Shield of Stars

Author: Hilari Bell

Genre: Fantasy Adventure

Series: Shield, Sword, and Crown (book #1)

Summary

(Note: Since a good synopsis of this book already exists at barnesandnoble.com, I copied the following section from that site. My own evaluation of the book starts with the section "Positive Elements.")

Weasel fumbled the cloth aside. It was a shield, steel plate over dark wood, with rotting leather straps. It looked old, and battered, and real.

A former pickpocket, Weasel is the type of boy most people would avoid. Certainly, no one would ever trust him -- except for one man. Justice Holis took Weasel off the streets, gave him a home, a job as his clerk, and a key to his house. Weasel's new life may be a bit boring, but for the first time someone actually cares about him.

Now Justice Holis is the one in trouble. Arrested for treason, he will surely hang unless someone saves him -- and that someone can only be Weasel. But what can one boy do? Not much without help.

So with a mysterious girl named Arisa by his side, Weasel goes in search of the Falcon, the most dangerous bandit in Deorthas, but also the one person who would be able -- and possibly willing -- to stage a prison break.

But Weasel's fate changes when he stumbles upon a shield. Could this be the one said to have been lost for centuries, the one that bestows power on whoever holds it? If so, Weasel, once a lowly pickpocket, could be the most powerful person in the land.

Positive Elements

In spite of his line that he cares about himself first, himself second, and nobody else, Weasel goes to great lengths to free the man who gave him food, shelter, and a second chance at an honest life. He also chooses to rescue Arisa after she is captured by the palace guard, rather than abandoning her to continue his quest to find the Falcon. This decision results in positive consequences for Weasel. Weasel and Arisa have a discussion where she tells him, “…if you see injustice, if you see that things are wrong, you have to care! You have to try to fix them.” Throughout the story, Weasel prefers to use his wits instead of violence to solve problems. When violent acts occur (see summary below), Weasel often wishes there had been another way. At one point, he deters Arisa from killing some sleeping guards.

Spiritual Content

While we aren’t given specific dates, the context of the story seems to take place in the Middle Ages. Worship of the “One God” is becoming more commonplace, especially among the townspeople. “The God be praised” or “the God be thanked” were phrases thought or said by different characters. When Arisa asks Weasel if he is a follower of God, he recalls early memories of cold, stone walls, hard benches, and an old man talking on and on while his mother told him to keep quiet. He tells her that since God didn’t save either of his parents, he doesn’t figure he owes Him anything. At one point when Weasel and Arisa need a safe place to hide, they go to a church that opens its doors each evening to provide food and shelter to the poor and homeless. The church is involved in organizing the rebellion against the current regent, and when Weasel and Arisa meet with the priest (whom Weasel knows through jobs for his master), he is in the process of burning all his evidence and preparing to leave the city lest he get captured like the other conspirators. The priest relates seeing three parallel shooting stars that he believes were a sign from God that He is taking a hand in the current events.

Most of the country-folk secretly worship the old gods, more out of custom or superstition than real faith. For example, farmers post a straw doll (representative of a god called the “Lady”) on a fencepost near their crops to bring her blessing on them. There is a group of people in the country who call themselves “The Hidden.” The townspeople suspect them of kidnapping small children and sacrificing them to the gods, though there had not been a proven case in several hundred years. Arisa uses a deck of arcana cards to tell Weasel his fortune on two occasions. Most of the cards contain an image of one of the old gods and each card delivers a message to the hearer. (see "Conclusion" for further discussion) When Weasel expresses his doubt of the ethics of fortune-telling, Arisa says only those who have “withe” (meaning 'one with the earth or with earth magic') can accurately interpret the cards, and she had been told she has this.

Sexual Content

A drunk patron in a tavern asks Arisa why she is dressed like a boy. While suggesting how she could better dress, he runs a hand over her breasts.

Violent Content

On different occasions, members of the palace guard cuff both Weasel and Arisa in the head. One blow to Weasel knocks him out, and a blow to Arisa leaves her face black and blue. Arisa demonstrates fighting skills that make Weasel wonder who she really is. In self-defense and on different occasions, Arisa administers a groin kick to an adult male, breaks three fingers of an adult male who touches her inappropriately, stomps on and breaks a guard’s foot, and slashes an officer’s arm with a knife. The Falcon kills the unlawful regent with a gunshot to the head. Weasel observes that the bullet hole above the regent’s eye is smaller than he expected, but that the entire back of the regent’s head appeared to be missing.

Drug/Alcohol Content

Weasel and Arisa stay in taverns/inns along their journey. Weasel puts half a bottle of sleeping syrup into a cask of ale in order to drug the guard so he could free Arisa. He is concerned the dose may be too high and fears he might poison the guard (something he does not wish to do).

Crude/Profane Language

The words “arse” and “bastard” are used once. Weasel calls the young prince a “withless piece of sludge.”

Other Negative Elements

Before going to work as a scribe for the judge, Weasel survived as a pickpocket. He uses this "skill" a number of times during his search for the Falcon. Road bandits justify their thievery by putting their bounty toward funding the rebellion against the regent. They contrast what they do with what the royal guard does when they use force to arrest people for not paying their taxes, and then live a life of luxury.

Conclusion

The arcana cards seem to play an important role in the story, as both times Weasel hears his fortune, several pages are devoted to the interpretation of the cards. I didn't know what to make of the fact that the last card turned over for Weasel was the card for the "One God," called "the god of the book." The image on the card is a book representing knowledge, scholarship, and all the good works of man's intellect. Arisa explains that in the past, the "One God" was considered one of the lesser gods because His only interest was the affairs of men. As He became more popular, His priests changed His name from "the narrow god" to the "One God." In my opinion, the author does not make her beliefs about God very clear in the story. I felt confused as to what to think about God by the time I finished the book. There were several passages that made me think she respects God and His church, but then the main character has negative memories of attending church, and he tells his friend he didn't think he owed God anything. At one point of desperation, Weasel does give some thought to learning how to pray, but nothing more is said about this. In addition, God was just one of many other gods on the arcana cards. The message on His card didn't seem to carry any more weight than the messages on the other gods' cards.

While overall this book does contain a positive message of loyalty and friendship, I would not recommend it due to the confusing message it delivers about God.

The House of the Scorpion

Author: Nancy Farmer

Genre: Sci-Fi

Awards: three-time Newbery Honor Award, National Book Award, Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature

Summary

(Note: Since a good synopsis of this book already exists at barnesandnoble.com, I copied the following section from that site. My own evaluation of the book starts with the section "Positive Elements.")

Matt is a clone of El Patrón, a powerful drug lord of the land of Opium, which is located between the United States and Mexico. For six years, he has lived in a tiny cottage in the poppy fields with Celia, a kind and deeply religious servant woman who is charged with his care and safety. He knows little about his existence until he is discovered by a group of children playing in the fields and wonders why he isn't like them. Though Matt has been spared the fate of most clones, who have their intelligence destroyed at birth, the evil inhabitants of El Patrón's empire consider him a "beast" and an "eejit." When El Patrón dies at the age of 146, fourteen-year-old Matt escapes Opium with the help of Celia and Tam Lin, his devoted bodyguard who wants to right his own wrongs. After a near misadventure in his escape, Matt makes his way back home and begins to rid the country of its evils.

Positive Elements

Ultimately, Matt is a boy who wants to do the right thing. Even though he admires El Patron, when he tries to emulate some of his behaviors, he doesn't like the way he feels as a result. He is deeply loved by his caretaker, Celia, and his bodyguard, Tam Lin. Both of them recognize and treat Matt as the human he is.

Spiritual Content

Celia's faith seems to be very important to her. She has a large, glow-in-the-dark crucifix above her bed, along with a picture that Matt finds frightening of Jesus being pierced through the heart with five swords. Matt frequently has, or recalls, conversations with Celia about God or the Virgin Mary. Some of the things she tells him are inaccurate (i.e. the Milky Way spurted from Mary's breast when she first fed Jesus, and a falling star is an angel flying down to carry out orders when God answers a prayer). Celia tells Matt the story of a woman named La Llorona who drowned her children and then out of remorse, drowned herself. She went to heaven and was told by St. Peter that she was a bad woman who couldn't come in without her kids. She ran to hell, but Satan wouldn't let her in either. As a result, her spirit was left to wander around all night and her voice could be heard in the wind calling for her children. Matt recalls this story several times during the book. A priest, calling Matt an "unbaptized limb of Satan," orders him removed from the funeral service for El Viejo. Matt's bodyguard recognizes "the good Lord" as passing him over when it came to musical talent. Matt and Maria discuss the need to be baptized in order to go to heaven, but Maria tells him that since he does not have a soul, he wouldn't go to heaven or hell - he would just cease to exist. Matt reads a book about St. Francis, and finds himself challenged by the saint's practice of accepting and loving all things, and his practice of giving away his possessions. Late in the story, a convent provides refuge for Matt and his friends.

Sexual Content

When the children first discover Matt hidden in Celia's house, they question whether he is her illegitimate child. It is implied from the story that the staff doctor has had illicit relations with several of the women on the ranch. Matt, in a moment of anger, orders Maria to give him a birthday kiss in front of a crowd of guests. His rude treatment of her delights El Patron, who says, "That's the stuff. Make your women toe the line." Matt almost immediately feels remorse for making this demand, but thinks it might be dangerous for Maria if he withdrew the order. We learn that Tom is not Mr. Alacran's son, but Mr. McGregor's after a past affair with Felicia.

Violent Content

Celia keeps Matt inside as a young boy by warning him of chupacabras - monsters that suck your blood and leave you to dry like old cantaloupe skins. Matt smashes a window to get out of Celia's house so that he can play with his newfound friends. He jumps out, not knowing that the broken glass will cut his bare feet. The children rush him to the main house for care, but when Mr. Alacran enters and sees the clone, he throws him outside. Matt is physically and verbally abused by Rosa, one of the servants while he is locked up in a spare room in the servant's quarters. Eventually, Rosa covers the floor in sawdust because she says that is how to keep an animal's pen clean. Matt throws a rotten orange at Tom, hitting him square in the face. He feels peaceful at first, but later feels remorse because he knows the Virgin Mary would not approve. Rosa physically attacks the doctor when he lies about his awareness of Matt's living conditions. Emilia slapped her sister. Tam Lin struck Matt down with a blow to his jaw. In the orphanage, first one boy and then Matt are beaten with a cane by a Keeper (caretaker) to the point of requiring the infirmary.

Drugs/Alcohol

The bulk of this story takes place in a country called Opium on the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Matt grows up on a well-guarded ranch surrounded by the poppies that are used to make the drug. He studies the opium business as part of his homework, and from this learns that opium dissolved in alcohol (laudanum) is a strong drug. Felicia (Tom's mother) is an alcoholic and a user of laudanum. At El Patron's birthday party, alcohol is available in abundance, as well as "water pipes" for those wishing to smoke. Matt sticks his finger into a wine fountain, but determines its taste is not as good as it looks. In an effort to get Maria alone so he could talk to her, Matt decides to steal some laudanum from Felicia in order to kidnap and drug Maria's dog. At a different celebration, Tam Lin gets drunk and Matt is given champagne diluted with lemonade. As the story progresses, Matt becomes violently ill on several occasions and it is revealed that in order to protect him from becoming replacement parts for El Patron, Celia had been poisoning him over time with foxglove and arsenic to make his heart too weak to transplant. One of the boys in the orphanage discusses stealing laudanum from the Keepers in order to "trip out." Matt recalled what this drug did to Felicia and knew he didn't want to follow her example. Some of the boys (Matt not included) drugged the Keepers with laudanum in order to escape the orphanage. Matt was concerned that the amount they had given them may have been lethal. We are not told if this is the case, but the boys are chased by some of the Keepers during their escape. At the wake for El Patron, his family and some staff share a "special" wine that was bottled in the year of his birth 143 years earlier. El Patron intended it to be shared on his 150th birthday, or on his death, whichever came first. However, El Patron had poisoned the wine and all who drank of it died.

Crude/Profane Language

The word "damn" is used four times. Someone is described as a "self-important ass." Mr. Alacran calls his son an idiot. Tam Lin makes a rude (but undefined) hand gesture. "Crot" a curse word used frequently by the boys in the orphanage. "Eejits" are zombie-like people, made that way by a computer chip implanted in their brain. People trying to cross the border either into the U.S. or into Mexico were frequently captured and made into eejits for farm labor. They were very obedient and could only respond to commands (i.e. they would die of dehydration if no one told them to drink water).

Other Negative Elements

While Matt admires El Patron and believes he loves him like a son, he comes to the realization that he was only allowed to exist with his brain intact for El Patron's entertainment (most clones were, at "birth", given an injection of something to blunt their intelligence). He learns that their were other "son" clones like him in earlier years. El Patron's ultimate purpose for the clones, however, was to provide him with new organs in order to extend his life. Rosa is made into an eejit once El Patron learns how she had taken care of Matt. Tom frequently played mean pranks on others, especially Maria. One time he urinated into a bottle and told her it was lemon soda. Another time he attempted to drown her dog in the toilet. He takes Matt and Maria to the hospital to show them a blunted clone who was strapped to a table and thrashing around - he cruelly compares Matt to this boy. A boy in the orphanage moons a Keeper. Tam Lin, when faced with an opportunity to escape the ranch, tells Matt he needed to stay behind to make things right (face the moral consequences) for some bad things he had done in his past. Unfortunately, for him, this meant drinking the poisoned wine even though he strongly suspected it was bad (he warned another bodyguard not to drink it). Matt was very disturbed when he learned this, shouting that Tam Lin was a stupid idiot.

Discussion

I copied these great questions from the barnesandnoble.com page on this book, under the section "A Simon Pulse Guide for Reading Groups":

1) Matteo Alacrán is the clone of El Patrón, the lord of the country called Opium, and lives in isolation until children playing in the poppy fields discover him. Why is he so eager to talk to the children, after he is warned against it? Why is Mariá especially attracted to Matt?

2) Describe Matt's relationship with Celia.Why is she the servant chosen to care for Matt? Celia snaps at Matt when he calls her mama. Then she says to him, "I love you more than anything in the world. Never forget that. But you were only loaned to me, mi vida." Why doesn't she explain the term loaned to Matt? Celia really believes that she is protecting Matt by keeping him locked in her cottage and ignorant about his identity. Debate whether this type of protection is indeed dangerous for him. How does Celia continue to protect Matt throughout his life on the Alacrán Estate?

3) After the children discover Matt, he is taken from Celia and imprisoned in a stall for six months with only straw for a bed. How might prison be considered a metaphor for his entire life? Who is the warden of his prison? Discuss the role of Mariá, Celia, and Tam Lin in helping him escape his prison.

4) Rosá describes El Patrón as a bandit. How has El Patrón stolen the lives of all those living on his estate? Which characters are his partners in evil? Debate whether they support him for the sake of their own survival. Explain what Tam Lin is trying to tell Matt when he says, "If you are kind and decent, you grow into a kind and decent man. If you're like El Patrón...just think about it." Considering that Matt is the clone of El Patrón, debate whether environment influences evil more than genetics.

5) El Patrón celebrates his 143rd birthday with a large party. Though Matt was "harvested," and doesn't really have a birthday, the celebration is for him as well, since he is El Patrón's clone. How does Matt imitate El Patrón's power when he demands a birthday kiss from Mariá? Discuss how El Patrón encourages Matt's uncharacteristic behavior. Why is Mariá so humiliated by Matt's demand? How does Matt feel the crowd's disapproval?

6) El Viejo, El Patrón's grandson and the father of Mr. Alacrán, is a senile old man because he refused the fetal brain implants based on religious and moral grounds. Debate his position. Why does El Patrón consider Mr. Alacrán rude when he mentions El Viejo's religious beliefs? Celia is also a deeply religious person. How is this demonstrated throughout the novel?

7) At what point does Matt realize that Tom is dangerous? He remembers what Tam Lin had told him, "If you didn't know Tom well, you'd think he is an angel bringing you the keys to the pearly gates." How does Tom mislead Mariá? Discuss why Tom takes Matt and Mariá to see the screaming clones. How is this a turning point for Matt and Mariá's friendship? Why does Celia feel that Matt deserves the truth once he has seen the clones?

8) What gives Celia the courage to stand up to El Patrón and refuse to let Matt be used for a heart transplant? What does El Patrón mean when he says to Celia, "We make a fine pair of scorpions, don't we?" Explain why she is insulted by this comment.

9) How does Tam Lin know that Matt's future lies in finding the Convent of Santa Clara? Describe Matt's journey to the convent. What does he discover along the way? Discuss Esperanza's role in helping Matt gain his ultimate freedom — to live as a human.

Some questions that I would add are:

10) Discuss the significance of the fact that Matt displayed musical talent when neither El Patron nor any of the clones before him did.

11) Just what does make us "human"? What makes us "humane"? Discuss how various characters were humane.

Opinions/Recommendation

Overall, I think that in spite of the negative content, this book has a lot to teach the reader about humanity. I appreciate that the use of drugs and alcohol as well as Tam Lin's suicide are not painted in a favorable light from Matt's point of view. For me, Tam Lin's suicide is one of the most disappointing elements in this story. It would have been much more meaningful to see him find redemption. The book definitely reveals the negative consequences of a life filled with power and greed. I think that coupled with a good discussion using the questions provided above, this book gives a mature reader much to think about.

Why am I doing this?

The idea for this blog came to me after spending hours online, searching for book reviews to help me discern whether or not particular books were acceptable for my boys (ages 14 and 11) who read ahead of grade level. I can usually find good summaries of the books plus editorial reviews on barnesandnoble.com or amazon.com, but as a mom concerned about the moral and spiritual content of the books my kids read, I feel that the reviews come up short. I end up reading many of the books myself before passing them to the boys, but I find it difficult to keep up with their reading pace. If you are checking this blog, then maybe you are feeling the same way, and I hope you'll find something here that helps you.
One site my husband and I refer to frequently in choosing movies for our family is pluggedinonline.com put out by Focus on the Family. We appreciate the thoroughness of the reviews, and believe it helps us know exactly what we are getting into when we choose to see a movie. Thinking I would love to see this type of review for books, I decided to pattern my categories after this website. I hope you find the reviews helpful, and I am always open to feedback and discussion around the books I post. My only wish is that I had had the idea for this blog sooner! I've read so many children's books but didn't take thorough notes on them. I hope to go back and reread some of those as well. Occasionally, if I find them worth noting, I may also post reviews of books written for adults.