Blood on the River–by Elisa Carbone

Carbone, Elisa.  Blood on the River: James Town 1607.  New York: Viking, 2006.

“Some would say I am lucky.  Others would say I am doomed.  I escaped the gallows–that is why I am lucky…As for being doomed, if I am doomed then so is Richard.  We are the two boys Reverend Hunt decided to bring with him on this jounrey to the New World.” (p. 6-7)

The way we think of it, a trip across the ocean is an exciting adventure or a relaxing vacation.  For Samuel, however, who was released from jail for theft only to become one of the settlers that would found James Town, Virginia in 1607, this “vacation” looks more like this:

“We are all seasick.  And bored.  And we are going absolutely no place.  We have had nothing but storms and winds blowing the wrong direction for weeks now, and so we sit anchored in the cold, close enough to see England’s shores but still trapped down in this hole of a ‘tween deck with the stench of urine and vomit and chicken dung.” (p. 15)

Sounds like it couldn’t get much worse, but then they finally arrive on the coast of Virginia:

“Suddenly I hear a cry, then frantic shouting and someone moaning.  I run to the railing.  In the half-light of dusk I see them, five of them, crouched on a hill, their naked bodies painted, arrows flying from their longbows.  Already ne of the sailors has fallen…I see now that this land is not so free and open.  This is Indian land, and they do no want us here.  And what is worse, it seems to me that their bows and arrows are quicker, more accurate, and can shoot farther than our muskets.” (p. 61-62)

Vacation?  Not on your life, and not on Samuel’s life either.

Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy–by Gary D. Schmidt

Schmidt, Gary D.  Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy.  New York: Clarion Books, 2004.

“Turner Buckminster had lived in Phippsburg, Maine, for fifteen minutes shy of six hours.  He had dipped his hand in its waves and licked the salt from his fingers.  He had smelled the sharp resin of the pines.  He had heard the low rhythm of the bells on the buoys that balanced on the ridges of the sea.  He had seen the fine clapboard parsonage beside the church where he was to live, and the small house set a ways beyond it that puzzled him some.  Turner Buckminster had lived in Phippsburg, Maine, for almost six whole hours.  He didn’t know how much longer he could stand it.” (p. 1)

In some places, being the son of a minister is no big deal.  Phippsburg, Maine, is not one of them.  Everybody is constantly scrutinizing Turner to see if he is upright enough, moral enough, brave enough, polite enough, and even whether his shirt is starched-white enough.  So far, he is a miserable failure.

And things only get worse after those first six hours.  Within two days of his arrival in Phippsburg, he has become the laughingstock of the whole town for his failure at playing baseball, been teased mercilessly as a coward for not jumping off a huge cliff into the ocean, and gotten caught skipping rocks across water that just happened to bump into somebody’s old fence.  Before he can blink, he is sentenced to spend his summer reading and playing organ for a repulsive old woman who yells at him, helps spread the rumors about him, looks and smells funny, and is absolutely obsessed with her own death and making sure her last words will be written down.  He’d just as soon die.

But then he meets Lizzie, an island girl who can row a boat, play baseball like nothing else, dig clams, and speak to whales.  And that changes everything forever.

Elijah of Buxton–by Christopher Paul Curtis

Curtis, Christopher Paul.  Elijah of Buxton.  New York: Scholastic Press, 2007.

Life’s hard, right?  You have to go school, do what crazy grown-ups tell you even when it doesn’t make a lick of sense, and put up with being called “fra-gile” all the time even when you are clearly NOT being fragile.  Elijah gets this all the time, even from his parents!  He’s pretty sure the WORST thing on earth has happened to him after his mom decides to play a trick on him:

“…I moved my hand ‘round in the bottom of the jar, I felt one n’em rope cookies…and Mrs. Brown must’ve just brought these cookies over, ‘cause the last one left was still warm!  I pulled the cookie outta the jar.

“My heart quit beating, my blood ran cold, and time stood still!  My fingers were wrapped ‘round the neck of the worst-looking snake in Canada West!  I screamed, ‘Snake!’ and afore I knowed it, I was tearing off ‘cross the road into the woods.  By the time I worned myself out I must’ve run two miles.  I stopped and leaned ‘gainst a tree, waiting for my breathing to catch up to me.  Something made me look down in my hand.

“I screamed, ‘Snake!’ for the second time.  But this time I remembered to turn the snake’s neck a-loose and throwed it down.  I wouldn’t’ve thought I had enough strength left in me to run, but being afeared and being tired look like two things you caint feel at the same time.” (p. 19)

TOTALLY unfair, right?  Never mind that this was payback for putting the biggest toady-frog in Canada West in his ma’s sewing basket!  And Elijah gets it worse than anyone because he, the first child born free from slavery in the Buxton settlement in Canada, had a terrible accident as a baby…which unfortunately involved vomit and a visit from Frederick Douglass…but never mind that, just wait till Elijah gets growned, then he’s gonna show everybody!

But when there comes an opportunity to buy a neighbor’s family out of slavery, it looks like he’s gonna have to show how grown up he is sooner than anybody thinks…

Hattie Big Sky–by Kirby Larson

Larson, Kirby.  Hattie Big Sky.  New York: Delacorte Press, 2006.

Orphaned at the age of five, Hattie has been shuffled from place to place between relatives for eleven years, with one consistent message at every place she lands: she does not belong there.  After three years under Aunt Ivy’s dubious care, she is beginning to think she will never find a place that feels like home.  But then, out of the blue, she receives a letter from a long-lost uncle with a jaw-dropping final paragraph:

Being of sound mind, I do hereby leave to Hattie Inez Brooks my claim and the house and its contents, as well as one steadfast horse named Plug and a contemptible cow known as Violet.

Signed, Chester Hubert Wright, Uncle to Hattie Inez Brooks

Postscript: H–Bring warm clothes and a cat.

The bequest of a homestead claim of 320 acres in Montana is too much for Hattie to resist, and she leaves to take up the claim almost immediately, eager to finally have a home of her own.  To inherit all that land, though, she first has to prove up the claim for its remaining ten months.  To do that, she must plant and harvest crops on 40 acres of land, as well as putting up a mile and a half of fence; needless to say, the project turns out to be more than she bargained for!   First she’ve likely to freeze to death, then there’s so much heat and drought that she wonders if she’ll die of the sun, and in between are so many lessons learned the hard way that she’s occasionally tempted to up and quit the whole darn thing.  Things are finally starting to look up for her when the worst happens–will Hattie be able to keep the only real home she’s ever known?

Monkey Town–by Ronald Kidd

Kidd, Ronald.  Monkey Town.  New York: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2006.

Let’s say you’re like Frances: you pretty much spend your days hanging out around town, going to school, helping out your folks sometimes, running around after your annoying little brother, and going to church.  You know, the usual.

Now let’s say what happens in Frances’s hometown happens in yours: your favorite teacher may lose his job and go to jail, you’re suddenly getting national attention from the news media, strangers are flooding the place, the fate of everyone seems to depend on one man, and everything you believe in is turned upside down.  And the amazing thing is, this mess–the infamous Scopes trial–was all planned as a publicity stunt by the pillars of the community, including your own father!  Who can you trust?

“If evolution isn’t true, why did they put it in the textbook?” I asked.
“Some people believe it,” said Mama.
“Who?”
“Nobody around here.  Well, maybe old Mr. Davis, the printer.  He likes to be different.”
“The point is,” said Daddy,” it’s against the law to teach it, at least in Tennessee.  We’re going to use that to put Dayton on the map.”
That got Mama going again.  “By arresting an innocent young man, then bringing in outsiders to run the trial?” she asked.  “What kind of crazy idea is that?”
“It’s not crazy; it’s a stroke of genius,” said Daddy.  “During the trial people all over the country are going to read about how nice Dayton is.  Mark my words, it’ll bring new business to town.”
Mama said, “If you ask me, it’s a bunch of foolishness.”
“This is going to be the biggest thing that ever hit Dayton,” said Daddy.  “Just you wait and see.”