Diamond Willow

After reading this author’s book Keisha’s House, I immediately picked this up when I saw it on sale. I was not disappointed. Alternating between diamond-shaped poems, from the viewpoint of Willow, and from the viewpoint of her ancestors, the story takes the reader through the wild and frozen world of Alaska. Willow has spent her short 12 years under the knowledge that something isn’t right about her and her life. But it takes a journey, a horrible accident, and a special dog for her to set things right.
The unique story-telling technique brings so much to this narrative. With just a few words, the authors draws in the reader, and creates an authentic world, full of magic, sorrow, and redemption. I particularly enjoyed the First show more Nations mythology that is woven into the story. It gives this book a spirit and soul.
I highly recommend this book, particularly for late elementary and middle grade readers. It is an excellent introduction to story-thru-poetry. Also, SPOILER: No animals die. show less

Like a diamond, the concept for Diamond Willow is brilliant. Twelve-year-old Willow is named after a stick, a diamond willow stick, to be precise. When branches are cut from the willow, a diamond shaped scar is left on the branch. Written mostly in first person verse, each page of Willow's thoughts is a diamond-shaped poem; but the brilliance is not in the shape of the poem, it lies in the gem within. Nestled within each poem is a small truth - a truth that resides within Willow but cannot be seen from without,

(spacing incorrect due to formatting limitations)

"What
I love
about dogs;
They don't talk
behind your back.
If they're mad at you,
they bark a couple times
and get it over with. It's true
they slobber on you sometimes.
(I'm glad PEOPLE show more don't do that.) They
jump out and SCARE you in the dark. (I know,
I should say ME not "you" - some people aren't'
afraid of anything.) But dogs don't make fun
of you. They don't hit you in the back
of your neck with an ice-covered
snowball, and if they did, and
it made you cry, all their
friends wouldn't stand
there laughing
at you.
(Me.)"

Diamond Willow takes place in a remote Alaskan town where dogs and snowmobiles are the most common form of transportation. Willow is most comfortable with her family and her dogs, especially now, since her closest friend has a boyfriend. When an accident occurs while Willow is mushing the dogs, Willow uncovers the truth within, as well as a closely-held family secret.
More than just a coming-of-age story, Diamond Willow is a mystical tale of Native American and other ancestor spirits that reside within the creatures of the Alaskan wild.
A thoughtful look at the meaning of family, loss, friendship and love. show less

Can’t recommend this enough. Such a beautiful story told in a unique way. Each page has a diamond poem with an additional hidden message in the middle. A young girl who lives in Alaska travels to her grandparent’s home on her dog sled. Friendship, deep loss, and courage in the face of fear are all wonderful themes it deals with.

Diamond Willow tells the story of Willow, a young Athabascan girl who is searching for independence and ends up learning much more about her self-identity. The novel unravels in a small Alaskan town with a typical twelve-year old girl taking care of her family’s sled dogs. Her independent venture mushing the family’s dog team to her grandparents’ house is told through alternative diamond shaped poetry. The sophisticated and intricate novel is complete with exhilarating adventure, multifaceted characters, and an authentic reflection of Alaska Native culture. This novel is polished and full of complex and deep significance.

Diamond Willow is about a young girl who lives in an isolated town in Alaska and everyone gets around in huge trucks and snow vehicles. She is approaching womanhood and it describes her everyday issues with being noticed, making friends, getting along with family and the lifestyle she leads in this dangerous and harsh environment. There is also not artwork inside this book, but all of the poems are in a diamond shape and in the center of each poem, certain words are darker, which can be strung together to create a secret message. This adds a personal element, which makes it feel more like the young woman is writing in her diary. The content is very relatable for a pre-teen age student and has themes of courage and persistence.

Diamond Willow is novel in verse and prose. The story takes of twelve-year-old Willow takes place in a remote village in Alaska. Willow would rather blend into the background yet she wants to be seen for who she is, not what people want her to be. Willow wants her BFF to like her more than the boy she has a crush on. Like all twelve-year-olds, Willow wants her parents to acknowledge that she's not a little girl anymore and giver her more freedom and responsibility. But more than anything, she wants to mush the dogs to her grandparents' house by herself. One day when Willow has the dogs out by herself an unfortunate accident happens and one of the dogs is injured. Now Diamond Willow must learn to handle the consequences of her actions. show more Helen Frost writes each poem in the shape of the patterns found in polished diamond willow branches. Within each poem is a hidden message to add deeper meaning and understanding to Willow's story. A good read for students 9 and up. show less

Before I had read it, I heard the ALSC Notables Committee discuss this book at ALA in June. Mostly they liked it fine, although some committee members had some small reservations about the gimmick of using diamond-shaped sections of text on each page, with some words bolded to show the reader an additional small message. More serious were the reservations about the ancestor spirits of various characters, who show up as animals (a fox, a lynx, several dogs, etc) and watch over their descendants with kindly, concerned eyes.

Because this novel takes place in Alaska and involves a girl who is part Athabascan Indian, I assumed that these would be all Athabascan spirits, and so I was all set in advance to be irritated - how come white people show more never get any spirit guides? The diamond-shaped poems would also set my teeth on edge, I though.

That's what I get for assuming anything. The spirits are equal-opportunity - ancestors of both Indian and European descent get to come back as mice, chickadees, and whatnot - and those diamond-shaped poems make reading this moving and fast-paced novel a breeze (I must confess that I forgot to read those bolded "messages" about half-way through the book). The ancestors speak in regular prose, making them seem refreshingly practical and even a bit prosaic at times. I like my spirit guides to be wise but not too, well, spiritual, thank you very much.

Willow's trips with her sled and dogs back and forth to her grandparents house are thrilling but not belabored, and her interactions with her parents and others are just right. And the amazing revelation that comes out as the family is deciding whether or not to euthanize Roxy the dog after a terrible sled accident - well, I won't give it away, but it was really intensely moving.

The last few chapters, after we find out which former human Roxy represents, are a little anti-climactic and even strange - it's hard to continue to buy into the ancestor-into-animal concept after a while, only because it's belabored a bit too long. Still - this is a compelling book that many kids will find hard to put down. In fact, my 13-year-old daughter and I kept arguing about who got to read it during Olympics commercials. show less