Four novels, Out of My Heart by Sharon M. Draper, Wonder by R.J. Palacio, The Thing About Georgie by Lisa Graff, and Freak The Mighty by Rodman Philbrick, all include and think about characters who are different. For once, we are told that heroes don’t have to be perfect. We don’t have to use outcasts as props to make a hero look good – we don’t need to make them out to be helpless victims that need to be protected. They can be the main characters and the heroes, not just supportive characters lurking in the background. With characters we don’t usually see as main protagonists, these books are about acceptance, belonging, and being different. Out of My Heart by Sharon M. Draper circles around a girl named Melody, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. In this sequel to Out of My Mind, Melody goes to summer camp for kids with disabilities. At camp, she plays balloon ball, swims, paints, rides a horse, and even goes on a zip-line, things she thought she’d never do before. Her counselor is kind, and all around her Melody sees walkers, wheelchairs, and much more. And most importantly, she makes friends. And though nobody can be exactly the same as her, she’s finally found people that accept her, and a place where she belongs. In Wonder by R.J. Palacio, Auggie is a boy with cleft palate and other facial differences that make him an outcast. People either think Auggie is a freak and that he’s disgusting or a poor child with a disability who needs pity. For these reasons, Auggie has been homeschooled by his protective parents who watch him constantly. But Auggie’s finally going to middle school, and though he tries to prove to others that he’s “normal,” nobody accepts him anyway. Friends can change to enemies quickly, and then back. People aren’t good or bad, they’re complicated, and this makes things confusing for Auggie. But through his troubles and challenges, he finds a group that lets him just be himself, not a category, and he decides not to be “normal.” Because why try to fit in when you can just be yourself with the right people? The Thing About Georgie by Lisa Graff is about a boy named Georgie who has dwarfism. Georgie’s middle name is Washington, and his idol is the founding father George Washington. But when he gets paired with Jeanie the Meanie for a history project, he is having trouble cooperating with her. She isn’t nice to him, and she signs him up for the school play about American presidents, but to play Abraham Lincoln! Abraham Lincoln was the tallest American president, and all of a sudden Georgie feels very, very short. On top of it all, his parents are going to have a baby, and Georgie is not excited to soon see his sibling outgrow him year by year and be able to do all the things that Georgie can’t. And Georgie’s friend Andy seems to be more involved with the new kid, Russ, than him. So, overall, Georgie’s problems are big. But when Georgie realizes that Jeanie the Meanie isn’t so bad and begins to resolve his problems with Andy, Georgie finds that he doesn’t have to be big to do big things, and that love doesn’t depend on size. True friends don’t care about what you look like. They appreciate you no matter what. In Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick, Max is a boy who is tall for his age, in a special class at school, and thinks of himself as “stupid.” But Max discovers that he’s not stupid at all – he’s very smart, it’s just just nobody has realized it yet. When “Freak” – or Kevin, a former acquaintance of Max’s – moves into the neighborhood, Max learns that with Kevin’s imaginative, smart brain and Max’s large body, they can become “Freak the Mighty.” Together they go on rescue missions and adventures; they seem to be able to go anywhere they want to go. But Kevin isn’t fine, and neither is Max. Kevin’s health condition isn’t easy to deal with, and Max has problems with his father. But Max and Kevin are always there for each other. When many people say “disability” or “different,” they also say “how unfortunate.” They don’t see people like Melody, Auggie, Georgie, Max, and Kevin as individuals, they see them as nothing but handicaps. But Out of my Mind, Wonder, The Thing About Georgie, and Freak the Mighty allow us to see people who happen to have disabilities or are otherwise different for who they truly are: funny, intelligent, and caring friends who follow their own paths.
book review
To Kill a Mockingbird, Reviewed by Grace, 13
One of the most classic Southern Gothic novels, To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee from a little girl Scout’s perspective, tells the story of the struggles for justice in an Alabama town during the Great Depression. Scout’s dad, Atticus, defends a black man against a white girl’s accusation of sexual assault and faces disapproval from the whole town. Through Scout’s perspective, we see, in a sense, how everyone around her are “mockingbirds”—all innocent but affected by the deep-rooted injustices in society. On the surface level, Tom Robinson, as a black man, is a definite “mockingbird” who is incarcerated and eventually shot due to societal prejudices. Robinson gets accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, and is sent to trial. However, during the trial, it is discovered that Mayella’s bruise was on her right eye so the person who attacked her must have used their left hand, yet Tom’s left hand is useless. All Tom ever did was slightly push Mayella to stop her from kissing him. It was clear to all that Tom had nothing to do with Mayella’s bruises during the trial but Tom is still sent to prison, and shot. Despite Atticus’s clear evidence and reasoning that Tom was innocent, the community still chooses to believe the white man Bob Ewell. Although white, Scout and her family are all “mockingbirds” who are judged by the community due to their unpopular belief in racial equality. At school, Scout’s classmate, Cecil Jacobs, yells, “My folks said your daddy was a disgrace an’ that n****** oughta hang from the water-tank!” (131). Scout’s dad, Atticus, simply wants to defend an innocent Black man; there is nothing wrong about defending an innocent man, but the whole of Maycomb County goes against them, purely because Tom is Black. Atticus even receives several death threats and attacks from white men disapproving of his choices. While Scout and Jem could have been enjoying their childhood innocence, they have to confront attacks from the community for their father’s choices. Digging deeper, in a sense the whole white community is also a “mockingbird” due to their lack of knowledge of what is right and wrong, leading them to follow the evils of power dynamics. Nearly the whole community supports Bob instead of Tom despite clear evidence suggesting otherwise. However, the white community is still innocent in a sense as the issue of racism is not in their hands to control. They were born, taught, and raised to tout white supremacy; this has been going on for generations and generations. Throughout the book, Scout narrates all the events surrounding Tom Robinson’s unfortunate death, which shows the entrenched racial prejudices in society, thereby implying the difficulty of going against racial norms. Everyone in this book were “mockingbirds” in some ways, either by being who they are, supporting equality, or following the habits of their ancestors. What To Kill a Mockingbird reveals is a need for education on justice and a change in society so that one day nobody will be judged purely by their identity. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Harper Perennial, 2005. Buy the book here and help support Stone Soup in the process!
How to Find What You’re Not Looking for, Reviewed by Anushka, 11
Veera Hiranandani’s How to Find What You’re Not Looking for is a book that stays with you long after you have read it. The book explores difficult questions concerning religious and cultural differences that divide our society. This book also questions the meaning of religion and culture and their significance in everyday life. Is religion so important that you could sacrifice your family for it? The book is set in 1977 when young Ariel is about to start middle school. Ariel’s older sister, Leah, falls in love with an Indian man whose name is Raj. Ariel and Leah’s parents do not approve of this relationship because Raj is not Jewish. They are adamant about preserving their Jewish culture and heritage and forbid Leah’s relationship with Raj. The Supreme Court had recently banned state laws that forbid inter-racial marriages. Leah is so upset and disappointed at her parents stunning narrow-mindedness that she elopes with Raj. Ariel’s family pretends not to care and seem to go on with their lives as if Leah was not a part of their family any more. Ariel, who has a close and loving relationship with her sister, struggles to understand Leah’s decision to run away from home and her parents’ intolerance toward non-Jewish people. That is not the only problem Ariel has to deal with. Ariel’s family owns a bakery that will have to be sold and her family will have to move away from their home. During these difficult times, Ariel turns to poetry for support. She finds a new teacher who can advocate for her and help her with writing, which has always been hard for her because of a learning disability. Writing poetry helps Ariel cope with her feelings of loss, anti-semitism that she experiences, family tensions, and her confusion and disappointment over the intolerance of the adults around her. This book is a revelation on multiple levels. Much like Ariel, I was stunned at how the Ariel and Leah’s parents could be so stone-hearted. In discussing the plot of the book with my family and researching inter-faith marriages in India, my own heritage, I was surprised to learn that while the majority of Indian people think it is important to respect all religions, a staggering proportion of people oppose inter-faith marriages and think it is important to stop inter-faith marriages. The same research finds that many Indians would prefer keeping people who practice a different faith away from their neighborhoods. While people in America may be more open to inter-faith marriages today, most Americans still marry within their faith. At the same time, political, ideological, racial and ethnic polarization is a defining feature of contemporary American life. My family does not practice religion so I was intrigued at the impact religion could have on people’s decisions and their lives. Frankly, I never really understood how religion could be so important to some people that it could control your whole life, make you sacrifice your relationships, and not let you be with whom you love. It seems to me that some people are scared of letting go of their culture. It is hard for them to accept that culture changes and grows over time. They want their culture to stay the same. Another revelation was learning how healing poetry can be. I JUST LOVED Ariel’s poems in this book. They reveal Ariel’s state of mind and her feelings incisively. In fact, Veera Hiranandani writes from a second-person point of view, which puts you (the reader) in Ariel’s shoes. This second person perspective immersed me in Ariel’s feelings, made me imagine the vivid scenery, feel close to Ariel, and helped me engage with story, rather than read it passively. This approach, in combination with poetry written from Ariel’s perspective and unique abilities, highlights the author’s extraordinary talent, creativity, and empathy. This approach makes the characters and setting extremely well drawn, making the reader a part of the story (as opposed to a passive viewer). I believe that there could not have been a better way to approach such a difficult and complex topic and make it accessible for children and youth, all without making it simplistic. How to Find What You’re Not Looking for is an intriguing title. I have concluded that the title is just like poetry. It can be interpreted in different ways and its meaning can change depending on the person’s experiences. For me, this title and the book is about how to deal with change and how to learn from those changes — joyous and sorrowful, expected and unexpected. The unexpected and sad events in Ariel’s life help her cultivate her own thoughts, talents, and independence. I was so inspired by the first Veera Hiranandani book I read and reviewed for the Stone Soup blog, The Night Diary. This book is equally inspiring and thought provoking. I am convinced after reading this book that we should do more to encourage meaningful interactions and friendships with people from different religious, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds at an early age. Exposure to books like How to Find What You’re Not Looking for is one such meaningful interaction. I strongly recommend it for readers of all ages for this very reason. How to Find What You’re Not Looking for by Veera Hiranandani. Kokila, 2021. Buy the book here and help support Stone Soup in the process!
