What's Good about the Best?

Author(s): Ted Hipple and Amy B. Maupin

Source: The English Journal, Vol. 90, No. 3, The Lure of Young Adult Literature (Jan., 2001), pp.
40-42
Published by: National Council of Teachers of English
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Lue Th

What's

Good

about

the

You-g

dul

Litrat

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Best?

TED HIPPLEANDAMYB. MAUPIN

n the March2000 EnglishJournalTed Hipple reportedthe findingsof his surveyof members of ALAN,the Assemblyon LiteratureforAdolescentsof NCTE, aboutthe best young
adultnovelsof the 90s. As it happened,the three most popularnovelswere alsoamongthe
decade'sNewbery Awardwinners:The Giver by Lois Lowry(1994), Out of the Dust by
KarenHesse (1998), andHolesby Louis Sachar(1999). It is useful to ask,we think,what makes
these novels selected by both the Newbery committees and the respondentsin the Hipple survey so special.We hope to providesome answers. U Any attemptsat literaryevaluationought
to beginwithcriteria-yardsticks,if youwill,against
which,in this case,a novelmightbe judgedor measured. We use here some standardcriteria-the
qualityof the plots,the characters,the themes-but
we also want to go beyond these to include three
otherdimensionsthatmaybe of valueto teachersas
they consider these novels for classroom study:
artistryin details,emotionalimpact,andteachability.

suffocatetheirveryexistence.In Holesthe continual diggingat CampGreenLakeservestwin roles:

punishmentandthe searchforburiedtreasure.Yet
it is overlaidwith the forebodingof dangerthat is
almostpalpable.Readerswant to know more, the
signalwaysof a good plot.

ThePlots

Justas readerswill recallthe plots, so will they rememberthe characters,both majorand minor.Although Jonas and the Giver capture the most
attentionin the Lowrynovel,the mostfearsomeperson maybe Jonas'sfather,who blithelyand unemotionallyconsignsunderweightinfantsto theirdeaths,
their"release."Morethananyoneelse in the novel,
he embodiesboththe successandfailureof thewhole
communityanditsregimensthatwerenotto be questioned,onlyto be obeyed.Whenone thinksof charactersin novels,one thinksofhumans-Billie Jo,her
mother,her father,Louisein Out of the Dust. But
clearlya majorplayerin thatworkis MotherNature,
whose unrelentingdust andits accompanyingsouldestroyingpovertycallthe tuneeveryonein the Dust
Bowl must dance to. In Holes StanleyYelnatsembarkson a journeyto freedom,fromthe prisonand
fromhisinsecuritiesanduncertainties,buthe leaves

Allthreeof the chosennovelstell goodstories.Few

who readtheseworks,studentsorteachers,willforget theirbasicplots,realpage-turnersin everycase.
When Jonasbecomes the Receiverof Memoryfor
his seeminglyutopiancommunity,he interactswith
the wise and somewhat mysterious"Giver,"who
teacheshima totallydifferentwayof life-the truth,
as it were.Theirdialogueis rivetingandleadseventuallyto Jonas'sdecisionto leavethe communityin
searchof Elsewhere,a decisionso powerfulin all of
thatreadersarelikelyto feel astorn
its ramifications
and torturedas Jonashimself. In Out of the Dust
BillieJoalsoleaveshome,onlyto recognizethather
realhomeis withherfather,whois everybit as much
bereavedas sheby the deathof the motherandwife,
even if it meansreturningto the dustthat seems to

TheCharacters

January 2001
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behindthe fascinatingwarden,anointingherfingernails with rattlesnakevenom. Shades of Freddie

Kruegerand HannibalLector.

The Themes
Themes worth individualand classroomexamination permeateall three novels. In The GiverJonas
questions,then learns,the truthabouthis dictatorial society.What he learns, students may want to
think about:proscriptionson movement,intellect,
emotion;forced conformity;controlledlife spans.
Indeed,suchconsiderations
maysuggestto students
thatoccasionalschoolrulesmaynot be so badafter
all. BillieJo'slife, fromthe deathof her motheronward,will foreverbe a mix of lost love, guilt, fear,
courage,and then finally-foundlove. Afterreading
Holes students maywell be askingquestionslike,
"Whatis fair?Whatare rightandwrong?Whatisought to be-the relationshipbetween crime and
punishment?What does redemptionmean?Freedom?Prejudiceand racism?"

Artistry in Details
As MarkTwainput it, "Thedifferencebetween the
rightword and the almostrightwordis the difference between lightningandthe lightningbug."For
manyreadersthe languageof a bookcanbe its most
endearingfeature.The passagesthatcausethem to
pause, to reread,to highlightmay also cause them
to value a novel highly.Such maybe the case with
our Newberyand Hipplechoices.
Lois Lowry provides Art with a capital A
throughoutTheGiver Of the many,manyexamples
we couldhavechosen,we selectedthispassage,the
one in whichthe Giverbestoweson Jonasthe memory of a snowfall:
Jonasfelt nothing unusualat first. He felt only the
light touch of the old man'shands on his back ...
Then he shivered. He realized that the touch of
the hands felt suddenly cold. At the same instant,
breathingin, he felt the air change, and his very
breath was cold. He licked his lips, and in doing so,
his tongue touched the chilled air... Now he
became awareof an entirely new sensation:pin-

pricks?No, becausetheyweresoftandwithout
pain.Tiny,cold,featherlikefeelingspepperedhis
body and face. He put out his tongue and caught

one of the colddotsuponit... The sensation

madehimsmile.(80-81)
Trying to decide which passage exemplifies
this criterion in Out of the Dust is difficult: there are
simply too many riches. The free verse Hesse em-

ploys, of course, lends itself to elegance, yet she

clearlyis masterof her craft.Ultimatelywe selected
this passage:
While we sat
takingour six weeks test,
the wind rose
and the sand blew
rightthroughthe cracksin the schoolhousewall,
rightthroughthe gaps aroundthe window glass,
and by the time the tests were done,
each and every one of us
was coughing pretty good and we all
needed a bath.
I hope we get bonus points
for testing in a dust storm. (37)

LikeLowryandHesse, LouisSacharcanuse
languageto makereadersfeel the pain and suffering the charactershe is describingare themselves
feeling.In Holesit'sthe thirst,the heat,the dailydigging, and the cruelwardenthatmakereaders'skin
crawl, their stomachstighten. Yet the toil in the
prisonyardpermits Sacharto let readerssee how
muchStanleycannowvaluewhathe formerlymight
have overlooked:a simpleonion:
Using both hands, [Stanley]dug a hole in the
soggy soil. It was too darkto see, but he thought he
could feel a tiny pool of water at the bottom of his
hole. He stuck his head in the hole and licked the
dirt ... and realized it was an onion.
He bit into it without peeling it. The hot bitter juice burst into his mouth. He could feel it all
the way up to his eyes. And when he swallowed,
he felt its warmth move down his throat and into
his stomach.
He only ate half. He gave the other half to Zero.
"Here, eat this."
"Whatis it?"Zero whispered.
"Ahot fudge sundae."(171-72)

Findingartistryin the detailsof a novel,aswe

have indicated,can be highlyusefulin a classroom.
It is a good teachingtactic to ask studentsto find
selections-passages, individualsentences, even single words-they like. When enough students have
responded positively to something, that something,
even a required novel, may suddenly take on a new
significance: peers like it, too.

Emotional Impact
We would argue, too, that each book in our trio of
awards hits a variety of emotional chords and hits
them often and hard. In The Giver, for instance, the
powerful "release" scene of the twin who was too
ENGLISH

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JOUrnaIl

becausewe
smallis almostunbearable,particularly
nowfearforlittleGabriel.Studentswillwinceatthe
bad memoriesJonas receives and bite their nails
duringhis escape and,afterthat,debatewith vigor
whetherthatescapeprovedto be successfulor not.
Lowry'sdeliberateambiguityaboutthe endingadds
to the emotionalimpactof the novel.

This business of the emotional

impact of literature seems often
overlooked in many classrooms,
having given way to factual
matter that may appear on tests.
WhenBillieJoplaysthe piano,readerssurely
mustfeel herelation.Butthatfeelingevaporatesin a
heartbeatat the deathof her mother.Emotionsbecome even more intense as BillieJo struggleswith
herdecisionto leave,to return,to let Louiseintotheir
family,to perhapsreturnto the piano,to SURVIVE.
Mostreaderswillbe withher everystepof the way.
And,finally,Stanley'swillingnessto befriend
the poor,rejected,teasedZeroin Holesmaybe the
stuff of Hallmarkfilms,but sentimenthas its place
in literature,particularlyin schoolhousereading.
Later,too, that sentimentis addedto when Stanley
successfullyteaches Zero to read;it'sas if "Odeto
Joy"were playingin the background.
Thisbusinessof the emotionalimpactof literatureseemsoftenoverlookedin manyclassrooms,
havinggivenwayto factualmatterthatmayappear
on tests.We believe,however,thatattentionto what
readersfeel abouta booktheyarestudyingmaywell
be everybit as importantas what they knowabout
it. Talking about feelings can be tough sometimes,
can even evoke tears or anger, but, as reader response theory reminds us, literature exploration in
the classroom ought to go beyond trying to discover
who said what to whom, when, in what circumstances, and with what significance, alwayswith just
one right answer lurking in the background.

Teachability
For teachers who use, or may use, these novels in
their classrooms a reallyimportant matter to address
SJanuarY

is their teachability.How can these novels be well

taught?How do these elementswe havediscussed
play out in the classroom?A few suggestions(and
forgiveourshiftto a directivesecond-personstyle):
* Have studentsreadall threenovelsand
compareand contrastthe veryelements
discussedin this article.Askthem to measurethe qualityof the-booksusingplot,
characters,themes, artistryin details,emotionalimpact,andwhateverothercriteria
you wantto add.We thinkthis kindof
studywill help studentsunderstandnot
onlythe literaturethey read,but alsowhy
they thinkwhatthey do aboutthatliterature,like it or dislikeit, valuesome parts,
rejectothers,and so on.
* Use the novelsin literaturecircles.Allow
eachcircleto thinkabout,talkabout,and
writeabouttheirrespectivebook.Include
letters
projecttasks;posterboards;drawings;
to the authors;alternateendings(TheGiver
is greathere);additionalscenesthe authors
mighthaveconsideredbut rejected;additionalappropriate
art,music,or otherworks
of literature(withOutof the Dust,The
Grapesof Wrathis a naturalaccompaniment
forolderstudents);rewrites;debates.You
canthinkof manymore,we know.
* Simplylet the studentsreadthe novels,
perhapsafteryou'vereadthe firstcoupleof
chaptersto get them into the book.And
then let them do whattheywantto do,
whichmaybe verylittle.And that'sall
right,we think.Not everyclassroomnovel
mustbe followedby a bookreportor a test.
Conclusion
Our brief study of these six elements revealsthat
thesethreenovelsrichlymeritedthe awardstheyreceivedandbelongin languageartsclassroomswhereverandwheneverpossible.The Newberyfolksand
Hipple'srespondentschosewisely.
Works Cited
Hesse, Karen.Out of the Dust. New York:Scholastic,1997.
Lowry,Lois. TheGiver New York:BantamDoubledayDell,
1993.
Sachar,Louis.Holes.NewYork:Farrar,Straus& Giroux,1998.
The longtime executive secretaryof ALAN (The Assembly
on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE), TED HIPPLE
teaches in the College of Educationat the Universityof Tennessee, Knoxville.AMYB. MAUPIN,a former middle and
high school English teacher,teaches at the Universityof Alabama,Tuscaloosa.

2001

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