The Whale Rider--recommended reading

The Whale Rider  by Witi Ihimaera Witi Ihimaera’s The Whale Rider is one of those rare books that is so pure and so moving that it makes you believe anything is possible. Most specifically, it makes you believe that a book that’s basically about cultural rituals among the Maori people of New Zealand isn’t only fascinating and entertaining, but accessible. Though the book features a tattooed whale and characters who seem to possess strange and unusual abilities, it’s basically just about a family. That family is lead by fearsome Maori chief Koro Apirana and his salty but loving wife, Nanny Flowers, and includes their grandsons Porourangi and Rawiri, the story’s narrator. As the story opens, Porourangi, the older of the two, has just had a daughter, inflaming his grandfather. You see, power in the tribe handed down through the oldest son of each generation’s oldest son. The birth of a daughter breaks the lineage. But unlike Koro, Nanny Flowers and the others don’t find the little girl useless. In fact, as she gets older, she possesses talents that echo those of the ancient Whale Rider for whom she was named. But her abilities are of little comfort to Kahu, a girl who adores her great-grandfather and is shattered by his constant rejection and assertions that “she is of no use to me.” It’s this craving for her great-grandfather’s love that provides Kahu’s real motivation. Ihimaera’s writing is just about perfect. His characters, (with, oddly, the exception of Kahu’s father) are fleshed-out, interesting people. Rawiri and Nanny Flowers are especially lively and colorful. Rawiri is, of course, a devoted grandson and loving uncle, but he’s also a bit of a wild child who hangs with a motorcycle gang and is sometimes mistaken for a thug. Nanny is also loving, even to her stubborn husband. But she isn’t above regular threats of divorce, or smacking her wandering grandson Rawiri in the head. But the heart of the story lies with Koro and Kahu, two characters both so single-minded and determined that they must be related. The relationship is especially interesting because Kahu seems to understand why her great-grandfather excludes her from tribal rituals and from his love, even as she disagrees with him. The result is a profoundly enchanting story that will hold in its grip right up to its tender conclusion. © 2003 by Amanda Cuda for Curled Up With a Good Book The Film: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0298228/ A contemporary story of love, rejection and triumph as a young Maori girl fights to fulfill a destiny her grandfather refuses to recognize.

A few musings on the Young Adult part of the Hunger Games

I read the Hunger Games and I enjoyed it. It doesn't have to be a great piece of literature to be enjoyable of course. It was fast paced and very descriptive. Did I know what it would be about before I read it? Somewhat. Was I surprised after I read it? Yes.

One of the most common debates I have with friends--librarians and parents--I know a lot of advanced readers particularly in the young grades. (I was one of them. My mother let me read whatever I thought I wanted to read...but she told me we could always talk about it.)  It is always a challenge to find things to read that don't have content above their maturity level.

I have created lists featuring strong female characters. I think that young girls can and should find role models in books. There are some great books out there. Again the challenge for a very advanced young reader is the type of content. I have a friend who has a child that is an advanced reader. She doesn't want her to read books about families breaking up, the father leaving or divorce because she has a husband that works a lot. She doesn't want her daughter to project the fears from the book to their life. She wants to be able to guide that discussion, so she reads all the books first. I wish everyone could but that is why librarians can be ever so handy. I have recommended many books for her daughter but it does give me pause. What about "Moon Over Manifest." Terrific book--award winning, thoughtful and well written. But how do you explain to an 8 year old about the world wars and why people with Italian or Polish last names were treated differently? (Even more confusing if she has one.) I don't think children need to be sheltered but of course I think there is a time and place, and unfortunately, the media is pushing that time and place up so it's no longer the tweens that we're worrying about but our seven and eight year olds.

When they make these books into movies--and there have been so many from Twilight and The Hunger Games to Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging; or into TV shows of the likes of Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars, it is extra hard to avoid the hype because everyone is talking about them. They hit the covers of every magazine from 17 to Entertainment Weekly and Time. In the case of the Hunger Games, just because of the visual nature, it had so many adult overtones that I don't even think a child could understand (so many historical references--i'm sure you could catch them: Nazi/war, repression, Big Brother/1984, Civil Rights marches and the Great Depression). So that just leaves the action and the romance. While they downplayed the romance part and explained the purpose of the romance (not as much as the book but still), there was really no way to avoid the fact that children are killed by other children/young adults and they filmed them as graphically as they needed to be. That could be scary for kids to think that this is real--especially in the current climate of school violence and bullying.

I am sure that there are many more better written essays on the Hunger Games (book and/or movie) but these were just a few things that I have been thinking about. As for books with strong female characters, I'll post that in another blog post. Here's a hint...start with The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi.