[bksvol-discuss] Project Mulberry
- From: "Jim" <jim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Bksvol-Discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 18 Mar 2006 09:17:55 -0700
Hi List,
Just submitted a children's book Project Mulberry by Linda Sue Park. No scan
junk, spell checked, no headers, page numbers and page breaks.
From Publishers Weekly
In this contemporary novel, Park (A Single Shard) creates a Korean-American
seventh-grader so lifelike she jumps off the page. Literally. Between chapters,
protagonist Julia Song makes suggestions to the author about plot details and
voices her complaints about the way her life is being directed (Do you want my
opinion? I am not happy with the way things are going here, Julia tells Ms.
Park, after chapter 3). Within the narrative, Julia is involved in a project
for the Wiggle Club, an organization similar to 4-H. She partners up with her
long-time friend Patrick, and they raise silkworms, hoping to produce enough
thread for Julia to embroider a picture. The children's hunt for mulberry
leaves (silkworms' sole source of food) leads them to Mr. Dixon, an elderly
African-American who generously offers the leaves from his mulberry tree for
their project. Besides celebrating intergenerational and interracial
friendships, and presenting interesting details about the silkworm life cycle,
the book introduces many issues relevant to budding adolescents. Self-conscious
about her heritage, Julia feels that her project is too Korean (I wanted a
nice, normal, All-American, red-white-and-blue kind of project, she bemoans).
She also suspects that her mother might be acting racist, by forbidding Julia
to spend time with Mr. Dixon. Then there's the problem of extracting silk from
the cocoons (in order to do so, the worms which have become like pets will have
to be killed). Rather than manufacturing convenient solutions, the author with
Julia's periodic input invents a realistic, bittersweet ending. Ages 9-13.
Jim B
Jim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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