They're All Named Wildfire

They're All Named Wildfire | Nancy Springer

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[The End]

I should have revisted this one the same year I first read King's 'The Body' / Stand By Me. And I was much too young for this one at first read, 8 or 10, and it never registered as an important read to me. Others I encountered around a too-early age -- Hummer, Emily of New Moon, The Valley of Horses, Jane Eyre, I at least returned to try reading again, a year or five later.

esurient But this one was almost assuredly my first experience with racial issues of any kind, page or screen or in-person, if only becuse I was raised in an area where there the POC demographic was less than one percent, and I regret that its impact on me just... slid by without notice. 3y

esurient It's also likely this was my first experience with an ambiguous ending, which I don't think I would have handled well if I'd read to the end as a kid. As an adult, I can't imagine how else Springer could have chosen to conclude this -- the issue of sustained, broad, and deeply established racism is far to large for a pact ending -- but sheltered kid-me would not have comprehended this. 3y

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esurient

They're All Named Wildfire | Nancy Springer

This post contains spoilers

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Prior to this, Jenny and Shanterey snuck over to ride the horse. Seitz was dissuaded from his expensive lawsuit plans, against Shanterey's family and not Jenny's, by Jenny's dad with rules-lawyering and court-of-public-opinion backmail. The harrassment escalated in response. It isn't stated, but it's perfectly clear Seitz walked his own horse over and slaughtered it on their doorstep.

Hestapleton THIS IS A CHILDREN‘S BOOK? Oof. Way too much for a kiddo to process without conversation. 😣 3y

esurient @Hestapleton Intended for ages 9-12, per what I'm seeing online. A level of emotional maturity or guidance would definitely be an asset here. I've read many other early and middle-grade books that involved animal death, but they didn't have this level of meditated malice. I didn't think Springer was needlessly gratuitous here, but adult-me was heartbroken and enraged reading this. 3y

Hestapleton @esurient yeah this would have GUTTED me as a child, especially not growing up in area with a lot of POC. The combination of violent death coupled with such savage human hate is a hard thing to process. 3y

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esurient

They're All Named Wildfire | Nancy Springer

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I was a very free-range reader as a kid, but this is a book I would have handled better with more structure. The conflict is clear and plainspoken and geared for a young audience, and I am 100% sure I blithely zipped over the foreshadowing and was distracted into another book well before we launched into this meanness.

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esurient

They're All Named Wildfire | Nancy Springer

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Well, here's a book from my childhood that I had completely glossed over how brutal it was. Warnings under spoiler tag.

esurient TW for racial harrassment, harrassment of children, explicit malicious behavior of adults, graphic death of animal, and amazingly supportive parents beinging unable to revamp society at large. 3y

rubyslippersreads Thanks for the warning! I‘ll be avoiding this one. 3y

esurient @rubyslippersreads It was probably never intended for free reading. The old reviews I'm finding online are academic, intended towards school librarians. Its very well-written and confronts a genuine and serious issue, and the frank depiction of hate is intended to be shocking to the reader. But yes, it's an upsetting read. 3y

esurient https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/nancy-springer-6/theyre-all-named-w... 3y

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