Brainstorm 143: Books & the passage of time

The passage of time is very evident at the end of the school year. Teachers and students start thinking about and evaluating how they’ve changed over the past year. Kids start dreaming about what the next grade up will be like, and it seems like a good time to pull out books that look at the passage of time. These aren’t a whole lot of books out there that cover a broad span of time. Most focus on just a short period during which the action occurs. Occasionally series will span a lifetime or more, but even that is the exception rather than the norm. So as the year wraps up and kids start to ponder the passage of time, or you yourself do, here are some of those rare books that may fit the mood or allow you to extend the conversation.

Picture Books

The Book of Gold by Bob Staake
Isaac Gutenberg wasn't impressed by anything. He wasn't curious. His attitude towards everything was ho-hum. But then one day an old lady tells him about the Book of Gold. A book that looks perfectly ordinary hidden somewhere in the world but when opened turns to solid gold. Isaac starts to tear through books in his search for the Book of Gold. Will he find it, or find something even better?

Target Readers:

• Book Lovers & Reluctant Readers: This is a touching story about a wise old woman who found a way to get a kid into books, and how he realizes the treasures beyond gold between the covers of the books he opens. 
• Feel Good Story Fans/Lifespan Story Fans/Changes over Time Fans: This is a heart warming story, as it follows Isaac through time and as an old man he passes on this gift the old woman gave to him. It’s the perfect read for any book lover. Also a good one for those looking for books that explore changes over time - it starts in 1930s New York City and ends in pretty much present day New York City.

Building Our House by Jonathan Bean
Follow a family as they move out of the city to a plot of ground in the country. They have a trailer home hooked up and start working on building their house themselves, from laying the foundation to putting up the walls. The house takes a long time to build, as the seasonal changes help readers understand, but in the end, the family has a grand new house.

Target Readers:

• Those Building a House/Changes over Time Fans: Those waiting for a home to be built can capitalize on the way this book will help them understand all the things going on that are taking so long. 
• Family Story Fans: I loved the way this book shows a family working together. 
• Easter Egg Fans: Observant readers keep an eye out and see if you can find the cat in each scene.

Heron Street by Ann Turner, ill. by Lisa Desimini
A marsh changes over time as settlers come, and the settlement grows into a city. The noises of the land change as time changes.

Target Readers:

• US History Fans/Changes over Time Fans: This covers a little bit of history. Without identifying them really, it depicts pilgrims, the Revolutionary War in America, and some transportation and architecture changes over time. 
• Environment Studiers: It also looks at how the animals leave and the marsh grass decreases. Could be used when talking about urbanization and its effects on a place. 
• Onomatopoeia Fans: The text uses a lot of onomatopoeia to describe things in the story and thus the real focus of the book in the words seems to be the change of the noises in the area over time. 
• Compare/Contrast Fans: Use this in a compare/contrast activity with The Little House by Burton or The House Held Up by Trees by Koose.

House Held up by Trees by Ted Kooser, ill. by Jon Klassen
There's a house that is supported by trees, and this is the tale of how it got up above the ground in the boughs of trees. At first there were people who lived in the house, but after some years they moved out and no one else moved in. Over time, the seeds that spread grew into trees, the weather wore away at the house, and eventually it was an almost forgotten relic caught up in growing trees.

Target Readers:

• Changes over Time Fans/Bittersweet Story Fans/Environment Studiers: A somewhat sad story for the house, but an interesting tale of how a forest regrows after being cut down. Could be used in science classes talking about primary and secondary growth or weathering. 
• Compare/Contrast Fans: As mentioned, you could do a compare/contrast activity when reading this one and The Little House by Burton or Heron Street by Turner.

The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton
The Little House loves watching the days and seasons go by from her spot in the country, but as the years pass the city grows up around her and the Little House is forgotten. That is until one day a great-great-granddaughter of the original owners sees her and moves the house out to the country where once again she is lived in and happy.

Target Readers:

• Art Fans/Easter Egg Fans: I really like the illustrations in this. Burton weaves in all sorts of details that make this book stand up to several re-readings. I noticed Mike Mulligan's steam shovel on one page, and the various faces the sun makes are quite humorous. 
• History Studiers/Environment Studiers/Changes over Time Fans/Transportation Book Fans: Classes could use this when talking about the period in US history when industry and technology were growing and urbanization spread; it illustrates that principle very well. Also does a good survey of transportation methods over several decades.
• Compare/Contrast Fans: As mentioned, use this one with Heron Street by Turner or House Held up By Trees by Hoose for a good compare/contrast activity.

Mama Seeton’s Whistle by Jerry Spinelli, ill. by LeUyen Pham
Every day as the Seeton children grew up, they're mama would call them home to dinner with her simple but effective whistle. It didn't seem to matter where they were in the neighborhood, they could hear it. As the children grow and spread out farther around the world, Mama Seeton misses her children. Papa tells her to go ahead and do like she always used to to see if it would make her feel better. At first it seems it did nothing, but then her four children return from all over the world and Mama Seeton's whistle appears to still work. Eventually her children carry on the whistle with their kids.

Target Readers:

• Heartwarming Story Fans/Family Story Fans: It is really hard to convey in a summary the emotional power of Spinelli's words and LeUyen Pham's illustrations in this book. It is sweet and lovely, and has wrapped up in it all the love of a close-knit family. Read Spinelli’s note in the back about the inspiration for this story. 
• Art Fans/Changes over Time Fans: Be sure to read LeUyen Pham's notes in the back on how she had to research this book and plot out the timeline since it covered so many years so she could appropriately have hair styles, clothing, home electronics, etc change correctly. Her researched paid off. The book is very impressive and sweet.

Tree: A Little Story about Big Things by Danny Parker, ill. by Matt Ottley
A little sprout grows into a tree and faces changes.

Target Readers:

• Literature Analyzers/Changes over Time Fans/Environment Studiers/Tree Lovers: If you want a high school class to practice analyzing literature, this may be a good one to test them with. Because one could debate this story isn't just about a tree. You could argue it is about the storms of life that we all face. It could be the story of how secondary growth happens in ecosystems devastated by natural disasters. It leaves a lot open to interpretation, especially with the things included in the illustrations. And of course, on the surface level, it makes a good story for kids with beautiful illustrations about a tree growing and how its surroundings change over time.

Middle Grade Fiction

Wishtree by Katherine Applegate
Red is an old oak tree. She's been in her spot hundreds of years, and witnessed many things both amazing and heartbreaking. Every year around May for many, many years locals have hung their wishes on her. Wishes both silly and 100% serious. Red can talk, but it is a solemn secret, known only by other trees and animals. But when she thinks her time is drawing short, and a little girl living under her shade, who visits her and the animals who live in her branches nightly, makes a heartbreaking wish Red thinks she can make come true, she breaks her solemn silence.

Target Readers:

• Voice Appreciators: Applegate has an amazing talent of being able to take on the voice of something not human. She did it in The One and Only Ivan writing from the perspective of a gorilla. And now she's done it again from the perspective of a wise, old tree. It's a splendid piece of writing. 
• Heartwarming Story Fans/Changes over Time Fans/Community Story Fans/Immigrant Story Fans/Animal Lovers/Deep Theme Fans/Quick Read Fans: This story is touching, about making foreigners feel welcome in their new home. And as Red is threatened with being cut down, given days to prepare, it begs the readers to ponder what they would do in their final days if they knew the end was coming. Would they spend the time pitying themselves, or try to make a difference for others in the time they know they have. That's a topic that doesn't often get covered outside of war stories and is challenging to do in a way that's appropriate and approachable for this age group. But Applegate has done it. So a beautiful story featuring splendid writing, and Charles Santoso's illustrations are stunning complements to the story. Animal lovers will find many of Red’s animal friends delightful too. It's a short read, but a very good one.

Adult Fiction

Where We Belong by Lynn Austin
The book opens in a trek across the desert in 1890 to visit an ancient monastery. As the trek goes on sisters Rebecca and Flora Hawes reflect back on the past 30 years of their unconventional lives, from childhood to middle age, and how God has worked through trips abroad from Chicago to often reveal what He wanted them to do next with their lives. He led Rebecca to study history and languages, and Flora into work with the poor. Flora’s work brings many people into their lives, such as the two young people traveling with them now, Soren and Kate, who are also given moments to reflect on how they got to this point. Through it all, readers are taken on adventures through Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, as well as shown how two women who want to follow God versus society manage life in late 1800s Chicago.

Target Readers:

• Sister Story Fans: I loved the way Rebecca and Flora stay strong friends and companions throughout their lives. They are very different, but are great at respecting each others differences and appreciating the ways they’ve been gifted differently. They also work well in balancing each other out and speaking even hard truths to each other. They’re a fantastic sister duo to follow around.
• Travel Fans/Archeology Fans: I loved all the travel in this and exotic locales, and the way Austin wove in real archeological discoveries. 
• Christian Fiction Fans/Historical Fiction Fans/Redemptive Story Fans/Changes over Time Fans: Kate and Soren's stories are inspirational in seeing the way the sisters are used to help the poor of the city and change their lives for the better. Overall, I found the entire story moving as Austin highlights how God can use people who are willing to follow Him even down hard roads. It was written with a good pace to keep you turning pages though over 400 pages long, and because you spend over thirty years with the characters you really get to know them well. By the end they feel like old friends. It's also a well-woven tale. Changing perspectives in a story can bring about a train wreck, but Austin worked it so that as the story changes perspectives you've heard one person's observations of events, it goes back to the next narrator's backstory and that way by the end you have a full view of what led to certain events and what's going on in everyone's hearts. Through the passage of the book you get to watch Chicago and America go from pre-Civil War, through the Civil War, through the Great Fire, and right up to the cusp of a new century as Rebecca and Flora grow from girls into middle-aged women. Recommended to anyone who likes historical fiction with some clean romance, fans of Christian fiction, and fans of travel stories. And make sure you read the author's note about the two real sisters who were her inspiration for this story.