Diamond Willow by Helen Frost

Maud Hart Lovelace Nominee 2012-13

     

I just finished reading Diamond Willow which is one of the nominees  for the Maud Hart Lovelace book award this year.  Since I read with the Rochester group who nominees the nominees, I had already taken a peek at this book and alas, had abandoned it after reading a few pages a year or so ago.  So, back to reading the book in its entirety since it is now on the reading list.

The book is a short story written in poetic form. The shape of each page is in a type of diamond shape, similar to the look you would find on a diamond willow branch once you rub the bark off.  The author also bold faced a few words on the page to form a secret message...a type of short summary...or message between the lines of the story.   The reason I abandoned the book was because it was so frustrating for me to stop on each page and read the message. So I just ignored the message this time and I was able to hook into the book.

The story is about a family in Alaska and their sled dogs and a family secret. Willow, the main character is 13 years old and feels lonely and sad. An accident with her sled dog causes the family secret to be told as Willow struggles with the injury of her dog Roxy. Throughout the book, Frost changes the character to an animal which is the spirit of a relative. These pages are not written in the diamond shape.  I'm not sure if this is part of  Native American spirituality teachings, however, it was interesting to see how she shows that family is always watching out from our past.

Lots of extra teaching material at the end of the book with questions and ideas for writing your own unusual poem with special rules.  I found that once I was hooked and ignored the bold print, I enjoyed reading the book.
I give the book 3 out of 4 stars.