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Reviewed by: Lisa Rice, Middle School Librarian Title: This Opening Sky
Author: Kelly Hollman and Charlotte Watson Sherman Illustrator:
Publisher: Milk + Cookies
Year: 2024 Good for Grades: 4-8 Genre/Type of Book: J historical fiction, novel in verse, friendship
Content Warnings, or things that other School Librarians should be aware of: Description of war and the effects it has on people, suicide
Recommended for a school library: Yes Reason(s) for choosing the book: I liked the cover, and it was a book about the American Civil war, written in verse.
If you were tasked by the publisher with writing a short quote for the back cover of this book, what would it be:
"Iron sharpens iron." -Pa, page 12
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Review:
This historical fiction novel written in verse is told in alternating chapters by Aurelia, who lives on the Oak Grove Plantation, north of Richmond, Virgina, and Sary, who works on the Wolford Plantation, south of Richmond, Virginia. As the story starts, Aurelia is weeding the vegetable garden, hoping it will help keep her and her father alive. The one good thing that came from the war is the that she can now wear trousers. Aurelia's dining room was being used as a field hospital, and she thinks back to her bullet-holed home before the war, when it was filled with light, laughter, music, and balls. Now her mom is buried under the magnolia tree, and her father is barely surviving.
Sary is working in the fields and thinking about how if she misses picking one hornworm on a tobacco leaf, Boss makes you bite one in two. Today she gets good news- President Lincoln has set the slaves free! Sary doesn't know where her mother is and wants to go north to look for her. In honor of her freedom, she decides to rename herself as Halle Lujah. She heads north where Aurelia spots her in her creek. Halle feels she needs to fight back otherwise she will lose her freedom again. Aurelia's gun goes off.
Both women soon realize they have too many hardships to bear alone. Aurelia realizes, "She can help me. We are each one alone. But, perhaps, stronger, together" (page 73). Halle wonders why these people, who have always had their freedom, would want to die? As they decide to head north together, Aurelia burns down her family's home, and renames herself Elly, her brother's pet name for her. Halle nicknames her Rawbone.
As they head north, dressed like men, and passing bloodstained battlefields, Elly teaches Halle how to read. Halle questions why some continue to choose to be slaves. But how do you start a new life with nothing? Elly wants to know what it feels like to be owned by other people. Halle asks what it feels like to always be free. I loved their questions about each other's lives and how they want to learn about each other.
As they reach Philadelphia and need to part ways, I was genuinely sad. I loved the friendship they forged, and I loved what I learned from their discussions. Elly acknowledges that knowing Halle has made her stronger (p.166). Usually books about war are harsh, and this one is too, in parts, but it also has a gentleness to it. It's not a novel told by war weary soldiers but of two women who have survived and are willing to help people different from themselves. Halle says, "After all I seen and know, all I been told and warned 'bout, somethin' my eyes never thought they'd see: Her kind helping my kind." (p. 160)
I love how much a novel in verse can tell. There's usually more white space on a page, and it looks like it might be easier to read quickly but so often, when they are well-written, it begs you to read more slowly. This book questions freedom and what it means. Who really has it? As the book states, freedom is such a big idea, like love or charity. I think it would be a great read aloud in an Amercian History class as there is a lot to discuss and think about. I loved the conversation between the two women, and how they came to need and rely on each other. On an added note, something that Elly said sticks with me on this election day. She said that the wounds on her body were healing faster than the wounds of the nation, and asks how do we take two broken parts and stitch them back together as one (page 173)? If only there was a solid answer, and who knew that question has been asked for so long?
In the back of the book are historical notes and a publisher's note.
Number of party hats:
For more information about this book, see the publisher's website