Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Monmouth Public Library | J Fic DeFelice, C. 2006 | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
September 1840 marks five months since twelve-year-old Nathan Fowler's life-threatening encounter with Weasel, the heartless man who stalked Nathan like a wild animal through the forest. Nathan hasn't been the same since, wary of every new person he meets - including the visiting peddler Orrin Beckwith. When Beckwith shows Nate and his family a handbill advertising a show with a "white Injun," a man without a tongue, Nathan is sure the man is his friend Ezra, who lost his tongue to Weasel'sknife. Determined to save Ezra from this traveling show of "human oddities," Nathan sets out with Beckwith from Ohio to Pennsylvania. On the way, Nathan encounters more people than he's ever met before, and he begins to learn a thing or two about human nature. The biggest shock, however, is Ezra himself, and it will take more than Nathan bargained for to bring him back home.
This long-anticipated sequel to Weasel is a masterful adventure story, in which Nathan Fowler triumphs over the legacy of fear left him by the villain Weasel.
Bringing Ezra Back is a 2007 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.
Author Notes
Cynthia DeFelice is the author of many bestselling books for young readers, including Wild Life , The Ghost of Cutler Creek , Signal , The Missing Manatee , and Weasel . Her books have been nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award and listed as American Library Association Notable Children's Books and Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year, among numerous other honors. She lives in upstate New York.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-7-A worthy sequel to Weasel (S & S, 1990), DeFelice's beloved tale of Ohio's frontier in the 1840s. As that story ends, Nathan Fowler has experienced evil incarnate in the form of Weasel, a mercenary trained to hate the area's Shawnee. Nathan's father nearly died by Weasel's treachery, but Ezra Ketcham, a white neighbor who was married to a Shawnee woman, saved him, and then left to seek his wife's people. As this story begins, Nathan has learned that a freak show is displaying Ezra as a "White Injun." Traveling with a peddler of dubious reputation, he sets off to find him and bring him home. Only 12, Nathan has become shy of strangers after his experience with Weasel, and he must learn to read people, to hone his instincts. He relies on his practical frontier background, and a great deal of courage, to get his friend home. His biggest surprise is that Ezra seems to be only a husk of his former self. On top of the physical challenge of returning from Western Pennsylvania to his Ohio home, Nathan must reconnect to Ezra's soul. Told in Nathan's voice, this adventure treats readers to a double-dip cliff-hanging plot and heart-searing maturation.-Pat Leach, Lincoln City Libraries, NE (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
The pioneer adventure story begun in Weasel ("a fast-paced novel," according to PW) continues with Bringing Ezra Back by Cynthia DeFelice. Twelve-year-old Nathan sets out from his Ohio farm in 1840 to rescue his friend Ezra, held captive by owners of a freak show in Western Pennsylvania. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Intermediate, Middle School) It's been sixteen years since DeFelice published Weasel but only five months in literary time since Nathan Fowler met evil, when a man he called Weasel invaded his nineteenth-century home in the Ohio Valley. Ezra Ketcham, who saved Nathan's family but was mutilated when Weasel cut out his tongue, has moved on. When Nathan discovers that Ezra is being exhibited as a ""white Injun, a man with no name and no tongue! Deaf and dumb!"" he realizes he must find Ezra and rescue him. On the journey, Nathan learns to ""read people just like you read a book."" During that learning and reading, he sheds some of his fear of strangers and finds that although treachery exists in some individuals, kindness springs forth from others. The characters' speech, values, and economic and social situations capture the historical setting. Still, Nathan is everyboy, searching to understand the world and his place in it. DeFelice incorporates necessary backstory, but this sequel offers a fine opportunity to introduce the suspense of Weasel to a new generation of readers. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
It was only five months ago that 12-year-old Nathan Fowler, his father and sister escaped the devilish Weasel (1990), a fanatical Indian killer who also attacked the friends of Native Americans. The Fowler family was only able to escape with the help of Ezra, one of Weasel's surviving Caucasian victims. Weasel might now be dead and Ezra gone off to find his Shawnee wife's people, but the events of 1839 are fresh in Nathan's mind. When a roving peddler brings leaflets describing a traveling freak show with a captive, tongue-less "White Injun," Nathan is certain the person described is his friend Ezra. Nathan's father allows him to attempt a rescue in the hopes that Nathan will see that not all strangers are villains. The peddler does teach the boy to read people, and he sees that even mercenary crooks like the freak show owners aren't as heartless as his former assailant. DeFelice returns to the Ohio wilderness of 1840 to tell a very different but no less compelling story. Nathan's first person-narration is realistic, and his adventures are exciting. Fans and newcomers will be satisfied with this long-awaited sequel. (Fiction. 9-14) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Gr. 4-6. In this sequel to Weasel (1990), 12-year-old Nathan, accompanied by peddler Owen Beckwith, journeys to Pennsylvania, searching for Ezra, the man left mute as a result of Weasel's savagery. Since the events of the previous year, Nathan has had great difficulty trusting people, so this journey offers him insight into the ways of the world and needed skills in judging human nature. When he finally locates Ezra, who is being held captive by the owner of a freak show, it takes all Nathan's new expertise and more to rescue Ezra and help him return to Ohio. As always, DeFelice's finely nuanced characters shine: Nathan both matures and heals from his earlier scarring; Beckwith, a huckster with a good heart, supplies much insight into reading people; and Ezra, beaten down by life, can nevertheless respond to Nathan's kindness. Although not as tightly focused as the earlier book, this is a thoughtful adventure that will appeal to Weasel fans everywhere. --Kay Weisman Copyright 2006 Booklist