Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy

Title: Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy

Author: Gary D. Schmidt

Publisher: Clarion Books

Date: 2004

Number of pages: 224 Pages

Reading level: Young Adult

Genre: Young Adult Historical Fiction

Summary: Turner, newly arrived in a small coastal town in Maine where his father is to be the new minister, is immediately an outcast, despised by the children, watched incessantly by the suspicious adults, and ground down by his rigid father. His life is wretched and lonely until he meets Lizzie Bright, granddaughter of the minister on the nearby island of Malaga, an impoverished community of slave descendants. Lizzie is tough, smart, and wise, and with her and her community Turner feels at home in a way he never will in his own home.Lizzie Bright Griffin, an independent Malaga Island girl who improves his baseball, takes him rowing on the bay, and introduces him to the wonders of her island and its natural surroundings. Just off the coast of Phippsburg, her island is an historically black community that the town citizens plan to forcibly remove-in order to make way for the tourist trade. 

But the town wants to attract tourists, and the first step is the elimination of the Malaga community. As a punishment for fighting with local bullies, Turner is forced to play the organ for Mrs. Cobb, a crotchety old neighbor. Later, he and Lizzie form an unusual friendship with her. The inhabitants of Malaga Island are forced to leave, and things become desperate for Lizzie when her grandfather dies-she is sent to an institution for the feeble-minded in faraway Pownal. (Anyone who doesn't "fit in" is sent there by the Phippsburg deacons.) When Turner inherits the old woman's house and attempts to move Lizzie into it, tensions escalate, climaxing in a Buckminster family tragedy. In the background of this turmoil, there is the beauty of the natural world, illustrated by the majesty of the gray whales that cruise offshore, the wheeling gulls overhead, and the bracing fragrance of the coastal pines. Turner's father, beset and manipulated by the Deacons of his church, supports their efforts, leaving only Turner to stand up for what is right. But doing the right thing is far more complicated than it seems and, as Lizzie often tells him, he "never can look at things straight."

My reaction: It is well-deserving of its Newbery and Printz Honors for 2005. Schmidt reminds us that as nature evolves, so do human beings, emotionally , spiritually, and intellectually. This is a book written for children and young adults about love, loss, and transcendence, and the evolution of natural history and human compassion. Schmidt creates sensitive and believable characters that are capable of unexpected acts. He weaves a story rich in historical detail, moral complexity, and regional character that will cause readers to consider the interrelationships between man and nature, young and old, tradition and change.

Potential problems: There are relationships of many kinds to explore, moral growth and change in several characters, majority vs. minority rights, and unintended consequences of one's actions. Based off real events around the Maine area, Lizzie Bright offers much insight and controversy over racism in a community. There is also a couple bloody fights, one that even leads to death.

My recommendation: Its lyrical and metaphorical writing are terrific examples for writing classes. If the book is owned in the home, Families can talk about the challenges of standing up for something you believe in when popular opinion is against you. It can serve as an example too all young readers of how to stand up for what you believe is right, and go against the odds.