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KIRA KIRA and AL CAPONE DOES MY SHIRTS
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From: Sheila A Welch <sheilawelch>
Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 17:29:48 -0600
This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand
Hello,
Thanks to all who've been posting about the Newbery books. I enjoy and appreciate the various viewpoints. I've only read two of the winners.
While KIRA KIRA and AL CAPONE DOES MY SHIRTS seem very different, I was struck by the similarities. Both are in essence historical fiction and depict a strong sense of time and place. They are narrated (first person) by a child who has an older sister with a major problem. Most of the time for Moose and part of the time for Katie, they feel as if they are the older sibling because of their sisters' conditions. Each family has moved to a strange and, in its own way, hostile environment for economic reasons. In both books, mother and father work hard to help realize the dream of a "home" for their firstborn daughter. The mothers are portrayed as fragile in some ways yet possessing a great inner strength. The fathers are men with a true sense of moral values who love their children. The warden in AL CAPONE and the factory owner in KIRA loom over each family as powerful men. While Katie, Lynn, and Sammy go to the estate of Mr. Lyndon for their picnic, Moose takes Natalie with him while he looks for a ball in an off limits area of Alcatraz. Readers can't help but think, No, No, don't go there! Both places lead to trouble: Sammy gets caught in a trap, and Natalie meets the prisoner, 105. In each novel, the main character is struggling to be "good' and to deal with the many difficulties of his/her sisters' problems. There's a thread of humor throughout these novels that lightens the darkness of the characters' difficult lives.
This may seem like a rather superficial comparison, but as a writer, I found it interesting to discover so many shared elements. I think this illustrates how an author can take the same basic story and make it his or her own.
I wrote a while ago, saying how much I loved KIRA KIRA. I read it early in the year, and, like Ginny, felt immediately that it was a contender for the Newbery. As several people have mentioned, Katie's voice is very natural and, to me, comes across as that of a child who is recalling the events of her earlier life. In contrast to AL CAPONE, it has an unconventional feeling, as if the author really is Katie and doesn't quite know the conventions of writing a book. This reflects on Katie's problem, her struggle to pinpoint the "theme" of the books she must read and report on for school. Of course, Kadohata knows what she's doing, and it works, at least for me, perfectly. Like Kevin Henkes' OLIVE'S OCEAN, it may not be a book that every kid will enjoy, but I think there will be those who love it and are moved by it.
Do middle-grade students, in general, know who Al Capone was? Or what Alcatraz was? I'll have to ask my twelve-year-old granddaughter. I enjoyed the book and the depiction of Natalie and her relationship with Moose. It's an excellent family story with all those interesting historical notes. I do have a little bit of trouble when writers of historical fiction play around with history, as in this case, making up a character to replace the real warden, giving him an unusual daughter, etc. But the story is compelling and entertaining. Certainly many young readers, boys and girls alike, will be drawn into the strange world of that island.
Now, to find and read the other honor books . . .
Sheila Welch
Received on Fri 18 Feb 2005 05:29:48 PM CST
Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 17:29:48 -0600
This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand
Hello,
Thanks to all who've been posting about the Newbery books. I enjoy and appreciate the various viewpoints. I've only read two of the winners.
While KIRA KIRA and AL CAPONE DOES MY SHIRTS seem very different, I was struck by the similarities. Both are in essence historical fiction and depict a strong sense of time and place. They are narrated (first person) by a child who has an older sister with a major problem. Most of the time for Moose and part of the time for Katie, they feel as if they are the older sibling because of their sisters' conditions. Each family has moved to a strange and, in its own way, hostile environment for economic reasons. In both books, mother and father work hard to help realize the dream of a "home" for their firstborn daughter. The mothers are portrayed as fragile in some ways yet possessing a great inner strength. The fathers are men with a true sense of moral values who love their children. The warden in AL CAPONE and the factory owner in KIRA loom over each family as powerful men. While Katie, Lynn, and Sammy go to the estate of Mr. Lyndon for their picnic, Moose takes Natalie with him while he looks for a ball in an off limits area of Alcatraz. Readers can't help but think, No, No, don't go there! Both places lead to trouble: Sammy gets caught in a trap, and Natalie meets the prisoner, 105. In each novel, the main character is struggling to be "good' and to deal with the many difficulties of his/her sisters' problems. There's a thread of humor throughout these novels that lightens the darkness of the characters' difficult lives.
This may seem like a rather superficial comparison, but as a writer, I found it interesting to discover so many shared elements. I think this illustrates how an author can take the same basic story and make it his or her own.
I wrote a while ago, saying how much I loved KIRA KIRA. I read it early in the year, and, like Ginny, felt immediately that it was a contender for the Newbery. As several people have mentioned, Katie's voice is very natural and, to me, comes across as that of a child who is recalling the events of her earlier life. In contrast to AL CAPONE, it has an unconventional feeling, as if the author really is Katie and doesn't quite know the conventions of writing a book. This reflects on Katie's problem, her struggle to pinpoint the "theme" of the books she must read and report on for school. Of course, Kadohata knows what she's doing, and it works, at least for me, perfectly. Like Kevin Henkes' OLIVE'S OCEAN, it may not be a book that every kid will enjoy, but I think there will be those who love it and are moved by it.
Do middle-grade students, in general, know who Al Capone was? Or what Alcatraz was? I'll have to ask my twelve-year-old granddaughter. I enjoyed the book and the depiction of Natalie and her relationship with Moose. It's an excellent family story with all those interesting historical notes. I do have a little bit of trouble when writers of historical fiction play around with history, as in this case, making up a character to replace the real warden, giving him an unusual daughter, etc. But the story is compelling and entertaining. Certainly many young readers, boys and girls alike, will be drawn into the strange world of that island.
Now, to find and read the other honor books . . .
Sheila Welch
Received on Fri 18 Feb 2005 05:29:48 PM CST
