Both of these books are heavy on the internal dialogue, but Dairy Queen does seem to offset the dialogue with a bit more exciting action - making a football field in a cow patch, whitewashing a barn and bailing hay? Makes 'ya sweat just thinking about it. So yes, there's a bit of sport in Hush as well, but the track is heavily underlying and little seems to happen with it. We were actually a little surprised that these two books selected for different reasons ended up being very similar in themes, but very different in writing styles and approaches. The flavor of each is unique and genuine.
HUSH by Jacqueline Woodson takes a look at identity in a way that most people do not - it's not just about this young girl Toswiah/Evie who is dealing with identity crisis but her entire family! Being in the witness protection plan may have been the right thing to do, but the reader certainly gets the sense that it may be more mentally taxing than having lived with the consequences of keeping quiet. The isolation of both the individual and the family unit is well captured in this book. Our overall thoughts on the book: sometimes confusing voice, but the stress, pain and issues of identity certainly come through with an interesting back story to push it along.
DAIRY QUEEN by Catherine Murdock also has identity challenges for a young woman who has been thrust into taking care of the family farm and knows more about sports (especially football) than most of her own high school. Not only does she know about football, but she can play it and teach it, but can she play it for real on her high school football team? What's the cost of playing, her new interest in their rival's quarterback and her best-friend's own persceptions and realities of who she is? We enjoyed this book and felt it was one of the few and best books out there that showed a girl successful in a "non-traditional" sport for her gender. Our hesitancy about reading a "sport" book among our group was put to rest and showed even those of us who don't give a whit about football that a good book is a good book even with football analogies and few play by plays.
Seriously, though we see the need for more positive female sports books. There does seem to be a lack of them compared to sports & boys out there.
Other thoughts from our club members?
NEXT BOOK: Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment