Module 5 History, Biography, and Nonfiction

Crutcher, Chris. 2004. KING OF THE MILD FRONTIER: AN ILL-ADVISED AUTOBIOGRAPHY. NY: HarperCollins Publishers ISBN 0-06-050251-7

Crutcher has written an autobiography that is apt to be unlike any you have previously read. According to Kirkus Reviews, it is “...a deeply moral and philosophical work with important messages about life, death, relativity, heroism.” His folksy humor will cause you to find depths of laughter you may have never experienced. Chris, given the nickname, Lever, nature’s simplest tool, grows up in the lumber town of Cascade, Idaho with a population of fewer than a thousand citizens with an older brother, younger sister, and parents whom the kids address as Crutch and Jewell. He describes himself as a dweeb with a meteoric temper resulting from the fear of incompetence. He admits one of the things he could do better than almost all of his peers is to cry, causing his mother to call him a bawlbaby. The reader is launched into the life experiences that earn the young boy the title of bawlbaby. Time and again he would let his brother, John, trick him, particularly with the words, “Wanna do something neat?” His answer was always yes, leading to the oft asked question, “If your brother told you to jump off a bridge, would you do it?” “Of course I would, if he made it seem neat,” retorted Chris.

Chris takes us through the trials and tribulations of athletic failure, trying to become an expert scout, impressing the girls, and working at his dad’s Phillip’s 66 Service Station. Even the details of the story relate a lesson such as his dad’s teaching of table manners that Chris views as complicated rules. At times laughter and sadness juxtapose one another, when his seven year old classmate receives a licking in school and then shortly after dies in an accident, or when the least popular girl in the class is nominated as a candidate for carnival queen.

The seemingly average Crutcher family has a few flaws, his dad is intimidating and his mother drinks. Chris relates his experiences to “a world where searing pain and mind-numbing heroism flow side by side. They intermix and overlap, guiding me away from black-and-white judgments that might come back to haunt and humble me. No one is pretty; no one is ugly. There is no Jesus without Judas, no Martin Luther King, Jr., without the Klan, no Ali without Joe Frazier; no freedom without tyranny. No wisdom exists that does not include perspective. Relativity is the greatest gift.” School Library Journal says the “Tough and tender reminiscences focus primarily on family, social, and school conflicts, but lessons derived from his career as a teacher, therapist, and writer are also described.” A poignant truth can be found in Crutcher’s words, “A truth about human is that we are a trial-and-error species, we learn from our mistakes, not just our physical mistakes but our emotional and spiritual mistakes as well. I think heroes aren’t defined so much by what they do “right,” as by how they respond to what they do “wrong.”

From the first page the reader will be hooked on the simple, down-to-earth story telling. The story launches with an undeniable momentum and maintains a quick pace as Crutcher develops the narrative with a distinctive youthful voice relaying youthful escapades and memories with charm, adventure, and side-splitting humor. The reader is able to identify and relate to the likable young Chris with empathy. You will not simply read of his adventures but feel yourself journeying right alongside Chris. The older brother’s character is equally crafted with care. Chris is often in awe of his brother, willingly coaxed into his brother’s antics.
The setting of the small town comes to life with vivid details of both places and people. Anyone that has ever lived in a small town, or known someone who has, will feel the sense of community and pride of the hard working citizens.

Readers who have longed to proudly represent the school team will find it easy to identify with the frustration and ineptness of Chris’ character. His imperfections create a moving story. Crutcher brilliantly reveals the complexity of family relationships. Disappointment, fear, a desire for acceptance, pride in one’s accomplishments, love, and heartache are a few of the emotions that expose the reader to the pain of growing up. Booklist describes this autobiography as full of heartbreak, poignancy, and hilarity. “Reminiscences of some of his youthful rites of passage are laugh-out-loud funny, such as his humiliating initiation into his high-school athletic club. On a more serious note, he discusses his occasionally rocky relationships with his parents and siblings. He talks openly about his struggles with a bad temper that constantly got him into trouble, how he came to terms with questions about God, how he confronted intolerance, and how he found his own place in the world. He also shares several painful glimpses into his work as a child and family therapist trying to help people heal some very broken lives.” Crutcher has created a memorable story that will move the reader from laughter to tears. At the book’s end there are delightful photos from the family album that contribute to the intimacy of the story.

Donnely, Jennifer. (2003). A NORTHERN LIGHT. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, Inc. ISBN 0-150205310-7

“…you get---a cold, sick feeling deep down inside---when you know something is happening that will change you, and you don’t want it to, but you can’t stop it. And you know, for the first time, for the very first time, that there will now be a before and an after, a was and a will be. And that you will never again be quite the same person you were.”

The year is 1906, and Mattie, a sixteen year old girl, is given a stack of letters by Grace Brown to burn who later mysteriously drowns in a nearby lake, an experience that will change Mattie. Her life is not easy. She describes it as, “Cooking, cleaning, washing, sewing, feeding chickens, slopping pigs, milking cows, churning cream, salting butter, making soap, plowing, planting, hoeing, weeding, harvesting, haying, threshing, canning---doing everything that fell on the eldest in a family of four girls, a dead mother, and a pissant brother who took off to drive boats on the Erie Canal and refused to come back and work the farm like he ought to.” She longs to go to college and become a writer, but the burdens of helping on the farm, caring for her siblings, the expectation of marrying and becoming a farmer’s wife, and a father, struggling to make a living for the family, who does not encourage or support her dream, weigh heavily on Mattie’s shoulders.

Through Mattie’s life experiences the reader will learn about the era with racism, poverty, feminism, alcoholism, adultery, pregnancy and death. The events color Mattie’s story. She learns the power of words and wrestles with breaking a promise made to her dying mother. There are harsh, hurtful moments but also moments of tenderness and heart. School Library Journal calls it, “A breathtaking tale, complex and often earthy, wrapped around a true story…”

Donnelly seems to capture the thoughts, feelings, hopes, and dreams of the young, likable heroine Mattie. VOYA says, “Mattie’s strength, courage, and love of learning mark her as a captivating heroine.” The character is believable with a strong voice, one with whom the reader will sympathize and at times applaud. Booklist says, “In an intelligent, colloquial voice that speaks with a writer’s love of language and an observant eye, Mattie details the physical particulars of people’s lives as well as deeper issues of race, class, and gender as she strains against family and societal expectations.” You will feel sorry for her as she longs for the tenderness of her mother, especially when her father brutally slaps her and seems unfeeling. Mattie gives a look into what it was like for young women at that time in a realistic way. You feel the problems she faced and the limitations because she was female. You will chuckle at her word play with best friend, Weaver. Reinforcing this love of words, each chapter is titled with an appropriate word selection. You will laugh out loud as Mattie and her girlfriends deal with the antics of table six at the Glenmore hotel.

This is an intriguing historical fiction, using an actual murder as the backdrop for the story. It is told in alternating chapters of the past before Mattie came to work at the hotel and her present. The pace is steady, eventful and the switching back and forth never hinders the story telling. The murder does not take center stage but serves as a catalyst for Mattie’s decision making as she faces her own personal challenges. Some readers who desire a romance story may be disappointed for while there is romance it does not take center stage. The author keeps the focus on the powerful pull of making tough life decisions about the future. Mattie is torn between accepting her expected role of caring for the family or following her heart to further her education and write. Mattie’s friend, Weaver cautions, “…freedom is like Sloan’s Liniment, always promising more than it delivers. The reader will be mindful of the difficult choices and how limited women’s freedoms were and how hard it was for them to choose to be independent. I found the balance of all of these elements to be perfect.

The ending is not a neatly done resolution; rather it reflects the honesty and messiness of important decision-making that often causes a rippling affect that will touch the lives of others. The ending is one of possibilities as all self-discovery journeys are.

Schmidt, Gary. (2007). THE WEDNESDAY WARS. Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-547-23760-2

Holling Hoodhood, thirteen year old seventh grader at Camillo Junior High, faces a dilemma. On Wednesday afternoons half of his class leaves school early for Catechism class and the other half leaves for Hebrew class. As the only Presbyterian in his class, every Wednesday he is left with his teacher, Mrs. Baker, whom he is sure, hates him, while the other students head off to their religious studies. At the beginning of these sessions together, Mrs. Baker has Holling clean erasers, wash blackboards, straighten dictionaries, clean windows, and even clean the class rats’ cage. These seemingly innocent jobs lead to comical events like when eraser dust covers the cream puffs to be delivered to the wives of Vietnam soldiers. The “yellow and scabby skinned” rats who “clacked their long yellow teeth together…with the sounds that came out of their throats never heard anywhere else in Nature,” escape to live in the walls of the school, creating all sorts of havoc. Later, Mrs. Baker decides to introduce Holling to Shakespeare. A chance conversation with Mr. Goldman from the bakery brings Holling to perform in a play with the Long Island Shakespearean Company’s Holiday Extravaganza where his lessons learned from Mrs. Baker bring him praise, as well as, teasing and laughter because he played a fairy in yellow tights. Through the efforts of his teacher, Holling has the opportunity to meet his baseball idol, Mickey Mantle even though he had to put aside his pride and receives a bitter disappointment. “When gods die, they die hard. It’s not like they fade away, or grow old, or fall asleep. They die in fire and pain, and when they come out of you, they leave your guts burned.”

Throughout the 1967-68 school year, Holling deals with many adolescent trials as he is growing in maturity. He is aware of the upheaval of the times like Walter Cronkite reporting on the casualty figures in Vietnam, his sister running away to find herself and desperately needing his help, air raid drills at school, Mrs. Baker’s soldier, husband missing in action, and a Vietnamese classmate who is a refugee. Mrs. Baker is the steady constant in his life, offering him advice, “Learn everything you can – everything. And then use all that you have learned to grow up to be a wise and good man.”

Schmidt tells a delightfully humorous story through the main character’s innocent narration. It is a coming of age story that delicately balances the humor and fun of adolescence with serious life lessons as well. School Library Journal calls the book, “An entertaining and nuanced novel…There are laugh-out-loud moments that leaven the many poignant ones.” The book is divided into a school year calendar, helping the reader to mark the events as a student. The author deftly weaves lines from Shakespeare into the narrative using the lines to help Holling better understand his life, and his life to better understand Shakespeare. The backdrop of the 60s provides insights into the tumultuous times – the Vietnam War, politics, demonstrations against the war and racism, the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. Holling learns of the complexities of the world. “It (the real world) is not always smiles. Sometimes the real world is like Hamlet. A little scared. Unsure. A little angry. Wishing that you could fix something that you can’t fix.”

The Horn Book says, “Schmidt rises above the novel’s conventions to create memorable and believable characters.” For example, the characterization of Mrs. Baker is one of depth. She is introduced as a teacher whose life is defined by her job. But in time the reader learns that she won an Olympic medal for the women’s relay, she is good at camping, and her husband is a soldier who went missing. The reader begins to see the complexity of her character and how this affects Holling. As the teacher, Mrs. Baker often fills a role one would expect the parents to fulfill. She takes Holling to the hospital after he rescues his sister from a bus accident, encourages him and goes to see his performance in the play, watches him race, and even takes him to a ballgame at Yankee Stadium. His father’s primary interest seems to be his architectural business and being recognized as the businessman of the year. His parents seem to be somewhat removed from his life, not attending his play or attending his big cross-country race. His dad even failed to pick him up to go see Mickey Mantle instead remained home to watch television. The parental indifference is particularly evident when Mr. Hoodhood refuses to go pick up his daughter when she desperately needs to return home and feel connected to the family. It is Holling that comes to her rescue.

The plot is well paced and offers humor as well as weighty issues to ponder. Themes of friendship, family relationships, role models, and disappointments contribute to the story. While, the voice of Holling is innocent it seems genuine. The reader will enjoy being a part of this coming of age journey. Booklist, Starred Review, says, “Schmidt makes the implausible believable and the everyday momentous. Seamlessly, he knits together the story’s themes: the cultural uproar of the ‘60s, the internal uproar of early adolescence, and the timeless wisdom of Shakespeare’s words. Holling’s unwavering, distinctive voice offers a gentle, hopeful, moving story of a boy who, with the right help, learns to stretch beyond the limitations of his family, his violent times, and his fear, as he leaps into his future with his eyes and his heart wide open.”