This book is so smart! I love a main character with sarcasm. Short, cliff-hanger chapters make it a great pick for a kid who needs some motivation to keep reading! I listened to the audiobook of this and really enjoyed (and laughed out loud at) the wonderfully unique voices the narrator created. It made me want to step up my own read aloud game. Loved how all the pieces of this puzzle fell together.
I actually read BLOODY TIMES: THE FUNERAL OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND THE MANHUNT FOR JEFFERSON DAVIS, which is the "special adaptation for young people" published by Scholastic. I learned so many things! For one, I didn't know that the South had a president during the Civil War, Jefferson Davis. I felt so ignorant when I announced that fact to my husband while he was driving and I was reading. He, a history buff, couldn't believe I didn't know that. There were a lot of details about Lincoln's funeral train that were fascinating, and seeing the images of his Springfield house and tomb bring back memories from my many years chaperoning 7th graders on a field trip to visit. It made me see those places in a different light after seeing the vintage photographs of each place decorated for his memorial. Fascinating!
I teared up a few times reading about the bonds that develop between the dogs and their handlers. Especially the story of the soldier who was shot and his dog who laid over him to protect him though he died. The dog comforted the family at the soldier's memorial without ever having met them before. He could sense the connection. Wow. A great pairing with Letters from Wolfie.
I was intrigued at first about the artist's severe dyslexia and his struggles in school, but when it got more into his process, I was fascinated. The grid process he uses to create his art is unbelievable - genius, really, for him to devise a way to combat his natural tendencies that could be self-destructive. I love his discipline - 3 hours of work in the morning, and 3 hours in the evening. Even though he has parameters for his work, I appreciated that he leaves space (NEEDS space) for his creativity. He also understands how the human brain works; that our brain will fill in the unanswered gaps. This is why he leaves some work for the viewer in some of his paintings - he doesn't draw a nose, or an eye. He draws a blob, that when viewed as part of the whole (the landscape, as he calls it) creates for your brain a symbol of a nose or eye. My two favorite lines: "In life you can be dealt a winning hand of cards and you can find a way to lose, and you can be dealt a losing hand and find a way to win. True in art and in life: you pretty much make your own destiny" (47) and "I think problem solving is highly overrated. Problem creation is much more interesting" (51).
I love pretty much everything Faith Erin Hicks touches. She can do no wrong. I laughed out loud more than once and I appreciate that this story doesn't get too babyish with its message of "can't we all just get along?" I can think of many students who would devour this and come back up asking for more F.E.H.
