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Summary
Summary
Eleven-year-old Gregory and his family had to leave the Navajo reservation at Bird Springsathe only home theyave ever knownaand move to a motel in Tucson, Arizona. Gregory misses his absent father, but he likes school, particularly art class with the kind teacher. He also makes a new friend, Matt, who promptly informs him art class is really art therapy and that Gregory is staying in a shelter, not a motel. Even though Matt can be outspoken, heas just what Gregory needs now. Heas honest and generous with his allowance so they can ride the Ferris wheel at the carnival. Award-winning author Carolyn Marsden paints a poignant story of a little boy who, as he confronts the more painful aspects of his past, is filled with a sense of hope.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-6-When a two-year drought forces the inhabitants of a Navajo reservation at Bird Springs to relocate, 10-year-old Gregory and his mother and baby sister take up temporary residence at a shelter in Tucson. Gregory feels the pressure of being the man of the family as he attempts to adjust to a new school and care for his little sister while his mother works nights and weekends. Feeling out of place in his new surroundings, he relies heavily on his imaginary friend to keep him hopeful about the future. Especially hard is the ambivalence he feels about his father: on the one hand, he longs for him to return and provide solutions to the challenges they face; on the other, he has witnessed his father physically abusing his mother. Gregory is also confused about one of his classmates, Matt, whose swings between kindness and mockery can be bewildering. The boys tentatively explore friendship, and Gregory's impulsive attempt to save Matt from danger provides a turning point in their ability to trust one another. Marsden packs a lot into a small package. The novel's short length, engaging male protagonist, and theme of the tension between fitting in to a new group while remaining true to oneself all combine to make this an appealing selection for reluctant readers.-Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Marsden's (The Gold-Threaded Dress) affecting novel centers on 11-year-old Gregory, an earnest Navajo boy who relocates with his mother and baby sister from the Bird Springs reservation to a Tucson motel. Marsden gradually reveals the story behind their move: after severe drought had forced most residents to leave the reservation, the boy's father (who had physically abused his wife) drove off in his truck and never returned. With no water to drink, Gregory's mother took her children and boarded a Tucson-bound bus. In his new school, Gregory struggles to acclimate to his alien, unsettling new life; during social studies, "as Mr. Best showed pictures of the pyramids from different angles, Gregory closed his eyes to Ancient Egypt. The world was mysterious enough already." However, the fifth grader does make two friends-Matt, a bighearted, gutsy classmate, and a caring art therapy teacher, each of whom helps Gregory adjust to his new life and accept the loss of his old one. Marsden creates some decidedly poignant moments: erroneously thinking he has spied Dad's truck passing by, Gregory eagerly wheels his sister's stroller through the city streets in search of him. In the novel's final scene, at once wistful and hopeful, the boy decides it is time for a long-overdue haircut and, acknowledging that his father will not return, opts for only a trim in order to keep his hair long-like Dad's-as he spots auspicious rain clouds in the distance. Ages 8-up. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Intermediate) Fifth-grader Gregory feels light years away from Bird Springs, the Navajo reservation village where he's grown up. Now he and his mother and baby sister are living in a shelter in Tucson, drought having emptied Bird Springs of hope and people. The only things that keep him going are his imaginary friend Joey and his art therapy class, and all he wants is for his father to scoop him up onto his horse and take him back to Bird Springs. Marsden's understated third-person narration is focused tightly through Gregory's perceptions, only gradually letting the reader understand the trauma that has both generated Joey and led to the family's dissolution. The dismal reality of Gregory's life in Tucson emerges vividly in such details as the three-strikes-and-you're-out rule at the shelter that penalizes his mother for leaving the baby in day care for an extra forty-five minutes. Less effective is Marsden's portrayal of Gregory as a Navajo: although it provides narrative explanation for his family's vulnerability to the vagaries of drought, as an ethnic identity it seems almost tacked on. Still, Bird Springs is a sensitive portrayal of a family on the edge -- an experience sure to be shared by many in its potential audience. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Inspired by two students in Marsden's fourth-grade classroom, this spare, short novel is a heartfelt story of dislocation and hardship. Gregory, 10, leaves the Arizona Navajo reservation for the first time when drought and hard times drive his family from their home in Bird Springs. Living in a shelter in Tucson with his mother and baby sister, he attends a neighborhood school, longing for his beloved dad, who left them. In coping with the move, Gregory invents an imaginary companion until he makes a real friend at school. A teacher is too perfect, and her art-therapy class is messagey, particularly when she helps Gregory confront the scary truth about his dad. But the terse narrative remains true to the boy's viewpoint and brings forth his memories and sorrow as well as the kindness he finds. There is no sweet closure, but in a moving final scene, Gregory feels a connection to his departed dad when he goes for a haircut and chooses to keep his long Navajo braid, just like his father wore.--Rochman, Hazel Copyright 2007 Booklist
