Bibliography
Schmidt, G. 2004. Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. ISBN 9780544022799.
Plot Summary
Turner Buckminster quickly begins to hate living in his new home in Phippsburg, Maine after having to leave his hometown of Boston, Massachusetts. Turner struggles to find a voice of his own while being watched by the community and being known as the “minister’s son”, whose father is there to “guide” the people of Maine. Turner meets Lizzie Bright, a young black girl, and he quickly has a few new reasons to love his new home; but, after finding out that Lizzie and her community in the Magala Islands are being forced to leave or will be taken to an asylum, Turner struggles to rescue Lizzie and her family while dealing with his own personal and family obstacles.
Critical Analysis
“Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy” is a historical fiction novel that young readers can identify with and learn from, as the novel’s plot is based around Malaga Island, a true historical event placed during the late 19th century and late 20th century. There are many other historical indications found throughout the story. One historical aspect that is prevalent throughout the novel is the language used. While unfortunate, the white people in the story name-call the black people as a way to diminish their humanistic values and move them out. This aspect of racism was an unfortunate yet common practice during this time period. Not only does this highlight the time period, but the event itself reflects our nation’s history with the removal of Natives done by the Europeans. Therefore, the readers can not only learn more about the events and experiences that occurred with the Malaga Island, but they can dive deeper into the reading to learn an even older past of our country.
Students are able to identify themselves in the novel through bullying and self-identity. Turner experiences bullying first-hand by Willis, and young readers can learn from Turner’s experiences with bullying by seeing his bully become his friend when Turner deals with the hardship of losing Lizzie. As many teenagers feel that their parents are extremely strict, readers can feel a sense of familiarity by connecting with Turner when he is always being watched over by his community. This can be seen throughout the book when Turner struggles in finding his own identity when every “wrong” decision he makes is reported back to his minister father.
Review Excerpt(s)
- 2005 Newbery Honor Book
- 2005 Michael L. Printz Honor Book
- Starred review in Kirkus Reviews: “There can be no happy ending to this story, but the telling is both beautiful and emotionally honest, both funny and piercingly sad” (May 20, 2010).
Connections
- Students can do research on the Malaga Islands and can discuss their findings.
- Students can do a writing assignment on friendship and what it means to them.
- Students can write about a time when they stood up to someone because of what they believed in/ for what they believed was right.
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