From Tots to Teens, StarMag
By DAPHNE LEE
Tots to Teens
I'M still adding books to my 2009 reading challenge list. It's something a group of us do: at the start of each year we decide on a book or a list of books that we must read. Last year, I decided that I should read any Charles Dickens novel and sometime in November I started and completed Bleak House. Success!
This year, I've decided to challenge to read historical children's and YA fiction set in Asia; award-winning children's and YA books; plus a whole list of specific titles that include Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain; The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe; and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
I shall be sharing with readers of this column my thoughts on the books that I think are worth the time, effort and money.
This week, I'm highlighting the 1995 Newbery Medal winner and one of the Newbery Honor books from same year. The former is Walk Two Moons, Sharon Creech's story of a 13-year-old girl, Salamanca Tree Hiddle, and the road trip she takes with her paternal grandparents. They retrace the route taken by Chanhassen, Sal's mother, who left the family one day and died before she could make her way back.
Walk Two Moons describes the road trip. Also, Sal, at her grandparents' request to be entertained with a tale, tells the "extensively strange story" of her friend Phoebe Winterbottom. As she talks about the puzzling events that lead to Phoebe's own mother leaving, Sal remembers Chanhassen, the times they shared and the feelings of anger and guilt she felt after her mother left her. Watching Phoebe deal with her loss, Sal is reminded of how she reacted when Chanhassen left. It makes her more patient with Phoebe and helps her understand how she must have seemed to those around her, especially her father.
My favourite thing about this book is how it is full of memorable characters. Even those who don't get much "page time" make a strong impact. For example, there is Phoebe's neighbour Margaret Cadaver who has spooky red hair and a voice like "dead leaves", whom Phoebe is convinced is a murderer; there is Mr and Mrs Finney who like to lie on the roof of their house, hugging and kissing for all the world to see; there is Gram Hiddle who likes to say "Huzza, huzza" and has never left Gramp Hiddle's side apart from the three weeks she ran off to live with the egg man; and, of course, there is Sal, who has shiny black hair, long enough to sit on, who loves birdsong, hens and dogs, and has kissed many different trees and imagines that kisses might taste like blackberries.
Sal's grief over her mother's death is something I could relate too even though it is nearly 20 years since my own mother died. In Newbery Homor Book The Ear, the Eye and the Arm, I could understand the worry felt by the parents of their three abducted children.
The title of Nancy Farmer's book refers to three private detectives who each have special abilities due to exposure to nuclear waste. One (the eye) has amazing eyesight; the next (the ear) has super hearing; and the third (the arm) has long rubbery arms and psychic powers.
It is the year 2194 and General Matsika is one of the most powerful men in Zimbabwe. A brave and incorruptible leader, he is feared and hated especially by a notorious gang called The Masks. Fearing for the safety of his three children, Tendai, Rita and Kuda, the General forbids them to leave their home. However, the children, craving some freedom and excitement, decide to go on a trip to a market in the city slums. There, they are tricked by a talking blue baboon and are promptly kidnapped!
The Ear, the Eye and the Arm are employed to search for the children, and, for the rest of the book, they follow the trail of the abducted trio, always just missing the children who are also on the move, trying their best to escape their various captors.
This fast-paced, exciting adventure is unusual simply because it is set in an African nation and references traditional Shona myths and legends, and tribal practices. It certainly makes a welcome change to fantasy set in Europe or America, and inspired by celtic mythology.
A particularly interesting feature of Farmer's Zimbabwe is professional singers of praise. The General's family, being wealthy, have their own praise-singer, also called The Mellower. But there are also praise-singers who set up stalls in markets and whip up flattering verses for their customers. The whole idea is that a regular dose of praise does wonders for one's mood and self esteem, but in the course of the novel, various characters come to realise that the feelings of euphoria that praise singers evoke can also cause indifference to the plight of others.
Keep on reading Tots to Teens for more award-winning recommendations.
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