Project Mulberry by Linda Sue Park Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $2.99 You Save: $4.00 (57%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.02 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Project Mulberry
Book Review: Unique Format Elevates this Book to a New Level
Summary: 4 Stars
Julia and Patrick are best friends in this book set in Plainfield, IL. The two are working together on a silkworm project that they hope will be displayed at the state fair. Unfortunately, Julia, whose parents came to the United States from South Korea, is less then enthusiastic about the project because she feels that silkworms are too "Korean" and so she attempts to sabotage their project. What makes this book unique is not only Julia's voice, but also the discussions between Julia and the author in between chapters. Any aspiring writer would do well to read this book as Park offers excellent insight into the writing process, while those who just enjoy a good story will also be satisfied.Book Review: A great book for readers and writers!
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this book due to the fact that I would be attending a conference at which Ms. Park is speaking (I like to get an idea of the presentors background). I knew that Ms. Park is talented, but never did I expect to enjoy it so very very much. As an author I found the entries between the chapters to be facinating. What a great idea. And the story itself was amazing as well. I can not say enough about the whole package other than READ IT! Can't wait to meet you Ms. Park! Julia (not Julia Song, but still Julia)Book Review: Great Book
Summary: 5 Stars
Julia and Patrick have to do a project for the Wiggle club. Wiggle is the pet name for the WGGL (work grow give live) club, an extra curricular organization similar to 4H. The two kids partner up to do a project that can go to the state fair as both an animal husbandry and domestic arts entry. When Julia's mother suggests raising silkworms, Patrick is excited because such a project was unheard of. Julia is anxious because it is too Korean. Linda Sue Park meets all expectations as an author and writes a wonderfully entertaining story. Park does a great job in staying focused on the life of one girl, yet touching on tangents of other issues. Julia Song is a well-developed character that grows beyond her personal limitations to understand herself, hermother, little brother, and friend. In the character of Julie, readers experience the life of a young girl who learns to reconcile being Korean and American. It is refreshing to read about an experience with a world that in many ways is not Black and White. In less drastic, yet by no means less dramatic ways, one is confronted with the issue of animal husbandry and cruelty. Julie learns that to get the silk, she must kill the pupae, which she has grown to love. Unlike other popular examples of Asian American literature, Project Mulberry is not riddled with flashbacks; it stays in one single narrative that is direct and still charming. Project Mulberry is a good read for third to fifth grade students.
Book Review: Smile as Silkworms Become a Middle-School Science Project !
Summary: 5 Stars
After making the big commitment - buying a book - I turn eagerly to the reviews like a kid whose eyes ask "Have I made the right choice?" Not every book OR can opener will wear a Seal of Approval, nor will each & every review hit the mark. I appreciate reviewers who edit themselves, who are concise, cogent, and have an ear for the sound of words as well as an eye for spell-checker goofs. (I would like to write that way myself!)
Linda Sue Park tells the story of "Project Mulberry" and then inserts a lively conversation between the author and "Jules" running parallel like a service road. In a subtle way, encouragement for hopeful writers is found embroidered into the fabric of this 'parallel' story, and more answers are found in the "Author's Notes" - - a section that appeals to this reviewer.
Although kids may not dwell for long on some of Park's themes, such thoughts do occupy some of the territory in young brains: racism, for instance, and being an outsider. (Perhaps expansion is more of a problem with old brains.) Julia and Patrick are neighbors who team up on school & club projects. Right now they are trying to come up with a sure-fire prize-winner project in "Animal Husbandry." Julia is the daughter of Korean immigrants and her mother suggests raising silkworms, a project that could then be expanded to "Needlework". That idea is a problem for Jules who wants to be seen as a genuine American.
Many adult readers hope for 'just one more' book to make some young adults (who get younger each year) itch to get back to reading - - Parks' book is described by an A.L.A. reviewer as "a great cross-curriculum title." It is also rich with many 'too-true' family episodes, as well as humor & facts that will be remembered with relish. Reviewer mcHAIKU is eager to share "PROJECT MULBERRY" with neighbor YAs during the isolation our next big snow will bring.
Book Review: Linda Sue Park goes crashing through the third wall
Summary: 4 Stars
As of this moment in time the number of Linda Sue Park books I have read in my life amount to the following: two. This is rather shameful. If you're a children's librarian (as I am) and your job is to read and know all the hip young authors winning medals hither and thither (and thither and yon) then at the VERY least you could bring yourself to read the most recent Newbery winners. Ms. Park won a Newbery for "A Single Shard", and I have not read it yet. What I have read is her remarkable picture book, "The Firekeeper's Son". THAT, my friends, is a great book. So when I was handed a copy of "Project Mulberry", I dove into it with zero hesitation. The result was a bit confusing. What we have here is a clever book by a clever author who seems to be hooking far too many themes together all at the same time. Fortunately, you can appreciate this book without necessarily loving it. At least I could.
Julia and Patrick are best friends. Have been since the moment they met, actually. Together, the two of them have done all sorts of interesting projects for school together. Patrick's the ideas man and Julia's the person who likes to do the labor. In fact, these kids never had a single fight until they decided to do a WGGL project together. WGGL is a kind of 4-H for city kids and Julia and Patrick have chosen to do something with "animal husbandry". Finding the right kind of animal, however, isn't as easy as they'd hoped. When Mrs. Song, Julia's mother, suggests that they do a silkworm project Patrick is thrilled. Julia is not. Both her parents are Korean immigrants and their daughter has always shied away from things that strike her as "too Korean". Now, however, she's stuck with a mighty difficult and complex project. It will take some serious discussions with Patrick, a little reassessment of the soul, and some fights with the author (tastefully done, of course) before Julia comes to terms with something she doesn't want to understand.
This would have been a pretty straightforward tween tale had Park not decided to explain a little bit about the writer's process as directly as possible. "Project Mulberry" alternates chapters that detail Julia's silkworm struggles with 2-3 page sections in which Julia, the character, berates and talks to Linda Sue Park one-on-one. The result will be jarring to some, fascinating to others. It's as if Ms. Park has preempted any and all questions received on her book tours by putting them in the mouth of her main character here. When things go badly for Julia, she makes her opinions on such matters loud and clear towards her creator. For the most part, this conceit works well. It's almost a kind of "Sophie's World" for kids (in that a written character is aware of her state). The problem with it, though, is that the Julia who speaks to Ms. Park doesn't seem to be the same Julia that is working on the silkworm project. The Julia that belittles her creator and complains almost without cease seems to be a kind of bratty counterpart to her living-and-learning self. I did not like the Julia I met between the chapters. I liked the Julia who was trying to sort out her life very much.
A couple things save this novel from being yet another I-did-a-project-and-learned-something-about-myself type book. For one thing, Ms. Park gives Julia a racist mother. For a book in which racism isn't even particularly the focus of the story, this underlying subtext gives the tale a bit of nuance. Mrs. Song isn't a bad person. Julia even speculates (with Patrick's help) that perhaps her mother first met black people in the form of American soldiers back in Korea. This otherwise unassuming feature in Julia's life, however, offers a bit of complexity to an otherwise straightforward family interaction. Plus it makes for good writing. Duh.
By the way, I was utterly baffled by the Author's Note included at the back of the book. Ms. Park apparently makes reference to such classic children's books as, "The Mouse and His Child" and "When Zachary Beaver Came to Town". If any of you can figure out how these books are referenced then a tip of the hat to you all. Personally, I couldn't find so much as a sly reference to these two books. If any of you know where they are, please let me know forthwith.
Personally, I felt that the alternating Julia v. Author sections were more of a distraction than a boon to "Project Mulberry". Just the same, the book is a fun read and a truly fascinating look at the life cycle of a little remarked upon creepy-crawly. If you happen to know any kids that are particular science buffs (natural science, that is) then see if you can't finagle this book onto their reading lists. A great companion to fellow environmentalist title, "Hoot", by Carl Hiassen.