The Carnegie Medal is an award sponsored by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals given to the most outstanding book published in the United Kingdom during the preceding year. The Governor General's Literary Awards are awarded in Canada and are given to children's books for both text and illustrations. I assume that this award is comparable to our Newbery and Caldecott awards here in the United States.
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents was written by Terry Pratchett and was awarded the Carnegie Medal in 2002. This book is about a talking, intelligent cat named Maurice, who becomes the leader of a group of rats who have also become intelligent (and have a couple of their own leaders within their own rat clan), as well as a boy named Keith who plays a flute. Maurice has convinced the boy and the rats to fool towns and swindle their money. Maurice wants Keith to become a "pied piper" and tries to persuade him to help rid a town of rats and get money for it - by using the town's existing rat tunnels and running the non-intelligent rats out of town. While settling in a particular town to try this, Keith meets a girl named Malicia, who is the mayor's daughter. She helps Keith, Maurice, and the rats in their quest to conquer the tunnels and outwit the town's "rat catchers," and they discover that the "rat catchers" are actually swindling food from their own town (the town is in a state of severe famine). The rat catchers are also not really getting rid of the rats, but are instead putting them in dog-pins to get mauled, and locking the survivors in cages. By the end of the book, the intelligent bunch frees the non-intelligent rats, exposes the rat catchers, returns the town's food that was being stashed by the rat catchers, and convinces the Mayor and the town council that rats are not the enemy. The townspeople and the rats end up creating a living relationship with the rats and negotiating rules of existence for both groups whereby the rats promise not to eat their food, and the people promise not to set traps or put out poison for the rats. Maurice, however, is a cat who cannot change, and he goes on to another town and targets a new "non-intelligent" boy to manipulate.
Skellig was written by David Almond and received the Carnegie Medal in 1999 and was originally published in Great Britain. This story is about a little boy named Michael who moves to an old, run-down house in need of much repair with his "Mum," dad, and new baby sister, who is ill. He did not want to move to the new house and he is bitter about the change. He is constantly trying to get outside, out of the house. His mom and dad kept telling him to stay away from garage, which was so dilapidated that it was almost falling in, but this only intrigued him more. Michael was very unhappy and worried about his sister being so sick. His parents were always busy fussing over her so he was able to easily slip past them and go to the garage. Every time he went near it and stepped inside he heard scurrying and scratching of critters. But one evening he went further and discovered someone lying on the floor moaning and unhappy. Startled, he ran out, but he quickly became obsessed with who was in the garage, why he was there, and if he was dreaming the whole thing. But each time he went back the "person" was still there, in pain, and suffering from "Arthur itis." Michael kept asking him who he was and WHAT he was, but he always answered "no one," and "nothing." Michael wanted to help him and asked him what he could do. The only reply he got was to bring an aspirin, a brown bottle of ale (beer), and "27 and 53." Michael knew these were Chinese menu items from the restaurant from where he and his dad often got take-out while Mum and the baby were at the hospital. That night he got all of these items and brought them to the man in the garage, who ate so fast and declared 27 and 53 were
"sweetest of nectars" and "nectars of the gods." It was not long before a little girl named Mia, who lived next door, came over to meet Michael one day when he was leaving the garage. Mia did not go to school; she and her mother believed that education was something that could be learned at home, by studying art and poetry. Mia was enchanted with birds and sketching them; she had an entire journal of birds and drawings of their skeletons, wings, and habitats. She showed him a secret place (her grandfather's old house which her family was going to fix up eventually) where a family of owls nested. In return, Michael decided to show her the person in the garage so she could help him decide if he was real, and to see if she could help make him better. When they decided to help him sit up and move him to Mia's grandfather's deserted house (where the owls lived), the children discovered that his shoulder blades had something attached to them, crumpled up: wings! They knew he must be an angel, and they realized that he needed some help to get better. He finally told them his name was Skellig, and that he was "something like a bird, something like a beast, something like an angel, something like you, something like me, something like that." In the meantime, between visiting Skellig, Michael's parents told him something very serious was wrong with his baby sister, and that she was going to have to have an operation. Skellig seemed to be getting stronger because of Mia and Michael feeding, and the owls bringing sustenance to him as well. One evening, the night of the baby's surgery, Mia and Michael could not find Skellig at the house. The next day, Michael awoke to hear good news that his sister was going to be okay, and his Mum told him of a strange dream she had the night before the operation: she had dreamed she was sleeping in the baby's room and that a large figure with wings was looking over the baby, and he picked her up and they stared in each other's eyes, and they looked like they were dancing, and transparent, faint wings appeared on the back of the baby, and the figure's wings glowed as well, then he put her down and was gone. Michael knew that Skellig had visited his little sister which helped her get through the operation okay. He and Mia did get one last visit from Skellig, who confirmed he had visited Michael's little sister. The three of them hugged one last time and he was gone. A few days later, builders came to knock down the old garage so they could make the garden bigger, and the baby came home from the hospital. Mia visited so she could meet the baby for the first time, and brought her a gift: a picture of Skellig. A name was finally given to the baby: Joy.
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents was written by Terry Pratchett and was awarded the Carnegie Medal in 2002. This book is about a talking, intelligent cat named Maurice, who becomes the leader of a group of rats who have also become intelligent (and have a couple of their own leaders within their own rat clan), as well as a boy named Keith who plays a flute. Maurice has convinced the boy and the rats to fool towns and swindle their money. Maurice wants Keith to become a "pied piper" and tries to persuade him to help rid a town of rats and get money for it - by using the town's existing rat tunnels and running the non-intelligent rats out of town. While settling in a particular town to try this, Keith meets a girl named Malicia, who is the mayor's daughter. She helps Keith, Maurice, and the rats in their quest to conquer the tunnels and outwit the town's "rat catchers," and they discover that the "rat catchers" are actually swindling food from their own town (the town is in a state of severe famine). The rat catchers are also not really getting rid of the rats, but are instead putting them in dog-pins to get mauled, and locking the survivors in cages. By the end of the book, the intelligent bunch frees the non-intelligent rats, exposes the rat catchers, returns the town's food that was being stashed by the rat catchers, and convinces the Mayor and the town council that rats are not the enemy. The townspeople and the rats end up creating a living relationship with the rats and negotiating rules of existence for both groups whereby the rats promise not to eat their food, and the people promise not to set traps or put out poison for the rats. Maurice, however, is a cat who cannot change, and he goes on to another town and targets a new "non-intelligent" boy to manipulate. It was a real struggle for me to get through this book. I did not see why it won an award. Most of the children's books that I have read that have earned awards are obvious to me why they won the award; this one was not. I did not understand why the book was as drawn out as it was - I thought the point of the story could have been expressed in a much shorter amount of pages than it was. I did not enjoy the descriptions of the rats when they were put into a "dog-ring" to be eaten by dogs and were attacked, killed, and mauled. I thought some of the descriptions and some of the storyline was a little graphic for young readers. I also thought the overall storyline about the Pied Piper was not original. Some of Maurice's thoughts and experiences when hearing voices of the Rat King were eerie, and something that I did not think was necessary in this type of book. I would not really recommend the book. I did enjoy one particular quote which I thought was a nice metaphor: "If you don't turn your life into a story, you just become a part of someone else's story." I did think this was a true statement and a nice underlying theme to the book. Another quote which ends the book is also true: "The thing about stories is that you have to pick the ones that last." Because I believe that statement as well, I do not recommend this book because I do not think this story is one that is profound nor extremely interesting nor one that I will remember for years to come. It just doesn't strike me as that type of book.
Skellig was written by David Almond and received the Carnegie Medal in 1999 and was originally published in Great Britain. This story is about a little boy named Michael who moves to an old, run-down house in need of much repair with his "Mum," dad, and new baby sister, who is ill. He did not want to move to the new house and he is bitter about the change. He is constantly trying to get outside, out of the house. His mom and dad kept telling him to stay away from garage, which was so dilapidated that it was almost falling in, but this only intrigued him more. Michael was very unhappy and worried about his sister being so sick. His parents were always busy fussing over her so he was able to easily slip past them and go to the garage. Every time he went near it and stepped inside he heard scurrying and scratching of critters. But one evening he went further and discovered someone lying on the floor moaning and unhappy. Startled, he ran out, but he quickly became obsessed with who was in the garage, why he was there, and if he was dreaming the whole thing. But each time he went back the "person" was still there, in pain, and suffering from "Arthur itis." Michael kept asking him who he was and WHAT he was, but he always answered "no one," and "nothing." Michael wanted to help him and asked him what he could do. The only reply he got was to bring an aspirin, a brown bottle of ale (beer), and "27 and 53." Michael knew these were Chinese menu items from the restaurant from where he and his dad often got take-out while Mum and the baby were at the hospital. That night he got all of these items and brought them to the man in the garage, who ate so fast and declared 27 and 53 were"sweetest of nectars" and "nectars of the gods." It was not long before a little girl named Mia, who lived next door, came over to meet Michael one day when he was leaving the garage. Mia did not go to school; she and her mother believed that education was something that could be learned at home, by studying art and poetry. Mia was enchanted with birds and sketching them; she had an entire journal of birds and drawings of their skeletons, wings, and habitats. She showed him a secret place (her grandfather's old house which her family was going to fix up eventually) where a family of owls nested. In return, Michael decided to show her the person in the garage so she could help him decide if he was real, and to see if she could help make him better. When they decided to help him sit up and move him to Mia's grandfather's deserted house (where the owls lived), the children discovered that his shoulder blades had something attached to them, crumpled up: wings! They knew he must be an angel, and they realized that he needed some help to get better. He finally told them his name was Skellig, and that he was "something like a bird, something like a beast, something like an angel, something like you, something like me, something like that." In the meantime, between visiting Skellig, Michael's parents told him something very serious was wrong with his baby sister, and that she was going to have to have an operation. Skellig seemed to be getting stronger because of Mia and Michael feeding, and the owls bringing sustenance to him as well. One evening, the night of the baby's surgery, Mia and Michael could not find Skellig at the house. The next day, Michael awoke to hear good news that his sister was going to be okay, and his Mum told him of a strange dream she had the night before the operation: she had dreamed she was sleeping in the baby's room and that a large figure with wings was looking over the baby, and he picked her up and they stared in each other's eyes, and they looked like they were dancing, and transparent, faint wings appeared on the back of the baby, and the figure's wings glowed as well, then he put her down and was gone. Michael knew that Skellig had visited his little sister which helped her get through the operation okay. He and Mia did get one last visit from Skellig, who confirmed he had visited Michael's little sister. The three of them hugged one last time and he was gone. A few days later, builders came to knock down the old garage so they could make the garden bigger, and the baby came home from the hospital. Mia visited so she could meet the baby for the first time, and brought her a gift: a picture of Skellig. A name was finally given to the baby: Joy.
This book had parts in it that reminded me of A Bridge to Terabithia. The relationship between Michael and Mia was similar to Jess's and Leslie's relationship. In both stories, the boys are not as educated in the ways of art, music, poetry, and the imagination, like the girls are. They really do not believe much in things they cannot see or things that are unfamiliar to them, but the girls teach the boys that faith is important. Leslie is drawn to Jess just as Mia is drawn to Michael, and they become inseparable friends, always sneaking out together to go to secret places - Michael and Mia to see Skellig at the old house, and Leslie and Jess to Terabithia in the woods, where no one else can find them. One scene in particular in Skellig really reminded me of A Bridge to Terabithia - when Mia's mother invited Michael in to learn about poetry and art, using modeling clay to make things in their house instead of going to school that day. This is similar to the scene when Leslie's mother invited Jess in to their house to help paint a room, and they were all free to express themselves artistically, just as Michael and Mia were with the clay.
I would recommend Skellig to children everywhere - it's a wonderful story about angels, believing, and helping others. It's a reminder that hope and faith can make almost the impossible come true. Michael's little sister gets better because of an angel, who only Michael and Mia have seen. Michael tried to nurse Skellig back to health with food and medicine, just as Michael's mother and the doctors were trying to make the baby better. This book will bring the message of hope to children and will let them know the importance of faith. It is actually appealing to people of all ages, and has been translated into more than 30 languages around the world. Skellig became a radio play on the BBC, and was adapted for the stage in London. In addition, a movie and an opera based on the story have been produced.
The Governor General's Literary Awards are given in Canada and have separate prizes for text and illustration. Monetary prizes of $15,000 are given to winners in each category, and publishers of the winners receive $3,000 for promotion.
Dust
, written by Arthur Slade, received the Governor General's Literary Award in 2001. This suspenseful fictional chapter book for young readers is about an 11-year-old boy named Robert whose 7-year-old brother, Matthew, mysteriously disappears when walking to town one day to buy some candy. Matthew gets in the truck with a stranger in a cowboy hat with gloves on his hands who promises to take him to town to get the candy. Robert feels responsible when he learns of his brother's disappearance because his mother had asked him to go to town with Matthew but Robert didn't want to; he was reading an adventurous book because he wanted to escape from his chores and his family and pretend he was in stories like The Warlord of Mars, Tarzan of the Apes, and Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, all books his uncle had snuck to him to read when his mother (who only wanted him to read the "Good Book," the Bible) was unaware. The Royal Mountie police investigated Matthew's disappearance for quite some time, but the only clue they ever found along the road to Horshoe where he was last seen was his hat and a broken clay jar that had contained red dust. Weeks then months went by, and it seemed to Robert that his parents and the Mounties had given up. He was worried that Matthew would soon be forgotten and any memories they had would be gone.
, written by Arthur Slade, received the Governor General's Literary Award in 2001. This suspenseful fictional chapter book for young readers is about an 11-year-old boy named Robert whose 7-year-old brother, Matthew, mysteriously disappears when walking to town one day to buy some candy. Matthew gets in the truck with a stranger in a cowboy hat with gloves on his hands who promises to take him to town to get the candy. Robert feels responsible when he learns of his brother's disappearance because his mother had asked him to go to town with Matthew but Robert didn't want to; he was reading an adventurous book because he wanted to escape from his chores and his family and pretend he was in stories like The Warlord of Mars, Tarzan of the Apes, and Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, all books his uncle had snuck to him to read when his mother (who only wanted him to read the "Good Book," the Bible) was unaware. The Royal Mountie police investigated Matthew's disappearance for quite some time, but the only clue they ever found along the road to Horshoe where he was last seen was his hat and a broken clay jar that had contained red dust. Weeks then months went by, and it seemed to Robert that his parents and the Mounties had given up. He was worried that Matthew would soon be forgotten and any memories they had would be gone. The story takes place during the Depression era in the small town of Horshoe in the province of Saskatchewan during a drought, where farmers are desperate for rain for their crops. Shortly after Matthew disappeared, a man named Abram Harsich comes to Horshoe and invites people to attend an event where he proposes the building of a rainmaking machine. There he mesmerizes people with a magical mirror of sorts where they believe everything Abram says and see all their dreams and fantasies inside the mirror. Robert sees a vision of his uncle who had died in World War I in the mirror, while his mother sees Matthew. Robert and his uncle soon become a minority in a town that believes Abram can bring rain and prosperity to their town, and end the drought that has plagued Horshoe for what seems an eternity. All the men in Horshoe sign an agreement to help Abram build the rainmaking machine in exchange for not having to pay their land debts to the bank. But Robert continues to feel uneasy about Abram and confides in his uncle about strange things he has noticed. Abram had pulled Robert aside one day and said that he could make his dreams come true, if he would only trust him, and that he knew his brother Matthew was safe. He asks Robert if he knows what dust is, and Robert replies "dry dirt." Abram says dust is "soil without enough moisture to bind it together. It'll give you as many years of life as grains of sand squeezed in your hand. But I have many more years than a fistful of sand. Many more. All because of dust."
On Matthew's birthday months later, Robert went to town because he was so discouraged that his parents didn't even acknowledge that it was his brother's birthday. There, he saw Abram unloading parts for the rainmaking machine off a train with some other men. Robert decides to go to Abram's house while he had the chance to see what he could find. He first goes to the rainmaking machine and takes a brick and throws it at the many jars of red dust inside, breaking them one by one. Then he goes to Abram's house and inside he discovers a trap door underneath the floorboards. He goes inside and finds several children who had been frozen by Abram. He breaks them free as quickly as he can and is unable to save them all, but many of them are still breathing. He finally finds Matthew, who happily is still alive, and he breaks him free from the ice. Abram appears during this and he struggles with Robert but eventually the rainmaking machine and the breaking of the jars of dust cause him to be engulfed and he fades away magically. The Royal Mountie who had been investigating the case showed up just as Matthew was breaking the children free and is dumbfounded at the scene. He helps the children to safety and reunites them with their parents. As he is driving Robert and Matthew home, Robert tells the Mountie he's "got it from here," and takes Matthew inside. His mother and father can't believe it, and they praise Robert for not giving up and for finding Matthew and bringing him home.
This book was very suspenseful and very intriguing. I couldn't put it down, wondering what had happened to Matthew. I knew that Abram had done something with him, but you don't know until the end of the book what exactly he had done. I enjoyed the book actually until the very end, because the magical things that happened obviously aren't realistic. There is of course no way that those children would be alive still, having been frozen like that for who knows how long - in the story, Matthew had been gone for at least a year or more, and there is absolutely no way he would be alive still. The point, though, is to never give up hope, and that is exactly what Robert does - he doesn't give up until he finds Matthew.
The book was unique, for sure, and some people would enjoy it. I don't know that I disliked it completely, but it certainly wasn't one of the best books I ever read. I do think the author does a wonderful job of painting a picture of the environment and time period in which the story takes place. The reader gets a good feel of what life is like during the Depression era in a town of Saskatchewan during a drought. The townspeople's dependence on rain is felt and their desperation for green fields and crops is evident. The title of the book, Dust, is a good one - not only because of the role dust plays with Abram's character, but also because the province is so full of dust because of the drought that even their counters in their kitchens are covered with the film, and the food and dishes in their pantries have to be covered up so the thin layers of dust don't cover everything. The author is a very good writer and is able to paint vivid pictures with his descriptions.
No comments:
Post a Comment