Starfish

October 15, 2010
Lionel, a Blackfeet boy orphaned at three, has grown up with his older sister Beatrice at Chalk Bluff boarding school in the early 1900s. When Beatrice must defend herself against abuse, the two flee and seek their grandfather, spending a winter alone in the mountains. Crowley, a first-time novelist, is a practiced screenwriter and filmmaker, and he adeptly establishes setting and narrative arc but unfortunately relies on a Hollywood-esque portrayal of Indians. Orphaning Lionel at an early age allows the (inconsistent) third-person-limited perspective to be totally naïve of Blackfeet culture, but it's a crude device: "Lionel...definitely did not understand how [the old traditions] could possibly be worth the trouble they caused." Grandfather saves them with laughable Indian boot-camp philosophy: "They're powerful, ya know. Dreams. You should pay attention to them like ya pay attention to all that's around you." In the appended Q&A, the author indicates a desire to acknowledge the "resilience and adaptability" of the Blackfeet culture—but the "starfish" metaphor he uses for this purpose calls to mind a dead and hollow shell, which is how this depiction of the culture reads. (Historical fiction. 10-13)

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June 1, 2010
Grades 4-8 Blackfoot Nation children Lionel and Beatrice steal a horse and run away from their boarding school to spend nine months hidden in a cabin in the Montana mountains, surviving in the old ways, thanks to the teachings of their grandfather and the help of an African American fugitive. Set in the early twentieth century, this appealing adventure includes horseback-riding feats, fights and childrens games, and narrow escapes. Crowleys filmmaking experience is evident in this first novel. The pacing is solid, and both setting and action are clearly described and easy to picture. From nine-year-old Lionels point of view, his 12-year-old sister, Beatrice, is larger than life: she looks like a warrior on the stolen horse and she goes her own way. In addition, the adults are complex charactersnot all boarding-school officials are evil. This slightly romantic but well-written survival story includes an author Q&A that discusses his contacts in the Blackfeet Nation and a list of resources.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)