Katherine Paterson

I read this because it was assigned to my granddaughter by her dance teacher. So many of the characters were 2 dimensional they detracted from the book. People in schools and famiies can be difficult, but the negative behavior was extreme. I appreciated tht children saw they could take agency and develop safe activities. They could also accept help when offered. And life does continue after a loss when we expand the number of people we are willing to interact with.

This book is such a classic, and also a really tear-jerking read. I think I like the book a lot better than the movie although I also cried like a baby with the movie but the books was just a lot more detailed. People are so quick to assume that kids shouldn’t be reading about death and that it’s ‘inappropriate’ but kids are incredibly emphatic and you would be surprised as to how much they really are aware of and able to deal with.

I read this book because it won the John Newberry Medal in 1977 and, more recently, perennially turns up on banned book lists. What could be so bad about an award-winning children’s book? The answer is “nothing.” Now having read it, for the life of me, I cannot find one objectionable thing about it. No sex, no race, no gender or sexuality. No curse words. No violence.

This book is gentle and real, tracing the story of an orphan in 1800’s Vermont during the Industrial Revolution. It deals with tougher topics and is well written. It took me and my students a very long time to read as nothing really happens in the book, or at least at a very slow pace. Unsure whether I will keep it in the curriculum for next year.