Yesterday's History: Reviewing three Historical Realism books in Juvenile Fiction
My Heart is on the Ground- Ann Rinaldi
Picture me cracking my knuckles when I say, let's get into it.
My Heart on the Ground is a Historical fiction novel told through diary entries of a Sioux girl during the late 19th century and takes place in an Indian School. It is a novel in author Ann Rinaldi's Dear America series, that features diaries from the perspective of other young girls throughout American History.
However, Rinaldi has greatly missed the mark on this one. From her author's note and historical note that includes photographs from this era and of the Native people, it appears as though Rinaldi is aware of how awful these "Indian Schools" were. So, I don't quite understand why, knowing the horrific nature, she chose to depict the Carlisle Indian school as nothing more than a really strict boarding school. She gravely undersells and misinterprets the reality that these native children faced. It also seems tone deaf to write a true story about a young girl possibly being buried alive into a children's middle grade book. I don't think it's ever really possible for a person to write a book from the perspective of a culture that is not their own and be successful. At the bare minimum Rinaldi should have had a Sioux (preferbably female) co-author this book with her. In a perfect world, I'd ike to see a version of this story where Rindaldi is not involved at all. Because the sad irony is that the treatment of Indigenous and Native tribes, and especially the invention of these Indian schools is a story that should be told. But it cannot be told by a white anglo-saxon. Because, whether intentional or not, there will be inherit bias and even potentially racism.
I especially didn't appreciate Rinaldi's approach to introducing Little Rose and native customs to her audience. It's safe to assume that there are a large majority of children who don't know a lot about Native Americans and their culture. Rinaldi introduces this non-white culture with Little Rose explaining how before Natives were colonized, a Sioux girl would marry when she came of age and her father would get many items in trade. She insinuates that the suitor would essentially assault her and force her to be compliant. She ends this diary entry by stating her new name should be "Learns-to-write". There is an undercurrent that Rinaldi thinks that though these schools were bad for natives, it's better to be literate in english than their "savage" ways anyways. A child will read this example of her culture's custom and right away naturally think of natives as others. This diary entry is only the third entry and therefore seems to purposefully set a precedent that the reader should think Native customs are incorrect.
I appreciate that Rinaldi wanted to tell a coming of age story through the perspective of a young Sioux girl. But the simple truth is that it's not Rindaldi's story to tell. This is ultimatley a poor example of a Historical Realism juvenile fiction book, as it lacks realism.
Wolf Hollow- Lauren Wolk
Wolf, Lauren. Wolf Hollow. Dutton Books for Young Readers, 2016. 304 pages. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978101994825
Wolf Hollow is an interesting peek into the perspective of life during the World War II era. The two main themes that run through Wolf Hollow are: living with fear, and corruption by hatred. Though the moral of this story could most likely be summed up by a quote from main character, Annabelle's, father. "A wolf is not a dog and never will be. No matter how you raise it" (11).
Annabelle and her family live on a farm in a small town in Pennslyvania during World War II. Annabelle begins to be terrorized and bullied by the new girl Betty, but Annabelle befriends Toby, the town's local vagrant who is actually a veteran of World War I most likely experienced shell shock or PTSD. What unfolds is a metaphorical story relating to all of the cruelty, hatred, and fear that was born in the result of World War I bout mostly World War II.
I found Wolf's style and tone to be impressively indicative of a clear historical setting and theme. Reading this novel, even though this was only published in 2016, I found it very reminiscent of other historical classics I read as a child. Such as; Anne of Green Gables, Summer of the Monkeys, Tuck Everlasting, and especially To Kill a Mockingird. Though all these examples take place in different settings and/or time periods of American History, the language, story telling, and overall plot development felt the same or similar. I'm curious to know if Wolf was inspired specifically by To Kill a Mockingbird. The plot point of a misunderstood individual being wrongfully accused of a crime, receives help from a kind hearted family with good morals, with a story told through the eyes of an innocent young girl, seems to be too much of a coincidence to not be an inspiration. If I had to compare the two directly I would say that TKAM is superior. However, Wolf Hollow would be a great choice for a similar book more geared towards a bit of a younger audience. I'd say the perfect age range for this book is anywhere between 4th-8th grade depending on reading and social/emotional level.
Wolf does not provide any other notes in this book such as an index or biography notes. But I didn't find many issue with the historical accuracy of the time, setting, or social order. I particularly liked that Wolf added the that Annabelle was worried the war would go on long enough for her brothers to be drafted though farmboys were often spared. This caught my attention because I had never heard this but I looked it up and disovered that for the farmers were exempt from the draft in WWII, generally speaking.
Overall, I would say that Wolf Hollow is a great example of a Historical Realism Juvenile fiction book as it not only remains accurate in social and temporal context but also contains an intersting over arching metaphor and motif for the World War II era.
When Clouds Touch Us- Thanhha Lai
When Clouds Touch Us is a poignant and important historical realism novel of vietnamese refugees told through the perspective of a young girl who relocates, with her family, to Texas. This is a novel verse, which I think makes this book successful for two reasons. Firstly, the fragmented sentences or poetic nature helps to convey that the main character, Ha, is an English as a Second Language learner but not at the cost of making her sound unitelligent. The poems contain artful similies, metaphors, and imagery to convey Ha's emotions or even the setting. Secondly, novels in verse are typically easier for other ESL students to read as they contain less words per page. It therefore makes great logical sense that a story about a young girl learning how to assimliate into America, could be enjoyed by the real life students who are faced with doing the same.
This story takes place in the mid to late 1970's in the aftermarth of the Vietnam war. There are aspects to this story that are lacking a bit in realism. Lai makes reference to the war and the violence that occured within it but doesn't do so in a way that most accuretley represents the real life atrocities of this war. However, I'd consider this an artisitic liberty made so that it would be an appropriate story for her audience. The age range for this book could be anywhere from 5th to 8th grade. But there are aspects of the Vietnam war that are simply too graphic and inappropriate for a child that age to comprehend or learn about. Additionally, Lai presents the obvious racism that refugees faces through the lens of Ha, meaning it appears as School Bullying, when in reality it was a lot more severe than that. Again, this seems like an effort to appeal to Lai's young audience. And this could act as an opportunity for an adult to inform young audiences of the other ways that refugees face prejudice and racism.
Despite those main deviations from realism, this book does to a great job at portraying cultural, emotional, and economic accuracy for Vietnames refugess specifically. Though this is a work of fiction, author Thanhha Lai was a Vietnamese refugee herself. Therefore giving her absolute credos for writing a novel from that perspective. And it's for that reason that I read those cultural, emotional and economioc plot points as accurate truth and representation. Lai includes such aspects as, survivor's guilt, balancing dual identites, familial pressure, food preferences, and cultural misunderstandings. In fact the specificity of Lai's examples of cultural mistunderstanding it what really led me to conclude that this is a historical accurate book rooted in realism.
At one point in the novel, Ha gets a fever. To treat her, her mother uses a vietnamese healing method called Cao Gio. Which invovles rubbing a coin over a lubricated are of the skin in order to draw out the bad energy in your body that is making you sick. This method often leaves red marks or bruising. In the novel, the school sees these marks on Ha and suspect that she is experiencing abuse at home. I felt that this was such a specific example of how a culture can be so vastly different from one another and the ignorance of that can truly result in severe consequences.
Overall, Lai's tone, depiction of characters emotions, setting, and style are all indicative of a successful historical realism novel for children.
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