Review- On My Honor

Pic courtesy goodreads.com

On My Honor
Written by Marion Dane Bauer
Published by Yearling books, an imprint of Random House Children's books.
Ages: 8-12, 12+

Peer pressure. Everyone faces it, children more so. It looms large in their small world, often leading to literally life-and-death situations.

Twelve year old Joel and Tony are 'best friends', very different in temperament, often squabbling and bickering, but inseparable.

Tony- exuberant, fun-loving, risk-taking, with a devil-may-care attitude. Joel, the more cautious of the two, introspecting, sensitive to undercurrents in a situation, a foil for Tony.

On the way to a cliff-climbing trip, (which Joel had earlier tried to wriggle out of, hoping his father would not give him permission to go), the irrepressible Tony had decided he wanted to go swimming in the river instead. The turbulant, treacherous Vermillion river, known for its rapids. Inspite of having promised his father 'on his honor', that he would not do anything dangerous, Joel falls for the bait when Tony accuses him of being over-cautious.

"Sometimes, Bates, you sound just like your old man."
Joel could feel the heat flooding his face. "What's wrong with that?"
" 'Be careful in that tree, son,' " Tony mimicked, " 'you might get hurt. Watch Bobby when he crosses the street. Those drivers never pay any--' "
Joel had been moving closer to Tony as he spoke, and now he gave him a hard shove.

Tony keeps needling Joel, driven by bravado and dare-devilry, goading him to challenge Tony to a swimming race to a sandbar a hundred yards away. With terrible consequences.

Peer pressure. Wanting to fit in. Misplaced confidence. A sense of being indestructible. A devil-may-care attitude. Inability to lose face. Unwillingness to be perceived as a 'coward' when being just sensible and careful. A recipe for disaster?

Marion Dane Bauer has written a fast-paced, racy, but sensitively told story based on a real incident that happenned in the town where she grew up, at the very same place as described in the book. A very short, 90 page book that is very hard-hitting.

Bauer's potrayal of Joel's effort to get out of what is very clearly a fool-hardy venture, without losing face- first hoping that his father would not give his permission, then trying to make Tony see sense is very realistic. It happens ever so often in our own kids' peer-group. The disaster comes on unexpectedly, chillingly, with everything else seemingly the same, unchanged.

The potrayal of Joel's survivor guilt is heart-wrenching. The disbelief, denial, anger, dissociation, grief, a desire to hide, not face the parents, an obsessive 'washing-off of the stench of the river', are powerfully written. It helps, that his father is understanding, trying to help him let go of the paralysing, mind-numbing grief.

The wracking sobs flowed out of him like water.
His father held him for a long time, saying nothing, until Joel's tears came without sound and his breaths were quivering gasps. Even then, his father held him.
"Do you believe in heaven?" he asked at last. "Do you believe Tony's gone there?"
"I don't suppose anybody knows," his father answered gently, "what happens after...I believe there's something about life that goes on. It seems too good to end in a river."

It is a Newbery Honor winner, 1987, and the William Allen White Childrens' book award winner, 1989. A wonderfully written book, that chills me on each reading. Given a thumbs-up by A.

Crossposted at Bookreviews and Saffrontree.

Number The Stars

As promised, another book by Lois Lowry.

NUMBER THE STARS. Written by Lois Lowry. Cover photograph of Anne Johnson. Published by Yearling books, an imprint of Random House Children's books. Winner of the John Newberry Medal.  Ages: 10+ 

Image: Courtesy Wikipedia.
Map: Courtesy Wikimedia Commons. Helsingor, Denmark and Helsingborg, Sweden. 

Annemarie Johansen is a 10 yr old living in Denmark in 1943, at a time when the Nazis invaded her country. Her best friend is her neighbour, Ellen Rosen. Life is still pretty much normal, except for soldiers at every street corner. The girls have been warned by their mothers to avoid the soldiers on the way to school, and to not give too many answers to any questions. 

Annemarie has two other sisters, the older Lise had died a few days before her wedding to Peter, who is still very close to the family, and who now works underground to help the Jews. The younger one is Kirsti. 

Then one day in September, Ellen's mother sent her to the little shop where Mrs. Hirsch sells threads and buttons for a matching button for her old jacket. When the girls went there, they found the shop closed.

"There was a new padlock on the door, and a sign. But the sign was in German. They couldn't read the words."

This is the first ominous sign in the girls' world which was sheltered till now inspite of the German occupation of Denmark and small everyday privations (Kirsti longs for cupcakes with pink frosting and new, shiny shoes.) for almost two years. That night, Peter visits them, and Annemarie too is woken from her sleep and included in their talk. He tells the Johansens that the Germans have begun the rounding up of Jews. They still do not know to what purpose, but it is serious. Annemarie realises that her best friend, Ellen, too, is in danger, as the Rosens are Jewish, and it is up to them to help them. She remembers the incident where a boy on the street remarks to a German soldier that Denmark's king Christian X was safe on the streets because all of Denmark would protect him with their lives. "And now she- and all the Danes- were to be bodyguard for Ellen, and Ellen's parents, and all of Denmark's Jews."

But a few days later, on the Jewish New Year,  when the Rosens came back from the synagogue, Mrs Rosen spoke hurriedly to Annemarie's mother,who came and told them that Ellen will be coming to stay with them for a few days, as her parents had to go away to visit some relatives. Annemarie is puzzled, but welcomes the idea of having her best friend stay.

The soldiers come in the night. And they ask-"Who is the dark-haired one?" Annemarie's father saves the day by showing baby photos of his three daughters : golden-haired Annemarie and Kirsti, and dark-haired Lise, with their names written on each photograph.

When they went, "Annemarie relaxed the clenched fingers of her right hand, which still clutched Ellen's necklace." (which she had yanked off Ellen's neck moments before they had entered the bedroom.) "She looked down, and saw that she had imprinted the Star of David into her palm."

The next day, Mrs Johansen took the girls with her to Gilleleje near Helsingor, where her brother Henrik was a fisherman, and had his own fishing trawler. Annemarie tells Ellen that it is on the sea-shore and that they could see Sweden from there.

Inspite of their worry and the danger they are in, the girls enjoy their visit to Gilleleje. They have to wait a few days during which Annemarie hears things which puzzle her. "Is the weather good for fishing?" When she knew that Uncle Henrik went fishing in all weathers. "There will be one case of cigarettes delivered. There are many more such cases in Copenhagen." When she knew very well that there had been no cigarettes since the beginning of the war. And the most puzzling- "There has been a death, and tonight your Great-aunt Birte will be resting in the living room, in her casket, before she is buried tomorrow. It is the old custom, you know, for the dead to rest at home, and their loved ones to be with them before burial." When she knew very well that there was no Great-aunt Birte!

When Annemarie confronts her uncle for both him and her mother lying to her, he asks her not to try and find out more than she is told, as "it is easier to be brave if you do not know everything.........We know only what we need to know." 

Annemarie soon realises the wisdom in these words. Ellen's parents and some other fugitives (brought there by Peter who had arranged to hide them all this time)  join them as mourners at Great-aunt Birte's funeral, so that the German soldiers do not become suspicious. Uncle Henrik prepares to ferry the Rosens along with some other Jews across to Sweden. They are taken in twos and threes to the boat in the dead of the night. In the confusion, Annemarie's mother stumbles in the dark on the way back and sprains her ankle. She panics when she realises that a very vital packet, without which all would be lost, has been left behind. It is now left to Annemarie to summon her courage and deliver the packet to the fugitives. Is she able to help her friends escape? Is she able to confront her fear of the dark woods, the German soldiers searching for the Jews, and their hounds? What is of such vital importance in the packet? And most important of all, is she able to return the Star of David to her friend Ellen when the war ends?  Read the book to find out.

Lois Lowry has written a wonderful story of friendship in the face of very real danger. She gives us a peek into the everyday life of ordinary people who have had to do extraordinary things. Annemarie's innocence, her realisation of the grave danger and her courage comes across very vividly. The last chapter has the flavour of a thriller. In an afterword, the author tells us that the story has been based on real-life events at the time it has been set in, and has been dedicated to her friend Annelise Platt, who was a child living in Copenhagen during the German occupation. And the contents of the packet, too, are not something out of a sci-fi scenario, but based on fact.

This is one of the many books based on the biggest horrors of the last century, the Holocaust. It has been a topic by which I have been fascinated ever since I read the Diary of Anne Frank in my teens. I have been trying to find books suitable for A on this topic. Most books depict the horror in terms too explicit for her age. NUMBER THE STARS touches very lightly on it, when the soldiers are around. It focuses more on the friendships of the Jew and non-Jew characters, the commitment with which help is given and the trust with which it is received. It also ends on a hopeful note.

Sweden was a neutral country during World War 2, and received Jewish refugies from Finland, Norway and Denmark. Almost all of  the 8000 Jews in Denmark at the time of German occupation were successfully helped across to Sweden by the Danes in their ferry and fishing boats. Sweden saved the maximum number of Jews during WW2.

I hope to review many more books on the Holocaust. Watch this space.

Crossposted here.

    

SEE YOU AROUND, SAM!

I had been introduced to Lois Lowry a few years back by a teen-aged niece who lent me her copy of  'THE GIVER'. It was a very powerfully told story, which distressed me with its mind-numbing intensity. How could this be a children's writer? I decided to find out. A visit to my favourite bookstore soon reassured me. I was introduced to the delightful Krupnik family. Mr. and Mrs. Krupnik have two children, Anastasia, the older one, who delights us through the first few books in the series, and her younger brother Sam, who is born somewhere midway and then wows us with his escapades. I am featuring here the latest that I have found in the series:

SEE YOU AROUND, SAM. Written by Lois Lowry. Illustrated by Diane deGroat. Published by Yearling books. Ages 9-12yrs.

Image courtesy:  Amazon.com

Sam is a 4 yr old, who now feels offended if he is told what he may or may not do. He comes back from school one day, the proud owner of a set of plastic fangs that he traded his set of Etch-A-Sketch for. Putting them on makes him "look like Dracula. He felt like the coolest guy in the whole world." He would like to keep them on at home, but his mother thinks otherwise. She tells him that she has "fangophobia" and makes him promise not to wear them inside the house.

Now what is Sam to do? "His day was ruined." He decides to run away to a place where people didn't have fangophobia. He packs his bag with the things he thinks he may need- mittens, a towel, his teddy bear, band-aids put on his forehead and cheeks in case he fell and needed protection, a fireman's badge, etc. He goes out of his house all the while announcing to anyone who will hear that he was "running far away! Because of the fangs!" His mother does hear, of course, but feigns mild interest. When asked, she says that she doesn't think she will cry when he is gone, but that she, Daddy and Anastasia will miss him. She also suggests that Sam pack some Kleenex as he might need them if he cries. She matter-of-factly asks him where he may be going, "in case we want to write to you." The fangs make Sam think of walruses, and he tells her that he would be going to Alaska, to "lie around in a pile with walruses." His mother just nods and bids him good-bye. "See you around, Sam. I'll miss you at dinner, though, as we're having lasagna tonight."

Then begins a very conspirational series of events in which the neighbours, duly warned by Sam's mother of Sam's 'running away,' actually encourage him to run away, giving him their own suggestions on other things to take with him, and speaking brightly of all the animals he might meet out in the wild in Alaska. All the while making sure that he is fed and taken care of, they talk of forthcoming events which Sam, "of course, will miss, because he no longer will be here. He will be in Alaska, lying around in a pile with the walruses, eating (very unappetising sounding) fish and blubber sandwiches," while they will be having lasagna and apple pie, and cake at a birthday, and candy at Halloween, and turkey at Thanksgiving and so many other yummy things.

His sister Anastasia also joins in. She comes to meet him at Mrs. Sheehan's, a neighbour's house, as Sam will not go home, being mad at his mother. She gives suggestions on what he could eat in Alaska-'bearwiches', which he can eat if the bears don't eat 'samwiches' instead. She takes him with her to Mr Fosburgh's to invite him for dinner as their mother has already invited the whole neighbourhood for lasagna and apple pie by phone, (making them aware of Sam's running away, of course) and Mr Fosburgh's phone is out of order. There they all look up Alaska on the globe, and Sam is secretly frightened by the vast wilderness he will be going to. All the while Mr Fosburgh suggests things like a flashlight in case of the dark ("Alaska has six months of night") and a pair of sunglasses to protect his eyes.("six months of day").

At the same time, Anastasia also tells Sam of the time when she had decided to run away. When Sam was going to be born, and she was very angry at having had to share her parents with another child. When Sam asks her why she changed her mind, she told him that their parents promised that she could name the baby if she did.

"You know what else, Sam?"
"What?"
"It's considered very grown-up to change your mind after you've thought something over."

This is the crux of the story, the gem we find after reading it. Something a lot of 'grown-ups'  too may benefit from being reminded of, I am sure.

By the end of all this, Sam is tired, scared, overloaded with things given by his well-wishing neighbours to carry to Alaska, missing his mother, and in desperate need of the bathroom. The fangs too, have become bothersome, unwieldy, sticky, smelly, and not worth all this trouble.

The book ends with Sam taking the 'grown-up' way out about the fangs. He throws them away, comes back home to mother, a warm bath and a yummy dinner, with all his favourite people around.

Both A and I loved this book. The obvious conspiracy amongst the grown-ups, (not so obvious to Sam, of course!) and Anastasia's 'big sister talk' to Sam are truely heart-warming.  A lovely way of introducing a very gifted writer, Lois Lowry. Will be reviewing some other books by her in the future.

In the meantime, see you around!