The Hired Girl by Laura Amy Schlitz

Sheesh... have you read all the hoopla over this book? It is quite fascinating. And exhausting. If not, read the Heavy Medal blog or Betsy Bird's blog. I picked a good year to start a Newbery contender book club at our school. The blogs are terrific insight into discussions on what makes a book exemplary or not. Case in hand, The Hired Girl, has no one arguing about the terrific character development and literary elements, but they are questioning how children will read it in regards to the unreliable narrator's prejudiced views. Laura Amy Schlitz tackles so many themes and does it quite well with setting, historical accuracy, craft, and more. The story is distinguished and worth discussing. Some think the plot's action too convenient. Some think the pacing is slow. Some think the Native American comment a fatal flaw. Some think it is brilliant literature. I was wowed by the depth and layering of themes and characters. As with all these reviews it comes down to ones own opinion.

The main character, Joan, is 14 and runs away from her cruel father who has pulled her from school to work the farm. Her views of the world are from reading books and they are skewed, to say the least. She's an unreliable narrator with a propensity toward being melodramatic and romantic as well as smart, kind, and wants more in life than being a servant. She reminds me of Anne of Green Gables, annoying and endearing at the same time. She is a strong character and a survivor. Joan, a Christian girl, gets hired by a Jewish family as a servant. The story shows her character arc as one who embraces her Christian beliefs while learning to respect the religious differences of the Jewish family she lives with and who has been kind to her.  The story is layered and complex and full of controversy because Joan is so ignorant and says prejudiced things at first. At its heart, Joan is embracing Catholicism and in the process she tries to convert a young Jewish boy. She does it in innocence and doesn't realize until later that it was an act of betrayal to those that let her live under their roof. In the process she learns how to respect the Jewish religion and embrace her own beliefs without judgement. Ironically it is a message of tolerance; however, the author has a statement in the book that seems to be intolerant.

The offending paragraph that has caused an uproar isn't about Joan's comments on Jews because her character arc shows how she changes. The offense is taken by this statement: “It seemed to me–I mean, it doesn’t now, but it did then–as though Jewish people were like Indians: people from long ago; people in books. I know there are Indians out West, but they’re civilized now, and wear ordinary clothes. In the same way, I guess I knew there were still Jews, but I never expected to meet any.” The argument is that with race and culture in combination with literary analysis, does this statement work for the reader or hurt the young reader that can't tell that it is prejudiced? Joan is interested in clothes and spatters narrow-minded statements throughout the narrative text. Much of it is funny. Here the unfortunate word choice of "civilized" is a stumbling block. But does it taint the whole book? Will a young reader be able to distinguish her naivety? The only part of this passage that I see playing in her character arc is that she is fascinated with clothes for the first time in her life. She shops with Mimi and discusses clothes at length. Joan's only understanding of Native Americans is from reading the book, "Ivanhoe." Her views up to this point have been clearly established as unreliable. But I'm not Native American and I'm not a young reader so I can understand the arguments or offense against it.

I know adults read books differently than children. We come at it with more experience and background. That's why I'm enjoying my book club with grade 5 students. One girl loved this book while two others abandoned it because of the "slow" beginning. Others have commented on the epistolary format and wondered if it affects the pacing. I was fine with it. I found some of Joan's emotions so painfully raw and honest and also hysterically funny. Would a younger reader feel the same? Joan's conversion to religion was particularly well-done and it is not something I have ever read in any children's book. All I can say is that you readers that are not adults, please give us your take on the story. I'm listening. Meanwhile, this goes on my Newbery list.

5 Smileys

My Near-Death Adventures (99% True!) by Alison DeCamp

Alison DeCamp's skewed humor reminds me of the oddball Ole and Lena jokes I heard growing up, you betcha. Eleven-year-old Stan Slater is like dumb Ole and the women, Geri and Granny in particular, are like Lena who tends to be the smart one. Ole and Lena make language mistakes all the time and Stan does too. He's either thinking out loud and scrambling to cover inappropriate comments, an overactive imagination, or doing something dumb. This is more sophisticated than Ole and Lena jokes - part of the fun with those two is using a silly accent and broken English. Here, Stan is trying to come to terms with a dad he thought was dead, but actually abandoned him and his mom right after his birth. He writes imaginary letters to himself from his dad and collects advertisements and images of the time with irreverent captions in a scrapbook adding a comedic depth and flavor of what it was like during 1895.

Stan is like one big, overdramatic exclamation point. He's weird. He's funny. He's annoying. He's sexist. He's outwitted, protected, and bullied by the women in his life. And despite these shortcomings he manages to be endearing. Stan's mother along with his cranky Granny, go to work at a logging camp because they are short on cash. Geri, Stan's cousin, picks on him because he is so easy to scare. She wants to be a doctor and convinces him at several points he has yellow fever, quinsy, or a made-up disease. He falls for it every time. She also plays pranks on him or talks him into doing something stupid. He's an easy target for her and when Stan tries to get her back it backfires. They are the roadrunner and coyote with Stan continually falling off the cliff.

Stan's mom is one of the only woman at camp and has three suitors vying for her affections. She gets a bit frustrated when people keep telling her how to raise Stan. Eventually, she stands up to the well-intentioned advice people dole out ranging from her mother to the lumberjacks. She originally married Stan's dad on the advice of her mom, the evil Granny as Stan likes to call her. He gives her an Evil Rating that drops every time she does something nice for him.

Stan is an unreliable narrator that likes to use the phrase, "I am a whiz at... (fill in the blank). I don't mind saying." He's not a whiz at anything. He's a whiz at getting into trouble and reminds me of a whirligig beetle gyrating in the water. He pees outside the door of the cabin because he doesn't want to go to the outhouse in the cold weather. He decides a lumberjack is his dad because he has blue eyes, whistles, and has a nose like him. He's convinced another lumberjack is a murderer and calls him "Stinky Peter" even though he has been nothing but kind to Stan. He takes comments literally and misunderstands or pretends to misunderstand most of them. When his grandma says it is so cold that the "squirrels wear knickers" he can't believe how unladylike she's being.

Stan wants to be a tough man, but he is the opposite - he's afraid of werewolf stories, wears flowered aprons, scrubs pots, even wears his Granny's sock when his goes missing. When the sock shows up he still wears his granny sock. He wants to find his dad so desperately that he makes up letters written by him by his dad. They have Stan's dad humorously commenting on the women in his life and having adventures around the world as an explorer, outlaw, or cowboy in the Wild West.

Stan reflects the sexist attitudes of the times. He calls Granny "woman" and asks "...where is my chow," then clears his throat and spits. He thinks this is how a man acts. Granny gives him a towel to clean up his spit. He doesn't think girls can be doctors, but when he needs stitches he trusts Geri over a man and he is obsessed with being a manly man. He draws whiskers on his face in hopes of being a man. He sticks his tongue on cold metal horse-head hitching posts. At the height of being a ridiculous "chowderhead," he reveals something introspective and he goes from annoying to endearing. Like letting Geri stitch him up. Or saying he is only being manly so he can understand his father and why he abandoned them. The end shows that he understands being a man means being responsible.

The author plays with writing conventions in an original way that strengthens Stan's unreliable character. Stan struggles with this "thinking-in-your-head business" and never quite gets it right. There are no quotations to signal when Stan is thinking out loud or when he is thinking in his head. A character will answer and that is the clue to the reader that Stan said it out loud. It reinforces the author's point that Stan is an unreliable narrator that because of his inexperience in the world, cannot be believed when he makes observations or statements.

This book reminds me of "Timmy Failure," but instead of graphics drawn by the author there are vintage photos with funny captions reflecting Stan's state of mind. The photos are from his scrapbook, but they give a taste of what the 1800's was like with their goofy advertisements. When Stan muses about men and their beards (and how they all look alike) there is a photo of how to trim your beard a bazillion different ways. When Stan tips the outhouse on an unsuspecting adult there is an advertisement for a toilet mask. Not only is this funny, but it adds greatly to the historical setting in a visual way that I have never seen before in a children's book.

Great slang words, similes, and metaphors bounce throughout the narration. Geri is described as "Her eyebrows squeeze together so tightly it looks like two hairy caterpillars are having a conversation on her forehead." Or "...her voice, as cold as the frost I like to scrape off the windows with my fingernail." Don't be "bamboozled" by the "catwampus" humor because it is not all "balderdash" or "poppycock" but shows hope that a goofy boy can grow up into a decent human being. Stan is a whiz at being dorky. I don't mind saying.

5 Smileys

Mark of the Thief (Mark of the Thief #1) by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Books that have an unreliable narrator oftentimes have terrific plot twists and turns. Jennifer Nielsen used it in her first book, "The False Prince," that had me captivated as a reader. The formula she used in that story had nonstop action, in-depth plotting, and a complex character. This book attempts to use the same formula with the setting in Rome during the time of slaves and gladiators, but it didn't work as well for me. Part of the reason was I looked more closely for clues pointing to an unreliable narrator again and I didn't think the character's inner monologue was as interesting and the plot had some holes. Students are not going to care. They'll clamber for and enjoy the fast-paced action scenes, fights in the arena, and facts on Rome with magic tied to the gods and goddesses.

Nic is working the mines as a slave when a Roman General asks for his assistance to retrieve Caesar's bulla, said to have the power of the gods. One slave has already died in the recovery attempt and another has gone mad. Unfortunately, slave Nic is next in line to be forced to give it a go. He not only gets the bulla, he accidentally absorbs its magic getting god or goddess-enhanced superpowers he doesn't understand or know how to control. He gets caught up in the Praetor War conspiracy to overthrow the Emperor and destroy Rome. Nic is a puppet to Senators and Generals being tossed into their deceitful fights when his heart's desire is to just live free from slavery with his sister.

While the action is nonstop, the plot didn't surprise me often. The unreliable narrator works when the reader doesn't know the twists and turns of the plot. I guessed the main twist way too early and it took much of the fun out of it. Of course, I'm onto Nielsen having read her previous Ascendence series so perhaps if I hadn't been on the lookout I might have overlooked the clues. So I'm not sure if her plot signals were too obvious or my brain was just too engaged. You'll have to decide for yourself.

Nic reacts more than he thinks about things deeply. Part of this is to setup for the end and it didn't quite work for me. The pathos behind some of his decisions seemed ad hoc at times. At times Nic is too trusting. Other times he doesn't take action when he is exposed such as when Sal spots him in hiding. The villains don't kill when it seems obvious that they would. As a slave, Nic is rebellious versus being demoralized by those oppressing him. He doesn't act with much fear toward situations and his thought progression from being a slave to wanting freedom at all costs was somewhat contradictory. I wished the author had explained he remembered a time when he was free and the power of that memory made him get over his fears. I kept thinking for someone who'd been oppressed, Nic was awfully bold (another clue).

I would also think if he really wanted to flee with his sister, why didn't he run when Horatio gave him the chance and use his powerful magic to rescue his sister on his own? That would have been less risky than going into the arena. He had been there before and it sounded terrifying. And why did the General ask for Nic's help in the first place? Was Nic the only person that could get the bulla? Wouldn't he have picked a different slave than risk what he knew. Why didn't Nic take the bulla from the General when given the chance? These questions are revealed at the end with the plot twist, but I thought it weakened the plot by causing contradictory actions in several different characters. I had several "Huh?" moments.

Aurelia is a strong female character that is good with a knife and bow and arrow. She saves Nic at times when he is in bad situations - which is most of the time. She had a great character but Nic spends too much time distrusting her. It started to not feel authentic. When Nic ends up in a colosseum where only he can help himself, the author shines. Nic uses his superpowers in unpredictable ways that will make readers flipping the pages for more. The cliff-hanger ending will have students asking me nonstop when the sequel will be released. A story that will get students excited about reading.

3 Smileys