The Braid [Hardcover]

Helen Frost (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 3, 2006

Two sisters, Jeannie and Sarah, tell their separate yet tightly interwoven stories in alternating narrative poems. Each sister – Jeannie, who leaves Scotland during the Highland Clearances with her father, mother, and the younger children, and Sarah, who hides so she can stay behind with her grandmother – carries a length of the other’s hair braided with her own. The braid binds them together when they are worlds apart and reminds them of who they used to be before they were evicted from the Western Isles, where their family had lived for many generations.
 
The award-winning poet Helen Frost eloquently twists strand over strand of language, braiding the words at the edges of the poems to bring new poetic forms to life while intertwining the destinies of two young girls and the people who cross their paths in this unforgettable novel. An author’s note describes the inventive poetic form in detail.

 

The Braid is a 2007 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 8 Up–Teenage sisters Jeannie and Sarah are separated when the Highland Clearances of the 1850s tear their family away from the only home they've known. Jeannie sails to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, with their parents and younger siblings to start a new life, while Sarah decides to remain in Scotland with their grandmother. In an age when distance and illiteracy prohibit communication, the girls remain connected solely by pieces of a braid intertwined with one another's hair. Though seemingly a distant reality from that of today's teens, this gem of a book ultimately tackles age-old issues of teen pregnancy, death, poverty, and first love in a timeless manner. Frost tells the compelling story using a formal structure consisting of narrative poems in alternating voices, praise poems, and line lengths based on syllabic count. While the inventive form is accomplished and impressive, it's the easy flow of the verse and its emotional impact that will carry even reluctant readers into the windswept landscape and the hardships and dreams of these two girls.–Jill Heritage Maza, Greenwich High School, CT
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Gr. 7-10. When their family is evicted from the Western Isles of Scotland in 1850, teenage sisters Jeannie and Sarah are torn apart. Jeannie goes with her parents and younger siblings to Cape Breton, Canada. Her older sister, Sarah, hides so she can stay behind with Grandma. Before they separate, the sisters braid their hair together, and cut it off, each taking half the braid ("You / me / sisters / always"). The tale unfolds in plain narrative poems, presented in the girls' alternating voices: Jeannie speaks of her brutal ocean crossing, during which her father and younger siblings perish, and of her struggle as a stranger in the new country; Sarah talks about her loneliness, her love, and her illegitimate baby. The braid is both powerful fact and stirring metaphor in the girls' story of lasting connections, oceans apart, and it extends to encompass themes of home, shelter, and heritage, as well as the yearning for family wherever one lives. In concluding notes, Frost explains the poetic forms she used, which braid together the two immediate voices with echoing words and rhythms. As in Frost's Keesha's House (2003), the book will inspire both students and teachers to go back and study how the taut poetic lines manage to contain the powerful feelings. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 1st edition (October 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374309620
• ISBN-13: 978-0374309626
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #866,437 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A poignant, moving, and intricately structured story, January 3, 2007

By 

Teenreads.com (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Braid (Hardcover)

Jeannie and Sarah are teenage sisters living on the Isle of Barra in Scotland in 1850. It is a time that has come to be known as the Highland Clearances when landlords, choosing to raise sheep on the lands instead of renting them out, forced thousands of people to leave their homes. The family plans to sail to Canada. The night before they leave, Jeannie and Sarah braid their hair together, sleeping with their heads touching. But in the morning, Sarah is gone. She has cut the sisters' braid and left half in Jeannie's hand.

Jeannie, her parents and three small siblings sail off, as Jeannie holds the braid and cries for her sister. Sarah has decided to travel with her grandmother back to her grandmother's home on the tiny rugged island of Mingulay. When Murdo Campbell, a young fisherman, sails them to their new home, Sarah feels an emotional attraction to the calm, kind man.

Meanwhile, on the crowded ship traveling to Canada, Jeannie finds her fellow passengers irritable, hungry, thirsty and sick. The sleeping area below deck stinks. Jeannie is heartsick missing Sarah, but she is distracted when her little sister develops a fever. A passenger has died, and the family knows how serious an illness can be.

On Mingulay, Sarah dreams of and worries about Jeannie and her family, but she also enjoys getting to know her extended family. She loves collecting seabird eggs from the cliffs and snaring the birds she and her grandmother eat. She also finds herself waking up at night thinking of Murdo Campbell. Little does she know what lies in their combined future: passion, shame and sorrow --- but also hope.

Jeannie and her family endure a horrendous crossing. As so many of the passengers do, they suffer unbearable losses. When they land, they decide to travel to Cape Breton, hoping to find other travelers from home. Along the way, Jeannie is hungry, filthy and sad, but she uncovers a prevailing strength deep inside to sustain her.

Jeannie and Sarah's stories are powerful and moving, filled with universal emotions anyone can relate to. At the end of the book, author Helen Frost explains how she structured it. The sisters relay their tales in narrative poems, which are connected with shorter poems. The short poems each honor one ingredient in the longer poems. Astonishingly, the poems are braided together in an intricate way. The short poems share first and last lines. In the sisters' poems, the last word of each line is the first word of each line in the next poem. In addition, the syllable counts have significance: the number of syllables in the lines of the sisters' poems equal their age.

These revelations were so astounding to me that I did something I've never done before: I immediately reread the entire book, both to admire the structure and to re-savor the poignant and riveting story. (Since rereading, I have been raving about it to everyone I know.) THE BRAID is now high on my "best books I have ever read" list.

--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon ([e-mail])

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for ages middle school through adult, November 19, 2006

By 

mariah1969 (the midwest) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Braid (Hardcover)

Once again, Helen Frost has crafted a beautiful novel in verse. This story of two sisters is one that anyone descended from immigrants can appreciate.

Although the poetic form is very intricate and literary, young readers (even reluctant readers) will find the book an approachable, quick read. And even those who don't normally like historical fiction may enjoy it, since the themes in the book are timeless: sisterhood, family love, the struggle for survival, and romance versus reality.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A high school librarian reacts:, February 1, 2007

By 

High school teacher (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Braid (Hardcover)

This is one of the most "literary" books I've recently read that has the potential of attracting reluctant young adult readers. The slim volume will not intimidate, and the quick-paced, drama-filled narrative will keep them turning pages. Author Helen Frost examines pertinent issues of homelessness, poverty and teen pregnancy in her fictional account of two teenaged sisters torn apart during the Scottish Highland Clearances in 1850. Her interwoven poems between chapters help make this title a unique standout.