Bibliography
Frost, Helen. 2009. Crossing Stones. New York City: Farrar,
Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0374316532.
Brief plot summary
Crossing Stones is a historical novel in verse that intertwines the lives of two
families who live across the stream from one another. In their own voices, four
young people, Muriel, Frank, Emma, and Ollie, tell of their traumatic experiences
coming of age during World War I. As the boys enlist and are sent to the
trenches overseas, Emma finishes school and Muriel fights for peace and women's
suffrage. A “Notes on the Form” page at the end of the book explains the
cupped-hand sonnets and intricate rhyming scheme used in the book.
Critical analysis
The story is told through
the alternating voices of Muriel, Ollie, and Emma. The poet sets up her poems
visually as the flowing water and crossing stones of Crabapple Creek depending
on the narrator. Muriel’s entries are free-flowing verse having the appearance
of the creek while Ollie’s and Emma’s entries are interconnected “cupped-hand”
sonnets have the appearance of the creek’s crossing stones. I rarely found the form
distracting me from the onward force of the narrative.
While the poetic form has
an easy narrative flow, there are striking images created by the poems. For example, the poem “A
Bullet and a Bandage” (pp. 84-86) could serve as the heart of the entire novel:
“A bullet and a bandage
for the wound
it causes, all in
one small envelope.”
The novel acts as both the
bullet and the bandage for the wound, as it lays bare the terrible waste of all
war and the love that is its healer. When Ollie becomes frightened of the pigs
wallowing in the mud behind the barn (p. 100) we feel him reliving the terror
of the trenches. Later in the novel we see the bandage for the wound when Emily tells Ollie “Let love wash the war away”. (p. 152)
If at first the reader
feels Muriel is too strong to be credible she finds as the novel progresses
that Muriel’s strength comes from her father’s spirit and has been anticipated
by her heroic Aunt Vera who champions women’s suffrage in Washington D.C.,
enduring prison, forced feedings, and the loss of her job, but remains
unbending in her convictions, connecting the generations. This is a story about
the different perspectives on war, women’s suffrage, family, love, and loss.
These are all themes that are as relevant today as they were in 1917.
Review excerpts
“The distinct voices of the
characters lend immediacy and crispness to a story of young people forced to
grow up too fast.” – Horn Book, Starred
Review
“Frost skillfully pulls her characters back from stereotype with their poignant, private, individual voices and nuanced questions, which will hit home with contemporary teens, about how to recover from loss and build a joyful, rewarding future in an unsettled world.” – Booklist, Starred Review
“Frost skillfully pulls her characters back from stereotype with their poignant, private, individual voices and nuanced questions, which will hit home with contemporary teens, about how to recover from loss and build a joyful, rewarding future in an unsettled world.” – Booklist, Starred Review
“With
care and precision, Frost deftly turns plainspoken conversations and the
internal monologues of her characters into stunning poems that combine to
present three unique and thoughtful perspectives on war, family, love and loss.
Heartbreaking yet ultimately hopeful, this is one to savor.” – Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
“Frost’s warmly sentimental novel covers a lot of political, social, and geographical ground . . . . But this is Muriel’s story, and her determined personality and independence will resonate with readers.” – School Library Journal
“A thoughtful read.” – Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
“Frost’s warmly sentimental novel covers a lot of political, social, and geographical ground . . . . But this is Muriel’s story, and her determined personality and independence will resonate with readers.” – School Library Journal
“A thoughtful read.” – Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
Awards / Best Books
Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry
Award Honor Book, 2010
Booklist Top 10 Romance
Fiction for Youth, 2010
Booklist Editors’ Choice:
Books for Youth, 2009
Booklist Top 10 Historical
Fiction for Youth, 2010
Choices, 2010
ALSC Kids Reading List,
2010
Kirkus Best Young Adult
Books, 2009
Pure Poetry, 2009
YALSA Best Books for Young
Adults, 2010
Classroom Connections
Crossing Stones would be
an excellent pairing with Lewis Milestone’s film version of All Quiet on the Western Front. The film
will underscore Crossing Stones pro-
and anti-war dialectic giving vivid images of the trench warfare experience.
For a documentary look at
the settlement houses of first generation immigrants, Dorothy Gish’s film Gretchen the Greenhorn (1919) gives us a
contemporary look at the challenges faced by the immigrants.
Students may also wish to
explore Woodrow Wilson’s Espionage Act that made it illegal to speak out
against the war and its parallels in the Civil War, World War II, the Vietnam
War, and most recently in the War on Terrorism.
Other related books:
- All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque – ISBN: 978-0316739924
- Hattie Big Sky by Kirbie Larson – ISBN: 978-0385735957
- Shooting the Moon by Frances O’Roark Dowell – ISBN 978-1416979869
- A Time for Courage: The Diary of Kathleen Bowen by Kathryn Lasky – 978-0590511414
- The War to End all Wars: World War I by Russell Freedman – ISBN 978-0547026862
- World War I (DK Eyewitness Books) by Simon Adams – ISBN 978-0756630072
Other poetry books by
Helen Frost:
- The Braid – ISBN: 978-0374309626
- Diamond Willow – ISBN: 978-0374317768
- Hidden – ISBN: 978-0374382216
- Keesha’s House – ISBN: 978-0374400125
- Spinning Through the Universe – ISBN: 978-0374371593
