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Some of the best of middle-grade fiction deals with real life head on. Be it with humor or real drama or a little of both,
The Exiles, Framed, and Hugging the Rock all examine the way in which dramatic events can
change the world of the family and their young protagonists.
The Exiles
by Hilary McKay
Reviewed by Liz Burns, A Chair, a Fireplace and a Tea Cozy
In a classic tradition that dates back at least to Little Women, The Exiles is about four sisters—the
Conroys: Ruth, 13; Naomi, 11; Rachel, 8; and Phoebe, 6. I'm not sure why four is the magic number, but it has proven true
as recently as The Penderwicks.
The Conroy girls are unique, independent and delightfully real in their sense of honor and morality. Early on, one of the
younger sisters has gotten into trouble for something and is obediently waiting to be punished. Her older sisters, "looked
at her in despair. They believed in behaving as though they were innocent at least until they were proven guilty, and quite
often even after that." Ruth and Naomi are not saying to lie or be obstinate; rather, they are saying why give in so
easily? Why, just because you're a child, should you accept the adult version of reality? Why not stand up for yourself and your view of
events? Ruth and Naomi despair not at their sister's obedience, but rather at her not asserting herself and her voice.
The Conroys have real sister dynamics: there is love, companionship, and affection, but also arguments, selfishness, snark,
and even fistfights. These are not idolized or glorified children. They delight in each other, and a good story.
The girls are quite content at home, and, as can be imagined by their motto of "behave as though innocent," get into some
interesting situations. Then comes one of the more innovative "get the parents out of the picture" devices; no dead mom
this time, rather, the parents get an unexpected inheritance, decide to remodel, and send the girls to their grandmother's
for the summer. It's an indication of how well the girls think of themselves and their place in the family that each girl
assumes she will get a share of the inheritance. Each is bitterly disappointed and betrayed to discover that their
selfish parents don't intend to share it.
The girls are in for another surprise: "Big Grandma" has decided that the girls read too much, live too much in the world of
books, and so for an entire summer has banned the books. She insists she has none of her own. This would have been a
nightmare for me, as a child and now, and I sympathize with the girls who have nothing to read. "Big Grandma" has decided
that she can "fix" the girls; but the girls prove too creative and innovative. Despite the initial antagonism, the girls
and their grandmother grow close. Eventually, "Big Grandma's cooking stopped tasting like an outsider's cooking and became
ordinary."
McKay does a great job of capturing childhood and children with all their warts. The girls continually assume that they
are right and correct about everything. They are casual about the truth, but for when it serves a greater good. In supporting
their attempts at fire-building, they tell a casual lie about having learned how in the Girl Guides. Casual, because they
are convinced that having read about it in books, they can in fact build a fire. So it's not really a lie. It is perhaps
this belief in "If I read it, I can do" that has inspired "Big Grandma" to do away with books for the summer.
The Conroys' stubborn insistence that they are in the right can lead to adventures; but these are not over-the-top
adventures. They are summertime adventures: a visit to a neighbor, swimming at the beach, gardening, hiking. The
adventure comes from the imagination learned in books combined with a confidence that it will all work out the way they
want it to.
This can be for the good or the bad. When the girls visit a cave, for example, and Naomi freezes on the way up the side
of a cliff, afraid she'll fall, she decides to return to the cave to prove she can do what her sisters can.
She does so, but she also falls. As she falls, "she felt vaguely triumphant; she'd known
she would fall and she had fallen, so she had been right all along." The brilliance of McKay is that a less honest
writer would have had Naomi conquer a fear of heights; instead, Naomi discovers that her fear was not unfounded or silly.
Not only that, but Naomi is triumphant in that knowledge.
Framed
by Frank Cottrell Boyce
Reviewed by Kerry Millar, Flying Dragon Bookstore, Toronto
Imagine Nick Hornby wrote a kid's book starring an Adrian Mole-esque nine-year old Ninja Turtles fanatic. Now mix this
with a quick and dirty art history survey from da Vinci to Monet, a missing Mini Cooper, a floundering family business, and
a town full of oddballs and you'll come close to describing the extraordinary, warmhearted wackiness of Frank Cottrell
Boyce's Framed.
Inspired by events of the Second World War, when treasures from London's National Gallery were secured in Welsh slate mines
and released one-by-one to boost morale in the war-weary city, Framed pulls us into the small town world of Dylan
Hughes, whose art knowledge consists of four words: Donatello, Raphael, Leonardo and Michelangelo, Renaissance masters
and...Ninja Turtles.
When a flood in London brings the National Gallery's entire collection to his sleepy town for safe-keeping, Dylan strikes
up an unlikely friendship with the shiny-shoed art historian, Lester, who, by hilarious misunderstanding, thinks Dylan is
some sort of artistic genius, living undiscovered at the Snowdonia Oasis Auto Marvel. As Dylan encounters the powerful
mystery of great art for the first time, his family faces financial and personal ruin and their own future becomes
linked to the paintings housed inside the mountain overlooking their town.
Boyce's screenwriting past shines through in his dialogue, which is some of the sharpest, most uproarious writing you'll
find anywhere. But he's not seeking cheap laughs. He's after true, carefully drawn characters you'll care about. As much
as this story shows how art can reveal both the gifts and the holes in a life, it is simply a book about the flux of family
life, and what keeps one going when everything goes wrong.
If you haven't yet read Millions, Boyce's first book for children, I can hardly tell you which to pick up first.
Millions won last year's Carnegie, and Framed is up for the prize this year. Stop everything. Make tea.
Read two books that will charm your socks off.
Hugging the Rock
by Susan Taylor Brown
Reviewed by Kelly Herold, Big A little a
Hugging the Rock is a Middle Grade novel in free verse. Written by Susan Taylor Brown (our
blogging
writer this month at The Edge of the Forest),
Hugging the Rock, narrates the end of a family from the perspective of a
single daughter, Rachel.
The first chapter, “No Room,” will give you a taste of Taylor Brown’s beautiful, spare verse and the heartbreaking theme of
the novel:
Dad tells her not to pack stuff too high
so she can still see out the back window
but she ignores him
and shoves her pillow
between her guitar case and the portable TV.
By the time she’s done
there’s no room left for anything else.
No room left for Dad.
And no room left for me.
Rachel’s mother was a colorful presence in her life—full of song and frantic activity (and its polar opposite—days in bed).
When mom leaves, Rachel is left with Dad. A stable dad—“Mom says he’s a rock,/the good kind you can always count on/to
do the right thing”—but a quiet, steady type, nonetheless. Rachel and her father must build a life together, overcome
problems in school, learn how to cook dinner and take care of themselves, and deal with first birthdays without mom.
And do you know what? They manage just fine. Dad emerges as a wonderful, caring, and thoughtful father and character.
Rachel struggles valiantly and succeeds in finding her way. Rachel and her father learn to live and love with
strength and beauty. Despite the fact this book made me cry more than once, Hugging the Rock is a
beautiful testament to the strength and stability of the human spirit.
The Exiles, by Hilary McKay. Hodder Childrens Books , 2001. ISBN: 0-3407-2691-1.
Framed, by Frank Cottrell Boyce. Macmillan Children's Books, 2005. ISBN: 1-4050-4858-1.
Hugging the Rock, by Susan Taylor Brown. Tricycle Press, 2006. ISBN: 1-5824-6180-5.
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