Falling In Frances O'Roark Dowell
You know her, of course. Isabelle Bean is the girl who sits in the back corner of the classroom near the pencil sharpener. She isn't invisible, exactly, but she might as well be. She hardly ever speaks unless spoken to (and then only in riddles), never makes eye contact, has bangs that hang down almost to her nose so even if somebody wanted to look her straight in the eye, they couldn't.
It goes without saying that very few people want to look Isabelle Bean straight in the eye.
It's not that she smells bad. She doesn't. She takes a bath every night. And it's not that she's dumb, although it's true she has a bad habit of not doing her homework except when she really feels like it, which is almost never.
And it's not that Isabelle Bean is a bully. She's never beat anyone up or even made the smallest threat. No one is physically scard of her, except for a few of the very nice girls in Mrs. Sharpe's class, girls whose hair smells like apple blossoms and whose mothers still read them bedtime stories. These are the girls who sharpen their pencils at home so they never have to walk near Isabelle's desk.
Isabelle is pretty sure she's a changeling. It's the only explanation. Then, one day at school, she falls into another world. But on the day she falls in, she's wearing bright red lace up boots. So, the children who find her think she's a witch, the same witch that goes from village to village eating children. The witch has a schedule, so when it's their village's season, they run to another village and set up a camp to wait it out. Isabelle goes off to find the witch, because that sounds more exciting. Of course, what she finds is a healer woman who lives alone in the woods, who's had stories made up about her...
This one didn't really do it for me, which is sad. It has things I like--great writing, a narrartor that frequently addresses the reader, and a fairy tale feel. But over all the plot was kinda... eh. It touches however, on some really dark things and I think it would have worked better if Dowell hadn't just skated around and over these very dark possibilities and hints and instead aged up the book to YA and tackled them full force-- the reason why the witch is supposedly seeking revenge, what actually happens at a children's camp, and the ramifications of multiple villages living in fear of having their children stolen. In order to keep the book solidly middle grade, she finds these bruises and points them out, but doesn't really poke at them, and it would have been much more interesting if she had.
Book Provided by... my local library
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Shooting the Moon Frances O'Roark Dowell
It's the summer before 8th grade. Jamie's two best friends have both moved away (which happens a lot when you live on an army base. Either they're moving, or you are) and her older brother has just shipped out to Vietnam.
Jamie and her brother have always loved playing war and she's disappointed when his letters home aren't about the smells and sights of battle. But, with every letter, he sends Jamie a roll of film to develop. Jamie's days are spent volunteering at the rec center, playing gin rummy with Private Hollister, and developing film. Through TJ's photos, she sees a reality of war that she never expected and discovers new talents within herself.
This is a short, slight book. It's quiet, but it stays with you. Not a lot happens. It's summer, Jamie plays cards and develops film. She flashes back to when her brother enlisted up until the day he shipped out. Despite the lack of plot, we see a lot of growth in Jamie, and how she views the her father, her brother, the army, and war.
This is the hardcover cover, which I like better, which the picture of the moon on it, but I think that the paperback cover (above) has more kid appeal and captures more of the book's spirit, with the little green army men. The "Shooting the Moon" of the title refers to TJ's habit of taking pictures of the moon, both at home before he ships out, but also in Vietnam.
Book Provided by... my local library
Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.
My fantastic husband spent about four hours last night working on this blog, giving it an extra column and putting in a pretty background...then formatting everything to fit, etc. It's still a work in progress...all my links aren't up (that's the apology part), but the posts are there and that's the important part. Just deal with it for another day or so and it should be the way I want it! A huge thank you and a smooch to Aaron and a big hug and a thank to Becky for sending me the links she used to make her blog so pretty!
On to the review...
First, let me tell you one of my biggest irritations in the book world. When I hear about a book that sounds fabulous, but can't get an ARC, that's ok...a little annoying, but hey, publishers don't HAVE to send me free books right? So I patiently wait for the single library around here to get a copy, but we're so backed up, we get new books 6 months after they have come out, if at all. So that's out. I can't ILL it because they don't allow the ILLs if the books have been published within the last 6 months. Too new. So my only option is to buy. Can't always do that, the budget would be broken and the husband would divorce me. So what happens? I end up having to wait forever to read a book that all of you have been raving about for so long! Urgh! Which leads me to the latest book I've had to wait forever for: Shooting the Moon. And yes, it was worth the wait.
Frances O'Roark Dowell has made the simplest novel into a masterpiece. Beautiful characters with such real emotions are somewhat hard to come by, but our main character definitely is one of the more realisitic, pure characters I've read. Short, sweet, and memorable, I really felt this one was very well written.
Jamie Dexter is an Army brat and a proud one at that. She is filled with Army pride, instilled in her by her father, a Colonel. When her brother decides to enlist, her father is surprisingly against it, wanting him to go to college before heading off to Vietnam. Jamie on the other hand, is all for her brother going to fight! She feels it is a man's duty to fight for his country and if girls could go...especially 12 year old girls, Jamie would be the first to sign up!
When Vietnam is exactly where her brother gets sent, Jamie is all excited to get letters about real war. When her parents get all the letters and she only gets rolls of film her brother wants to develop, at first Jamie is incredibly disappointed, wanting only details on what combat is really like. Once she starts developing the film however, she learns a lot of life lessons...about war, about love, about family. And when her brother goes missing, Jamie isn't so sure that going to war is really an important thing at all.
The ending of Shooting the Moon will stick with you for quite some time. I was really impressed with Jamie's innocence, yet she was mature in the same respect. Proud of her family for being in the Army, mature about what being in the Army means, yet innocent about losing family for a war.
This is an excellent middle grade novel. Could be an awesome choice for a class discussion in social studies.
If you're interested in learning more, click the book cover above to link to Amazon.
Shooting the Moon
Frances O'Roark Dowell
176pages
Middle Grade
Atheneum
9781416926900
January 2008
sounds like a good one for the challenge...thanks for the review.