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PRAIRIE SCHOOL

Name: PRAIRIE SCHOOL
Author: Avi
ISBN: 0-06-027664-9

by Avi & illustrated by Bill Farnsworth ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2001

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In his third entry in the I Can Read Chapter Book series, master storyteller Avi (Abigail Takes the WheeI, 1999, etc.) offers another transitional chapter book with a historical setting, this time the isolated prairie of Colorado in pioneer days. Nine-year-old Noah works alongside his parents and loves his outdoor-oriented life on the family’s homestead. He sees no reason for schooling, but his parents have other ideas. They invite Aunt Dora, who uses a wheelchair, to come from Maine for a long visit with the purpose of providing some “book learning” for her nephew. Noah digs in his heels and resists his aunt’s lessons, but being a determined and skilled teacher, she finds a way to connect with Noah by teaching him about the stars and native plants. Over the summer Noah learns to read and write and by fall is able to read aloud to his proud parents, who have limited reading skills. When Dora returns to her home in the East, she leaves a letter for Noah (presented in letter format), and on the book’s last page, Noah writes his own touching letter to his aunt, which the reader senses will be the start of a fruitful correspondence. Farnsworth’s glowing paintings capture the details of Noah’s pioneer life, showing the dim, cramped interior of their sod dugout and the endless expanse of the prairie. This quiet, thoughtful story will have a subtle appeal to children who may have resisted “book learning” themselves, and the matter-of-fact inclusion of a still-active young teacher in a wheelchair provides further depth to the theme of reading as a “frigate like a book to take us lands away.” (Fiction. 7-9)

Pub Date: April 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-06-027664-9

Page Count: 48

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2001

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
LOST IN THE EMPIRE CITY
by Avi

- BOOK REVIEW
THE SECRET SISTERS
by Avi

- BOOK REVIEW
CITY OF MAGIC
by Avi

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BACH'S BIG ADVENTURE

by Sallie Ketcham ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1999

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PLB 0-531-33140-7 Ketcham’s first book is based on an allegedly true story of a childhood incident in the life of Johann Sebastian Bach. It starts with a couple of pages regaling the Bach home and all the Johanns in the family, who made their fame through music. After his father’s death, Johann Sebastian goes to live with his brother, Johann Christoph, where he boasts that he is the best organist in the world. Johann Christoph contradicts him: “Old Adam Reincken is the best.” So Johann Sebastian sets out to hear the master himself. In fact, he is humbled to tears, but there is hope that he will be the world’s best organist one day. Johann Sebastian emerges as little more than a brat, Reincken as more of a suggestion than a character. Bush’s illustrations are most transporting when offering details of the landscape, but his protagonist is too impish to give the story much authority. (Picture book. 5-9)

Pub Date: March 1, 1999

ISBN: 0-531-30140-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Orchard

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1999

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION | CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS

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THE BABE AND I

by David A. Adler ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1999

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Adler (also with Widener, Lou Gehrig, 1997, etc.) sets his fictional story during the week of July 14, 1932, in the Bronx, when the news items that figure in this tale happened. A boy gets a dime for his birthday, instead of the bicycle he longs for, because it is the Great Depression, and everyone who lives in his neighborhood is poor. While helping his friend Jacob sell newspapers, he discovers that his own father, who leaves the house with a briefcase each day, is selling apples on Webster Avenue along with the other unemployed folk. Jacob takes the narrator to Yankee Stadium with the papers, and people don’t want to hear about the Coney Island fire or the boy who stole so he could get something to eat in jail. They want to hear about Babe Ruth and his 25th homer. As days pass, the narrator keeps selling papers, until the astonishing day when Ruth himself buys a paper from the boy with a five-dollar bill and tells him to keep the change. The acrylic paintings bask in the glow of a storied time, where even row houses and the elevated train have a warm, solid presence. The stadium and Webster Avenue are monuments of memory rather than reality in a style that echoes Thomas Hart Benton’s strong color and exaggerated figures. (Picture book. 5-9)