Cybils Award Reviews: The Orphan Band Of Springdale || Skylark And Wallcreeper

I was a judge for the Cybils Award this year, so I thought it’d be fun to review the middlegrade realistic fiction finalists. Here are two big books about WWII and the immigrant experience . . . . 

The Orphan Band of Springdale by Anne Nesbet

Genre: Middlegrade historical fiction

Pages: 448

Publication date: April 2018

Content warning: Bullying, WWII, discrimination, injury, orphans

It’s 1941, and tensions are rising in the United States as the Second World War rages in Europe. Eleven-year-old Gusta’s life, like the world around her, is about to change. Her father, a foreign-born labor organizer, has had to flee the country, and Gusta has been sent to live in an orphanage run by her grandmother. Nearsighted, snaggletoothed Gusta arrives in Springdale, Maine, lugging her one precious possession: a beloved old French horn, her sole memento of her father. But in a family that’s long on troubles and short on money, how can a girl hang on to something so valuable and yet so useless when Gusta’s mill-worker uncle needs surgery to fix his mangled hand? Inspired by her mother’s fanciful stories, Gusta secretly hopes to find the coin-like “Wish” that her sea-captain grandfather supposedly left hidden somewhere. Meanwhile, even as Gusta gets to know the rambunctious orphans at the home, she feels like an outsider at her new school—and finds herself facing patriotism turned to prejudice, alien registration drives, and a family secret likely to turn the small town upside down.

Likes: I adored this book. It’s well-written, and I appreciate the skill that went into crafting it. There are a lot of different threads in this story. The plot goes in a thousand directions, but the author manages to pull it all together in the end. I’m impressed. Since there’s so much going on, this novel could have easily become a confusing mess.

Even though this is historical fiction, it’s timely. It’s one of those historical books that demonstrate how history never dies. In the US, we’re still dealing with the same stupid garbage that we’ve always been dealing with. We’re still having conversations about who’s American and who deserves to be in this country. We’re still judging immigrants without knowing anything about their lives. This novel shows that you shouldn’t jump to conclusions about people. Just because a German man likes cameras and pigeons doesn’t mean he’s a spy.

The main character, Gusta, is a sweet, mature eleven-year-old. She’s quiet, but she’s brave. She has strong friendships and tries to let justice, love, and fairness guide her behavior, which makes her a compelling character to read about. Also, I could relate to her eyeball struggles. Even my eye doctor was shocked at how terrible my vision is. It was nice to read about a character who has the same problems as me.

If you read this book, don’t skip the author’s note at the end. It explains that this story was inspired by the author’s mother’s life. It’s interesting to learn about the real person behind the fiction.

Dislikes: Underdeveloped secondary characters. Gusta’s bully, Molly, is especially flat. I didn’t believe Molly’s sudden change in behavior. She spends 300+ pages being awful to Gusta (and everybody else), but then she changes her mind and decides to be nice. It’s nice that she’s not a jerk anymore, but why?

This novel is great for adults, but I think kids would struggle with it. It’s a big book, and it reads like a big book. The plot is plodding. There is a lot of exposition and not a lot of action. There are so many plotlines that it sometimes feels directionless. I think kids would get frustrated.

The Bottom Line: If you’re an adult (or a patient child) who loves well-written historical fiction, I recommend giving this one a try. I enjoyed it.

Skylark and Wallcreeper by Anne O’Brien Carelli

Genre: Middlegrade fiction

Pages: 416

Publication date: October 2018

Content warning: Natural disaster, WWII, memory loss due to old age

Hurricane Sandy is flooding New York City, and Lily is at a nursing home with her grandmother, Collette. Lily visits Collette often, as she is beginning to lose her memories. When the National Guard shows up to evacuate the building and take them to safety at the Park Slope armory in Brooklyn, Lily's granny suddenly produces a red box she's hidden in a closet for years. Once they get to safety, Lily opens the box, where she finds an old, beautiful Montblanc pen. Granny tells Lily that the pen is very important and that she has to take care of it, as well as some letters written in French.

But Lily loses the pen in the course of helping other nursing home residents, and as she searches the city trying to find it, she learns more about her grandmother's past in France and begins to uncover the significance of the pen with the help of her best friend; a quirky pen expert; and a larger-than-life, off-Broadway understudy.

Likes: The chapters alternate between 2012 and 1944. I like the historical chapters more than the modern ones. They have more action, higher stakes, and tenser relationships. Collette and Marguerite (codenamed Wallcreeper and Skylark) have a “girl power” friendship. I enjoyed watching them learn to trust each other and then work together to protect their town from a Nazi invasion. It shows that kids can accomplish huge tasks with teamwork.

My favorite part of the modern timeline is how Lily’s life parallels Collette’s. They’re both independent, responsible children with a strong drive to do what’s right. They’ve both proven that they can handle a crisis. Lily’s dedication to her grandmother is admirable. She puts herself in danger to make sure that her grandmother gets to safety during Hurricane Sandy. Lily’s panicky mother is relatable. I think a lot of kids wish their mothers would calm down and let them have more freedom.

Dislikes: I love historical fiction. It’s one of my favorite genres. According to my reading spreadsheets, it makes up a large percentage of what I read. When I compare this book to other WWII novels, I’m underwhelmed. It doesn’t feel fresh. I’ve seen this kids-resist-Nazis storyline infinity times before, and other authors have handled it more skillfully.

My biggest issue with the modern chapters is that they feel contrived. There are so many coincidences!

I think all of the characters in the historical chapters are underdeveloped. Parents are a huge part of a child’s life, but we don’t learn much about the kids’ families. Were Collette’s parents involved in the resistance? What did they do? Where are they?

I also noticed some weird head-hopping in the historical chapters. It occasionally isn’t clear if we are in Skylark or Wallcreeper’s point-of-view. We sometimes seem to be in both at once.

Would this book appeal to children? Maybe. I loved historical fiction as a young teen, so I probably would have picked it up, but I don’t think I would have liked it as much as Number The Stars (which I read about 1000 times when I was in middle school).

The Bottom Line: Not my favorite WWII book. The characters are underdeveloped, and the plot is contrived.