Historical Fiction and Biography Reviews

1. Bibliography
Park, Linda Sue. 2000. The Kite Fighters. New York, NY: Dell Yearling Books. ISBN 0440418135.

2. Plot Summary
This book is set in Korea in the year 1473 and involves the sport of kite fighting. Two brothers named Kee-sup and Young-sup trying to fly a kite in the countryside when the younger brother realizes he has a knack for flying and also finds out how much he enjoys the sport. The older brother Kee-sup isn't as talented at flying the kites but later realizes how talented he is at making them. The two brothers spend any extra time they have out flying kites that they have made, Young-sup's kite does not turn out very well and he asks his older brother to make him one but Kee-sup says he will only help his brother to make one. They end up with beautiful coordinating Tiger kites that they practice flying with on the hillside.



One day the young king come out to the countryside to see who the tiger kites belonged to and commissions the young boys to make a kite for him. The boys struggle with what would be a deserving design for the king for may weeks. Finally, they decide on a dragon and their father, knowing that the kite is for the king, acquires paint with flecks of gold in it to add to the design. Once the kite is finished they present it to the king, who has now become a friend to Young-sup because of his interest in flying. He asks Young-sup to fly the dragon kite in the New Year festival kite fighting competition and he agrees. The boys' father says that Kee-sup, the older son should represent the family instead and young-sup is understandably upset. Kee-sup ends up convincing his father that Young-sup is the better choice to represent the family in the competition and he ends up winning in the last second of the competition by cutting the current champion's line just before Young-sup falls out of the competitors circle and is declared by the judges to be the new champion.

3. Critical Analysis
Linda Sue Park teaches the reader much about the Korean culture at this time in history throughout the story. She vividly describes the designs of the kites and the landscape of the countryside where the two brothers spend much of their time. She also spends quite a bit of time explaining about the duties the boys must complete in their family. Each brother was to study the teachings of Confucius but it was especially important for Kee-sup, as the elder brother, to be well educated because he was expected t take an examination to be in the royal court of the king. The father in the story is spoken of quite frequently but the mother is not mentioned as much. She plays a smaller domestic role in the book and does not have any say in the decisions about whether the boys will fly the king's kite and who will represent the family. The younger son is expected to act and speak respectfully toward the elder because he has had a capping ceremony and is now a man. These instances are described with detail and give the impression that this was indeed the way the family worked in this time in Korea. The section of the book that takes the reader through the New Year festival gives one the sense of the importance of this holiday to everyone in the country and shares the rich traditions that probably still occur there even today. Park connects the reader to the characters by showing a strong sense of family, friends, traditions and loyalty throughout the story.



4. Review Excerpt
From the Publisher
"In a riveting narrative set in fifteenth-century Korea, two brothers discover a shared passion for kites. Kee-sup can craft a kite unequaled in strength and beauty, but his younger brother, Young-sup, can fly a kite as if he controlled the wind itself. Their combined skills attract the notice of Korea's young king, who chooses Young-sup to fly the royal kite in the New Year kite-flying competition--an honor that is also an awesome responsibility. Although tradition decrees, and the boys' father insists, that the older brother represent the family, both brothers know that this time the family's honor is best left in Young-sup's hands. This touching and suspenseful story, filled with the authentic detail and flavor of traditional Korean kite fighting, brings a remarkable setting vividly to life. "

Publishers Weekly
"Tradition and family loyalty come into question in this book by the recently named Newbery Medalist, set in Seoul, Korea, in 1473. Two brothers anticipate the annual New Year's Kite competition, wondering how to balance convention and love for one's talent. Ages 9-12."



5. Connections
This book is a great opportunity for students to be exposed to a culture that they may not be aware of, many students are exposed to Hispanic traditions and literature but not usually Asian cultures. This book fits into any multicultural unit one may be teaching.

Another idea is to have the students actually make kites after reading this book as an enrichment activity.

1. Bibliography
Lisle, Janet Taylor. 2000. The Art of Keeping Cool. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0689837879.



2. Plot Summary
The main character Robert has a father who is fighting in World War II, so he and his mother and sister move from their farm in Ohio to Rhode Island where his grandparents live. He has never met his grandparents, aunt and uncle and his cousin Elliott before because of a family secret that his father has never told them. When they arrive in Sachem's Head, Rhode Island they have to learn a a new way of life, his mother gets a job working long hours to pay her father-in-law rent for the cottage just down the street. The reason Robert's grandfather owns the cottage is because Aunt Nan and Uncle Jake were about to lose it so her father bought it and the family of three moved in with the grandparents.

This story hinges on the uncertainty of the war and the dangers of fighting occurring on US soil. The families live near a base that has large guns that have test rounds that require the nearby houses to lift their windows and secure their China so that nothing gets broken. A once famous German artist that the town is skeptical and even afraid of is a character in the book that Elliott becomes friends with. They are both artists and the German, Abel Hoffman, was terrorized in Germany for his type of art before he made it out to the US. He paints the ocean and the scene of the guns firing and stores them in a shed in the woods where he lives in a boat he has converted into a home. Eventually Hoffman kills himself by walking into the fire that the townspeople have set in his shed to burn his paintings because they fear he is a spy for Germany. The two cousins, Robert and Elliott, who seem to be opposites become very close during the events that take place in their lives. Eventually, Robert's father comes home from the war for good, they family moves back to the farm in Ohio and Elliott comes to live with them. Robert goes off to medical school while Elliott studies art and becomes a painter.

3. Critical Analysis
Janet Taylor Lisle writes the book from the perspective of Robert, an adolescent male who has a good deal of responsibility due to his father being away at war. Lisle truly captures the male perspective in the book as Robert, the main character, narrates the story. In fact many of the main characters are male in the story which makes it fascinating that it was written by a woman. The topic is very heavy because the United States is just going to war in World War II and the sense of dread and fear is portrayed as the events unfold. From the vivid description of the guns being fired and the precautions that had to take place so that the windows and dishes did not get broken to the sense of fear on every one's mind, Lisle takes you through what it must have been like at the time. The main characters are well developed, the reader gets a good sense about Robert, the responsible, hardworking boy, and Elliott, the young artist who is kind of a mess and everyone thinks is sickly and peculiar. Grandpa Saunders is downright scary with his explosive temper and the story of shooting his son hanging over his head. The book gives a look at what the part of the country who didn't go off to war had to face from money and supply shortages to the sense of panic and fear most of the time.

4. Reviews
Publisher's Weekly
"The intimate first-person narrative brings universal themes of prejudice and loss to a personal level as the boys and their artist friend discover the destructive power of war on the home front. Ages 10-14."

School Library Journal
"The focus is clearly on the men of the household, and cursory treatment is given to the women's feelings and thoughts. Although women in such situations are indeed often overshadowed by their husbands or fathers, the emotional depth of this story is undercut by their portrayals. Still this is a heartfelt story about family dynamics and the harmful power of prejudice and hatred."- Cyrisse Jaffee, formerly at Newton Public Schools, MA



5. Connections
This book connects to the history of the Holocaust and could serve as a fictional piece to go along with a unit on that theme.

This book could also be used as part of a character education lesson on prejudice and hate.

1.Biography

Freedman, Russell. 1985. Cowboys of the Wild West. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0899193013

2. Plot Summary

The book Cowboys of the Wild West is a biography of the origins of the cowboy and explains what they did with cattle and history of the trade. The book begins with a chapter entitled " A cow herder on horseback" which explains how the original "cowboys" were called vaqueros and that this job originated in Mexico with the Indians. Ranchers trained the highly skilled horsemen to coral the cattle that roamed on the open plains of Mexico. Next we learn that the cowboys of the 1860's wore a loose fitting shirt and wool pants that were probably lined with leather on seats and inner thighs to prevent the cloth from wearing. Levi's were not a popular cowboy item until the 1890's and even then, they were brown and not blue. Hats and chaps were also staples of the cowboys to protect them from the sun, the brush and the cold. Spurs were attached to boots that enable the rider to spur on the horse to a faster speed. Professional broncobusters were men who broke a wild horse and taught it to carry a man with a saddle and to follow commands.

Cowboys were called cowboys because they were working with cattle and they were seldom over the age of thirty. Part of their job was to wrestle a calf to the ground in order to brand it, or put a hot piece of iron on the hide to leave a mark that was a symbol of the ranch where it belonged. Delivering cattle to Kansas, Wyoming, Montana or the Dakotas from Texas was extremely difficult and took many months. The cowboys who worked on these trail drives would have to face weather conditions, stampedes, outlaws and Indians. A chuck wagon moved along the trail along with the cowboys and their horses to carry supplies and food for their survival. Meals included beans, bacon, biscuits, coffee and dried fruit and was typically the same for the whole trip. At the end of the trail the cowboys would celebrate in the saloons and dance halls. From the 1860's to the 1890's the American cowboy flourished, however, with the invention of barbed wire and closed off ranching in settled areas the old cowboy way of life faded away and gave way to new endeavors.

3. Critical Analysis

Russell Freedman captures the time and the spirit of the late 1800's cowboys. He takes the reader on a journey of the west through the eyes of the men who spent their days tending cattle over the American landscape. In his biography of the American cowboy, Freedman gives a clear description of where the cowboy originated and provides a history on the clothing, food, and work of the time. He also provides historical information from the time period about how much the livestock cost, the amount the cowboys were probably paid and how they spent it on celebrating when the trail was complete. Freedman explains how every cowboy had a job on the trail and was responsible for certain chores, such as cooking or being the night watchman which usually shifted by pairs every night.

The historical photographs that are included in the book give so much to the story of the American cowboys. They derive from many different sources, but are all authentic photos capturing a legendary time with legendary men. Freedman explains that it was the tradition of the day to take a photograph with your cowboy group when you arrived at the town after the ride and many of these photographs still exist. The cowboys would bring or send them back to family and loved ones to proudly show what they were doing and where they were. Some of the photographs come from studios and were still shots of posed cowboys and many are candid photos of work being done or cowboys sitting around a campfire eating or posing on the trail. These photos are invaluable to the telling of this piece of American history.

4. Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Freedman's careful research and inviting texts have made his nonfiction can't-miss titles in homes and libraries. Here is a sequel to Children of the Wild and the author's other award winners. He has selected over 50 photos from the Library of Congress and state archives to illustrate his chronicles of life on the range. Cowboys, readers discover, were really boys. Many were teenagers, a few "old hands" were in their early 20s; and they were responsible for driving great herds across the plains in the 1800s."

From School Library Journal

"Grade 7 Up Large type; clear , historic black-and-white photographs and no-nonsense but readable writing give this volume style, punch and character. Basic information is sufficient to satisfy casual readers as well as school researchers, and the good bibliography could lead one to more extensive, adult literature, such as William W. Savage, Jr.'s Cowboy Life: Reconstructing an American Myth (University of Oklahoma Pr, 1975). The genuine vividness of some of the illustrations may escape readers unfamiliar with the terrain and working conditions of the cowboy; however, such pictures can be read at several levels, and primary impact is satisfying. Certainly a book to linger over and to turn to again and again. "

5. Connections

This is a great connection for Texas History teachers who teach about the vaqueros and the cowboys as part of the curriculum.

This is also a great book to use in conjunction with a novel like Smokey, the Cowhorse by Will James or Kate DiCamillo's Mercy Watson Fights Crime.