.  She lives in Montreal, Quebec.”

Bouchard, H. (2010). Harvey. Toronto: Groundwood Books.

Genre:  Graphic Novel

Curriculum Ties: Children coping with death, psychology

Booktalk Ideas:  Great Graphic Novels, Brothers, Fathers and Sons

Reading Level/Interest Level: 10 and up/13-adult

Challenge Issues and Plans:  Depiction of death.  Religious themes.

If this book was challenged:

1. I would ensure that I am familiar with the material, including any part that might cause concern to parents/patrons.
2. I would actively listen to the concerns of the parent/patron in an effort to fully understand their point of view. I would ask clarifying questions and avoid any judgmental language.
3. I would offer my reasons for including the material in a non-confrontational but matter-of-fact manner.
4. I would offer a list of reviews and awards that informed my decision to add the material to the collection.
5. I would draw the parent/patron’s attention to ALA’s Library Bill of Right.
6. I would have handy for perusal my library’s collection policy.
7. If the parent/patron wished to continue with the challenge, I would offer an official challenge form that would be submitted to the library’s (or school’s) board of directors.

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

Cormier, R. (2004). The Chocolate War (30 Anv Rep edition.). New York: Ember.

Plot Summary:  Jerry Renault is a normal kid, just starting his high school career.  A fair athlete and a average scholar, Jerry should by rites have a typical high school experience.  The last thing on Jerry’s mind is causing a stir, especially over the Trinity High School’s chocolate sale. When the school’s most powerful secret society gives Jerry an assignment that insults the administration and calls Jerry’s reputation into question, the true colors of Jerry’s peers and elders are exposed.  With Jerry’s quiet rebellion causing untold ripples across Trinity’s hierarchy, he must listen to the litany of voices questioning and condemning his actions.  When the universe dares Jerry to change it, he must understand what it is he’s rebelling against before he can change anything.

Critical Evaluation:  In The Chocolate War, Robert Cormier asks his readers to consider a world where good is not rewarded and evil is not punished. Cormier presents us with some characters who we believe to be inherently “good” (Goober, and, to some extent, Jerry), and characters who are bad (Brother Leon and Archie).  In a typical (especially for the 70s) young adult novel, there is at least some indication that a person is rewarded for behavior generally considered well-intentioned or rooted in goodness.  In The Chocolate War there is no such promise.  The one legitimately “good” character, The Goober, is effectively silenced by the novel’s end, screaming for the brutality to end as his voice is overwhelmed by the cheering masses.  The character with the most indefensible behavior is Brother Leon, who abuses power, humiliates his students, and manipulates his surroundings in order to get what he wants by any means.  Brother Leon escapes the story unscathed, exceeding his goals and wishes, and quietly enjoying the brutality he has encouraged.  Teen readers will be both discomfited and … by reading something many of them have secretly believed all along.

Reader’s Annotation:  Does Jerry Renault dare to disturb the universe?  When his refusal to sell chocolates at his school’s annual sale exposes the cruel underbelly of Trinity, he will find out if he has what it takes to make a difference.

Author Information:  “Robert Cormier was born and has always lived in Leominster, Massachusets. He grew up there, went to school there, courted and married there, and raised four children there.

Cormier, who was a newspaper reporter and columnist for 30 years was inspired by news events and, in some cases, by circumstances in his own life for the basis of his plots.  “I take real people and put them in extraordinary situations,” he said in an interview in SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL. “I’m very much interested in intimidation. And the way people manipulate other people. and the obvious abuse of authority.”

Robert Cormier began writing, he said,” in the seventh grade… I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t trying to get something down on paper.” And it has been said of him that he was in love with his typewriter. He has won many prizes for his journalism and his novels for young adults. Included in his awards is the Margaret A. Edwards Award of the Young Adult Services Division of the American Library Association. This award is presented in recognition of those authors who provide young adults with a window through which they can view the world, and which will help them to grow and understand themselves and their role in society.”

This information was excerpted from material provided by the publicity division of Delacorte Press.”

Author Page. (n.d.). Retrieved August 3, 2014, from http://www.ipl.org/div/askauthor/Cormier.html

Genre: Realistic fiction

Curriculum Ties: Anti-authoritarianism, Bullying

Booktalk Ideas: Disturbing the universe, High School is hard, No happy endings

Reading Level/Interest Level: Grade 6/Grades 9-12

Challenge Issues and Plans:  This book contains strong language, sexual references, graphic violence and portrays religious corruption and the abuse of power.

If this book was challenged:

1. I would ensure that I am familiar with the material, including any part that might cause concern to parents/patrons.
2. I would actively listen to the concerns of the parent/patron in an effort to fully understand their point of view. I would ask clarifying questions and avoid any judgmental language.
3. I would offer my reasons for including the material in a non-confrontational but matter-of-fact manner.
4. I would offer a list of reviews and awards that informed my decision to add the material to the collection.
5. I would draw the parent/patron’s attention to ALA’s Library Bill of Right.
6. I would have handy for perusal my library’s collection policy.
7. If the parent/patron wished to continue with the challenge, I would offer an official challenge form that would be submitted to the library’s (or school’s) board of directors.

The First Part Last by Angela Johnson

Johnson, A. (2003). The First Part Last (First Edition edition.). New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

Plot Summary:  Angela Johnson’s 2003 novel, The First Part Last, is a quiet, powerful piece of work. Told in alternating chapters split between “Now” and “Then”, Johnson tells the story of Bobby, Nia and their infant daughter, Feather. Bobby and Nia are both African American teens living comfortable, economically stable lives in New York City. The book is written in first person from Bobby’s point of view. The “Then” chapters relate the story of the discovery and stages of Nia’s pregnancy, while the “Now” chapters give a close, intimate look at Bobby’s relationship with his baby daughter, and, to a lesser extent, his friends and family.

Bobby explains the title of the book right off, saying that life should work backwards, so that “everybody could end their life on their momma or daddy’s stomach in a warm room, waiting for the soft morning light.” This book resists being summarized since the focus is Bobby’s gentle, honest voice, rather than plot twists and turns. Certainly things happen in the story – Bobby lands in jail for creating graffiti all day instead of showing up for school, he moves in with his father in Brooklyn, and, most importantly, he cares for his infant daughter – but the purpose of the story is to understand the richness of Bobby’s inner-life and the fullness of his relationships.

Critical Evaluation:  Through visceral, physical descriptions, Angela Johnson allows her readers to not only read, but experience, Bobby’s story.  In one of the “Now” chapters, Bobby describes a small moment with his daughter: “My heart aches as I straighten out her hands and trace the delicate lines.  Then kiss them.  Her hands are translucent and warm.  Baby hands.  Warm, sweet-smelling baby hands” (p. 15).  The First Part Last is made up descriptions that encourage the reader to feel the reality of teen pregnancy rather than intellectualize it.  With realism and compassion, Johnson is able to fully explore the deep-rooted intimacy of parenting an infant, while also conveying the overwhelming physical exhaustion and emotional turmoil that single parenthood (single teen parenthood, at that) brings.  

Reader’s Annotation:  Bobby and Nia are young and in love.  Sixteen years old and living in New York City with families who love them, they have the world at their feet. How will an unexpected baby daughter fit in with their plans?

Author Information: “Angela Johnson is an award winning American children’s book and poetry author with over 40 books to her credit. She began her writing career in 1989 with the publication of a picture book called “Tell Me a Story, Mama” which won the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award in 1991. She has won three Coretta Scott King Awards, one each for her novels “The First Part Last (2004),” “Heaven(1999),” and “Toning the Sweep” (1994).”The First Part Last” was also the recipient of the Michael L Printz Award. “When I Am Old With You” was an Honor Book in 1990 and named an American Library Association Notable Book. “The Other Side, The Shorter Poems” was also selected as a Coretta Scott King Honor book in 1998. In recognition of her outstanding talent, Angela was named a 2003 MacArthur Fellow. Born in Tuskegee, Alabama in 1961, she grew up in Alabama and Ohio. She lives in Kent, Ohio.”

Home. (n.d.). Retrieved July 25, 2014, from http://www.ajohnsonauthor.com/

Genre: Realistic fiction

Curriculum Ties: Teen parenthood, relationships

Booktalk Ideas: Diversity

Reading Level/Interest Level: Grade 5/Grade 9-12

Challenge Issues and Plans: Sexual content, teen pregnancy

If this book was challenged:

1. I would ensure that I am familiar with the material, including any part that might cause concern to parents/patrons.
2. I would actively listen to the concerns of the parent/patron in an effort to fully understand their point of view. I would ask clarifying questions and avoid any judgmental language.
3. I would offer my reasons for including the material in a non-confrontational but matter-of-fact manner.
4. I would offer a list of reviews and awards that informed my decision to add the material to the collection.
5. I would draw the parent/patron’s attention to ALA’s Library Bill of Right.
6. I would have handy for perusal my library’s collection policy.
7. If the parent/patron wished to continue with the challenge, I would offer an official challenge form that would be submitted to the library’s (or school’s) board of directors.

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

Hesse, K. (2009). Out Of The Dust. New York: GREAT SOURCE.

Plot Summary:  Billie Jo and her parents are suffering through the worst years of the Great Depression, watching their crops fail and their home fill with dust.  After the death of her mother following a gruesome accident, Billie Jo is left maimed and unable to play her beloved piano.  As her father is falling apart from grief and drinking, Billie Jo must decide is she is ready to fight for survival on her own.

Critical Evaluation:  The Dust Bowl – even the name is dry, old-fashioned and confusing. Karen Hesse manages to breathe life into a potentially unpopular subject for teen readers. Through the voice of Billie Jo, the dust bowl comes alive and relevant to today’s readers. Using a free-form poetic narrative style, Hesse allows the reader to flow along and experience the hardships that make up this novel in an emotional way rather than looking at them as a history lesson. While the reader is subject to the harsh realities of Billie Jo’s life, it is clear that we are still reading the voice of a child:

The flaming oil

splashed

onto her apron,

and Ma

suddenly Ma,

was a column of fire.

I pushed her to the ground

desperate to save her,

desperate to save the baby, I

tried

beating out the flames with my hands.

I did the best I could.

But it was no good.

Ma

got

burned

bad.

Out of the Dust, p. 61

The voice of an adult would come across as bitter, defeated or even ignorant. Billie Jo’s child’s-eye view of the tragedy of her life allows the reader to understand the enormity of the environmental disaster that was the dust bowl and the smaller but no less devastating losses that Billie Jo suffers at home.

Reader’s Annotation:  Billie Jo must realize her own grit and determination when the world around her turns to dust, and her family falls apart in a series of rapid and tragic occurrences.  With a voice clear and eloquent, Billie Jo recounts one of the hardest times in American history.

Author Information:  “While growing up in Baltimore, Maryland, I dreamed of becoming many things: an archaeologist, an ambassador, an actor, an author. In 1969, I attended Towson State College as a theater major, but transferred after two semesters to the University of Maryland, where I eventually earned a B.A. in English with double minors in Psychology and Anthropology.”

“Karen Hesse lives in Vermont with her husband and two teenaged daughters. Her book Out of the Dust was awarded the Newbery Medal for 1998.”

Karen Hesse’s Biography | Scholastic.com. (n.d.). Retrieved July 24, 2014, from http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/contributor/karen-hesse

Genre:  Historical Fiction

Curriculum Ties:  History (Dust Bowl), English (Poetry)

Booktalk Ideas:  Interesting historical fiction, Strong female characters,

Reading Level/Interest Level: Grade 5/ Grade 6-12

Challenge Issues and Plans:  This book portrays alcoholism, violence, and extreme physically injury and suffering.

If this book was challenged:

1. I would ensure that I am familiar with the material, including any part that might cause concern to parents/patrons.
2. I would actively listen to the concerns of the parent/patron in an effort to fully understand their point of view. I would ask clarifying questions and avoid any judgmental language.
3. I would offer my reasons for including the material in a non-confrontational but matter-of-fact manner.
4. I would offer a list of reviews and awards that informed my decision to add the material to the collection.
5. I would draw the parent/patron’s attention to ALA’s Library Bill of Right.
6. I would have handy for perusal my library’s collection policy.
7. If the parent/patron wished to continue with the challenge, I would offer an official challenge form that would be submitted to the library’s (or school’s) board of directors.