We started by discussing our picture book, I Know How to Draw an Owl by Hilary Horder Hippely and illustrated by Matt James. Several of us loved everything about this short story told by a homeless little girl, Belle, who had seen an owl one night while standing outside of her mom's car where they had been sleeping, and she felt that the owl was welcoming them to its forest. In school, her teacher shared Belle's drawing with the class as an excellent example, but Belle couldn't talk about why she drew it that way. We loved the subtly poetic language, and the emotion that was evoked by the art, much of which was shown on large wordless double-page spreads, often preceding the next action --an illustrator's challenge well met. We liked how Belle's 'flashback' was presented in a way that worked, which doesn't usually happen in picture books. A couple of readers weren't as thrilled with the book, and didn't love some of the rhyming, but we all agreed that it presented a very realistic depiction for youngsters showing them what it's like to be homeless. We all loved the ending, where Belle welcomes a seemingly sad new boy to her class, after seeing him get out of a car with a large black trunk strapped to the top. It was only then that she decided to tell her story.
Our novel, The Teacher of Nomad Land by Daniel Nayeri made for a very lively discussion, since there were so many different points and issues to discuss in this saga of Babak and Sana whose father, a teacher had just died, leaving them orphaned in 1941 during World War II. They determined to join a group of nomads who made annual seasonal treks from one part of Iran to another and had established a well-organized plan for setting up camp and surviving with what the land gave them. Some readers felt the first three chapters were too slow, while others felt that they set up some of the reasons why the two siblings made the decisions they did. We all liked the descriptions of the land, of nomad life, the relationship between Babak and his younger -- but very alert and precocious -- little sister, some of whose ideas and decisions saved their lives. We all liked the themes of the story: the importance of language, learning, and communication between people who are different, the relationship between the two siblings, the reverence for what their father had taught them, and finally, the author's notes at the back which further explained Iran's role during World War II.
There were too many details in this story to recount here: the process of teaching a language; a 'bad guy' character; Ben, a Jewish boy fleeing a Nazi spy; the Nomad's leader. Through some harrowing adventures, some of which seemed beyond belief, the two made it to a uplifting, safe ending. Some readers questioned various parts of the book: the sister was 'too smart for her age'; the description of Ben seemed stereotypic; many of the plot points never could have possibly happened in real life; there were too many coincidences. But others felt that young readers in the target age group (grades 3-7) would be mesmerized by the suspense of a story where the children were the stars and their ingenuity and knowledge helped them to solve problems as they arose.
