Good Reads: Bluish

-          Author:  Virginia Hamilton

-          Publisher:  The Blue Sky Press

-          Copyright:  1999

-          ISBN#:  0-590-28879-2

-          Genre:  Fiction

-          Current Library Location: 
      Southwest Amarillo Public Library

Summary

            Bluish is about a young girl’s relationship with a classmate who has cancer.  Dreenie is new at Bethune Cookman school and has only made one good friend, Tuli.  When a girl named Natalie starts coming to school, Dreenie is both curious and slightly afraid.  Natalie uses a wheelchair and always wears hats that cover her entire head.  All of Dreenie’s classmates call her “Bluish” because she is so pale her veins show through, giving her skin a blue tint.  Dreenie learns that Natalie is battling childhood leukemia.  Although afraid of Natalie’s differences at first, Dreenie learns to see past her illness and appreciate her as a person.  The two become close friends, and Dreenie helps the rest of her class understand and accustom to Natalie’s differences. 

Personal Response:

            I appreciated the honest emotions the author gives her characters.  Dreenie is confused by Natalie’s behavior and reacts like the rest of her classmates with fear and avoidance of Natalie.  Natalie gets frustrated, angry, and upset with her classmates for reasons they do not understand but the reader sees.  It made me reflect on my attitudes and reactions to people who are very ill, as I have often reacted the same as Dreenie without even noticing.  Many times I do not know what to say, how and when to offer help, or how and if to ask about their illness.

Suggested Use in Classroom:

            This book can be useful both in structure and storyline.  The author’s style is something to notice and discuss—she often uses fragments as whole sentences.  Also, the text alternates between Dreenie’s first person entries in a journal all about Bluish and the third person narrative telling of the story.  The storyline could encourage honest discussion about serious illnesses and disabilities, and how we react when we encounter people who are different.

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