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Title: Aleutian Sparrow by Karen Hesse, Evon Zerbetz ISBN: 0-689-86189-3 Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 2003 Format: School & Library Binding Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (3 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Captian Jack Sparrow
Comment: Book Review
Aleutian Sparrow is about a this girl, Vera. She lives in Alaska with her family and friends in the time of World War II. She is forced to move away from her home in Alaska.
Aleutian Sparrow in my opinion is not a very good book. Historical fiction isn't my favorite. I'm not a big World War II fan. I like adventure, fantasy, and books like that.
Karen Hesse really tells a lot about family and World War II. Hesse decided to do a paragraph on each page. I like that she put a paragraph on each page because it makes the book go faster. She also talks a lot about the girl's life with only saying her name one time in the whole book. I think that is really amazing. The reason I say that is because you can tell a lot about her but you only say her name one time. In my head it would be telling myself to write the name, but I can't or else that would be giving it away. Also it would be very mysterious and that is what kept me going in reading the book. The reason it is hard to read this book is because it is hard to follow. What I mean is that each page Hesse talks about something different. That is hard to follow. Some of the paragraphs don't even make any sense.
The book also has a different title for every paragraph. I think that is very interesting because each and every one of those paragraph talks about something different, and that is another reason I kept reading the book.
Rating: 5
Summary: Stirring--Hesse's best writing yet
Comment: It is June of 1942, and America has joined in the war in the Pacific. Displacement for Vera and her community comes from the Japanese who have relocated all the Aleuts to camps on different islands. Though the Aleuts are told that they are being moved for their own protection, it is clear to Vera that they are treated much worse than the prisoners of war.
For the next three years, Vera and the others carve out as much of a happy life as they can for each other, while trying to maintain a sense of heritage and culture. They are forced to deal with poor health, death, malnourishment, and horrific sanitary conditions. At one point, a doctor visits the camp only to tell the Aleuts that the breakout of horrific boils is simply their bodies trying to "adjust" to a new life.
What keeps Vera and her friends strong is their belief in the power of nature and their hopes that someday they can reclaim their homes. For Vera, there is also the promise of new love.
What stands out first about this novel is the incredible, sensitive use of combined poetry and prose. The phrases and lines flow from one to another, without distraction from unnecessary words. The reader is forced to make sense of fewer words, but this exercise in language results in a clean, powerful story.
When has another author been so adept at the use of figurative language? Hesse writes of "crayon days, / big and happy" and of "the gray cheeks of the sky." The imagery is clear and fresh, and the story moves forward covering three years of important events in just 156 pages.
Vera appears to be more of a representation of the entire Aleutian culture than an individual character, though her personal relationships with her mother and with Alfred make her memorable.
Rating: 5
Summary: Emotionally moving
Comment: It is difficult to convey the entirety of the experience of the Aleutians after the Japanese bombing - their confusion and dismay at being taken away from their homes and villages, the nearly total lack of compassion their "rescuers" demonstrated toward their homes, their lives, and their people. In this heartbreaking account of the relocation of the Aleutians for 3 years during World War II, Karen Hesse beautifully and movingly conveys the feelings of one young girl who grows up in this time.
This is one case where free verse seems to be the best medium to convey the story. Free verse appeals to images and emotions and not just plot. In truth, this book is not plot driven; you don't read it to find out what happens next. You read it because it tells you how it felt, what it looked like, how it changed the people.
It joins a long line of books, some of which deal in a parallel manner with the relocation of people of Japanese ancestry from the west coast during the war, some of which deal with other events, such as the bringing of diseases and religious, linguistic, and cultural changes by early missionaries to these and other peoples. All of these make you wonder, "Why?" How could we have been so cruel, so lacking in understanding? What are we doing even now that, in future years, we will again look upon with sadness and horror at people's inhumanity toward other people?
As a teacher, I feel books like this make excellent complements to classroom textbooks. Books like this make history come alive and feel real. And they provide some balance. It is not only Hitler who did unspeakable things; there are other examples, from both "sides" - throughout history.
And a brief compliment to the illustrator and cover designers. It is a beautiful book as well.
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Title: Milkweed: A Novel by Jerry Spinelli ISBN: 0375813748 Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Pub. Date: 09 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Olive's Ocean (NEWBERY HONOR BOOK) by Kevin Henkes ISBN: 0060535431 Publisher: Greenwillow Pub. Date: 12 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $15.99 |
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Title: The River Between Us by Richard Peck ISBN: 0803727356 Publisher: Dial Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.99 |
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Title: Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread (NEWBERY MEDAL BOOK) by Kate Dicamillo, Timothy B. Ering ISBN: 0763617229 Publisher: Candlewick Press (MA) Pub. Date: 01 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $17.99 |
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Title: Maggie's Door by Patricia Reilly Giff ISBN: 0385326580 Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books Pub. Date: 09 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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