This book was nominated for the California Young Reader Medal last year. It did not win, but I thought it was a fantastic book. In this story, a young girl lives in the midst of the polio scare of the 1950s. She is warned to stay out of water and not to play with other children. But when her best friend catches polio after they both play in a creek, Laurie feels so bad that she breaks her father's rules and goes to visit Dickie in the iron lung wing of the polio ward. Laurie finds that the only gift she can bring the three children in iron lungs is the gift of story and begins to tell the tale of Jimmy the Giant Slayer. Sooner than later, the children begin to find that her story mirrors things in real life that she couldn't possibly know and when things turn to the worst, each child must take up part of the telling.
The writing in this novel is so descriptive. I felt like I was in the middle of the story whether it was in the hospital or in the fantasy world of Laurie's telling. Each character was varied and had their own motivations and worries. I highly recommend this read.
Intended reading level: Grades 5-8
Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy
Question to the Readers: How would you feel if you ended up in bed sick for longer than a week? What would you do if you couldn't move any of your limbs? How would you have ended the story of Jimmy and Colosso?
Read-alikes: Wonder by R.J. Palacio, Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick, Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio by Peg Kehret (non-fiction)
No comments:
Post a Comment