Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy

Bibliography
Schmidt, Gary D. 2004. Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy. New York: Yearling Books. ISBN 9780553494952

Plot Summary
Turner Buckminster is a minister’s son new to the town of Phippsburg in Maine. There he meets a girl named Lizzie Bright from Malaga Island, a poor community founded by former slaves, and become friends.

Critical Analysis
From the first day Turner Buckminster had arrived to his new home with his mother and father, the new minister of Phippsburg’s First Congregational Church, he felt out of place. He did not have any friends and couldn’t even play baseball the way the people of his new home town played it, not only that, in his father’s eyes and to the townspeople he continued to be a disgrace because he is a minister’s son and minister’s son are not allowed to be imperfect, like the time he punched Willis, Deacon Hurd’s son, on the nose. Feeling lonely and a failure he wanders off to the sea to get away from it all, there he meets Lizzie Bright, a lively girl about his age. Lizzie shows Turner her home, Malaga Island, and the people who have lived there since she can remember. Set in 1912, the story focuses on Turner, and the uproar the town is in because of his close friendship with Lizzie, a colored girl. Many readers will connect with Turner and Lizzie as everyone at some time in their lives have been the new kid who doesn’t fit in while other’s will feel Lizzie’s pain and sorrow as everything she loves is stripped away including her life. The non-fictional setting of the town of Phippsburn Main and Malaga Island will fascinate and surprise historical fiction readers, as they read about how the homes of the people of Malaga Island were burnt to the ground, and the people literally forced out of the island and some put in homes for the feeble-minded.

Review Excerpt(s)
Booklist, Starred Review- “A powerful tale of friendship and coming-of-age, adding a lyrical sense of the coastal landscape.”

School Library Journal, Starred Review-“Schmidt’s writing is infused with feeling and rich in imagery. With fully developed, memorable characters…this novel will leave a powerful impression on readers.”

The Horn Book Magazine- Multiple conflicts, between all manner of the powerful and the powerless, create a drama that examines the best and worst of humanity.”

Kirkus, Starred Review-“The telling is both beautiful and emotionally honest, both funny and piercingly sad.”

Connections
*Received the Newbery Honor Book & Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature from the American Library Association.
*Racism
*Poverty
*Prejudice