This Will Make You Smile, or Cry or Both
On the home front:
I picked up a little book at Goodwill the other day, a Newbery Metal winner. I should read this,
I thought, find out what sort of writing wins the Newbery medal.
Well I was blown away. I read the entire book, Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech (Harper
Collins 1994) Sunday afternoon, and I smiled and cried.
Walk Two Moons is narrated by
a thirteen-year-old-girl--suspense, sad, funny, poignant, healing, all the
things that ought to be in a book.
Sal (Salamanca) is locked in a car with her Gram and Gramps
for ten days while they drive from Kentucky to Lewiston, Idaho. “We’ll see the
whole ding-dong country,” said Gramps. But that’s not why they are taking the
trip—it’s a path to a missing mother.
I had to read the chapter “The Marriage Bed,” told by Gramps
to my husband.
Fascinating that the old folks didn’t like to use the words
“Native Americans” but thought “Indian” sounded nobler, American Indian.
I wondered if my high school sports teams, “The Dalles High
Indians,” were now called The Dalles high Native Americans. We even had a bonafied
Celilo Indian high school kid as a mascot. He had a charming personality, was
popular, and we never felt we were exploiting him. During
many games or festivities he would dress up in native regalia and parade around
the football field. We meant no disrespect. He made us proud.
About Walk Two Moons—fascinating
that there tucked away in a stack of books at Goodwill Industries, I find gold.
Goodwill Industries--is that the fate of books?
P.S. The Second Chapter of One Year on the Island is now available
see Chapter Two on menu, or click