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December 18, 2017 by Roxanne Hsu Feldman

Alligators, Curses, A Swamp – Oh My!

December 18, 2017 by Roxanne Hsu Feldman   6 comments

tumbleandblueIn 19th century England, a fictional child reader asked, “and what is the use of a book without pictures or conversations?” In 20th century Taiwan, a non-fictional child reader pondered, “and what is the use of a book without magic or something completely made up?”  Indeed, when this Taiwanese young reader grew up and studied Children’s Literature in the United States, she was astonished by the existence of “realistic fiction”!  Who would want to read something that could actually happen?  Isn’t the entire point of Children’s Literature to create a completely imagined landscape for readers to explore, wonder, and escape to?  She learned quickly, that, no, not only there are many realistic fiction for children, they also tend to be the most praised and more likely to win major awards. It’s not uncommon to hear someone says, “Oh, I love that book but I don’t think it has a chance at the Newbery.  Fantasy just don’t win the Award!”  (A quick glance through the last 20 years of Newbery winning/honored titles confirms this sentiment.)  With around 60 titles nominated by Heavy Medal readers this year, only a handful are speculative fiction.  Still, my love for fantasy and science fiction for children has only increased through the years — especially because so many of my young readers seem to gravitate and truly connect with these tales.

I couldn’t have been more delighted when I realized that Tumble and Blue is definitely not rooted in reality!  Beasley starts the narrative with the sinister voice of an ancient, magical being telling readers that creatures like them “don’t fit in between a cartographer’s line” and that they can “only be found in the places where maps dare not go.”

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The tone is set — both by the events described and the author’s choices of words.  Readers are entering a world not replicated from real locations or circumstances.

Tumble and Blue follows the magical tradition of the American Tall Tales: Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp (and its Upside-Down counterpart) serves as the mythical central location and the Montgomery and LaFayette clans are the quest seekers wishing to reverse ancient curses. These  larger than life characters with supernatural powers compete against each other.  We are even given the traditional trope of a Pie-Eating Contest!  There are some slapstick moments and down-right mean spirited relatives.  But our main characters, like true folk tale heroes, definitely have hearts of gold and their final triumph comes not from brute forces or superhuman powers, but selflessness and compassion.

The compassion/selfless theme is neither subtle, nor uncommon. However, Beasley packages the theme with an inventive plot, a vivid sense of setting, a cast of authentically admirable and despicable characters, much humor (“The universal adoration is somewhat in doubt,” “Doesn’t have a sense god gave a goose,”) and verbal dexterity (“Quick and quiet as a slither.”)

While “getting the message,” the readers are definitely entertained along the way.

 

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About Roxanne Hsu Feldman

Roxanne Hsu Feldman is the Middle School (4th to 8th grade) Librarian at the Dalton School in New York City. She served on the 2002 and 2013 Newbery Committees. Roxanne was also a member of 2008-2009 Notable Books for Children, 2015 Best Fiction for Young Adults, and the 2017 Odyssey Award Committees. In 2016 Roxanne was one of the three judges for the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards. You can reach her at at roxannefeldman@gmail.com.

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Comments

  1. Meredith Burton says

    December 18, 2017 at 8:22 pm

    Circus Mirandus is one of my favorite reads, and I think it deserved more recognition than it received. Tumble and Blue has that same magic, surreal feeling but with a more folksy tone. It reminded me a bit of Savvy and of The True Blue Scouts of Sugarman Swamp.

  2. Roxanne Feldman says

    December 19, 2017 at 6:59 pm

    It also feels like Holes and 11 Birthdays. All titles that have a lot of kid appeal. An easy book to booktalk, too.

  3. Leonard Kim says

    December 21, 2017 at 12:32 pm

    How did people feel about the open ending? I just finished listening to DISAPPEARED by Stork and that ending brought this book to mind (as well as ORPHAN ISLAND, QUICKSAND POND, LONG WAY DOWN, and probably others.) Sure one can always make justifications for lack of closure, but I feel like enough books have taken this route lately that it feels like an easy way out. It’s hard to write a satisfying ending. Maybe the hardest thing. So I’m probably inclined to favor books that don’t sidestep the challenge. I’m not saying everything needs to be tied in a neat bow – there are books that leave questions unanswered but nevertheless ended, I felt, in a satisfying way: HELLO UNIVERSE, PATINA, FOREVER OR A LONG LONG TIME, BEYOND THE BRIGHT SEA.

    • DaNae C Leu says

      January 1, 2018 at 3:56 am

      The ending for LONG WAY DOWN, worked very well for me. It perfectly mirrored the tone of the book. You know how I feel about ORPHAN ISLAND. TUMBLE & BLUE left me similarly disinchanted.

    • Steven Engelfried says

      January 1, 2018 at 10:03 pm

      I was torn by the LONG WAY DOWN ending. I think it made sense in terms of the scope of the book, which focuses on the thoughts and emotions of a character about to make a life-changing decision. The act of shooting or walking away would have been a step into another segment of his life, when every other part of the book was in that intense, pre-decision world.

      On the other hand, I wonder if anyone reading that book has any doubt about what Will is going to do? If he uses the gun, all of those visits were wasted. I feel like Will (and us readers) learned more about why using the gun would be the wrong decision with each visit. In PATINA, I thought: “she’ll win, or she’ll lose, but that’s not what’s important,” and that worked. With ORPHAN ISLAND I thought, “we don’t get to learn more about the island,” and I was okay with that. Mostly. In LONG WAY DOWN, I was: “we’re supposed to wonder if now he’s going to shoot the guy, but I already know he’s not going to.” It didn’t ruin the book, but it felt like an attempt at a surprising finish that had less of an impact than it seemed was intended.

  4. DaNae C Leu says

    January 1, 2018 at 3:49 am

    Loved the beginning of this, the end just fell apart.

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