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A review by mirable
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt
5.0
SLJ review:
Gr 6-9-Gary Schmidt's Newbery Honor and Printz Honor winning book (Clarion Books, 2004) gains a new dimension in this recording. Prejudice and intolerance are a way of life in this fictional tale set into the historical reality of 1912 Maine. Turner Buckminster has very recently arrived and already he can't stand the small coastal town of Phippsburg. Within the first few days, the town's unfavorable impression of him is set; not only is he unable to hit a baseball thrown the Maine way, but he acts in a manner unbecoming to a minister's son, earning himself a summer's worth of playing hymns on the organ for crotchety Mrs. Cobb. Ostracized by most of the town's inhabitants, Turner meets Lizzie Bright Griffin, who lives on nearby Malaga Island, which was settled by former slaves. Turner and Lizzie become fast friends despite resistance from the town as well as from Turner's minister father, who is already feeling the backlash of his son's transgressions from his new congregation. Phippsburg town elders and Turner's father wants the residents of Malaga to leave so that their town can be turned into a tourist hot spot, and they're willing to do just about anything to make that happen. Schmidt's lyrical language describing the seasons and the sea breeze makes the setting come to life, making it another character that weaves its way throughout the entire story. Flashes of humor, temper, and an aching melancholy, along with a variety of Maine accents for the assorted townsfolk color veteran actor Sam Freed's narration of this title that should be in all libraries.-Charli Osborne, Oxford Public Library, MI
Gr 6-9-Gary Schmidt's Newbery Honor and Printz Honor winning book (Clarion Books, 2004) gains a new dimension in this recording. Prejudice and intolerance are a way of life in this fictional tale set into the historical reality of 1912 Maine. Turner Buckminster has very recently arrived and already he can't stand the small coastal town of Phippsburg. Within the first few days, the town's unfavorable impression of him is set; not only is he unable to hit a baseball thrown the Maine way, but he acts in a manner unbecoming to a minister's son, earning himself a summer's worth of playing hymns on the organ for crotchety Mrs. Cobb. Ostracized by most of the town's inhabitants, Turner meets Lizzie Bright Griffin, who lives on nearby Malaga Island, which was settled by former slaves. Turner and Lizzie become fast friends despite resistance from the town as well as from Turner's minister father, who is already feeling the backlash of his son's transgressions from his new congregation. Phippsburg town elders and Turner's father wants the residents of Malaga to leave so that their town can be turned into a tourist hot spot, and they're willing to do just about anything to make that happen. Schmidt's lyrical language describing the seasons and the sea breeze makes the setting come to life, making it another character that weaves its way throughout the entire story. Flashes of humor, temper, and an aching melancholy, along with a variety of Maine accents for the assorted townsfolk color veteran actor Sam Freed's narration of this title that should be in all libraries.-Charli Osborne, Oxford Public Library, MI