Brooklyn Bridge

Last week I was lucky enough to attend a preview at Feiwel and Friends in the lovely Flat Iron Building. Many interesting titles were discussed, but the one I simply couldn't wait to read was Brooklyn Bridge, by Karen Hesse.

It's the summer of 1903 and Joseph is sick of bears. Ever since his mom created two toy bears in response to President Roosevelt's refusal to shoot a young bear on a hunting expedition, Joseph has been living and breathing bears. The family candy shop has turned into a bear making shop, and bear parts are all over the apartment. His parents are so busy trying to keep up with demand that Joseph's dream of getting to Coney Island seems like it will never happen.

Joseph's family are immigrants from Russia. First came his Aunt Golda (or the Queen as Joseph and his sister liked to call her) who saved all of her money to bring her siblings over, including Joseph's Papa, and his two other aunts (Aunt Beast and Aunt Mouse accordingly). His aunts stayed in Manhattan's Lower East Side, while the only home Joseph can remember is Brooklyn. Joseph knows that he is lucky...he really does. He knows other kids who don't want to go home because their parents yell, and hit, they don't have enough to eat, or they are falling over the many people crammed into their apartments. Joseph doesn't have to worry about any of these things. Still, he misses how life used to be with the candy shop, and how he used to be just one of the guys.

At least he is not one of the bridge kids. The ones that congregate there every night to try to get some sleep and stay out of harm's way. Some have nowhere else to go, others have run away from horrific situations. These kids watch out for each other, share whatever they have, and simply try to survive another day.

Hesse has penned an intriguing piece of historical fiction with a dash of magical realism as well. Who is the ghost that haunts the children under the bridge, and how can he possibly be related to Joseph's family?

The chapters about Joseph's family are interspersed with chapters telling the tales of the children living under the bridge. I am curious about the degree of fiction of these children's tales. Some are so horrific that I think they must have been recorded in a work house diary. It is amazing to think about NYC back at the turn of the century. The class divide is explored in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. The children who are cast aside are struggling every day to survive, and Joseph's family is making it, but suffering the consequence of not quite fitting in with the folks on the block like they used to.

I also love the amount of historical detail that Hesse managed to put into the book so seemingly effortlessly, that readers simply absorb them without feeling like it's work. The comments from newspapers of the day describing Coney Island are so interesting, and left me wanting to read more about the amusement parks (especially with the condo-ization of the area set to begin very soon).

Lyrical and haunting, Brooklyn Bridge is one of those books that stays with the reader. You will find yourself revisiting the characters and the situations time and time again.

Guest Blogger Jesse Karp - Rabbi Harvey Rides Again

If you love graphic novels and you review them on top of it, you end up reading an awful lot of 'em. You wade through plenty of mediocre ones and you start to think that everyone knows about the really stand-out pieces as soon as they hit the shelves. Not so, I'm here to tell you. There are hidden gems, even in this day and age when graphic novels seem to be finally getting the attention they've long deserved. Case in point: Rabbi Harvey Rides Again, sequel to the equally wonderful The Adventures of Rabbi Harvey, both by Steve Sheinkin. The story of the humble and seldom ruffled Rabbi Harvey, who finds himself sheriff of a small Old West town filled with miners, outlaws and devious bubbes, the good rabbi can hardly employ the classic six-shooter solution and so brings to bear the wisdom of ancient Jewish folklore. Sound like it might be a hard sell for your hesitant tween? Let me assure you, the humor is so sly, the characters so engaging, the indiosynchratic art so charming, readers will find that the wisdom has somehow or other snuck by without an instant of discomfort. In point of fact, the stories are so well constructed that the solutions to the various townsfolks' problems (for instance, just how do you prosecute the wind for stealing someone's last piece of bread, anyway?) feel much more like an extremely satisfying punchline than any kind of a lesson.

For every Arrival or Hugo Cabret you know there's a Rabbi Harvey waiting to be discovered. Keep an eye out, a little Old West Rabbi humor never hurt anyone. A little wisdom never hurt anyone either, for the matter of that.

We Are SO Crashing Your Bar Mitzvah!!

Thanks to Karyn for the recent ALA arcs! Hurrah.

Stacy Adelaide Friedman is back. Stacy and Lydia have been away at camp all summer. While they were there, they met cool girl Laila. Laila's from LA, she's had surgery and everything (nose job), and she knows all about current rocker fashion. She teaches Stacy and Lydia all she knows.

The girls are back in town and dying to hook up with next-best-friend Kelly before the big "First Night". You know, when all the kids break into the Pepsico grounds and hang out before the first day back to school. Stacy and Lydia get all glammed up for the occasion. They have their Sedu ceramic hair straighteners, whitened teeth, smoky eyes and rock chick attire.

Then the chicas roll in. Kelly is with them. Kelly is with them!. All of the Rye girls are dressed in flowy peasant tops and gauchos...not skin tight rock chick clothes. Stacy and Lydia try to pass it off as a joke, but they can't help feeling like the outsiders once more. Kym is holding court again, and while Kelly is in the inner circle, Lydia and Stacy are outside of it.

All of a sudden a limo a la "My Super Sweet Sixteen" appears on the scene. Out pop 2 boys dressed in white tuxedos. Once has a silver tray with a bunch of necklaces on it. Each necklace is a delicate gold chain with a capital letter "E" hanging from it. Apparently this is the invitation to Eben's bar mitzvah. Each of the chicas are presented with the golden "E". Then Kelly receives hers. A subtle shake of the head from Kym seals Stacy and Kelly's fate. No invites for them. They are officially "out".

What do you do when 8th grade changes everything? Moreover, do you have to become a mean girl to be part of the mean girl posse? How much of yourself do you have to sacrifice for fashion?

Once again, Fiona Rosenbloom has penned an angst ridden tween novel that, while seemingly shallow, is pitch perfect. Designer label names are dropped along with celebrities and "oh my God" slang. While Stacy is truly unlikable in the beginning, we watch her grow, and her genuine concern for her friend's well being is apparent and refreshing. Fans of You are SO uninvited to my Bat Mitzvah will eat up this new title, as will younger fans of chicklit.