Download Ebook Diamond Willow, by Helen Frost
Get the link to download this Diamond Willow, By Helen Frost and also start downloading. You can desire the download soft data of the book Diamond Willow, By Helen Frost by undertaking other activities. Which's all done. Now, your rely on read a publication is not constantly taking and carrying guide Diamond Willow, By Helen Frost everywhere you go. You can conserve the soft data in your gizmo that will never be far as well as review it as you like. It is like reviewing story tale from your device then. Now, start to love reading Diamond Willow, By Helen Frost as well as get your brand-new life!
Diamond Willow, by Helen Frost
Download Ebook Diamond Willow, by Helen Frost
Diamond Willow, By Helen Frost. Let's review! We will typically figure out this sentence all over. When still being a children, mother made use of to order us to constantly review, so did the educator. Some e-books Diamond Willow, By Helen Frost are completely checked out in a week and also we require the commitment to support reading Diamond Willow, By Helen Frost Exactly what about now? Do you still love reading? Is reading only for you that have obligation? Not! We right here offer you a brand-new publication qualified Diamond Willow, By Helen Frost to review.
It is not secret when linking the writing skills to reading. Checking out Diamond Willow, By Helen Frost will certainly make you obtain even more resources and also resources. It is a way that could improve exactly how you ignore and understand the life. By reading this Diamond Willow, By Helen Frost, you could greater than exactly what you receive from various other publication Diamond Willow, By Helen Frost This is a popular publication that is published from popular publisher. Seen type the writer, it can be trusted that this book Diamond Willow, By Helen Frost will certainly give numerous inspirations, regarding the life and encounter and also everything within.
You could not have to be uncertainty concerning this Diamond Willow, By Helen Frost It is easy method to obtain this publication Diamond Willow, By Helen Frost You can merely check out the distinguished with the link that we provide. Right here, you can purchase guide Diamond Willow, By Helen Frost by online. By downloading Diamond Willow, By Helen Frost, you could discover the soft file of this publication. This is the local time for you to begin reading. Even this is not published book Diamond Willow, By Helen Frost; it will specifically offer even more perks. Why? You might not bring the printed book Diamond Willow, By Helen Frost or only pile guide in your house or the workplace.
You could finely add the soft documents Diamond Willow, By Helen Frost to the gadget or every computer hardware in your workplace or residence. It will aid you to consistently proceed reviewing Diamond Willow, By Helen Frost each time you have downtime. This is why, reading this Diamond Willow, By Helen Frost doesn't offer you issues. It will give you vital sources for you who wish to begin composing, discussing the similar publication Diamond Willow, By Helen Frost are various book area.
There's
more to me than
most people
see.
Twelve-year-old Willow would rather blend in than stick out. But she still wants to be seen for who she is. She wants her parents to notice that she is growing up. She wants her best friend to like her better than she likes a certain boy. She wants, more than anything, to mush the dogs out to her grandparents' house, by herself, with Roxy in the lead. But sometimes when it's just you, one mistake can have frightening consequences . . . And when Willow stumbles, it takes a surprising group of friends to help her make things right again.
Using diamond-shaped poems inspired by forms found in polished diamond willow sticks, Helen Frost tells the moving story of Willow and her family. Hidden messages within each diamond carry the reader further, into feelings Willow doesn't reveal even to herself.
Diamond Willow is a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.
- Sales Rank: #33690 in Books
- Brand: Square Fish
- Published on: 2011-05-10
- Released on: 2011-05-10
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 7.64" h x .37" w x 5.19" l, .26 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 144 pages
From School Library Journal
Grade 5–8—When a diamond willow's bark is removed, sanded, and polished, it reveals reddish brown diamonds, the dark center of which are the scars of missing branches. Frost has used this image to craft an intricate family story in diamond-shaped verse. In her small Alaskan town, 12-year-old Diamond Willow, named for the tree, prefers to be just "Willow" but muses that if her parents had called her "Diamond," "…would I have been one of those sparkly kinds of girls?" Instead she describes herself as an average, part-Athabascan girl with one good friend, who finds herself more comfortable around her family's sled dogs than with people. Her story takes a heartrending turn on a solo dogsled trip to visit her grandparents, and Willow is soon caught up in an intense adventure that leads to the discovery of a family secret. As she unravels the truth, Willow comes to understand the diamonds and scars that bind her family together. She also gains awareness of her own strength and place in her community. Willow relates her story in one-page poems, each of which contains a hidden message printed in darker type. At key intervals, the narrative is continued in the voices of her ancestors, who take the form of animal spirits—Red Fox, Spruce Hen, Mouse, Chickadee, Lynx—and her sled dogs. Frost casts a subtle spell through innovative storytelling. Her poems offer pensive imagery and glimpses of character, and strong emotion. This complex and elegant novel will resonate with readers who savor powerful drama and multifaceted characters.—Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Set in a remote part of Alaska, this story in easy-to-read verse blends exciting survival adventure with a contemporary girl’s discovery of family roots and secrets. Middle-schooler Willow’s dad is Anglo, and her mother is Athabascan. The girl longs to spend more time with her traditional Indian grandparents even though she knows she will miss computers and other things that are a part of her life. When her beloved dog, Roxy, is blinded in an accident (partly Willow’s fault), and her parents want to put the dog down, Willow tries to take Roxy to Grandma and Grandpa. The two are caught in a raging blizzard, and Willow is saved by the spirits of her ancestors, who live on in the wild animals around her. Frost, who spent years teaching in Alaska, blends the young teen’s viewpoint with a strong sense of place and culture. The casual diamond shape of the poems reflects how precious jewels of wisdom can grow around painful scars. Willow’s bond with Roxy is the heart of the tale. Give this to fans of dog stories and to readers who liked Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet (1987). Grades 6-9. --Hazel Rochman
Review
“Frost invents an ingenious poetic form for her story that is both stable and fluid; like the diamond willow branches that she is imitating, the diamond shapes of her poems vary. . . . Frost has spun metaphoric gold out of an evocative natural landscape, and she knows just how to craft it into an elegant and moving story of a young girl's deepening understanding of the relationships she shares with those around her.” ―The Bulletin for Center of Children's Books, Starred Review
“This complex and elegant novel will resonate with readers who savor powerful drama and multifaceted characters.” ―School Library Journal
“Set in a remote part of Alaska, this story in easy-to-read verse blends exciting survival adventure with a contemporary girl's discovery of family roots and secrets.” ―Booklist
“This delightful novel is a must-read.” ―VOYA
“Frost presents her story in a series of poems in Willow's voice, using a form inspired by the marks on a diamond willow stick.” ―Kirkus Reviews
“Twelve-year-old Willow longs to take the family's beloved sled dogs on her first solo run to her grandparents' cabin. Inspired by gifts created from diamond willow, Helen Frost has composed unique diamond-shaped poems that reveal the touching story of Willow, her immediate family, and her ancestors, whose spirits reside in many of the animals of the Alaskan wilderness she encounters.” ―Tish Gayle, The Blue Marble Bookstore, Fort Thomas, KY
“As it takes us gliding along on a dogsled with Willow into the depths of the snowy Alaskan interior, Diamond Willow illustrates oneness, forgiveness, joyfulness, and how a child can sometimes teach her parents well.” ―Richie's Picks
Most helpful customer reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
Different and amazing
By S. C. Mulhern
Diamond Willow by Helen Frost is a short, concise story that packs a powerful punch. I finished it yesterday afternoon and it is still on my mind. The action of the story takes place over the span of a few short days, but don't make the mistake of assuming nothing happens. Willow grows and changes more in those days than most middle-schoolers do in a lifetime.
This is a gorgeous book, despite the fact that there are no illustrations. Instead, this verse novel is told in a series of diamond-shaped poems, based on the shape of the diamond willow. Within each poem, a few words are bolded and when from top to bottom, they form a poem-within-a-poem, the heart of the story. Every single diamond is different, and the word choice in each poem is amazing. I sometimes stopped on a new page just to look at shapes, which almost served as illustrations.
The story is simple and middle-grade students will easily connect with Willow and her family. Willow is a 12-year-old part-Native Alaskan who lives in a very remote town, accessible by snowmobile, plane, and boat. She is struggling with herself, with school, and with finding happiness. She begs her parents to mush the sled (with three of their six dogs) to her Grandparents house one weekend. While they say no at first, she is determined to prove her maturity and they finally give in. But on the way back there's an accident. From there, it builds and to go on would spoil the rest of the story, so I will stop there. but I will say you should pick this up immediately!
One of my favorite parts of the story was Willow's connection to the past. She struggles throughout the book, all the while unaware that the animals surrounding her carry the spirits of dead ancestors and friends who care for her. I loved this aspect of the story, so simple and serene in it's beauty. It was comforting, and who hasn't caught a glimpse of nature and felt the flicker of recognition, the momentary thought that someone or something is watching out for us? I also loved the theme of respect and love of nature. I seek out environmental themes in my books and this one did not disappoint.
Diamond Willow is a must-have for middle school teachers, and I expect it may even get some Newbery love next month!
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
For when they're gone, they lustre on. Diamonds are forever.
By E. R. Bird
The sentence "I told you so!" is deeply satisfying. Granted, the satisfaction you feel when you say it only lasts a minute or two, but for a little while, as you do your "I told you so" dance, you get to feel that thrill of vindication sweeping through your veins. I often feel this way when an author or illustrator I've liked over the years starts garnering a little more notice. Admittedly Helen Frost is maybe not the best example I could call up. After all, she won a Printz Honor a couple years back for her book Keesha's House and her recent picture book Monarch and Milkweed has been getting nothing but sweet sweet loving from professional reviewers. All that aside, I've never felt that anyone has ever given Ms. Frost enough attention for her cleverness. When The Braid was published several years ago it was so smart, so sharp, and so interesting that it took everything I had not to bop people over the head with it at dinner parties. "BOP! Read this!" "BOP! Read this!" No such bopping will be necessary with her newest novel, though. "Diamond Willow" aims younger than Frost's usual teenaged fare. Examining the relationship between a girl and her sled dog, Frost combines her standard intelligent wordplay with a story that will catch in the throats of dog lovers and people lovers alike.
Take the branch of a willow tree, carve it down, get to the center, polish it, and there where the scar of a living branch remains you will find the shape of a diamond. A diamond willow branch is pretty special but middle schooler Diamond Willow, named after the natural wonder, doesn't feel very special at all. She has a hard time making friends at school and sometimes it seems like her dad loves his sled dogs more than her. Not that Willow doesn't love the dogs too, particularly Roxy, the smart and clever lead dog who always knows the way. Willow's getting older and one day she convinces her parents to let her take the dogs to her grandparents' house. When tragedy strikes and Roxy's eyes are harmed along the way, Willow does whatever she can to protect her furred friend from her parents' flawed intentions. As she does so, secrets long since buried begin to come to light and Willow gets a better idea of who she is and what Roxy really means to her. Every page containing Willow's thoughts appears in the shape of a diamond, a buried message found at the heart of each of these free verse poems.
Maybe the reason Frost's The Braid never got the attention it deserved was that it was too clever for its own good. As I recall, Frost braided her poems over and under themselves, weaving sentences and even details like her characters ages into the mix. Or maybe the reason was simpler than that. Maybe people just don't appreciate it when a poem is smarter than they are. None of this is to say that Frost hasn't been doing some pretty fancy footwork with this book too.
The fact that a shrub willow's diamond pattern forms when a piece of it has been roughly hewn away in some matter is more than a little significant to this tale. As with a real diamond willow, the center of each diamond poem contains a dark spot at the center. Often Frost will place certain letters in bold at strategic moments. If the reader chooses to read these dark words on their own, they'll encounter thoughts and feelings hidden within Willow. Many of these feel as if they are her innermost feelings. The kind of gut reaction or subconscious understanding that she may not even be aware that she feels. On page six, for example, Willow describes her state in life. "In the middle of my family in the middle of a middle-size town in the middle of Alaska, you will find middle-size, middle-kid, me." It doesn't look like much when I pull the sentence apart and place it on a page like this, but the message of "find me" is clear as crystal. This is someone who wants to be found, even if she can't express it directly. Authors always try to find new and interesting ways to have their characters say what they think, and at the same time express what they mean. Frost's technique is perfect for child readers and may cause them to concentrate a little more as they read each section.
Willow is part Athabascan, a fact that is important to the story. As she continues along her way her narrative, which began entirely with her diamond-shaped thoughts, is broken up by the voices of animals. And a few of these animals appear to be related to her. The first time you see one of these sections, usually written in a straightforward prose-style, it is introduced with, "John, Willow's great-great-grandfather (Red Fox)". And sure as shooting, we're hearing the impressions of a fox who just so happen to have also have been related to Willow in a past life. It's tricky territory taking any particular ethnicity and assigning a spirituality to it that may or may not belong to the author herself. I'm not saying I was offended, but it's a difficult path to walk and I don't know that Frost need have gone that route. Due to the fact that Roxy's speech near the end wraps up a lot of loose ends, I understand the desire to make someone else talk beforehand, but it's still sketchy territory. At least Ms. Frost handles it tastefully in any case.
Far more kid-friendly than her previous books, Helen Frost has a knack for writing free-verse novels that never feel like someone took a page of prose and broke it up arbitrarily. Every sentence, word, and syllable in this book is crafted and honed. If a diamond willow branch needs to be polished to look and feel right then I think it's safe to say that just as much polish must go into Ms. Frost's four-sided works of art. A dog story sure, but one that definitely (forgive me) separates itself from the pack. Animal poetry done right.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
A fantastic book!
By themaven
My daughter (age 9) and I read this book together and both absolutely loved it. It is beautifully written, engaging, and so creative. We really connected reading the book aloud together (something we hadn't done together since 1st grade but have now started doing again since we enjoyed it so much!) and both were especially take with the "secret messages" on the pages. That really inspired some great discussion between us about subtext and how to figure out what people are thinking even when they don't say it outright. I will be giving this book as a gift over and over.
See all 30 customer reviews...
Diamond Willow, by Helen Frost PDF
Diamond Willow, by Helen Frost EPub
Diamond Willow, by Helen Frost Doc
Diamond Willow, by Helen Frost iBooks
Diamond Willow, by Helen Frost rtf
Diamond Willow, by Helen Frost Mobipocket
Diamond Willow, by Helen Frost Kindle
* Download Ebook Diamond Willow, by Helen Frost Doc
* Download Ebook Diamond Willow, by Helen Frost Doc
* Download Ebook Diamond Willow, by Helen Frost Doc
* Download Ebook Diamond Willow, by Helen Frost Doc
