Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy
Author: Gary Schmidt
Publisher: Laurel-Leaf
Copyright: 2004
Pages: 217
Reading Level: 5.5
Genre: Children’s Historical Fiction
Rating: *****

Summary:
Turner Buckminster is the son of a minister. He and his family are moved from Boston to Phippsburg, Main to reside over a the First Congregational Church. From day one, Turner liked nothing about it. The other kids mocked him, and they didn’t even play baseball right. From that point on, Turner seemed to hit a downward spiral of bad luck, always ending up with blood on his shirt and late for dinner. Sentenced to playing the organ for elderly Mrs. Cobb the rest of the summer Turner didn’t like how things were. He just wanted to light out for the territories. One day though, he found himself of the Main water front looking out to an Island, Magla Island where all the “outcasts” of the town lived. As he was practicing hitting rocks a young black girl came up to him, Lizzie Bright. And from the moment she scared him half to death and made that rock fall and smash his nose, they were friends. They spent hours down at the water hitting rocks, digging for clams and rowing across to Magla Island. That is until the town saw he was socializing with a colored girl, and he was forbidden to go down there anymore. That didn’t stop Turner though. Lizzie was the one thing that made him happy. One day though as they were playing Lizzie fell and hit her head, trying to get her across to Magla Island the tides got the better of him, and they were swept out to sea. There Turner almost touched a whale. Though he did not touch it, he locked eyes with it. And there was something in that whales eyes telling him something. Life goes on, and Turner continues to do his service of playing the Organ for Mrs. Cobb but one day he invites Lizzie. And as time goes on Mrs. Cobb leaves the back door open for Lizzie. Things in Phippsburg are off though. The town did not bring the minister to preach to them, but to preach to him. They were a “green shutters” town and they wouldn’t have anyone being different. Turner stands up to all of it. When the towns people want to kick the people off Magla Island he stands against them. When he inherits Mrs. Cobbs house after she passes he wants to give it to the Lizzie and the family she is staying with after her grandfathers death. In the beginning no one is with Turner, but the end Mrs. Cobb as well as his parents stood beside him. The see the man he has become and the courage he has to stand up for what he knows is right. In the end, Turners father is killed by the sheriff for standing up for Turner and the people of Magla, as well as Lizzie. He takes in the Hurds who had been so cruel to him and they all live in Mrs. Cobbs home she left to him. Turner we see go from a boy to a man in this novel. As he learns to see straight as Lizzie has always told him, and learns the wisdom of the whales. A heart wrenching and fiction based tale of racism and morals at its best.

Who would benefit from reading this?
This is a great book for all those learning about history and what the USA really used to be like. It is also a good coming of age book, and teaching kids how to stand up for themselves and make their own decisions.

Potential problems/conflicts:
There is a lot of prejudice and racism in this book. As well as some negative images put on church goers, and just plain evil. There are some are things that are gut wrenching, but its history like it or not.

My reaction:
In the beginning it was hard from me to get into the book. I thought it was just about a boy complaining about having to move to a new town and people expecting things from him as the minister’s son. But as the book went on it turned out to be so much more than that. This book confronts racism and children’s rights. Standing up for what’s right despite the consequences and more. I can’t see this being a book for children, I see it more as a middle school read at the youngest, but it is a very eye opening and touching book. We need more Turners and Lizzie’s out there. A good book if you want to see how the world really can be right in our own country. This book deserves every award it has received. Well written!