Ages and Bs

I just read two kidlit books with protagonists aged 14 and 13. Kate DiCamillo's Beverly, Right Here and Rosemary Zibart's Beatrice On Her Own.

Both were gifts from LibraryThing EarlyReaders, and both got buried under the onslaught of Cybils reading I did last fall as a judge for the Junior & Senior High nonfiction categories. Oops! But now I'm back, and there is lots of time for reading, and I am uncovering my review copies.

If I could see my 4th/5th grade reading club again, I'd offer them these books at our end of the year part, but I'd try to push them towards the 5th graders. The reading level of the DiCamillo seemed smaller, but the emotional complexities loomed larger. On the other hand, the Zifard assumes a basic knowledge of history -- what was World War II, who was involved, and vaguely when did it take place. I think my kids have that, although they have a distressing tendency to group all historical events loosely together. Distressing because they include my childhood in that "historical event" category. So, the 1970s were a bit after World War II which was a bit after the American Civil War.

Both books star a teenage girl (Beatrice is 13, Beverly 14) who is independent. Beatrice is proud of her independence because it is newly learned; she arrived in America last year and struggled to learn to stand on her own. Even now she considers herself a child who requires adult supervision even as she has more and more adventures on her own. The adults around her honor and encourage this evan as they support her. Beverly has a broken family, including a mother who is abusive and distant. She doesn't even think about her independence; it's been a part of her since she was a small child learning that she couldn't rely on the adults around her. Her journey is the opposite; she needs to learn that there are adults who can be trusted, who will care about her. Starting from a place of deep grief -- her dog, the only one she trusted to care about her unconditionally, has just died -- she struggles with the idea of reaching out for connections to anybody.

The tone is the biggest difference. Beatrice is very pragmatic -- the details are real, the situations seem possible, the dangers and risks (from emotional fear of confessing a crush to physical danger of waiting with an injured dog during a snowstorm to the suspense of chasing a spy) tangible. I'd give this to any kid interested in history and quiet adventures. Beverly is more dreamlike; Beverly is stumbling through a cloud of grief, and unlikely coincidences move her into a place of healing. As a guide to running away, it's terrible! But I don't think kids would take it that way; it's more an acting out of emotions than a real predicament. I would give this to kids who want to explore deep emotions, who don't mind crying over books, and who don't insist on strict realism in their stories.

Thank you to LibraryThing's EarlyReaders program for sending me these books, and I apologize for my delay in reviewing them!