60 pages • 2 hours read
Lizzie Bright And The Buckminster Boy
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2004
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Introduction
Teacher Introduction
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy
- Genre: Fiction; middle grade historical fiction
- Originally Published: 2004
- Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 1000L; grades 6-9
- Structure/Length: 12 chapters and afterword; approximately 224 pages; approximately 6 hours, 48 minutes on audio
- Protagonist/Central Conflict: The story is set in 1912 in the coastal town of Phippsburg, Maine. Turner Buckminster, the son of a minister, befriends Lizzie Bright Griffin, a girl from the nearby island of Malaga, which is inhabited by a mostly African American community. The central conflict explores racism, community, and change as Turner fights against the town’s plans to evict the people of Malaga Island and erase their community.
- Potential Sensitivity Issues: Prejudice, racism, and racial tension; themes of displacement and community destruction; violence, including violent assault; death, including death of a parent and a main character; mild profanity
Gary D. Schmidt, Author
- Bio: Born in 1957; American children’s writer of nonfiction books and young adult novels; known for engaging historical and realistic fiction that often tackles complex social issues and offers emotional resonance, moral inquiry, and detailed settings
- Other Works: The Wednesday Wars (2007); Okay for Now (2011); Orbiting Jupiter (2015)
- Awards: Newbery Honor Book (2005); Printz Honor Book (2005); YALSA Best Book for young Adults (2005)
CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Guide:
