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From: Miriam Budin <miriam>
Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2005 21:50:42 -0500
Monica asks a good question about LIZZIE BRIGHT and the probability of Turner and Lizzie's friendship. I'm convinced that Schmidt sets the scene for their relationship so well that we can believe it, however unlikely it might have been for that time. Turner is so terribly isolated as the new boy in town: the preacher's kid ridiculed by the boys his age, scrutinized by every adult in town, asked to maintain an impeccable level of cleanliness and godliness. His desire to escape the public eye is overwhelming. Once he meets Lizzie--who must seem to him the embodiment of free-spirited, natural pleasure--he is inexorably drawn to her. (That she seems so free initially, of course, contributes to the sense of heartbreak and injustice Turner and the reader feel when the residents of Malaga are deprived of their homes, history, society--of everything that makes their lives worth living.)
The historical record contains evidence that there were people living on the mainland near Malaga who did object to the commonly held spurious characterizations of the island's residents and who did establish a school on the island and otherwise try to help them, however ineffectually. Their motivations may have been paternalistic as much as altruistic, but at least we know that Malagans were not universally regarded as sub-human.
Of course, it must have been as difficult for Schmidt not to let his 21st century sensibilities intrude on his writing of LIZZIE BRIGHT as it is for us not to let our 21st century sensibilities intrude on our reading of it. He is such a powerful, beautiful writer and his characters won my heart so thoroughly, that I can't be completely objective in my evaluation.
On another subject, has anyone used THE VOICE THAT CHALLENGED A NATION in conjunction with African-American History Month? If so, with what aged children and what sort of reaction did they have?
Miriam Lang Budin Children's Librarian Chappaqua Library, NY
---------- Original Message ---------------------------------From: Monica Edinger Reply-To: Monica Edinger Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 04:51:23 00
Received on Sat 19 Feb 2005 08:50:42 PM CST
Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2005 21:50:42 -0500
Monica asks a good question about LIZZIE BRIGHT and the probability of Turner and Lizzie's friendship. I'm convinced that Schmidt sets the scene for their relationship so well that we can believe it, however unlikely it might have been for that time. Turner is so terribly isolated as the new boy in town: the preacher's kid ridiculed by the boys his age, scrutinized by every adult in town, asked to maintain an impeccable level of cleanliness and godliness. His desire to escape the public eye is overwhelming. Once he meets Lizzie--who must seem to him the embodiment of free-spirited, natural pleasure--he is inexorably drawn to her. (That she seems so free initially, of course, contributes to the sense of heartbreak and injustice Turner and the reader feel when the residents of Malaga are deprived of their homes, history, society--of everything that makes their lives worth living.)
The historical record contains evidence that there were people living on the mainland near Malaga who did object to the commonly held spurious characterizations of the island's residents and who did establish a school on the island and otherwise try to help them, however ineffectually. Their motivations may have been paternalistic as much as altruistic, but at least we know that Malagans were not universally regarded as sub-human.
Of course, it must have been as difficult for Schmidt not to let his 21st century sensibilities intrude on his writing of LIZZIE BRIGHT as it is for us not to let our 21st century sensibilities intrude on our reading of it. He is such a powerful, beautiful writer and his characters won my heart so thoroughly, that I can't be completely objective in my evaluation.
On another subject, has anyone used THE VOICE THAT CHALLENGED A NATION in conjunction with African-American History Month? If so, with what aged children and what sort of reaction did they have?
Miriam Lang Budin Children's Librarian Chappaqua Library, NY
---------- Original Message ---------------------------------From: Monica Edinger Reply-To: Monica Edinger Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 04:51:23 00
Received on Sat 19 Feb 2005 08:50:42 PM CST
