Clarion Project Mulberry

Das Buch habe ich für ein Seminar über American Child Literature gekauft und sehr gerne gelesen! Und auch etwas bereut, dass ich das Buch nicht als Kind lesen konnte.Die beiden Protagonisten entscheiden sich für ein Projekt, dass die Züchtung von Seidenspinner vom Anfang an bis zur Produktion von Seide begleitet. Doch die Geschichte erzählt viel mehr, man spricht auch solche wichtige Themen wie z.B. Rassismus und Altwerden an. Das Buch ist für Kinder geschrieben, doch es erklärt einiges aus dem Leben der Kinder auch den Erwachsenen.Meine Überlegung war es einen Stern abzuziehen, denn ich fand die ständige Einbinndung von der sozusagen Nebengeschichte etwas irritierend. Doch dies ist nur eine reine Geschmacksache,deshalb wäre es unfair dadurch die anderen Leute von diesem tollen Buch fernzuhalten.

Excellent book which is much more interesting than the cover. It has multiple themes: fitting in, doing well, not standing out, being outstanding, being accepting, being honest, life and death, having disturbing questions about people we love. Project Mulberry is a wonderful, middle-school appropriate examination of American society that is built around two students working on a science project. It is also a wonderfully transparent demonstration of how to write; to use a plot to carry other baggage, keeping the plot a central highway but having off ramps to related topics that enrich a somewhat spare plot but do not distract (or detract) from it.

A little slow for me, but when I finally convinced my 10 year old to read it, she enjoyed it as well. She and I both like realistic ordinary life fiction, and this was a sweet novel of friendship, and growth.

I purchased this book due to the fact that I would be attending a conference at which Ms. Park is speaking (I like to get an idea of the presentors background). I knew that Ms. Park is talented, but never did I expect to enjoy it so very very much. As an author I found the entries between the chapters to be facinating. What a great idea. And the story itself was amazing as well. I can not say enough about the whole package other than READ IT! Can't wait to meet you Ms. Park! Julia (not Julia Song, but still Julia)

This book was assigned by my childs 5th grade teacher as a class reading assignment and it caused a lot of problems. I have a child adopted from China who attends a mostly white school. There are topics about racism in this book that are quite extreme and racial slurs are used. one happened to be an Asian slur that had been used against my child the year before at school. hearing it read out loud in class and discussed in the manner in which it was created a very upsetting situation for my child. the few other Asian children and families were all asked how they felt and they also were upset. I absolutely don't think it's appropriate for school unless there is a balanced racial make up of the class. It made the Asian kids feel very isolated and afraid. Also one of the characters is racist against African Americans and the African American families in the class also had problems with the book.I think that maybe it would be an OK read for 12+ year olds and outside of school where parents can discuss the subject matter with their children.