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fwog19's review against another edition
4.0
First: my daughter has pretty good taste in books. This book was a recommendation from her because she read it in 4th grade and LOVED it. Any time I would say that I needed a book to read, this was always at the top of her list. Yep, she's got pretty good taste. ;)
Toughboy and Sister is the story of a brother and sister living in the Interior of Alaska. Their mom dies in childbirth and their father dies shortly after. (No spoilers here as it's on the blurb.) Being left alone at fish camp with no way of knowing when or if they'll be found, they have to learn how to survive on their own. They deal with a bear, figure out how to get fish, and learn to cook more than they had. Most of what they knew was from watching their mother.
This book reminded me of my own childhood and parts of it (the binge drinking, the fact that the kids knew when their dad would be drunk because of the jelly beans he always had when he came home, the way they spoke) hit hard. I was reminded of the times my older brother would be left to watch me and he'd try to make me laugh. I felt a lot like Sister when she would be worried that he would yell at her and get mean. There were good times and bad and this book brought the feelings and memories back to the surface.
I think if you hadn't grown up in this culture (or a similar one, like I had - they're Athabascan and I'm Alutiiq), you might think of them as uneducated because the author wrote the way that they speak. Sometimes I'd get jarred by reading "fitted" instead of "fit" and then realize that it was how they spoke in the village. Hell, sometimes I slip back into it myself. What the reader needs to realize is that it's REAL. It's how things are in the village. It's hard work and not always knowing if you're going to have enough food for the winter. It's pilot crackers, tea, and salmon. Lots of salmon. It's also family and sticking together no matter what.
This is a short book, but a good read all the same. I laughed as many times as the book tugged at my heartstrings. So, if you want a peek at village life in Alaska, read this book!
Toughboy and Sister is the story of a brother and sister living in the Interior of Alaska. Their mom dies in childbirth and their father dies shortly after. (No spoilers here as it's on the blurb.) Being left alone at fish camp with no way of knowing when or if they'll be found, they have to learn how to survive on their own. They deal with a bear, figure out how to get fish, and learn to cook more than they had. Most of what they knew was from watching their mother.
This book reminded me of my own childhood and parts of it (the binge drinking, the fact that the kids knew when their dad would be drunk because of the jelly beans he always had when he came home, the way they spoke) hit hard. I was reminded of the times my older brother would be left to watch me and he'd try to make me laugh. I felt a lot like Sister when she would be worried that he would yell at her and get mean. There were good times and bad and this book brought the feelings and memories back to the surface.
I think if you hadn't grown up in this culture (or a similar one, like I had - they're Athabascan and I'm Alutiiq), you might think of them as uneducated because the author wrote the way that they speak. Sometimes I'd get jarred by reading "fitted" instead of "fit" and then realize that it was how they spoke in the village. Hell, sometimes I slip back into it myself. What the reader needs to realize is that it's REAL. It's how things are in the village. It's hard work and not always knowing if you're going to have enough food for the winter. It's pilot crackers, tea, and salmon. Lots of salmon. It's also family and sticking together no matter what.
This is a short book, but a good read all the same. I laughed as many times as the book tugged at my heartstrings. So, if you want a peek at village life in Alaska, read this book!
jennybeastie's review against another edition
4.0
For fans of Hatchet and My Side of the Mountain -- kids finding ways to survive when their adults suddenly disappear. Great story, great, fast read, with Kirkpatrick Hill's evocative settings in the Yukon.
mrskatiefitz's review against another edition
3.0
This review also appears on my blog, Read-at-Home Mom.
Toughboy and Sister is a 1990 middle grade novel by Kirkpatrick Hill, author of one of my favorite books of the past year, Bo at Ballard Creek. When Toughboy and Sister’s mother dies in childbirth along with her baby, the two kids are left in the care of their father, who has a drinking problem. For a while things are okay, but once their dad begins drinking again, it’s just a matter of time before things go very wrong. While on a fishing trip away from their Alaskan village, Toughboy and Sister witness their father’s death, and then must struggle to survive on the food their father has collected and anything they can hunt or make themselves. With nothing but a battery-operated radio and a curious bear for company, the two kids find a way to survive not just emotional pain, but true physical hardship, until someone comes to their rescue.
This is a quick and powerful story, with a much more somber tone than Bo at Ballard Creek. It might be on the same reading level vocabulary-wise, but Toughboy and Sister definitely has more sophisticated subject matter which requires greater maturity on the part of the reader. While Bo at Ballard Creek focuses on the day-to-day fun of life in 1920s Alaska, this book focuses more on the dynamics in the relationship between two siblings in present-day (early 1990’s) Alaska and how their bond as siblings helps them overcome the difficulties they face. Though there are some mentions of the Athabascan culture and of the way people live in Toughboy and Sister’s village, this book is not as educational about Alaskan culture as Bo at Ballard Creek. Rather, the setting is secondary to the characters, and the characters’ surroundings are involved more as obstacles than as places to explore and enjoy.
Young readers looking for survival adventures similar to Hatchet and My Side of the Mountain will be drawn to Toughboy and Sister. Though the cover of the first edition (which is the one I read) is pretty dated-looking, and one that would not have caught my eye if I wasn’t already familiar with the author, I think a booktalk mentioning the death of the kids’ parents and a possible bear attack should be enough to get kids past that cover and into the story. The book has large type and is just over 100 pages, too, so reluctant readers and procrastinators might also consider it a good choice for a book report, especially one that is due in just a day or two. The short chapters and compelling subject matter also make it a manageable read-aloud for busy fourth and fifth grade classrooms.
Toughboy and Sister is a 1990 middle grade novel by Kirkpatrick Hill, author of one of my favorite books of the past year, Bo at Ballard Creek. When Toughboy and Sister’s mother dies in childbirth along with her baby, the two kids are left in the care of their father, who has a drinking problem. For a while things are okay, but once their dad begins drinking again, it’s just a matter of time before things go very wrong. While on a fishing trip away from their Alaskan village, Toughboy and Sister witness their father’s death, and then must struggle to survive on the food their father has collected and anything they can hunt or make themselves. With nothing but a battery-operated radio and a curious bear for company, the two kids find a way to survive not just emotional pain, but true physical hardship, until someone comes to their rescue.
This is a quick and powerful story, with a much more somber tone than Bo at Ballard Creek. It might be on the same reading level vocabulary-wise, but Toughboy and Sister definitely has more sophisticated subject matter which requires greater maturity on the part of the reader. While Bo at Ballard Creek focuses on the day-to-day fun of life in 1920s Alaska, this book focuses more on the dynamics in the relationship between two siblings in present-day (early 1990’s) Alaska and how their bond as siblings helps them overcome the difficulties they face. Though there are some mentions of the Athabascan culture and of the way people live in Toughboy and Sister’s village, this book is not as educational about Alaskan culture as Bo at Ballard Creek. Rather, the setting is secondary to the characters, and the characters’ surroundings are involved more as obstacles than as places to explore and enjoy.
Young readers looking for survival adventures similar to Hatchet and My Side of the Mountain will be drawn to Toughboy and Sister. Though the cover of the first edition (which is the one I read) is pretty dated-looking, and one that would not have caught my eye if I wasn’t already familiar with the author, I think a booktalk mentioning the death of the kids’ parents and a possible bear attack should be enough to get kids past that cover and into the story. The book has large type and is just over 100 pages, too, so reluctant readers and procrastinators might also consider it a good choice for a book report, especially one that is due in just a day or two. The short chapters and compelling subject matter also make it a manageable read-aloud for busy fourth and fifth grade classrooms.
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