Bibliography
Murphy, Jim. 2003. An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793. Clarion Books. New York. ISBN 0395776082.
Plot Summary
Using letters, newspaper accounts and first-hand accounts from citizens and the medical community, Murphy recounts the spread of yellow fever through Philadelphia in 1793. Beginning with the events and conditions often credited with inciting and spreading the disease, he tells of the mass exodus of citizens from the city and the horrific conditions in which victims were found and treated. From August to December of that year, over 5000 people fell victim to the dreaded disease, for which there is still no cure.
Critical Analysis
True to his title, Murphy indeed terrifies with his history of an American plague. Writing in a matter-of-fact manner and sparing no detail, he opens with a graphic description of the conditions in Philadelphia at the onset of the epidemic. Including the state of the Delaware River wharves and the lack of public sanitation of any kind, Murphy makes quite clear how the city was ripe for the spread of disease. His factual recounting is based on the journals of Philadelphia citizens, published first-hand accounts, letters from prominent citizens, including the physicians attempting to conquer the disease, and President George Washington. His version is not for the squeamish, but will appeal to those who crave the complete story.
Sparsely illustrated with engravings and watercolors representing other epidemics and Philadelphia in better days, Murphy includes a note addressing the lack of illustrations from the place and period explored. In spite of the lack of graphic representations of the calamity, he dramatically illustrates the severity of the situation with full-page reproductions of various sections of The Federal Gazette, including public health information from physicians and Mayor Matthew Clarkson and attorneys’ notices to settle the estates of the deceased.
Murphy follows the story through to the inevitable finger-pointing following such a public disaster, then closes with brief summaries of further outbreaks in later years and the subsequent research finally linking the spread of the disease to the mosquito. Murphy closes as he opened – with terrifying details. He reminds us that the cure for yellow fever remains a mystery and that we are still surrounded by mosquitos today.
To help with further research, sources are sub-divided by subject, including Philadelphia, yellow fever, medical treatment, first-hand accounts – personal and medical, other plagues and mosquitos. The book is also indexed, including illustrations.
Awards and Reviews
Newbery Honor Book
National Book Award Finalist
The Robert F. Sibert Medal
Orbis Pictus Award
From School Library Journal - Murphy chronicles this frightening time with solid research and a flair for weaving facts into fascinating stories, beginning with the fever's emergence on August 3, when a young French sailor died in Richard Denny's boardinghouse on North Water Street.
From Booklist - History, science, politics, and public health come together in this dramatic account of the disastrous yellow fever epidemic that hit the nation's capital more than 200 years ago.
Connections
Use this text to springboard research on any of the issues included: yellow fever, Philadelphia, medical advances, 18th century public sanitation/health, government response to disaster, insect-borne disease.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Review of THE EXTRAORDINARY MARK TWAIN (ACCORDING TO SUSY)
Bibliography
Kerley, Barbara. 2010. The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According To Susy). Ill. by Edward Fotheringham Scholastic Press. New York. ISBN 9780545125086.
Plot Summary
Kerley uses the biographical journal of Susy Clemens, Mark Twain’s 13-year-old daughter, to provide a more accurate picture of the iconic writer’s life. Beginning with Susy’s motivation to write about her famous father, Kerley then covers the highlights of Twain’s life from his childhood in Missouri to his family life in Connecticut.
Critical Analysis
Kerley was considering writing a biography of Mark Twain when she discovered that his daughter Susy had done so at the age of 13. Trusting the insights of a teenage daughter, she combines excerpts from Susy’s biographical journal and her own commentary. Working from microfilm of Susy’s original manuscript, Kerley connects the journal entries and provides for the young reader the better-known facts of Twain’s life that Susy intended to clarify. The text and journal blend seamlessly, each picking up where the other leaves off, surrounded by Fotheringham’s double-page, subtly-toned illustrations. In a clever interpretation of Twain’s love of his own voice, Fotheringham identifies spoken and written words with swirling lines emanating from mouths, books, and even pens. When the words are perhaps a bit more colorful, the swirls shift to angles, appropriately punctuated with exclamation points.
Well-organized, the book clearly delineates Kerley’s and Susy’s words by including small “journal” pages tipped into the binding and filled with type that appears hand-written. Kerley provides background information and the reader is soon compelled to open the journal and read Susy’s side of the story. Susy proved to be an accurate biographer, as Twain included his favorite passages from her journal in his own autobiography. True to her own accuracy, Kerley appends notes on “Papa” and Susy, a brief timeline of Twain’s life, source notes, and a guide to “Writing an Extraordinary Biography.”
Awards and Reviews
A Junior Library Guild Selection
Starred Review From School Library Journal - In pursuit of truth, Susy Clemens, age 13, vows to set the record straight about her beloved (and misunderstood) father and becomes his secret biographer.
Starred Review from Kirkus - A heartwarming tribute to both the writing life in general and the well-loved humorist-oops, sorry Susy… "Pholosopher!"
Connections
Using Kerley, and Susy’s, instructions, guide students in writing a biography of a person that they know well.
Kerley, Barbara. 2010. The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According To Susy). Ill. by Edward Fotheringham Scholastic Press. New York. ISBN 9780545125086.
Plot Summary
Kerley uses the biographical journal of Susy Clemens, Mark Twain’s 13-year-old daughter, to provide a more accurate picture of the iconic writer’s life. Beginning with Susy’s motivation to write about her famous father, Kerley then covers the highlights of Twain’s life from his childhood in Missouri to his family life in Connecticut.
Critical Analysis
Kerley was considering writing a biography of Mark Twain when she discovered that his daughter Susy had done so at the age of 13. Trusting the insights of a teenage daughter, she combines excerpts from Susy’s biographical journal and her own commentary. Working from microfilm of Susy’s original manuscript, Kerley connects the journal entries and provides for the young reader the better-known facts of Twain’s life that Susy intended to clarify. The text and journal blend seamlessly, each picking up where the other leaves off, surrounded by Fotheringham’s double-page, subtly-toned illustrations. In a clever interpretation of Twain’s love of his own voice, Fotheringham identifies spoken and written words with swirling lines emanating from mouths, books, and even pens. When the words are perhaps a bit more colorful, the swirls shift to angles, appropriately punctuated with exclamation points.
Well-organized, the book clearly delineates Kerley’s and Susy’s words by including small “journal” pages tipped into the binding and filled with type that appears hand-written. Kerley provides background information and the reader is soon compelled to open the journal and read Susy’s side of the story. Susy proved to be an accurate biographer, as Twain included his favorite passages from her journal in his own autobiography. True to her own accuracy, Kerley appends notes on “Papa” and Susy, a brief timeline of Twain’s life, source notes, and a guide to “Writing an Extraordinary Biography.”
Awards and Reviews
A Junior Library Guild Selection
Starred Review From School Library Journal - In pursuit of truth, Susy Clemens, age 13, vows to set the record straight about her beloved (and misunderstood) father and becomes his secret biographer.
Starred Review from Kirkus - A heartwarming tribute to both the writing life in general and the well-loved humorist-oops, sorry Susy… "Pholosopher!"
Connections
Using Kerley, and Susy’s, instructions, guide students in writing a biography of a person that they know well.
Friday, July 9, 2010
A Review of ONE OF THOSE HIDEOUS BOOKS WHERE THE MOTHER DIES by Sonya Sones
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sones, Sonya. 2004. one of those hideous books where the mother dies. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0689858205.
PLOT SUMMARY
Forced to relocate from Boston to Los Angeles following her mother’s death, 15-year-old Ruby Milliken faces her famous father for the first time. Adjusting to life in “Lalaland” proves difficult, especially when paired with the loss of a parent. Now Ruby must do so without the support of her best friend, first real boyfriend, or her beloved aunt. She strikes up a friendship with her father’s assistant, Max, and eventually finds her way around her new world.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Based on the title alone, this is one of those books my mother would have hated to see me read as a teen. “How can you read something so depressing?” I can hear her complain. But I can see my young self smiling, then diving right back in, thinking, “If you only knew what you were missing.” Ruby’s mom, a librarian, probably would have asked to borrow it when Ruby finished. Ruby’s mother is deceased when the book opens, so we have to rely on Ruby’s image of her mother to make that assumption, but Sones has given Ruby a strong voice to describe her mother and her life, so it seems like a safe one.
Sones alternates between Ruby’s poems, and e-mails to her best friend, boyfriend and dead mother, using these venues to share Ruby’s search for love and friendship in her new hometown. Ruby resists, but eventually realizes that she needs her newly-found father. Sones strikes just the right balance of laughter and pathos to keep the reader engaged in Ruby’s plight. While the opening poems certainly illustrate Ruby’s depressing outlook toward her current state, it only takes a few pages for her dry wit to shine through. As she jets across the country to her new home she sarcastically re-writes the flight attendants’ “fasten your seat belts” speech in “Turbulence,” “Ladies and gentlemen/the captain has turned on/the seat belt sign. Please return to your seats/and fish your barf bags out/of the seat pockets in front of you/while we prepare/to slam through some/real nasty storm clouds.”
By the end of Ruby’s story, even rays of hope are visible, when “At Sunset” Ruby says:
Its funny.
I can remember hating palm trees.
I can remember hating Coolifornia.
I just can’t remember
why.
AWARDS & REVIEW EXCERPTS
From School Library Journal - In one- to two-page breezy poetic prose-style entries, 15-year-old Ruby Milliken describes her flight from Boston to California and her gradual adjustment to life with her estranged movie-star father following her mother's death.
Starred Review From Booklist - Sones' novel is an unusual combination of over-the-top Hollywood fairy tale and sharp, honest story about overcoming grief.
CONNECTIONS
Sones references several novels and authors through-out the book. Read one and think about why Ruby would have liked it.
Truman, Terry. 2000. Stuck in Neutral. New York. HarperCollins. ISBN 0064472132.
“…every word Richard Peck ever wrote.”
Sones, Sonya. 2004. one of those hideous books where the mother dies. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0689858205.
PLOT SUMMARY
Forced to relocate from Boston to Los Angeles following her mother’s death, 15-year-old Ruby Milliken faces her famous father for the first time. Adjusting to life in “Lalaland” proves difficult, especially when paired with the loss of a parent. Now Ruby must do so without the support of her best friend, first real boyfriend, or her beloved aunt. She strikes up a friendship with her father’s assistant, Max, and eventually finds her way around her new world.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Based on the title alone, this is one of those books my mother would have hated to see me read as a teen. “How can you read something so depressing?” I can hear her complain. But I can see my young self smiling, then diving right back in, thinking, “If you only knew what you were missing.” Ruby’s mom, a librarian, probably would have asked to borrow it when Ruby finished. Ruby’s mother is deceased when the book opens, so we have to rely on Ruby’s image of her mother to make that assumption, but Sones has given Ruby a strong voice to describe her mother and her life, so it seems like a safe one.
Sones alternates between Ruby’s poems, and e-mails to her best friend, boyfriend and dead mother, using these venues to share Ruby’s search for love and friendship in her new hometown. Ruby resists, but eventually realizes that she needs her newly-found father. Sones strikes just the right balance of laughter and pathos to keep the reader engaged in Ruby’s plight. While the opening poems certainly illustrate Ruby’s depressing outlook toward her current state, it only takes a few pages for her dry wit to shine through. As she jets across the country to her new home she sarcastically re-writes the flight attendants’ “fasten your seat belts” speech in “Turbulence,” “Ladies and gentlemen/the captain has turned on/the seat belt sign. Please return to your seats/and fish your barf bags out/of the seat pockets in front of you/while we prepare/to slam through some/real nasty storm clouds.”
By the end of Ruby’s story, even rays of hope are visible, when “At Sunset” Ruby says:
Its funny.
I can remember hating palm trees.
I can remember hating Coolifornia.
I just can’t remember
why.
AWARDS & REVIEW EXCERPTS
From School Library Journal - In one- to two-page breezy poetic prose-style entries, 15-year-old Ruby Milliken describes her flight from Boston to California and her gradual adjustment to life with her estranged movie-star father following her mother's death.
Starred Review From Booklist - Sones' novel is an unusual combination of over-the-top Hollywood fairy tale and sharp, honest story about overcoming grief.
CONNECTIONS
Sones references several novels and authors through-out the book. Read one and think about why Ruby would have liked it.
Truman, Terry. 2000. Stuck in Neutral. New York. HarperCollins. ISBN 0064472132.
“…every word Richard Peck ever wrote.”
Thursday, July 8, 2010
A Review of TOASTING MARSHMALLOWS: CAMPING POEMS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
George, Kristine O’Connell. 2001. Toasting Marshmallows: Camping Poems. Ill. by Kate Kiesler. New York: Clarion Books. ISBN 061804597X.
PLOT SUMMARY
From staking the tent to treasuring the memories, Kristine O’Connell George, presents the many facets of a family camping trip in this collection of poems.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Speaking with the voice of the big sister, George omits not one detail of this adventure and accurately portrays the multitude of joys one might find while camping in the wild. The poems are written mostly in free verse with vivid images shining brightly in the language. Even without Kiesler’s colorful, realistic paintings, the concrete poem “Tent” is easily pictured, “Blooming, bright orange.” Still, her work beautifully complements George’s words and each picture projects a clear moment as if reflecting the narrator’s favorite memories in a treasured snapshot.
Like the magic that so often accompanies a camping trip, the family’s first animal encounter quickly follows the tent-raising as a doe enters the clearing. In “A Doe,” one can easily picture the family admiring their handiwork, then holding their breath and admiring their visitor briefly before she darts back into the forest. George captures every exploration of the campers, following them from meadow to lake and bait shop to cave; even illuminating the necessity of a flashlight in four simple, but strong, haikus - each bathed in its own circle of light.
No haphazard collection, these poems are clearly arranged to tell a story. “Two Voices in a Tent at Night” finds the young siblings facing mysterious noises and saying “Something is scratching/on our tent./Is not./Is too/Is not.” The moon and stars fill the sky of the double-page spread, only the moon forms a poem itself, “Eavesdropping,” as the children debate. The story flows, beginning to end, from the “smooth dirt” beneath the tent until the memories are tucked away, wrapped in a favorite flannel camping shirt, wearing the lingering scents of campfire and pine. Start packing now – these verses will leave you yearning for toasted marshmallows and a night or two in the great outdoors.
AWARDS & REVIEW EXCERPTS
Awards:
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
NCTE Notable Children's Book in Language Arts
Book Links: A Lasting Connection
Myra Cohn Livingston Poetry Award CLCSC
Capitol Choices: Noteworthy Books for Children
Children's Literature Choice 2002
Nominated for the Texas Bluebonnet Master List, the Kentucky Blue Grass award, and Indiana's Young Hoosier's award.
Reviews:
From School Library Journal - All of the selections convey a child-focused sense of wonder as the campers explore the lakefront and surrounding terrain, enjoy the marvels of the natural world, relish meals round the campfire, and toast marshmallows ("This is art-/a time of serious reflection/as my pillowed confection/slowly reaches golden perfection").
From Boston Globe - “Poems convey a wonderful sense of place as a family enjoys the vastness and immediacy of nature while camping." by Stephanie Loer,
CONNECTIONS
Introduce cinquain or haiku forms of poetry using “Sleeping Outside” and “Flashlight.” Encourage students to practice writing a poem using one of these forms.
Host a camping-themed read-in. Set up a tent, build a “campfire” and invite children to share their favorite outdoor stories. Read Toasting Marshmallows aloud to set the mood!
From: http://www.kristinegeorge.com/teachers_guide_toasting_marshmallows.html
A Review of DANITRA BROWN LEAVES TOWN
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Grimes, Nikki. 2002. Danitra Brown Leaves Town. Ill. by Floyd Cooper. New York: Harper Collins. ISBN 0688131557.
PLOT SUMMARY
When Danitra heads off on vacation with her family, her best friend Zuri misses her dearly. As summer progresses, the girls share stories of their adventures through letters and reunite joyfully in the end.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Flowing with rhythmic verses and clear voices, Grimes’ collection of poems shares the excitement of an anticipated vacation and the loneliness of losing a best friend, even if only temporarily. “The Bad Good-bye,” with its short couplets, accurately portrays the clipped words of an injured friend and is followed shortly thereafter with the ache of regret in the lilting rhymes of “The Letter.” A personal favorite, “Danitra’s Family Reunion,” captures in free verse the fun and food abundant at such gatherings and closes with the essence of reunions: “By the time/the day was done,/I was full of fun/and food/and warm feelings,/knowing that I am more/than just me./I am part of a family.
Through-out the book, Cooper’s paintings highlight the critical moments of each poem. His muted backgrounds allow the reader to focus on the central details, like Danitra perched in a tree, high above her cousins as they taunt her to jump in “The Dare.” He clearly conveys the mood of each piece through the expressions his subjects’ faces. When Zuri finds a new friend to help her through Danitra’s absence in “Noticing Nina,” the joy of shared love of handball is readily apparent. Together, illustration and verse combine to bring Danitra and Zuri’s worlds to life.
AWARDS & REVIEW EXCERPTS
Texas Bluebonnet State Reading List
North Carolina Young Readers Award Nominee
From BCCB - Thirteen accessible and skillfully paced poems—many representing letters from vacationing Danitra or from Zuri left behind—depict the highlights of that summer.
From Kirkus Book Review - Grimes's poems read and flow well, and Cooper's paintings simply burst with energy and expressiveness.
CONNECTIONS
Have students write a letter to a friend in verse. Suggest a rhyme scheme or subject to help them get started.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Review of THE GOOSE GIRL: A STORY FROM THE BROTHERS GRIMM
Bibliography
Kimmel, Eric. 1995. The Goose Girl: A Story from the Brothers Grimm. Ill. by Robert Sauber. New York, NY: Holiday House. ISBN 0823410749.
Plot Summary
An innocent princess sets out from her homeland to meet her betrothed prince. Accompanied on the journey by her serving maid Margaret, the princess quickly discovers the cruelties of the world when Margaret usurps the princess’s position and presents herself to the prince as his bride. With nowhere to turn, the princess is forced to work herding geese for the king. When the king discovers the true princess in the meadow with the geese, Margaret is compelled to face her misdeeds. She seals her own fate when she is asked how to punish an abusive serving maid and she condemns the maid to a violent death.
Critical Analysis
From “Once upon a time…” until “…happily ever after,” this beautifully illustrated retelling of the Brothers’ Grimm fairy tale is filled with the symbolic characters of traditional lore. Sent to her betrothed by her doting mother, the mild-mannered and kind princess is pushed down by the greedy and self-serving maid, who goes on to deceive all who meet her. But, the caring and paternal king acts quickly to restore justice when the maid’s deception is brought to light. The story is told simply and quickly, but is still filled with details to capture the reader’s imagination. The princess rides Falada, a talking horse who retains his power of speech even after he is put down and his head hung upon a gate. Until it is lost, the princess is protected by a linen handkerchief stained with three drops of her mother’s blood. Finally, throughout the story, Falada echoes his refrain, “If your mother were to see/Her heart would burst with grief for thee.”
These details and many others are richly portrayed in Sauber’s carefully crafted paintings. Each page, a framed work in itself, reflects the events of the story, varying from close-up looks at the characters to wide shots of the action. The regal setting is apparent in the lavishly painted garments and bejeweled royalty and Sauber skillfully captures the expressions appropriate to the archetypal characters. Young readers hearing this story aloud will have no trouble identifying the persecuted princess or the mischievous maid.
Review Excerpts
From Publisher’s Weekly – “…Kimmel revels in the magical, wistful aspects of this fanciful genre.”
From School Library Journal – “The story is propelled by Kimmel's perfect pacing and phrasing and by the vitality of the oil paintings, achieved through a sense of rapid dashes of color, with some scenes having an almost unfinished quality.”
Kimmel, Eric. 1995. The Goose Girl: A Story from the Brothers Grimm. Ill. by Robert Sauber. New York, NY: Holiday House. ISBN 0823410749.
Plot Summary
An innocent princess sets out from her homeland to meet her betrothed prince. Accompanied on the journey by her serving maid Margaret, the princess quickly discovers the cruelties of the world when Margaret usurps the princess’s position and presents herself to the prince as his bride. With nowhere to turn, the princess is forced to work herding geese for the king. When the king discovers the true princess in the meadow with the geese, Margaret is compelled to face her misdeeds. She seals her own fate when she is asked how to punish an abusive serving maid and she condemns the maid to a violent death.
Critical Analysis
From “Once upon a time…” until “…happily ever after,” this beautifully illustrated retelling of the Brothers’ Grimm fairy tale is filled with the symbolic characters of traditional lore. Sent to her betrothed by her doting mother, the mild-mannered and kind princess is pushed down by the greedy and self-serving maid, who goes on to deceive all who meet her. But, the caring and paternal king acts quickly to restore justice when the maid’s deception is brought to light. The story is told simply and quickly, but is still filled with details to capture the reader’s imagination. The princess rides Falada, a talking horse who retains his power of speech even after he is put down and his head hung upon a gate. Until it is lost, the princess is protected by a linen handkerchief stained with three drops of her mother’s blood. Finally, throughout the story, Falada echoes his refrain, “If your mother were to see/Her heart would burst with grief for thee.”
These details and many others are richly portrayed in Sauber’s carefully crafted paintings. Each page, a framed work in itself, reflects the events of the story, varying from close-up looks at the characters to wide shots of the action. The regal setting is apparent in the lavishly painted garments and bejeweled royalty and Sauber skillfully captures the expressions appropriate to the archetypal characters. Young readers hearing this story aloud will have no trouble identifying the persecuted princess or the mischievous maid.
Review Excerpts
From Publisher’s Weekly – “…Kimmel revels in the magical, wistful aspects of this fanciful genre.”
From School Library Journal – “The story is propelled by Kimmel's perfect pacing and phrasing and by the vitality of the oil paintings, achieved through a sense of rapid dashes of color, with some scenes having an almost unfinished quality.”
Review of PORCH LIES: TALES OF SLICKSTERS, TRICKSTERS AND OTHER WILY CHARACTERS
Bibliography
McKissack, Patricia M. 2006. Porch Lies: Tales of Slicksters, Tricksters, and other Wily Characters. Ill. by Andre Carrilho. New York, NY: Random House. ISBN 037593619X.
Plot Summary
McKissack has crafted a collection of tales distilled from the stories heard on her grandparent’s front porch. Filled with original characters, McKissack gives voice to the storytellers of her youth through her fictional tales. Each of the nine stories is dedicated to a friend or family member and credited to a particular “porch liar” from her youth. According to the Author’s Note opening the volume of tales, the intention of these stories is to teach a value, encourage critical thinking, or offer pure entertainment. Beginning with a “confidencer” named Pete Bruce using flattery to con a baker-woman out of a coconut cream pie, and including a elderly aunt using the infamous James' brothers to save her land, these Porch Lies fulfill the desired intent.
Critical Analysis
McKissack opens her anthology with a disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Yet, the tall tales ring with authenticity. As she introduces each storyteller, they appear in the porch swing and their voices spill from the pages. The reader is immediately drawn into the story as the words paint pictures in the mind. Sparsely illustrated by Andre Carrilho, the black and white caricatures of each main character seem almost superfluous to McKissack’s clever writing. However, as each drawing showcases the trickster at a turning point of the story the illustrations accentuate the truths inherent within the tales. With or without the illustrations, these tales beg to shared, read aloud, and enjoyed. So, as McKissack invites in her note, “...find a comfortable spot; and pour yourself a class of lemonade.” And if you listen closely, you can hear the crickets chirping in the night.
Review Excerpts
From Booklist, Starred Review – “…the nine original tales in this uproarious collection draw on African American oral tradition and blend history and legend with sly humor, creepy horror, villainous characters, and wild farce.”
From School Library Journal – “They contain the essence of truth but are fiction from beginning to end, an amalgam of old stories, characters, jokes, setups, and motifs.”
McKissack, Patricia M. 2006. Porch Lies: Tales of Slicksters, Tricksters, and other Wily Characters. Ill. by Andre Carrilho. New York, NY: Random House. ISBN 037593619X.
Plot Summary
McKissack has crafted a collection of tales distilled from the stories heard on her grandparent’s front porch. Filled with original characters, McKissack gives voice to the storytellers of her youth through her fictional tales. Each of the nine stories is dedicated to a friend or family member and credited to a particular “porch liar” from her youth. According to the Author’s Note opening the volume of tales, the intention of these stories is to teach a value, encourage critical thinking, or offer pure entertainment. Beginning with a “confidencer” named Pete Bruce using flattery to con a baker-woman out of a coconut cream pie, and including a elderly aunt using the infamous James' brothers to save her land, these Porch Lies fulfill the desired intent.
Critical Analysis
McKissack opens her anthology with a disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Yet, the tall tales ring with authenticity. As she introduces each storyteller, they appear in the porch swing and their voices spill from the pages. The reader is immediately drawn into the story as the words paint pictures in the mind. Sparsely illustrated by Andre Carrilho, the black and white caricatures of each main character seem almost superfluous to McKissack’s clever writing. However, as each drawing showcases the trickster at a turning point of the story the illustrations accentuate the truths inherent within the tales. With or without the illustrations, these tales beg to shared, read aloud, and enjoyed. So, as McKissack invites in her note, “...find a comfortable spot; and pour yourself a class of lemonade.” And if you listen closely, you can hear the crickets chirping in the night.
Review Excerpts
From Booklist, Starred Review – “…the nine original tales in this uproarious collection draw on African American oral tradition and blend history and legend with sly humor, creepy horror, villainous characters, and wild farce.”
From School Library Journal – “They contain the essence of truth but are fiction from beginning to end, an amalgam of old stories, characters, jokes, setups, and motifs.”
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