BIBLIOGRAPHY
Frost, Helen. 2008. DIAMOND WILLOW. New York, NY: Farrar, Strauss and Girouox. ISBN 978-0-374-31776-8.
PLOT SUMMARY
Twelve year old Willow lives with her family in a small town in the middle of Alaska. Cold, snow, and wild animals are their everyday companions. Often, the only way to get around is by dog sled. Willow’s great passions are dogs and dogsledding. When not in school, she helps her father with his dog sled team.
The girl wants to prove to her parents that she is growing up so she urges them to let her drive the sled dogs. Willow’s first solo journey to her grandparents ends up having serious consequences: she has an accident and the lead dog Roxy is blinded. However, as both she and Roxy heal, Willow discovers magical family secrets; she learns about herself, courage, and the real meaning of friendship.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Diamond Willow is a wonderfully serious book for pre-teens who love character-driven novels with just a bit of mystical intervention and wilderness adventure. The novel begins with an author's note stating that the majority of the story is written in diamond-shaped poems with hidden messages printed in darker ink inside each one. She explains how the willow tree creates beautiful diamond shapes out of the places where a branch had been injured and fell away.Frost uses the image of the diamond willow to tell the story of her young heroine. Willow is a girl who struggles with all the normal contemporary problems of a pre-teen girl: self esteem, popularity, awkwardness, feeling out of place, independence, community, responsibility. When the secrets are stripped away and she is sanded by the trials she faces, she becomes a beautiful diamond despite the scar of her loss.
This captivating story is filled with fantastic language and descriptions. Helen Frost loads the metaphor of the diamond willow with many layers of meaning. The result is an implied comparison that suggests a likeness through the creation of images. She perfects the use of verse novel format to enhance the powerful, heart-warming story. There is no rhyming scheme; no particular rhythm catches the ear, just a really great description, presented in a creative way.The story is told in different voices. When Willow is speaking, the text is written in concrete free verse. Other sections are narrated by the various animals who witness the events, and who are actually the spirits of Willow's Athabascan reincarnated ancestors watching over her.
Helen Frost captures the life drama and girl’s anxiety in very few words. The plot of this story is intriguing and the ideas about family, heritage, nature and self-discovery are so attractively constructed. Diamond Willow touches deeply in a way that is not overly emotional or graphic, but with beautiful simplicity.
AWARDS
Texas LoneStar Award 2009
REVIEW EXCERPTS
Voice of Youth Advocates: “Under its bark, the diamond willow is beautiful, with reddish-brown diamond shapes on a cream-colored shank. Likewise this lyrical gem of a story reveals the inner beauty of a seemingly ordinary Athabascan girl.”
Booklist: " Set in a remote part of Alaska, this story in easy-to-read verse blends exciting survival adventure with a contemporary girl's discovery of family roots and secrets"
School Library Journal: " As she unravels the truth, Willow comes to understand the diamonds and scars that bind her family together. She also gains awareness of her own strength and place in her community. Willow relates her story in one-page poems, each of which contains a hidden message printed in darker type."
CONNECTIONS
- This is a quick-read, but don't underestimate the power of a complex story. A good candidate for book discussion, poetry-related units, and multi-cultural reading. A companion read to:
Paulsen, Gary. Hatchet. ISBN 9781416936473
George, Jean Craighead . Julie of the Wolves. ISBN 9780060219437
- Introduce to children other books by Helen Frost:
Frost, Helen. “Keesha’s House.” ISBN-10: 0374400121
Frost, Helen. “The Braid.” ISBN-10: 0374309620
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