BREADCRUMBS

Written by Anne Ursu

Drawings by Erin McGuire

Ten year old Hazel’s life is in upheaval.  Her father has left the family and is too busy planning his wedding to keep in contact with Hazel.  Because of the divorce, Hazel can no longer attend her old school where she was considered bright and creative.  At her new school, she is considered disruptive and a problem.  Her mom, overwhelmed with life, pleads for Hazel to “make good choices” and act more grown-up.  It’s not that her mom doesn’t love her, but in becoming a single parent, life has become much more difficult.  The only bright spot in Hazel’s life is Jack, her neighbor and best friend.  He’s the kind of friend who makes goofy faces at you through the classroom window, who you go sledding with until you can no longer feel your toes and who you fill a whole baby pool full of ice with so you can feel what its like to melt.

Jack anchors Hazel even when his own life has spiraled out of control.  His mother is battling severe depression – a shell of her former self and his father is working to just keep everything together.  One day, when they are out at recess, a piece of shattered glass lands in his eye – enchanted glass from the large mirror of a goblin.  The glass goes straight to his heart, turning his heart cold and icy – immune to the love that Hazel has for him.  Jack becomes more and more distant, causing Hazel to begin to delineate between new Jack and old Jack.  Then, he disappears into the magic forest with the Snow Queen and Hazel must set off on a perilous journey – one paved with temptation and lies and enchantment- to save her best friend.

In this beautiful story, inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, Anne Ursu crafts a haunting tale about the power of friendship, loss and choices.  The friendship between Jack and Hazel had such depth – essentially when Jack gave Hazel his signed baseball to help her with the divorce of her parents, he was giving her his heart – the deepest part of himself.  Hazel, too, had to be selfless in her journey as well, sacrificing things that were important to her to save Jack.  That friendship also changes and evolves was also touched on – an occurrence that many children (and adults) should be able to relate to.

The theme of loss was predominantly woven throughout the story.  What struck me as interesting was the juxtaposition of the loss of someone who was still present (Jack’s mom) vs. the loss of someone who was now absent (Hazel’s dad, Jack).  Loss can manifest itself in multitude of ways in children and the attempt to find things that can fill this void (as represented by the enchanted forest and the allure of the Snow Queen) can cause great issue and difficulty.  Hazel had to face things in the forest that offered to fill the void that she felt from both the loss of Jack and her father and the sense that she didn’t belong or fit in.

Choices also played a large role in the novel – the choice of Jack to follow the Snow Queen, the decision of Hazel to follow him, the temptations that she had to face in the woods.  Hazel comes to understand that some parts of life will be hard or difficult or not go the way we had imagined, but it is what we choose to do with those instances and the choices we make that is most important.

I loved the allusions to other books like Chronicles of Narnia, When You Reach Me, or A Wrinkle in Time.  This book would actually pair nicely with any of those for classroom lit circles because similar themes and ideas are touched on.  Another book you could pair Breadcrumbs with would be A Tale Dark and Grimm – in both books, the children go on a journey and gain wisdom and understanding.  I also love that both are rooted in the classic stories of the Grimm brothers and Hans Christian Andersen.

This is a beautifully written, poetic story about the nature of loss and the power of friendship.  You can find it at bookstores and libraries now!

My current work-in-progress is about a fifth grader named Matt Muldoon who discovers that his teacher is a zombie.  This allows for a lot of uncomfortable and awkward situations (including a pudding explosion and out-of-control robots) that bring humor to the story.

This past weekend, I attended the Northern Ohio Society of Book Writers and Illustrators’ conference which was a fantastic experience (more on that on Wednesday!).  One of the workshops I attended was humor writing with Bruce Hale.  In addition to learning so much about the craft of humor, it also got me thinking about my very favorite funny books of all time – books that I loved and have inspired my own writing.

NIGHTMARE AT THE BOOK FAIR by Dan Gutman

Trip Dinkleman hates to read but somehow finds himself roped into volunteering at his school’s book fair.  After he is knocked out cold by a crate of books, he goes on a fantastic adventure through a series of different genres. This book is super goofy and outlandish – but that is definitely part of its charm.  My favorite chapter is “girl’s fiction” (though I don’t believe there is such a thing) because it was so ridiculous and it involved funnel cake.  Dan Gutman is an author that my students love to read.  I would also suggest his new book THE GENIUS FILES: MISSION UNSTOPPABLE and THE HOMEWORK MACHINE.

SKINNY-BONES by Barbara Park

Author Barbara Park might be known best for writing the series Junie B. Jones for the younger crowd.  However, she has two gems of books called Skinny-Bones and Almost Starring Skinny-Bones that are sure to please even the most reluctant of readers.  The pair of books star a young man named Alex “Skinnybones” Frankovitch who has a huge mouth that gets him into a lot of trouble!  In Skinny-Bones, he challenges the star pitcher to a pitching contest with hilarious results.  I remember reading Skinny-Bones for the first time when I was younger and laughing hysterically at Alex’s antics!  I highly recommend these short reads for both boys and girls who are looking for a laugh-out-loud book.

THE CHET GECKO MYSTERY SERIES by Bruce Hale

This is a series that I was just introduced to this weekend but am already in love with.  Chet Gecko is the best detective at Emerson Hickey Elementary school.  Together with his partner, Natalie Attired, they solve mysteries big and small (and tell a lot of jokes in the process).  Awesome puns, funny situations, clever quips and a main character who is over-confident make this an awesome series to read.  I am looking forward to introducing these books into my classroom.  Bruce Hale’s website has some fun extras as well to accompany this series.  Check it out here – Chet Gecko Extras  Kids will love the opportunity to draw Chet, learn some detective tips from the master himself and get a peek inside Natalie’s joke book.

EMMA JEAN LAZARUS FELL OUT OF A TREE by Lauren Tarshis

Emma-Jean Lazarus is a little bit different than her junior high classmates.  A super analytical girl who sees the world in black and white, she just doesn’t understand the messes that some of her classmates get into – messes they could easily avoid.  She decides that she will use her observations of the world and student interactions to help her peers with their problems.  At first things are working great but things get more complicated when a bully gets involved.  The humor of this book comes from Emma-Jean’s character and the interactions with those around her.  She is a fantastic, likable character who you empathize with immediately!

What are your favorite middle grade humor books? 

A TALE DARK AND GRIMM by Adam Gidwitz

Once upon a time, fairy tales were awesome and a LOT more bloody.  So begins this delightful, gory romp through fairytale land from debut author Adam Gidwitz.

The book follows Hansel and Gretel through a collection of Grimm’s most gruesome fairy tales and on their path to discovering more about themselves and the nature of humans.  After their father cuts off their heads to free a faithful servant, the kids, afraid he might do it again, set off to find better grown-ups.  Instead, they find a baker woman who tries to eat them, a father who turns his sons into birds, a handsome stranger who rips the souls out of young girls and the devil himself.  No good grown-ups here!

Kids will love the narrator’s humorous asides that interrupt each of the stories to address the reader directly (like encouraging the reader to send his brother or sister to an R-rated movie because surely that is better than what comes next).  This device serves as both comic relief and as a method to point readers to the bigger themes of the book: sacrifice, forgiveness, courage, the trials of growing up and the wisdom of children.

I am reading this out-loud to my fifth graders currently, and they absolutely love it and laugh at all the right places.  They actually cheered for Gretel when she cut off her finger.  Yes, this book is a bit gory (lots of heads being chopped off, children being eaten, and girls being hacked to bits) but everything ends up okay at the end. (well for most of the characters)

This is a fantastic middle grade novel (actually a fantastic novel for anyone) and I highly recommend it!

Check out the awesome trailer below: