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Title details for Aleutian Sparrow by Karen Hesse - Available

Aleutian Sparrow

by Karen Hesse
Sarah Jones
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
Vera, a young Aleut girl who lives with an elderly couple on a larger island so that she can attend school, returns home for the summer of 1942 to visit her mother and friends. But when the Japanese launch an air attack on the Aleutian Islands, the U.S. government reacts by "evacuating" most of the Aleut population. Vera and her village are forced to leave their small island of Kashega and spend the rest of the war in internment camps, facing sickness, suffer, and death.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    December 6, 2007

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780739386095
      • File size: 50481 KB
      • Duration: 01:45:10

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • ATOS Level: 5.7
    • Lexile® Measure: 0
    • Interest Level: 4-8(MG)

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      A little known event of WWII is the 1942 bombing of Unalaska in the Aleutian Islands and the U.S. Government's subsequent removal of Aleutians to internment camps more than one thousand miles away. For Vera, home from school and spending the summer with her family, three years of deplorable camp living begins. In vignettes of unrhymed verse, Vera tells of this time and her village and culture before the bombing. Sarah Jones's gentle and quiet narration is unobtrusive and underscores the full impact of Vera's story. In response to Hesse's signature technique of ending each section with a thought or happening that merits further consideration, Jones delivers added emphasis and a pause for reflection. More of the author's poignant memories of her childhood internment follow the novel and satisfy the listener's desire to know more about this event. A.R. 2005 YALSA Selection (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      September 22, 2003
      Hesse once again uses free verse to explore a historical period, but while the poetry of her Out of the Dust and Witness built a broad picture of events through the layering of a fully formed cast, here character development is sacrificed in favor of atmospheric details. Narrator Vera goes home to Kashega on the Aleutian Islands ("a necklace of jewels around the throat of the Bering Sea," as an elder describes them) for the summer of 1942, never dreaming that the older couple she looks after in Unalaska Village (also on the islands) would be bombed by the Japanese. The U.S. government then rounds up the Aleutians and transports them "safely out of the way" of the war, to relocation camps on Ward Lake, eight miles from Ketchikan, Alaska. There, surrounded by alien trees where "we find not a single leaf we recognize," Vera watches many die of disease (including her best friend, Pari), is abandoned by her mother, who moves to Ketchikan without her, and realizes she is in love with her childhood friend Alfred. The poetic images will linger in the minds of readers. Yet because the audience learns so little of Vera's interior life, her plight lacks impact, and her homecoming falls short of triumphant. Ages 10-14.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 30, 2005
      The narrator, who lives and works on the Aleutian Islands, describes the aftermath of the Japanese bombing there in the summer of 1942. According to PW
      , "The poetic images will linger in the minds of readers." Ages 10-14.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • ATOS Level:5.7
  • Lexile® Measure:0
  • Interest Level:4-8(MG)

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