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A. LaFaye的
Worth
Product description
Before the accident Nathaniel's life seemed pretty good. His help around the farm made his father proud. But now, with a busted leg, Nathaniel can't do farmwork anymore, so his father adopts another son through the Orphan Train. Feeling replaced and useless, Nathaniel attends school for the first time. Meanwhile, sturdy and strong John is able to do the work that earns Pa's attention.
But the truth is, John Worth has his own set of troubles. He is treated more like a servant than a son. Kept awake at night by nightmares of his family's death, he remembers having a pa who took pride in him. But now he has no one, until a community battle and a special book reveal a potential friend -- and a chance for understanding.
From School Library Journal
Grade 3–6—Crippled by a freak farming accident, 11-year-old Nathaniel is bitter, helpless, frustrated, and angry when his father brings John Worth, an Orphan Train boy, into their home to help with the chores Nate can no longer manage in A. LeFaye's novel (S & S, 2004). But the two boys, each wounded in a different yet similar way, discover they have more in common than initially apparent and slowly begin to develop a friendship based on their joint desire to save the family's farm. LaFaye's unsparing look at the grueling hardships of day-to-day farm life during the late 19th-century and the ongoing battle between farmers and ranchers for control of the land is matched by the narrator Tommy Fleming's skill at portraying the starkness of the emotions felt by each of the characters in this short, spare, and beautifully told winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for historical fiction. Speaking with an authentic Nebraska accent, Fleming captures the poignancy of Nate's battle to overcome his disability, learn to read, and reinvent himself within his unhappy family. A compelling and historically accurate story beautifully rendered.— Cindy Lombardo, Tuscarawas County Public Library, New Philadelphia, OH
Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Gr. 3-7. LaFaye's novel is one of the first to tell the Orphan Train story from the viewpoint of a kid displaced by a newcomer. Even worse than the pain that 11-year-old Nate felt when his leg was crushed in an accident is rejection by his pa, who takes in young John Worth to pick up Nate's work on their small farm. Nate's angry first-person narrative is brutally honest, and, at first, he is bitterly resentful of John, an orphan who lost his family in a New York City tenement fire: "Just 'cause he lost his father didn't mean he had a right to mine." Through Nate's narrative comes a sense of the grueling daily work, the family struggle to try to hold on to the land and avoid failure. In addition, there's some late-nineteenth-century history about the local wars between cattle ranchers (who want grazing land) and farmers (who need room for crops), and in an exciting climax, Nate and John ride together to warn the farmers and prevent the fence-cutters from causing a cattle stampede. Only an awkward metaphor about the Greek myths seems patched on. The short, spare novel doesn't need the heavy heroic parallels; it tells its own story of darkness and courage. A great choice for American history classes. Hazel Rochman
Copyright American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
"[The] Narrative is brutally honest."
-- Booklist, starred review
"Lyrical."
-- Publishers Weekly
From the Publisher
A. LaFaye's dynamic portrayal of two boys longing for something they no longer have and finding the resources to face the future offers a fresh perspective on the thousands of children who moved west via the Orphan T4rains in the late 19th century.
About the Author
A. LaFaye (the "A" is for Alexandria) is the author of Worth, for which she received the Scott O'Dell Award, as well as The Year of the Sawdust Man, Nissa's Place, The Strength of Saints, Edith Shay |
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发表于 2018-2-11 10:36:10