Purple Heart
by Patricia McCormick
ALA Best Books for Young Adults 2010
NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People 2010
Contemporary Concerns: Publishers Weekly Best Children 's Book of 2009
ISBN 978-0-06-173090-0
Summary:
Eighteen-year-old soldier Matt Duffy wakes up to find himself in a Baghdad hospital recuperating from a traumatic brain injury. He cannot clearly remember the details of the attack that day but has a nagging feeling that it somehow involves his ten-year-old local friend, Ali. Duffy wishes to be back with his unit where he believes he will find normalcy again.
My Impressions:
I can tell that McCormick put a lot of research into this book. It certainly fits the category of Realistic Fiction and is a good story that pulls the reader into Duffy's world. I think McCormick does a great job of revealing the horrors of war without sensationalizing it. Duffy struggles with remembering what happened the day he was injured, as well as with the way his superiors handle the incident.
There is strong language (plenty of uses of the f-word) in this book, but I don't feel that it is gratuitous.
One example of a small detail that McCormick (2009) uses to makes this book so real includes a phone conversation Duffy has with his younger sister:
"Jeez, Matt, when did you turn into such a tool?" She snapped her gum.
It was funny, Matt thought, how the tiny sound of a piece of Bubblicious popping i in the United States could travel all the way to the other side of the world in a m millisecond (p. 24).
McCormick (2009) shows us Matt's confusion and fogginess through actions:
If Francis noticed, he didn't let on. "So what brings you here, Duffy Matt?"
Matt frowned. He couldn't remember the name of the thing that happened to his b brain. It was three initials. "My brain got shook up," he said finally.
Francis nodded. "IED?"
Matt shook his head. It wasn't an IED. He knew what that was: an improvised e x explosive device. A roadside bomb (pp. 34, 35).
Professional Review:
Gr 7 Up--McCormick follows up her best-selling Sold (Hyperion, 2006) with a haunting look at the soldiers in Iraq. Matt Duffy is a private who escapes dying after nearly being hit by an RPG, but cannot remember what happened to him, has a hard time grasping new things, and desperately wants to get back to his squad. Most of the book is about Matt trying to recover from TBI, the soldiers he meets in the hospital and the physical and mental problems they face, and the discovery of what really happened that day he got shot. The characters are heart-wrenching, true, and realistic. The author's research into the war is obvious and brings an awareness to readers of the situation over there that they might not otherwise have. What the text lacks is a sense of the military action. While this is a worthy purchase, teens will get more out of it if they read Walter Dean Myers's Sunrise Over Fallujah (Scholastic, 2008) first.
By Richard Winters, Wasco High School, CA
Winters, R. (2009). [Review of the book Purple Heart]. School Library Journal, 55(11), 114.
Having Fun in the Library:
I'm not sure how to use a novel in the library, but I think a good place to start would be to host an online book club (or it could by tied in with English class) where students have to post a short summary of the book and then their responses to it. The librarian could be the moderator and make sure the discussion stays on topic. Maybe after every 5 chapters the students could post their response to the book as well as respond to what others have said about the book.
McCormick, P. (2009). Purple heart. New York: Balzer + Bray.
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The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy
By Jeanne Birdsall
2005 National Book Award winner
ISBN 0-375-83143-6
Summary:
The Penderwick family (Dad, Rosalind, Skye, Jane, Batty and Hound) spend the summer in a rented cottage on the back of an estate called Arundel. Their father is busy with work (but not too busy to lend an ear or a helping hand) so the girls must entertain themselves and explore the estate. They befriend Jeffrey Tifton, the young son of the estate owner and they create adventures all summer long.
My Impressions:
This is a fun, charming book that brings to mind Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.
I loved this book. The characters enjoy life and enjoy each other; the reader feels like a member of the family. Rosalind, Skye, Jane, and Batty each grow as characters and Birdsall (2005) allows us to be privy to the moments that stretch them, such as Skye standing up to Mrs. Tifton:
Skye knew she shouldn't go in there. It wasn't gentlemanly, and it would only give M Mrs. Tifton more reason to hate her. Yes, she knew all that, and even Batty was t tugging at her arm to keep her from doing it. But it didn't matter. The family-- h her mother's!--honor was at stake, and she had to defend the people she loved the b best. She took a deep breath, girded herself for battle, and threw open the door a and charged across the room toward Mrs. Tifton (p. 188).
Skye proceeds to give the snooty Mrs. Tifton a piece of her mind and the reader is cheering her on for finally being so brave and honorable.
I loved this book. The characters enjoy life and enjoy each other; the reader feels like a member of the family. Rosalind, Skye, Jane, and Batty each grow as characters and Birdsall (2005) allows us to be privy to the moments that stretch them, such as Skye standing up to Mrs. Tifton:
Skye knew she shouldn't go in there. It wasn't gentlemanly, and it would only give M Mrs. Tifton more reason to hate her. Yes, she knew all that, and even Batty was t tugging at her arm to keep her from doing it. But it didn't matter. The family-- h her mother's!--honor was at stake, and she had to defend the people she loved the b best. She took a deep breath, girded herself for battle, and threw open the door a and charged across the room toward Mrs. Tifton (p. 188).
Skye proceeds to give the snooty Mrs. Tifton a piece of her mind and the reader is cheering her on for finally being so brave and honorable.
Professional Review:
Gr 4-6-- This enjoyable tale of four sisters, a new friend, and his snooty mother is rollicking fun. The girls' father is a gentle, widowed botany professor who gives his daughters free reign but is always there to support or comfort them. Rosalind, 12, has become the mother figure. Skye, 11, is fierce and hot-tempered. Jane, 10, is a budding writer of mysteries who has the disconcerting habit of narrating aloud whatever is occurring around her. Batty, four, is an endearingly shy, loving child who always wears butterfly wings. The family dog, Hound, is her protector. The tale begins as the Penderwicks embark on a summer holiday in the Berkshire Mountains, at a cottage on the grounds of a posh mansion owned by the terribly snobbish Mrs. Tifton. Her son, Jeffrey, is a brilliant pianist, but her heart is set on him attending a military academy like her beloved father. The action involves Rosalind's unrequited love for the 18-year-old gardener, Skye's enmity and then friendship with Jeffrey, Jane's improvement in her melodramatic writing style, and Batty's encounter with an angry bull whom she rather hopefully calls "nice horsie." Problems are solved and lessons learned in this wonderful, humorous book that features characters whom readers will immediately love, as well as a superb writing style. Bring on more of the Penderwicks!
By B. Allison Gray, John Jermain Library, Sag Harbor, NY; Trevelyn E. Jones, Editor; Luann Toth, Managing Editor; Marlene Charnizon, Associate Editor; Daryl Grabarek, Contributing Editor and Dale Raben, Assistant Editor.
Gray, B. (2005). [Review of the book The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, T Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy]. School Library Journal, 51(7), 95.
Having Fun in the Library:
1. Jane, the second youngest Penderwick, writes stories based on a character she made up: Sabrina Starr. I would have students either write a new Sabrina Starr story or write a letter to Jane suggesting what they think Sabrina Starr should do next.
2. Batty, the youngest Penderwick, likes to listen to bedtime stories. I would pair the students off and have them tell each other bedtime stories, like Rosalind does with Batty.
2. Batty, the youngest Penderwick, likes to listen to bedtime stories. I would pair the students off and have them tell each other bedtime stories, like Rosalind does with Batty.
Birdsall, J. (2005). The Penderwicks: A summer tale of four sisters, two rabbits, and a very interesting boy. N New York: Alfred A. Knopf
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