Marven+of+the+Great+North+Woods

=Marven of the Great North Woods = Written By: Kathryn Lasky Illustrated By: Kevin Hawkes Book Review By: Jessica Broggi __**Biographical Data: **__


 * ISBN-13: 9780152168261
 * Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
 * Publication date: 10/28/2002
 * Pages: 48
 * Age range: 6 - 9 Years

__**Summary: **__

This Parents’ Choice Award book and award winner of the National Jewish Book Award, is based on the true story of a Jewish boy, Marven Lasky in 1918 when his parents Ida and Joseph Lasky sent their first child born in America and only son, to a logging camp far away from the city to escape the influenza epidemic. In the time period girls were not allowed to travel far from home unaccompanied. They chose to send away Marven in hopes of saving the only child they could. The heartfelt story follows Marvin’s journey to the logging camp, his stay at the camp, as well his return trip to home. After saying goodbye to his family, ten-year-old Marven boards the train wondering if he will ever see his family again. Upon arriving at the logging camp Marvin is given the job of keeping pay role and waking up any slumbering lumberjacks after the final wake up bell. He feels alone among the grizzly bear sized men and keeps to himself. That is until he meets the biggest lumberjacks of all, Jean-Louis, who become good friends. On his way home when the snow starts to melt Marven is sad to leave all his new friends behind but is excited at the prospect of returning to his family. Upon arriving home in Duluth, Minnesota, Marven is relieved to be welcomed back to his healthy and happy family.

__**Review: **__

I was captivated by this story the first time I read it. Marven of the Great North Woods is a realistic fiction book. When Marven was told he was being sent to the country, he did not fuss too much, and you could see the trust between him and his parents. He did not know more than two words of French but he managed to live happily with the lumberjacks at the camp until the epidemic had ended. We get to see how Marven changes over the course of the book and that is a great part of the story. I think this would be a book children could learn from and see how other children adapt to situations they never saw themselves in. The story was very well written, flowed nicely and had a nice message. Marven learned a lot of things and had a great experience through his journey. I think that this book would be good for children who love to read and it will give them a challenged with the amount of text. It would also be a good book to teach students about different time periods and a historical event.

__**Analysis of a literary Element: **__

One element of the story I found intriguing was the character changes of Marven from the beginning of the book to the end of the book. Marven in the main character of the book and he is a dynamic character, meaning he changes throughout the story, like most people in real life. At the start of the book we see Marven overhearing a conversation between his parents and Aunt and Uncle. After learning about his trip to the logging camp and when he first arrives at the camp he is very shy, nervous, and anxious, and keeps to himself. After a several days at camp when he got used to his job keeping the pay roll, he had extra time and would wonder around the woods by himself. One day when he was exploring the woods he came across what he thought was a grizzly bear, and was terrified. He soon discovered it was only Jean-Louise, a lumberjack. He was relieved that it was not a bear and talked to the burley lumberjack realizing that he was not so scary and they fast became friends. Marven from that point on started to participate in the activities around the camp and interact with the other lumberjacks. He was no longer the shy and nervous boy who first arrived at the camp, but a happy boy who enjoyed interacting with others.

__**Author Biography: **__

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Kathryn Lasky in an award-winning author for over one hundred fiction and nonfiction, picture books, photo-essays, and novels for young readers. Currently residing with her husband in Cambridge MA, she was born in Indianapolis, IN and grew up listening to her father’s (Marven) stories about his family as immigrants to America from Russia, his stories about his time with the lumberjacks. Kathryn Lasky attended University on Michigan majoring in English. From college she wrote for a magazine and then became a teacher. After getting married she wrote her first book of many to come, and gave birth to two children five years apart. Kathryn is dedicated to her family and her writing.

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