Literary Tourism - Maryland

One of my goals for the year is to revisit old, not yet completed goals. And so I return to traveling the United States through literature. Maryland is a state that I visited often in my childhood. I visited Annapolis, the Baltimore area, andthe D.C, suburbs. It is a great state.

Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn

Molly and her brother Michael are struggling to adjust to life in a blended family.  They feel like their younger stepsister, Heather, is moody and intentionally difficult.  Their mother and stepfather keep reminding them to treat her gently because she witnessed the death of her mother by fire.    They are less than excited to be forced to move from their row house in Baltimore to a renovated church in the country.

Molly is disgusted to discover that the property has a graveyard, but Heather is fascinated with it.  She discovers a gravestone with own initials.  Molly fears that Heather's obsession with the gravestone might have ghostly consequences and sets out to save her.

This book has a decent sense of geography.  The author spends time time contrasting life in the Maryland countryside with life in Baltimore.  It helps that the author lives in Maryland.  I was disappointed that Holwell, Maryland is merely fictional.

This is a light, horror story for children, thus not a masterwork of literature.  Molly seems to have adult tastes like reading Emily Dickinson and Shakespeare.  The parents' characters are underdeveloped and maddening at times.  Besides the characters, the plot is well-developed and spooky.  If you are looking for a light read or an appropriate "scary" story for a child, this is a good choice. 

Literary Tourism - New Hampshire and Vermont

We're staying in New England for this week's entry.  New Hampshire and Vermont are similar in a lot of ways.  They are the most mountainous of the New England states and both of these books discuss the plight of the New England dairy farmer.

New Hampshire

First Boy by Gary Schmidt - Cooper is being raised by his grandfather, a New Hampshire dairy farmer during a heated presidential campaign.  Cooper's grandfather passes away and he copes by putting all of his energy into saving the dairy farm.  But mysterious men start to visit him and even the president sends her henchmen after him.  Is he really the president's illegitimate son?

This fun YA political thriller captures small town New England quite well.  There's the crotchety neighbor, the helpful families, and in the end they all pull together.  Anything by Gary Schmidt is a pleasure to read. Many of the reviews of this book on Goodreads are quite negative, but I actually enjoyed it.  Schmidt is a great writer.

"Keep reading!  There's more!"

Vermont  

Return to Sender by Julia Álvarez - Tyler's father, a Vermont farmer is injured while working and decides to hire Mexican migrant workers to save his farm.  Tyler is unsure of whether he wants the help on the farm and wonders if the family his father hires is documented or not.  Mari is the daughter of the man that startes working for Tyler's father and is undocumented.  Her mother is missing because she had to return to Mexico.  Mari and her family have just moved to the northern state and does not know if she will be accepted.  Many of the old timers in the town are upset that Mexicans are moving into their town to work on farms, but farmers who are desperate to save their farms are willing to take the chance and hire undocumented workers.

This book is based a a Vermont reality as told in the author's note.  The farmers' struggle is what inspired the author to write this book.  It is told from both Tyler's and Mari's perspectives which presents the worries of both teenagers' sides very well.  It was fun to listen to, but at times the story dragged a bit. 

Literary Tourism - Florida

I travel today as far Southeast as I can go.  In Florida, we find Disney World, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and many, many miles of coast line ...

Which brings us to today's story.

Flush, by Carl Hiaasen - Noah's father has been put in jail for sinking a casino cruise ship.  He admits that he did it, but feels justified because he believes the owner is dumping waste into the Atlantic.  It's up to Noah to prove that his father is right.

Okay, not my favorite book of all time.  I despise message heavy children's literature because I feel like the author is not allowing children to make inferences and really think about what they're reading.  I will admit though that Noah's solution to the problem is quite creative.

It fits this project's criteria because Florida as a setting is important.  The characters seem true to the setting, and many of the events are made possible because it is set in Florida.

8 states down, only 42 to go.

Literary Tourism - Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin

What do Wisconsin, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania have in common?  Three Newbery Medal winners, of course!  Two of the following are absolutely two of my favorite children's books, and one has all the makings of a Newbery winner, but I thought it was just okay.

Pennsylvania

Dead End In Norvelt by Jack Gantos - This book wins the "tourism" prize for Pennsylvania because it opened my eyes to a part of America that I never knew existed.  Norvelt is a community that was created as a farming commune for underemployed coal minors in the 1930's.  It's name was derived from Eleanor Roosevelt even. 

While initially designed to be a sort of socialism, many of the residents eventually turned to capitolist traditions to make a living.  The book takes place in the 1960's, when the town is in decline.  Although not my favorite Newbery winner, it features a cast of quirky characters, like a boy with innummerable nose bleeds, crazy old people that seem to be dying every day, and a father busy digging up his wife's garden to build a bomb shelter.  It's worth a read if you like that kind of thing.

Oklahoma

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse - I had a professor who called this book "The Grapes of Wrath light."  It's a dust bowl era novel in verse that will rip your heart our.  Billie Joe, her father, and her pregnant mother are trying to survive in Oklahoma during drought and depression.  Billia Joe's true love is playing the piano, but on accident she loses her mother and her baby brother.  Her hands are also scarred making it painful to play the piano.  Billie Joe and her father  must learn to depend on each other to survive.  Though the language is sparse the sensory details are incredible.  While reading, I felt grit in my teeth. 

I know that not everyone likes a book in poetry.  But if you are willing to try it, I highly recommend it.  While deeply sad, it does have a hopeful ending.

Wisconsin

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin - I LOVE THIS BOOk.   I have probably read it 10 times.  Of all of the books, in this entry, the state it is set in is probably least important.  But some plot elements like a snowstorm and the building's overlook of Lake Michigan are important. 

A group of seemingly unrelated people all move into Sunset Towers, a new apartment building.  The new residents soon discover that they are connected to Sam Westing when he is murdered.  They are split into teams and charged with discovering the villian.  I love this book; I love the characters; I love everything about it.  Read it.  You'll discover why. 

Literary Tourism: Illinois, Michigan

For this journey we aren't going in any particular order.  Many of the books I've read recently seem to be centered in the midwest.  So, today I will cover two of those states.

Illinois

Hold Fast by Blue Balliett - Many of Balliett's mysteries are set in Chicago.  Her Chasing Vermeer series features a middle school at the University of Chicago.  Hold Fast is also a mystery, but deals with a different population in the city - the homeless.  Balliett writes beautiful mysteries that challenge readers to think abstractly.  This book impressed me so much because it was honest in discussing issues facing the homeless like substance abuse, being undervalues in society, and losing dignity and hope.  This book is also set in the main branch of the Chicago Public Library which I loved of course.

Michigan

Bud Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis - I had no idea how important Flint was to Michigan until I found multiple references to it in literature.  After some research (read: a perusal of a Wikipedia article), I discovered that historically it was a center of industry.  This book is a historical novel of an orphan looking for his father and is very entertaining. 

The Unspoken, by Thomas Fahy

Fahy, Thomas (2008). The Unspoken. New York: Simon & Schuster, 166 pages.

Summary and Evaluation: Five years ago, six teenagers who were forced to be in a cult burnt down the campsite killing the self-declared prophet, but not before he could prophesy that each of them would die of their worst fear in five years. Thus, when Allison and the others learn that her friend Harold mysteriously drowned, they are drawn back to the town where it all began. The curse is being fulfilled as others mysteriously disappear and die. It is up to Allison to discover the truth behind the mystery and find a way for herself and the others to survive.

When choosing this book, I prepared myself for a gruesome horror story, but was disappointed that it wasn't nearly as shocking as advertised. Allison's dreams during her seizures gave warning of impending death; however the details of the dreams were not vivid and did not create suspense. Each dream was followed by the discovery that one of her friends died. Though descriptive, they were not suspense builders. Even with the lack of suspense, the plot did move along quickly after the five surviving teens gathered. The story switches from the present to five years ago telling the horrors that each teen experienced while living in a commune with the other cult members. These frequent flashbacks were good for understanding each character's fears, but made very obvious the "who-done-it" aspect of the story. Fahy tries to resolve the story partly with realism and partly using the supernatural giving Allison one last premonition leaving the story unresolved and a bit unsettling. Many of the plot elements were left unexplained which I preferred. I could choose which explanations I most enjoyed.

Booktalk Hook: Because of the age of the characters and the style of writing, I would present this book to older YA's. To describe this book, I would read from the passage when the cult leader takes Allison to the confessional.

The Road of the Dead, by Kevin Brooks

Brooks, Kevin (2006). The Road of the Dead. New York: Scholastic. 339 pages.

Summary and Evaluation: Fourteen year old Ruben has always had the ability to experience exactly what a member of his family is experiencing; thus he knows the exact moment his sister, Rachel, is murdered. Frustrated that they cannot get her body back, Ruben and his older brother, Cole, leave London for the small town where Rachel was murdered. Up against racial antagonism and a town desperate to keep its secrets, Cole and Ruben must find a way to see justice done. At first this book reeled me in, and I was anxious to see how the mystery was solved. About half way into the book, the murder is solved, and the book devolves into a story akin to a bad action movie - no plot, moderate characterization, a lot of shooting, and gallons of blood. The blood and shooting would have been no problem if only combined with sufficient evidence of motivation by Ruben and Cole. The only explanation is that Cole wants his sister's corpse back. I also had to remind myself that the book was set in England and the racial friction was between the British and the gypsies. The dialog and the language of the writing made the story feel like it was set in the American South. Racial discrimination between gypsies and other groups is not often handled in literature, and I would have appreciated more coverage of that theme. I also got the impression that Ruben's premonitions were an excuse to switch perspectives which became confusing. With that said, this book probably has great appeal for those who love action. Cliffhangers at the end of most chapters keep the action moving, and it is easy to get swept up in the bloody emotion of the moment.

Booktalk Hook: Ruben's premonition at the beginning of the story elicits a lot of emotion. I would start a booktalk by asking the question, "How would you feel if you could know what your family members were experiencing at any moment? What if that family member were being murdered? This is exactly what happens to Ruben when he experiences his sister's murder along with her."