Blue

June 1, 2006
Gr 6-9 -A compelling story of resourcefulness, loss, and the healing power of friendship. When Ann Fay Honeycutt -s father goes off to war in 1944, the 13-year-old steps into his overalls as the oldest of four children. Despite support from Junior, her 17-year-old neighbor, the daunting tasks of tending the family -s large vegetable garden, helping with household chores, and looking after her sisters and brother suddenly become overwhelming. Then Bobby, four, contracts polio and is taken to an emergency quarantine hospital. He dies, and Ann Fay must help her family deal with their grief. While the escalating trials have served to increase her toughness and determination, Ann Fay -s world is further rocked when she contracts the devastating disease and is herself hospitalized. The races are not separated in the contagious ward in Hickory, NC, and she and Imogene, a -colored girl, - become fast friends. Hostetter based this novel on the true story of the polio hospital built in Hickory during the epidemic. Back matter includes lists of nonfiction, videos, and children -s novels about World War II, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and polio. Fans of such titles as Avi -s "Don -t You Know There -s a War On?" (HarperCollins, 2001) and Patricia Reilly Giff -s "Lily -s Crossing" (Delacorte, 1997) will enjoy this dramatic story." -Kathryn Childs, Morris Mid/High School, OK"

Copyright 2006 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2006
Gr. 4-7. Thirteen-year-old Ann Fay always wanted to be just like her father, but when he gives her a pair of overalls before going off to fight Hitler, her feelings are mixed: "Wearing britches so I could take the place of my daddy wasn't the same as wearing them so I could climb trees." Minding the home front gets harder after she loses her youngest brother to a polio outbreak, then contracts the disease herself. Hostetter weaves her own North Carolina community's history into heartfelt fiction, marked by an agreeable, vernacular narrative and unobtrusive symbolism surrounding the color blue--the hue of both Ann Fay's overalls and the pesky wisteria vine that, like grown-up responsibility made palpable, threatens to overtake her victory garden. An incongruous structural rift mars the novel's latter half, set in the polio hospital, where the heart-tugging family drama gives way to a programmatic story line about an obstacle-laden friendship between Ann Fay and an African American patient. Still, the intriguing history of the illness and the powerful first-person voice will propel readers through to the novel's deeply satisfying conclusion.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)