Historical details, such as the workings of a printing press, give readers a deeper taste of the era, and animal lovers will especially enjoy Zimmer's portrayal of the circus elephant that Owen comes to know. She holds a master's degree in reading education and is the author of a book of poetry, Sketches from a Spy Tree (Clarion). She taught high school students with autism and middle school children with developmental and learning disabilities. As the boat travels south, Owen's awareness of slavery grows in a way that feels organic to the story. TRACIE VAUGHN ZIMMER's first teaching assignment was special education. and has published poetry books as well as the novel Reaching for Sun. Readers will be hooked from the start by the voice of the narrator, Owen, first met in a Pittsburgh orphanage as he describes the difference between him and his younger brother, Zach: “Right follows Zach like a shadow, but wrong wears me like a skin.” Wanting the best for Zach, Owen runs away when, just before the two are put aboard an orphan train, Owen learns that Zach will have a much better chance of being adopted without a brother from this chaotic beginning, Owen stumbles upon Solomon, a former slave, who brings him aboard the circus boat and gets him a job. TRACIE VAUGHN ZIMMER has worked as a special education teacher and reading. A circus boat in the 1850s is the offbeat setting for Zimmer's ( Reaching for Sun Reaching for sun by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer, 2007, Bloomsbury Childrens Books, Distributed to the trade by Holtzbrinck Publishers edition, in English - 1st U.S.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |