Project “What’s in a Book?”

Book Review

The works presented below are written by the participants of the project “What’s in a Book?” organized by the Russian State Children’s Library. The aim of the project was to attract children to reading contemporary fiction in English. The idea was supported by Scholastic Inc. publishing house, the US Embassy in Moscow, the newspaper English and many other friends of the Library. Children were encouraged to read a book by a contemporary British or North American writer and produce a creative response to it.

SOUNDER (by William H. Armstrong)

In my opinion, some words about the author are really essential at the beginning of this book review.
William H. Armstrong grew up in Lexington, Virginia. He graduated from Hampden-Sydney College and did graduate work at the University of Virginia. He taught ancient history and studied technology at Kent School for fifty-two years. He also had a small sheep farm and lived in a house he built with his own hands. Author of more than a dozen books for adults and children, he won the John Newberry Medal for Sounder in 1970 and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Hampden-Sydney College in 1986.
A timeless classic, and the basis of an acclaimed film, Sounder is a novel that tells of the courage and love that bind a black family together despite the extreme prejudice and inhumanity it faces in the Deep South.
In the Author’s Note to the copy of this book that I just read, William Armstrong, who was white, says that he first heard this story from an old black teacher who used to worship at his local church:
“It is the black man’s story, not mine. It was not from Aesop, the Old Testament, or Homer. It was history – his history.”
I don’t know whether it is, in fact, a true story, but as Armstrong’s own assertion acknowledges, it is the stuff of myth. In his “myth” he uses a very interesting method of avoiding giving his characters names. He did that so that readers could relate to the characters in it! He wanted the family to represent the whole African American race being discriminated against. It’s a certain art, not an absence. The fact that only Sounder is given a name in the story adds to the mythic quality.
Sounder is the loyal coon-hunting (racoon) dog of a family of black sharecroppers (people who do farm labour on other people’s land). At the heart of the tale is the oldest son in this family, plagued by loneliness, helpless rage, and a burning desire to learn to read. The owner of the land they live on has been careful to space families out, presumably so that they won’t band together, so they basically have no neighbours and it is too far for the boy to walk to school. The boy’s parents are strong-willed, and his mother is deeply religious, but they are very reserved. The boy is very much alone, more so because he can’t read, and Sounder is very nearly his best friend.
Even this rather isolated world is shattered when the father is sent to prison for stealing ham and the men who come to take him away shoot Sounder in the process. Believing Sounder to be dead or dying, the boy’s mother tells her son to leave Sounder in peace to die. The boy looks for Sounder’s body over the course of the next few days but cannot find the dog. In order to support the family, the boy’s mother shells walnuts and brings them to town for sale.
One day the boy’s mother bakes a cake and tells him to bring the cake to the jail for his father. Although the boy is excited to visit his father, his spirits are dashed when the jail workers smash his cake to bits prior to him delivering it to his father. Before he leaves the prison his father instructs him not to come back for future visits. As the boy continues his quest to find Sounder, he grapples with resentful feelings towards his father and the fate of his family as they struggle to survive.
This book is really unusual. You will definitely fall in love with Sounder. His owners and the dog himself are so nice that they do not deserve to be treated harshly by the racist white men... just for stealing ham for his family preventing them from starving.
This book shows how one of the main characters never gave up and teaches us to be persistent and confident. The boy tries hard and never quits! He becomes a man within his journey in search for his father. You become proud of his willingness and motivation of desiring to learn to read. All the characters had a perfect personality... despite not having been named.
This book also touches upon the theme of racism. It gives a good perspective of what life was like back then. The boy and his father and Sounder... basically the whole family, were affected by the racism in the novel. Using their example the author showed how African Americans were treated in the 1860s.
The story of how first Sounder and then the family heal themselves and of how the boy eventually learns to read are really moving. As it has already been said, the fact that only Sounder is given a name in the story adds to the mythic quality and the mother’s constant singing of “Lonesome Valley” imparts a Biblical touch. It may be too powerful for younger kids, but teens and even adults will love it.

By Liza Vinogradova,
Age 15, Grade 10, SAAS “Marina”, Moscow

DIARIES

I have read two books in the genre of an epistolary novel. Both of them are written by American authors and in both the narrators are girls. I wondered if modern boys could keep diaries as, for example, A.S. Pushkin did. I thought that it would be fun to write one on behalf of a boy. Here is my story. It is based on real facts.

DAK’S DIARY

Thank God, I don’t have to get up early today. No school, no homework, no need to hurry. Christmas vacation!
When I was little I looked forward to Christmas because of Santa Claus’ presents. Now it’s a rare chance to stay at home, though I’m sure in a day or two I’ll get bored of Mom’s questions. Each morning will begin with a conversation like this:
– Have you got up yet, Dak?
– Yes, Mom.
– Have you cleaned your teeth?
– Yes, Mom.
– Have you put your slippers on?
– Yes, Mom.
– Okay, don’t “yes Mom” me, please!
– Yes, Mom.
I wonder why nobody has made up a special dictionary of “momisms”, the statements all moms seem to have handy when they need their kids to obey. Haven’t you heard your mom say it hundreds of times:
– I would never have talked to my mother like that.
– Why? Because I said so, that’s why.
– I’m going to give you until the count of three.
– ‘I don’t know’ is not an answer.
– If everyone jumped off a cliff, would you do it too?
– Money doesn’t grow on trees.
– I’m not talking just to hear my own voice.
– I hope, some day, when you have kids, they’re just like you, then you’ll know.
I can’t say I don’t love my mom, but, to tell you the truth, she’s rather eccentric. It’s a feature of our family. My great grandma, who’s about 80, comes from Russia.
She left her motherland for Canada (where she lives now) at the age of 30. But since then she hasn’t learnt a word either in English or in French and when she comes on a visit we have to communicate with the help of an interpreter, or to be more exact, with my granny’s help who actually speaks neither Russian nor English, but in the language which I would rather call Anglo-Russian or Semi-Russian. It’s a kind of a terrible mixture of both languages. “Give me tu shtuku, please,” is her favourite phrase.
As for my mom, she doesn’t know Russian at all. And the idea to give me a name after one of the US states – Dakota – is certainly hers. Another proof of my mom’s eccentricity is her marriage to Alex, a Russian student who came to Canada to study English and had to rent a room. It happened to be one of the rooms in our house. Alex is quite funny. He’s a perfect skater and he’s good at karate. Imagine, he’s taught me some tricks!
I don’t know much about my relatives on my father’s side because my parents have never been married and he doesn’t recognize me as HIS son. But my grandfather, an oil magnate, supports our family and pays for my education at a private boarding school, the most expensive and prestigious one. And one more thing – 18 million dollars placed on my bank account. I wish I could come of age as soon as possible and dispose of my money as I think fit!
Honestly, sometimes my mom treats me like I’m still ten years old. It always gets on my nerves. Why can’t grown-ups be just friends and not supervisors!
I heard somewhere that when you write a diary you pretend that you’re writing a letter to a really close friend, someone you can trust completely and you know will never laugh at you or show extreme curiosity as Bill, my roommate at school, usually does, and that makes me mad. On the other hand, I feel kind of silly writing about my life in this tiny book like a stupid romantic girl.
Oh, my God! Mom’s knocking at my door and asking...guess what... Right!
– “Have you got up yet, Dak?”

By Anna Chedkova,
13 years old, SAAS “Marina”, Moscow

A LETTER TO THE AUTHOR

Dear Ms. Natalie Honeycutt!
First of all, thank you so much for your book Juliet Fisher and the Foolproof Plan. I liked this book very much. Reading it I remembered myself back in third form with pleasure. We also had one teacher when I was in the elementary school. We had very good relations. I think that my behaviour was very similar to Juliet’s: I received only good marks, didn’t fool around; during breaks I stood near the wall by the teacher. My neighbour who shared a school desk with me was a very quiet, silent girl. As well as the main character, children who ran all the time on breaks, irritated me, like the main character, they played different games , not clear for me. First, I looked at it with shock, but then, having played with them once, I got interested in it, and I began to take part in noisy games each time, when I was invited. After a while, became accustomed to this “strange” group and became the initiator and the main inventor of new interesting games.
To have a true relationship is very difficult at any age, especially in elementary school. We try to trust each other; we have the same interests; we play games together; and then we disappoint each other. I also had enemies and friends. However, I couldn’t say that I had a true friend. Yes, I considered that I had a friend, whom I could trust with all my secrets. But the first quarrel showed the real face of our friendship. I went through it with difficulty. I couldn’t understand how my friend could betray me. My eyes were full of tears and I asked myself why I had trusted her.
That’s why, when I began reading this book, I remembered myself and my past. I liked Juliet, we are so much alike. One day I had a new neighbour who sat with me at the desk. It was in the third form. At the beginning we were just classmates and not more. Little by little we began to help each other, our friendship grew and we became best friends. The most interesting thing is that we remain the best and true friends till now.
I understand Juliet’s behaviour because I see myself: if someone hurts me, I walk away. I don’t want to listen to anything I am sure isn’t right. We should try to understand what the problem is. To walk away is so easy and everybody can do it. And it means that the person isn’t self-assured.
Very often I met people with whom I would like to have something in common. Certainly, we should be eager to have something that we don’t really have. But I think we don’t have to forget our individuality and completely change everything. I don’t think our life is only positive. Every person has positive qualities: Juliet is a very clever, smart girl, but she also has bad qualities: she likes to say bad things about others. Of course, she has a chance to find her best friend. But she needs to change. People should change. The most important thing is that she changed for the better. She became braver, free, and less boring.

By Alexandra Kapustina,
School No. 308, Moscow