Customer Reviews

Bluish

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I am a girl now in remission from cancer, so I know how it really is, and I read every book there is to read on the subject. For a school report I have read this book Bluish and a book called Zink by Cherie Bennett. Bluish is sweet and Zink is bitter and sweet. Bluish is the way that my teachers would have liked for things to be with me when I was in school after chemo, and Zink is the way it really was. If you want to feel good, read Bluish. If you want to feel the real emotions of cancer, read Zink. I would love for you to feel the real emotions.

Bluish is a well crafted, insightful, interesting children's books about Dreenie, a fifth grader growing up in NYC and about her experiences making friends at a new school. It is a sensitive portrait of a girl coming to awareness of life--and of death. It isn't about being African American (as Dreenie is) or about being interracial (as Tuli is) or about being bi-cultural (as Natalie is). It isn't about being female or being an older or younger sister or a latchkey child. It isn't about having cancer or about holidays at Christmastime or about writing. It's not about getting a pet or being a New Yorker, although it touches on all of these as it shows Dreenie learning about the world--and about herself--one year when she is eleven years old and making friends with two girls very different from herself--and yet very similar. One friend happens to be--or wants to be--Spanish. One girl happens to have cancer. But we don't read the book to learn about cancer or how it fells to be growing up half Jewish or African American. We read it to experience what it is like to be Dreenie--to be all alone in a new school and then suddenly fascinated by a girl who is wrestling with a life threatening disease. Dreenie can't know what it's like to have cancer--and neither can we. We simply see things through Dreenie's eyes, feeling what she feels as she moves through the story. The obok is powerful because it takes us into Dreenie's skin and keeps us there from beginning to end, sharing her experiences and making these new friends.

Sometimes children can be unknowingly mean and brutal. Virginia Hamilton's characters seem real and natural. And how real and natural for children to tease and fear what they do not know. Hamilton's characters move smoothly from at first being fearful of Bluish to knowing her, understanding her illness, and becoming protective. Although not too many unexpected twists and turns, Bluish quickly draws you into a group of very likeable characters. "Girlfren'" Tuli is a hoot. Excellent reading for 5th or 6th grade.

This book is for middle school youngsters, 5th and 6th grade, although it would be appropriate for a precocious 4th grader and slower 7th grade readers. It is the story of three young girls who become friends after a very unlikely start. The title refers to the skin color of a sick young girl in the protagonist's Dreenie's class; a girl who is pale, weak and restricted to a wheelchair. All of the children, including Dreenie are afraid of the girl and try to avoid her. Later on it becomes clearer that most of them do not dislike her; instead they are afraid of her and the thought of sickness and dying.

Virginia Hamilton who has more than a few titles for young readers under her belt writes Bluish. Unlike some of her fantasy-based work, this is squarely set in contemporary New York with all the attendant urban problems we see on the news. For example, Dreenie almost jumps out of her skin while waiting for her father downstairs in their apartment building. Although she was warned not to go outside, she does just that, looking left and right for her father. Instead he comes in front of her and cautions her yet again that she has to look three ways: left, right and across. It isn't stated, but youngsters have received enough parental warnings and seen enough news shows about abduction to the author's point.

The book is written in a different type of style - it ping pongs back and forth between a journal format (Dreenie's diary) and a regular third person narrative style. While it was a bit unsettling for me as an adult to get used to the format, young people may not have as many preconceived notions of what a novel should look like. Dreenie has a younger sister she has to watch over every afternoon until her parents come home from work, again very realistic of today's world for many youngsters. The younger sister, Willie, of course irritates her big sister to no end, and makes matters worse by being an extremely bright and outspoken child. Every so often her resentment at being so responsible for her sister comes through, as it does in some of her later conversations with Natalie or "Bluish" as Dreenie calls her.

The second key figure in the friendship is Tuli, a bi-racial youngster who lives with her Grandmother and often pretends to be Spanish. Tuli is loud and energetic; highly observant of her surroundings and people and is often very needy. Sometimes so much so that Dreenie feels like she has yet another sibling to watch over. Dreenie feels as if Tuli tries to be too much a part of her family and should spend more time with her Grandmother.

Their teacher who tells them she has leukemia but is on the mend finally explains Natalie's illness. The disease requires that she rests a lot and that she sometimes vomits in class as a result of chemotherapy. Natalie is bi-racial as well with a black father and a Jewish mother who initially takes offense at her daughter's nickname, mistakenly thinking it is a crass put down of being black and Jewish. After she realizes the truth, she warms up to Dreenie and later on Natalie's family attends a Kawaanza celebration at Dreenie's house.

Natalie helps her classmates understand some Jewish traditions such as Hanukkah and brings a dreidel to class and teacher her classmates how to play the game. She also brings knitted caps to all of them saying she has lots of time resting in bed and knitting helps her pass the time. The caps are all bright and colorful and the children love them. The caps also bond them with Bluish who has to wear one all the time due the chemo-induced baldness.

This book will introduce children to a variety of "others." Sick children, the physically challenged, bi-racial youngsters and those from lower socio-economic classes. In one fell swoop, Hamilton poses a number of "isms" for young minds to grabble with, all the while writing about likeable young girls who are engaging but no goody two-shoes. Dreenie can be extremely impatient; Natalie can be aloof and sarcastic; Tuli can be narcissistic and childish. In short, they are real-life children who struggle with real issues facing young people today. Hamilton does not end with happily ever after. It is left open ended as to Natalie health. While she is steadily improving, its made clear she has a five-year window before the doctors will consider her in remission. Tuli remains poor and living with her Grandmother. Dreenie is more comfortable in her new school, but still wonders if she will truly be the intellectual equal of her younger sister. All in all, an enjoyable read that is believable and engaging.

"Bluish" is a novel by Virginia Hamilton, a prolific and multiple award-winning author of books for young readers. "Bluish" tells the story of Dreenie, a young girl who attends a magnet school in New York City with her brainy (but annoying) younger sister, Willie, and their eccentric friend Tuli. When a pale-skinned, apparently ill girl in a wheelchair joins her class, Dreenie is fascinated by her. The girl is nicknamed "Bluish" due to her bluish complexion. Dreenie begins a diary documenting her evolving relationship with Bluish.

"Bluish" is a gentle, moving novel about overcoming fear of someone who is different. The book is a hopeful celebration of childhood friendship. A nice touch is the fact that entries from Dreenie's journal are interspersed between the chapters of the novel. The book also offers an interesting perspective on the multicultural, multifaith world of NYC schoolkids; there's even a little primer on the celebration of Kwanzaa. Overall, an impressive effort from Hamilton.

When a person sees or meets another person that is very different from him or her, what does he or she do? Dreenie, the main character in Virginia Hamilton's book, Bluish, toiled with the dilemma of how to become friends with a girl who was strangely different from anyone she had ever met.
Dreenie lived a normal life in one of New York's many apartment buildings. Her life seemed almost like a routine. Unless she was going on a school field trip or doing a project, Dreenie's days were very similar. Then a new girl came to Dreenie's school. Her name was Natalie.
Natalie was shockingly different. She was pale like moonlight, and you could see her "blue" veins clearly through her milky skin. This was one of the effects of the disease Natalie had, and why she was called "Bluish" by the other students who avoided and stared at her. Natalie made Dreenie uncomfortable, especially since she was afraid to catch Natalie's disease.
One day, the teacher assigned a group project and put Dreenie, her friend Tuli, and Natalie together. As Dreenie discovered the real person behind the pale skin and blue veins, she learned not to judge people before getting to know them. Dreenie almost missed an opportunity to make a good friend.
In life, we all face the problem of overcoming the differences in others. Bluish, by Virginia Hamilton, covers this. In our own way, it is up to us to answer the question," How do I respect and be friends with someone who is very different?"

Bluish is an inspiring story of two girls bluish who overcomes her illness with strengh and spirt and Dreenie the older sister of a genius sister who is in turns fasinated and frighted by bluish.She looks beyond bluishs pyhiscal diffrences and becomes friends with her.Bluish is a story of friendship.I recomend Bluish as a quick read.Bluish lacks a climax,It doses not have much action in it. Bluish did not give me trills but it give me a story of a girl who can look pass apearences.I would not recomend Bluish for younger readers.I would recomend Bluish for a reader who seeks to understand lukiema.

Bluish, is unknown to everyone. She sits alone in a corner like a ghost and watches. Everyone is scared of her because the her skin has a bluish tint. But Dreenie the most unlikely of all decides to befriend Bluish. At first when she tries to talk to bluish it doesn't work. But later on Bluish and dreenie form a strong, unlikely friendship. It turns out Bluish is blue because she has cancer and chemo tainted her skin. That's also why she has no hair only hats. And why she isn't at school much. Bluish gets sick a lot. Bluish finds her real name is Natalie. And through a rough series of events Dreenie brings bluish the most wonderful gift ever. Hope.

This story has potential but it is confusing. It jumps around a lot and makes it hard for the reader to understand. However the storyline and the moral are equally beautiful. I recommend this book to anyone 12 and up.

Bluish is the story of a young girl, Dreenie who lives in New York City. She lives with an annoying little sister and an almost more annoying best friend, Tuli. The book tells the story of these three girls befriending a girl at school who no one likes. The kids call her Bluish. She sits alone in a wheelchair when she comes to school and talks to no one. she has no hair. Only hats. And she is so sickly pale her skin has a blue tint. At first the girls fear her but through the story they accept her as one of their own.

This book Virginia Hamilton is written very choppy. It jumps around a lot and doesn't stick to one theme. It is very repetitive and at times I even thought I was rereading a page. i would not reccommend this book.

Bluish is the name other kids give to Natalie Winburn. Her skin is so pale and she is so sick that the veins show through, causing her to be bluish. She arrives at her NYC public school in a wheelchair and a knit toboggan, holding the puppy she is allowed to bring to school (this is like no school I've ever worked in).

Bluish's mother isn't thrilled by the nickname her friends Dreenie and Tuli give her. She interprets it as a combination of Black and Jewish, and regards it as derogatory. Only when Dreenie explains the name does she understand, but she still wants her daughter to be called by her true name.

When Bluish knits toboggans for the entire class, the students are more accepting of her and she becomes something of a mascot, to be taken care of and coddled.

Bluish was hard to read. I got stuck on it for over a week because it was uninteresting. I did not think the Bluish character was well written. She came off as bland and unsympathetic. Tuli seemed self-absorbed and uninteresting as well. I was disappointed because Virginia Hamilton is usually a fine writer.