The Borning Room (Charlotte Zolotow Books) [Paperback]

Paul Fleischman (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 11 and up | Grade Level: 6 and up | Series: Charlotte Zolotow Books

It's a place where life and love begin, and loss is borne.

Mothers give birth in the borning room. The dying take their departure there.

Ouside the Lott family's Ohio farmhouse, the Civil War rages, slavery falls, and the world marvels at the wonder of electricity. Inside, within the walls of the borning room, Georgina Lott will experience her life's greatest turnings. Across the years, she discovers womanhood and first love, experiences the mourning that comes with loss, and, as did her mother and grandmother, at last takes her place in the room as another precious life is about to begin.

The borning room is a room that figures large in the life of an Ohio farm girl born in 1851.Through its doorway pass the members of a free thinking family, bearing news of the world beyond the window: talk of runaway slaves, the siege of Vicksburg, seances, chloroform, electricity.In this heartfelt and haunting work, an account of one life, one family, and one room widens into a panoramic view of the human seasons and the procession of generations."From an innovative, highly talented novelist and poet . . . memorable characters and valuable glimpses of social history in a beautifully crafted novel.Deeply rewarding." —K.

Notable Children's Books of 1992 (ALA)
1992 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)
1992 Fanfare Honor List (The Horn Book)
Best Books of 1991 (SLJ)
1991 Books for Youth Editors' Choices (BL)
1992 Teacher's Choices (IRA)
Notable 1991 Children's Trade Books in Social Studies (NCSS/CBC)
1991 Notable Trade Books in the Language Arts (NCTE)
1991 Golden Kite Award Honor Book for Fiction (SCBW)
1991 Choices: The Year's Best Books (Publishers Weekly)
100 Books for Reading and Sharing 1991 (NY Public Library)
Bulletin Blue Ribbon Books 1991 (C)
Children's Books of 1991 (Library of Congress)
1992 Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Borning rooms, common in many early American homes, were located off the kitchen and reserved for births, illnesses and deaths. Here the room serves as a kind of touchstone, a central symbol for the story of Georgina Lott. Fleischman's first-person narrative can best be described as a series of snapshots of a 19th-century life. He fast-forwards through history--from pre-Civil War days and the Underground Railroad through the First World War--as readers see Georgina at her birth, at eight, with her little brother's arrival (and a brief look at the injustices of slavery) and so on, through her own marriage, the birth of her first daughter and, finally, facing her own death. This workmanlike tale is frustratingly brief, flitting from one incident to the next with only scant looks at the historic underpinnings of each episode. Fleischman's prose, while fluid as ever, never catches fire the way it did in his recent Saturnalia . Ages 11-up.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-10-- Fleischman's felicity with words is nowhere more evident than in this story of four generations of Ohioans whose most important events--births and deaths--take place in their home's "borning room." Georgina Caroline Lott, who was born there in 1851, tells the story of her family to a portrait painter who has been hired to capture her image toward the end of her life, in 1918, as her family has done for her grandparents before her. She highlights the most telling scenes from her childhood, which include her discovery of a runaway slave, who helps her mother give birth in the absence of the distant midwife; a deathwatch for her beloved grandfather; the loss of her mother during a subsequent childbirth; the nursing of her two brothers, severly ill with diptheria; and her marriage to the local schoolteacher and the birth of their first child. While Georgina summarizes the events of her later life rather quickly, the power of the narrative is never diminished. Less sophisticated readers may experience initial confusion because of the author's technique of using a flashback to begin the story, but by the emotional conclusion, all is made clear. Fleischman successfully tackles many important themes and once again gifts readers with writing lush with similes, metaphors, and allusions, so subtly woven into the mesh of the narrative that they enrich without distracting. A memorable novel, rich and resonant in familial love and the strength of connection and tradition. --Ellen Fader, Westport Pub . Lib . , CT -
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 11 and up
  
• Paperback: 106 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins (May 30, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0064470997
• ISBN-13: 978-0064470995
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #262,688 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Paul Fleischman grew up in Santa Monica, California, the son of children's book author Sid Fleischman. Drawing on history, music, art, and theater, his books have often experimented with multiple viewpoints and performance. He received the Newbery Medal in 1989 for JOYFUL NOISE: POEMS FOR TWO VOICES, a Newbery Honor Award for GRAVEN IMAGES, the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction for BULL RUN, and was a National Book Award finalist for BREAKOUT. He lives on the central coast of California.

For more information, visit paulfleischman.net.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A moving and insightful historical novel, December 14, 2001

By 

Michael J. Mazza - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Borning Room (Charlotte Zolotow Books) (Paperback)

"The Borning Room" is a superb historical novel by Paul Fleischman. The title refers to a room in a rural Ohio house where babies are born. The story is told by a first person narrator: Georgina Lott, who is born in 1851. Georgina's story spans from the time of her birth to the era of World War I.

With compassion and insight, Fleishman covers the cycles of life, death, and rebirth in Georgina's family as the decades pass. Through his characters Fleischman explores many important themes and events in American history: the abolitionist movement and the "underground Railroad," the Civil War, women's suffrage, folk medicine, ethnic diversity, and more. Benjamin Franklin's writings emerge as oft-cited texts for Georgina's family.

I was particularly interested by Fleischman's depiction of the increasing religious and spiritual diversity of the U. S. in the late 19th century. Some of his characters are religious nonconformists, or are interested in spiritualism. Fleischman is, I believe, historically accurate here. The 19th century was a time of great religious nonconformity and experimentation in the U.S. To better appreciate this aspect of Fleischman's fictional family portrait, consider the poems of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, the essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson, or the spread of new religious movements like Mormonism and Christian Science in the 19th century.

Fleischman writes in a starkly beautiful prose, and has populated Georgina's world with some truly wonderful characters. Georgina herself is a memorable creation. She is, in my opinion, a "soul sister" to many other great female characters in American literature: Zora Neale Hurston's Janie (from "Their Eyes Were Watching God"), Willa Cather's Alexandra (from "O Pioneers!"), and many more. I highly recommend "The Borning Room."

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Borning Room, July 30, 2004

By 

Lynn (Crowley, La) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Borning Room (Charlotte Zolotow Books) (Paperback)

This is a story of a young girl, Georgina Caroline Lott, growing up on an Ohio farm in the nineteenth century. The entire book focuses on the events that take place in the family's borning room. A borning room is a room set aside for the miracle of giving birth and for the ill and dying. In the borning room the main character and her family faces events that center around life and death. Georgina deals with life, death, love, womanhood and marriage.
This first person narrative is very captivating and is written with very flowing details and in a style that is easy to read. Readers will empathize with Georgina as she travels through her own life cycle. This book can be enjoyed by all ages and is an excellent read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars On my very short list of favorites, December 29, 2004

By 

Jillian P. Phippen (Orem, UT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Borning Room (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) (School & Library Binding)

I've been a high school English teacher for 11 years. This is one of my all-time favorite books. I read it aloud to my sophomore students 10 years ago, and we discussed all the different stages of life. Everything that really matters--life, death, meeting the one you love, and starting a new life--all happen in this one room. This is a really nice book by a very good young adult fiction writer.
I highly recommend it.