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Brooklyn Bridge

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My Review of BROOKLYN BRIDGE by Karen Hesse

Well worth the five year wait, award winning author Karen Hesse's new book, Brooklyn Bridge, is a memorable mix of historical fiction with a trace of enchanting fantasy. Hesse introduces this immigrant tale with a quote by Isaac Newton:" We build too many walls and not enough bridges". This quote could be considered "a spoiler" if one could interpret its relevance prior to reading the story. However, readers must finish the book in order to see what Ms. Hesse means by using this quotation symbolically in relation to the actual Brooklyn Bridge and humanity, especially in the special era she wrote about.

In the early 1900s, the family of fourteen-year-old Joseph Michtom has come from Russia to settle in America where the streets are made of gold. His is the typical lively and colorful family who has come to live the immigrant life of 1903 Brooklyn. Joseph who has a pretty good life for a kid in those days, filled with stick ball, a good home, family and lots of friends, is blessed but his dream centers on going to the new and thrilling amusement park known as Coney Island. However, Coney Island must wait. The Michtom family, in Joseph's mind, is doing fine with their candy store when suddenly his Dad gets an idea that instead of making toy bears out of metal or wood, they should be made of cloth. Before you can say `teddy bear', the idea takes off and the family is swamped with the demand for these bears. Joseph's family time is now devoted to this new "invention" and there is no time for Coney Island much less his "regular" boyhood life of friends and frivolity.

Interspersed between the chapters that tell of Joseph and his family and friends comes the haunting story of the kids who live under the bridge. Karen Hesse writes of these somewhat mystical children in a different, almost poetic way. Theirs is a life of suffering and misery which includes their individual stories of horror, starvation, pain, and even death. The central character under the bridge is one known as the Radiant Boy who glides in like a phantom spirit and frightens the children as they know that when he comes and takes someone with him, the child never comes back. How these children relate to Joseph's story is almost like a parallel universe in that Joseph doesn't seem to even meet any of these kids or acknowledge their existence for the most part. Their connection to Joseph, however, is one that is subtly alluded to throughout the story but it isn't until the end that the reader will see the significance of this story within the main story.

What is the connection between the kids under the bridge and Joseph? As for Coney Island, does Joseph ever get there? As you read this remarkable work by Karen Hesse, the answers to these and many more questions just may satisfyingly and incredibly be revealed. I recommend this as a perfect book for children 11 and older, as well as for adults who want to learn more about a time when our ancestors migrated to this country and settled in that magical place in New York known as Brooklyn. For those of us who know the area, the allure and magnificence of Coney Island and the wonderful Brooklyn Bridge will never cease to exist but rather be enhanced and remembered by reading Karen Hesse's novel, Brooklyn Bridge.

Chris Sheban did the wonderful cover art and adds to this amazing book with his interior illustrations as well.
Submitted by Karen Haney, August, 2008

Karen Hesse is back, baby! A person only gets so many golden opportunities in their life, you know. There are only so many times you get a chance to say that someone's back. Someone who may have taken a small vacation from writing for a while. Karen Hesse is a good example of this. She's done some picture books and short stories but her last novel, Aleutian Sparrow came out in 2003. Now she's returned to the field in force and with a full-length no-verse-in-sight middle grade novel on her hands. I mean Hesse was always the queen of verse. Her Out of the Dust won itself a Newbery, and I cherish in a soft place in my heart The Music of Dolphins. I guess you could say it was my favorite Hesse book . . . until now. Brooklyn Bridge takes a fancy to the summer of 1903. A time of bears, Coney Island, hot nights, and sharp delicious pickles.

To hear fourteen-year-old Joseph Michtom tell it, everything was fine before the bears. Yeah, his family wasn't rich or anything. His dad ran a candy store and they were like everyone else in their neighborhood. They made do. Then President Roosevelt had to go and NOT shoot a bear and everything went wrong. His Dad got this crazy idea about making stuffed bears out of cloth instead of wood or metal and suddenly everyone and his brother wanted one! Now Joseph's dad never has time to do little things like take his kids to Coney Island, and with all the family drama Joseph's feeling a little shut out. Paired alongside Joseph's thoughts are stories of a group of street kids that live underneath the Brooklyn Bridge at night. Haunted, both literally and figuratively, by a past tied unknowingly to Joseph's, their story highlights the boy's newfound status.

The book has a large cast of characters, all of them single-minded and interesting. All three of Joseph's aunts act and react off of one another in ways that have become almost rote over the years. Pay close attention to when Hesse chooses to switch between their nicknames ("The Queen", "Aunt Beast", and "Aunt Mouse") and their real names. That's a lesson in narrative power right there. As for other family members, Joseph's younger sister Emily is the wise one in the family, a fact that both she and Joseph recognize without animosity on either end. Really, that was one of the best parts of the book. The sheer levels of affection between different family members. Even when they're fed up or frustrated with one another, you can feel a deep and abiding love there. The family of the Michtoms is also mirrored in the rag tag family of stray kids under the bridge. There's loyalty in both groups, though one seems like a pale knockoff of the other.

As for the writing itself, Hesse using the two narratives (Joseph's vs. the kids under the bridge) to try things out. Joseph's story is straightforward with little poetic asides but nothing overly lyrical. The bridge kids get all the pretty words, maybe to make up for their crummy little lives. A boy who feels affection for a girl simply called The Bride is described as, "close to no one until The Bride came, the white-necked bride, who no longer wore her hair pinned up in the fashion of a lady, but down, in one thick braid, like a farm girl from Nebraska, like the mother he'd never known." Or about a small girl who, for reasons unknown, once drank poison. "She just cried. Silent tears rolling down her cheeks, her eyes two green bruises in a dusky face." Simpler still, just the use of an adjective at the right point makes all the difference in the world when closing out a chapter. "... and the sun rose, evicting the sharp-shouldered children from under the bridge for one more day."

I say that the novel is prose rather than verse, but that isn't to say that Hesse's poetic sensibilities have taken a back seat. No sir! Not she. The novel splits into two separate narratives. On the one hand you have Joseph, his life, and his worries. And on the other hand you have the children that live under the Brooklyn Bridge and their stories. Now, when you compare Joseph's woes (woes = how his parents are too busy to take him to Coney Island) to the woes of the kids under the bridge (woes = drinking acid, sleeping with corpses, stealing, madness, and worse), you'd be naturally inclined to think that Joseph was going to come across as a pretty whiny kid. He thinks HE has problems? Has he ever heard of Mattie, a boy who knew about "eating things no one should eat"? Hesse, however, is exceedingly clever. First of all, for a lot of kids reading this book, they're going to sympathize with Joseph. Having parents so consumed by their professional lives that they fail to spend enough time for their family? Not exactly a non-existent problem today. Fact of the matter, I'd say that most kids that read this book would identify more closely with Joseph than someone like Mattie. But by pairing his frustrations alongside those of the homeless street kids, Hesse is able to keep returning to the notion of being lucky. The very first sentence in this book is, "The guys say I'm lucky." For immigrants coming to America for the first time, you needed luck. The kids under the bridge don't have it and Joseph does, and on some level he's aware of this even if he isn't aware of the specific existence of the kids themselves. At one point in the tale Joseph's little brother gives a small girl his bear. Once he does so he's amazed by the amount of freedom he has. And then Joseph thinks to himself, "What bear had I been carrying . . . And what would it take for me to let it go?" Even the lucky ones amongst us have bears. It's the letting go that's difficult.

Spoiler alert, by the way. I was also amazed that Joseph never ran across the kids under the bridge. There's one moment where he passes Guy on the street, but it's a throwaway moment for him. He barely registers the kid's existence. And yet, his own story, the one that waits until the end of the book to be told, is tied very closely to the story of the bridge kids. This, if anything, was the weak point of the book. The sudden reveal at the end that the ghost under the bridge is Joseph's cousin? It felt like it came out of left field. If Joseph had been feeling guilty about this role in the boy's death, shouldn't that have been alluded to in ways that are less oblique than the ones found here?

It's an older book than Hesse's others. There are references to nasty things done by Cossacks to young girls, and children beaten until they almost die. It's never explicit and never described in any depth, but there's enough to cause me to suggest that maybe this book would be more appropriate for the older set. The 12 and up crowd, perhaps. This is perhaps one of Hesse's most accomplished novels. It's historical fiction that uses the past as a point of reference rather than as the point of the novel. Hesse is weaving together so many seemingly disparate elements and living breathing characters that the end result feels more like a film, a theatrical production, or a scene on a city street than a book for kids. I use the word "beautiful" when describing works of fiction because it's a difficult term to justify. But this book is beautiful. Beautiful and weird and real in a way that will touch you. If five-year absences yield books as fine as this, I urge every writer to take an extended vacation pronto.

A moving mix of historical fiction and fantasy from award-winning author Karen Hesse. In the summer of 1903, 14 year old Joseph Michtom really wants to go to Coney Island, but his parents--the inventors of the "Teddy Bear"--are so busy filling orders that there's never any time for fun. The book provides a sensitively done portrayal of the lives of Russian Jewish immigrants at the turn of the century mixed with the story of homeless children who live under a bridge and is filled with lots of colorful characters. The book is told in two styles; an almost mystical style for the stories of the children under the bridge and a first-person narrative in the style of a young boy for Joseph's part of the story.
This novel is an excellent read for boys or girls, especially those who like historical fiction.

We have liked other books by Karen Hesse - she writes believable young protagonists and she has very interesting historical settings. This book is no exception - it is well written, with one storyline following a 14-year-old son of Russian immigrants, and another storyline told (just go with it) by the Brooklyn Bridge, telling about the thrown-away children who shelter every night under the bridge.

Well told. Very likable characters.

Themes of blame and forgiveness, family secrets, adolescent crushes, violence against children, resenting your family, and in the end being shaped by your family. Ghosts.

One typo, very last page, on the Coney Island insert: dates should read 1897 to 1964.

I greatly admire Hesse's writing, but I was disappointed in this book. The characters are sympathetic and the writing is fine, but the story lines of past and present just don't meet up. If the past needed resolving at the end, we should have had hints of that at the beginning and throughout the book. The italicized parts are, as another reviewer said, creepy. They add nothing to the story.

I found the book a bit rambling in its unfolding and my impression was that the author tried too hard to be clever, poetic, avant-garde...call it what you will. The subject matter (The Brooklyn Bridge) is an amazing episode in American history as is the story of immigration. I thought that the author tried to cram too much material into her story, tried to mention too many characters...resulting in the story being unfocused. The theme of the book was diluted by an overabundance of storylines and, "how everyone is connected in some way," seemed to be a politically correct afterthought.

Here's a great interview with Ms. Hesse on in which she discusses Brookly Bridge and other of her books! http://commitmentnocom/living-a-creative-life/writing-books-for-children/features/more-writin[...]
-books-for-children-articles/feature/interview-with-newberry-medal-winner-karen-hesse

In yet another book, Karen Hesse takes a time in history and brings it to life for kids. Just as she did for the Dust Bowl in the Great Depression in Out of the Dust, Ms. Hesse features likeable characters whose lives are greatly influenced by the era in which they live. I enjoyed this book as much as my kids did!

This book is very heart-warming, and a tear joker at times. This book was well researched for the time period to which was written, the beginning of the 20th. century. It's about Russian Jewish immigrants, working hard, being industrious, family, homeless children, Conney Island, Brooklyn, New york and the first Teddy Bear. Once you start you won't want to put it down. As another reviewer already commented, this book begins with this quote " We build too many walls and not enough bridges" by Isaac Newton. You will not regret checking this book out of your library, you will want to read it a second time around.

Fourteen-year-old Joseph Michtom knows he's one of the lucky ones in New York during the early 1900s. He's the son of a successful Russian immigrant. He's got a warm place to live, enough food so he doesn't go hungry, and family to love him. Although sometimes he doesn't feel so lucky, because his parents no longer spend much time with him now that they are consumed with their new venture--sewing and selling as many of the new "Teddy bears" as they can. Joseph's parents came up with the idea for creating the cuddly animals after President Theodore Roosevelt refused to shoot a cornered bear while on a bear hunt.

Joseph's family has found new wealth and prestige from their invention, but the boys in the neighborhood treat Joseph differently, as though he's changed from the same old Joe who has always been a friend. Joe spends a lot of time with his sister Emily and their baby brother Benjamin. Joe and Emily dream of going to Coney Island one day, but it doesn't seem as though their parents will ever take enough time off to take them there.

Interspersed with Joe's story are vignettes of homeless children living under the Brooklyn Bridge. They leave home for many reasons, either they are abused or orphaned or crippled in some way, but they find shelter and solace with each other.

Karen Hesse's novel Brooklyn Bridge is a wonderful portrait of family in its many facets as well as the story of the struggle of immigrants to leave their old lives behind and fit into their new country. It paints a rich picture of Brooklyn in the early 1900s. We get a picture of life in Russia that many of Joseph's friends and family left, and of his aunt who worked tirelessly so that many could leave their homeland and find opportunity in the U.S. There's a strong sense of family obligations, helping out your fellow man, and showing respect to adults. Issues to discuss with mother-daughter book clubs include homelessness, historical events in Russia and the U.S., immigration, sibling relationships and family dynamics. Highly recommended for clubs with girls aged 9 to 12.

In a lyrical mixture of early twentieth-century American history and fiction, embellished with a touch of fantasy, Karen Hesse's latest book is the story of an all too real Jewish family rising from immigrant roots. Historically well-researched, Brooklyn Bridge consists of two seemingly unrelated narratives which ultimately build to a satisfying conclusion. The primary story centers on the dynamics of the extended Michtom family and its young protagonist, Joseph. Readers will share the family's experiences with poverty, economic success, and petty grievances intermingled with moments of joy, conflict and death. Joseph's life is turned upside down when his father invents the stuffed teddy bear. While the family is now economically stable, Joseph's time is no longer his own. His yearning to visit the newly opened Coney Island sets the scene for a personal adventure and the emergence of a deep, dark, family secret. The shadow story provides us with a glimpse at the underbelly of society through the lives of a group of street children living under the Brooklyn Bridge. Over their daily struggles hovers a ghost, the Radiant Boy, whose presence foreshadows death. The relationship between the ghost and Joseph shapes the book's explosive ending. Karen Hesse continues to be an innovative, creative and superb master of the written word. Brooklyn Bridge is a wonderfully evocative book that will resonate with young readers facing their own daily problems as they consider Joseph's lament, "What bear had I been carrying ... And what would it take for me to let it go?" Reviewed by Norm Finkelstein