Saltypie

April 26, 2010
Moving back and forward in time, Tingle (Walking the Choctaw Road) offers a tribute to his grandmother, Mawmaw, in a quietly poetic story about dealing with adversity. As a young woman, Mawmaw moves from Oklahoma’s Choctaw Nation to Texas, where a rock thrown by a boy cuts her face, possibly causing her eventual blindness. The term “saltypie,” which the family uses to shrug off difficult situations, is coined after the incident by Tingle’s father (then a boy), who is reminded of cherry pie filling by the blood streaming down his mother’s face. Years later, when a young Tingle asks why the boy threw the rock, his uncle replies, “Your grandmother was Indian. That was enough back then.” The story shifts forward again as the family gathers at the hospital while Mawmaw undergoes a successful eye transplant. Using a nice variety of perspectives, newcomer Clarkson conveys Mawmaw’s fortitude and the family’s intergenerational bonds in gauzy paintings; a few images—as when Tingle gets stung by a bee in the book’s abrupt opening—don’t quite hit the mark, but most are distinguished by strong, recognizable emotions. Ages 7–10.

May 1, 2010
K-Gr 5-Tingle tells his family's story from their origins in Oklahoma Choctaw country to their life in Texas. The account spans generations and weaves in ghosts from the past to the present day. When his grandmother and grandfather, then a young couple, arrived in Pasadena, someone threw a stone at Mawmaw, and it wasn't until the author was six that he learned that his grandmother was blind. Tingle was a junior in college when he got word that Mawmaw was having surgery. As the family gathered at the hospital, they told stories about their past, and he heard about her days as an orphan at an Indian boarding school and the discrimination she encountered living in Texas. Then they got the word they'd been waiting for: the surgery was a success, and Mawmaw could see. The large, full-spread illustrations are vibrant and vital in moving the story along. A lovely piece of family history."Sharon Morrison, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Durant, OK"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2010
Grades 3-5 Looking back to his childhood, Choctaw storyteller Tingle introduces his capable, comforting Mawmaw (grandmother); recalls his shock as a six-year-old at realizing that she was blind (possibly, he learns, as a result of a racially motivated assault in her own youth); and recounts a hospital vigil years afterward when she received an eye transplant. His strong, measured prose finds able counterpart in Clarksons subtly modeled, full-bleed close-ups of eloquently expressive faces and closely gathered members of the authors large extended family. The title comes from a word invented by Tingles father as a stand-in for any sort of pain or distress, and its use serves to enhance the vivid sense of intimacy that pervades this reminiscence. A lengthy afterword provides more details about Tingles family and Choctaw culture, and offers much to think about regarding American Indian stereotypes.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2010
The title refers to Tingle's family's "way of dealing with trouble...you just kinda shrug it off, say saltypie. It helps you carry on." The very loosely structured story focuses vaguely on Tingle's Choctaw grandmother, blinded by an act of violence and later granted an "eye transplant." Stiff and sentimental paintings illustrate the lengthy text; the appended afterword (in tiny type) is more compelling.

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)