Newbery Medal (John Newbery Medal)
Bright Island
A coming-of-age novel about a girl from a Maine island who must attend school on the mainland and reconsider her future through family and friendships. The book carefully balances seaside life with the unease of leaving home.
Work Information
A girl's growth is traced alongside the rhythms of island life.
Bright Island follows Thankful Curtis as she expands her world by attending school on the mainland after growing up on a Maine island. Family bonds, coastal life, and questions about the future are woven together in a calm but sure-handed style.
Review Summaries
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The protagonist's uncertainty between island life and the larger world leaves a strong impression. It is a quiet book, but the emotional detail keeps it moving.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Yearling
- Published
- 2012-10-23
- Pages
- 288 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 13.34 x 1.93 x 19.41 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9780375971365
- ISBN-10
- 037597136X
- Price
- 7549 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/Children's Books/Literature & Fiction/Historical Fiction/United States/1900s
Mabel Robinson's delightful coming-of-age story won a Newbery Honor in 1938 and garnered extraordinary praise from critics and readers alike. Born and raised on Bright Island off the Maine coast, Thankful Curtis is more like her sea captain grandfather than any of her older brothers are. Nothing suits her better than sailing and helping her father with the farm. But when her dreaded sisters-in-law suggest that Thankful get some proper schooling on the mainland, the wind is knocked from her sails. Thankful finds the uncharted waters of school difficult to navigate: there's a rocky reception from her rich roommate, Selina; the breezy behavior of the charming Robert; and stormy Mr. Fletcher, the handsome Latin teacher whose caustic tongue masks a tender heart. And while Thankful works hard to make the best of her new life, Bright Island continues to flash in her thoughts, like the sparkle of the sun on the water. The New York Times raved, "One would be hard put to it to find a better contemporary novel than this," and now this evocative tale can be welcomed by a new generation of readers.
In 1951, MABEL L. ROBINSON wrote: "I went to normal school, taught a while, went to Radcliffe College, and finally took my master's and doctor's degrees at Columbia University, where I now teach creative writing. . . . The four summer months are for Maine, where I have leisure to write, to sail, and to do as I please. It sounds very pleasant. And it is!" MABEL L. ROBINSON won two Newbery Honors: for Bright Island in 1938, and for Runner of the Mountain Tops in 1940. She died in 1962.
Reviews
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A classic that will appeal to any fan of coming-of age fiction. Set on the coast of Maine in the 1930s, it follows Thankful Curtis, a teenage girl from a long line of seafarers, as she struggles between her attachment to her family’s island home and the opportunities offered by formal education on the mainland. The novel portrays her growth through experiences at school, conflicts with peers, and her eventual reconciliation of tradition and change. This book will certainly,appeal to anyone who enjoyed the later Anne Shirley books, Daddy Long Legs, or Sioned.
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I read this when I was about 10 then at 15 and again at my late age :>) I enjoyed it every time. There are books that put sentences in your mind, that will influence you for the rest of your life. This book has many of those. Though my mother was a wonderful mother, there were areas that she was not strong in. Sometimes a book can give you a mother, or a family, or a friend, or a life that you can adopt and make your own. And using that life and people you can help shore up your own identity. This is such a book. At least for me. So was "National Velvet." However, I bought this book USED because I have found that Amazon is selling versions of the originals that seem to have been sent to China translated there and then retranslated to English! NOT understandable when you get it back. I have looked over the other reviews for many other books and found the same complaints along with missing pages, chapters, upside down covers and so on. BUT when I buy a book used on Amazon it seems to come to me as originally printed. (yes I did call A many times and try to get them to look into this, they just played dumb, even when I went to a bookstore and published the original and read them from the REAL book and then from their mangled issue they sent. They just offered to refund money, and then...they removed the listing, and review from one area to another. Shady! Wonder if they will publish this?)
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This was a required reading for an incoming 5th grader that I was tutoring. The book is not accurately rated as a grade 4. It is much better suited for 7th and 8th graders. The main character is a high school girl and some of the themes of growing up are best understood by those older. Also, the vocabulary is challenging for ones so young, as is the way it is written. Since it was written in 1938, there are some concepts that need to be explained. Books written now a days are much easier reads for our current population. Although it is a lovely story, don't count on it for 4th and 5th graders unless you are co-reading the story.
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So good to read this again. it conjures up the old America that used to be in films decades ago and its just a delightful read.
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I collect Newbery winner and honor books that I have liked, and this was a good book. I was happy to add it to my collection!