[R3librarians] Tuesday's Trash & Treasures

[knelson at mail.esc3.net]

This submission is from Clyde Ruth Byers of Crain Middle School in
Victoria ISD. The first could be used as a booktalk, the second is a
professional review:


If you think you don’t like
“historical fiction”, you might be surprised by:

 



 

Hubert Invents the Wheel

 

By Claire & Monte 
Montgomery


 

RL 5.8  5 pt.s

 



 

         
Hubert’s father is sitting with another man, talking,
when:  [p. 32] “Just
then they were interrupted by a low rumble, which quickly became a low
roar, which became a loud WHOOSHING sound as a fully loaded sledge came
thundering down from the peak of the Ziggurat.

 

         
“Check it out,” chuckled Gorp.  Some doofus let his rig get away
from him.”

 

         
“Hey, Gorp.  That
looks like your rig,”
Carl observed as it zoomed past. 
He was proven correct when Hubert appeared, racing after the
accelerating sledge as fast as he could move.  But it was hopeless.  Panting to a stop, the best he could do was yell,
“Look out below!”

 

          All three
watched in silence as the sledge [a rectangular platform mounted on 2
wooden runners—it’s what they used BEFORE wheeled carts]
continued along its path of destruction.  Workers and animals scattered, mud bricks flew in all
directions, ladders and scaffolding toppled like dominoes.  Reaching the base of the Ziggurat,
the sledge sailed into a quarry and smashed to smithereens.

 

          Hubert
felt his dad’s eyes boring into the back of his head.  He turned to face his executioner.

 

          “I
just wanted to demonstrate the yoke to you, Dad.  I mean, you wouldn’t listen to me earlier, so I
thought…but when I went to put it on Meg and Ed, Ed got
spooked—he spooks real easy, did you know that?—and he pushed
the sledge over a little…cliff, and it…kind of got away from
us.  Me.  Anyway, you’ve been talking
about getting a new sledte, so it’s really not that bit a
disaster.  Right, Dad?  Right?”

 

  
___________________________
                            

 

MOST historical fiction authors do TONS of research and
try and present as realistic a picture of the time/events as
possible.  These authors might
have done the research, but the book has more of a
“Flintstones” feel: 
slick “sledge salesmen”, traffic circles, modern day
slang, etc.  [p.100]
“Big Al liked to drive fast, and the hot-rod cart was built for
speed.  The sawed-off salesman
was really working Hodja into a lather—skidding around tight
corners, accelerating up steep hills, zooming through deep
valleys.”
[p.103]”Seductive bump-and-grind music drifted out
through the windows. Hot diggity, Al thought, Maud must be presenting one
of her famous floor shows.”


 

The theme is really
good—perseverance,  [p
183] “an idea doesn’t sell itself, no matter how good it
is….new technology can have unexpected consequences and must be
handled with the utmost care;…that even the most stubborn person
can change with the times; and…that one person with one idea can
change the world.”  But
I’m not sure that kids—esp. elementary ones—will
“get” all the humor/references.  And I could have done without the
“bump-and-grind” reference….  I think it’s really a neat book for Middle
School….


 

2007-2008  Bluebonnet                                                                                                                
crBeyer 10/2007

 




Kristy Nelson 
Region III ESC 
Education
Specialist for Library Services 
& Instructional Technology 
knelson at esc3.net 
(361)573-0731 ext. 277
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