Gleam and Glow

Really wonderful book about war -- about impending war, fleeing war, spending time in camps and returning. Beautiful, hopeful, inexpressibly sad, and appropriate even for very young readers. Inspiring story for older readers, too, and I really like how Bunting manages to keep it nonspecific to a particular war or a particular place.

I was delighted, as I so often am by Eve Bunting, to find that this was not a book about fish, but about a family who is needing to escape their homeland. The father joins an underground resistance group, and the rest of the family flees. They live in a refugee camp for some time and finally return to the find a "skeleton" of what used to be their home. The fish are a symbol of hope and survival, and this novel is an excellent introduction to symbolism, as the symbolism is more explicit than most. The Afterward gives details about how the story is inspired by true events, a conflict in Bosnia in the 90's, but it's not at all specific to a time or place in text.

This was a beautiful book, it almost made me cry. This book is about a family who is caught in the middle of a war, instantly the Father has to go and fight, leaving the Mom and Children behind. They try to wait as long as they can before they end up having to walk to the other side of the boarder. Before they leave they put their two fish in a pond. The book tracks the family as they journey to the boarder and always in search of the Father. I thought this book perfectly showed hope and showed the diversity of lives that we all live and the hope that a single person can hold out for something better. This is a realistic fiction book (and critical literacy) because it could happen to a family (or has) but we do not know that for fact, show more and the author instead made it up. Media- Pencil show less

Inspired by a true story during the Bosnian war, Gleam and Glow tells the story of a family during a civil war. After the father leaves to join the underground army, the family provides shelter for people fleeing the violence. They realize they soon have to leave. However, before leaving, they receive two fish from a man. Unable to bring the fish, the family leaves Gleam and Glow in their pond. The family leaves and escapes, eventually being reunited with their father after the war. When they return home, they find that Gleam and Glow have survived and multiplied. The main character notes that just as the fish survived, they were alive too.

This is a good example of historical fiction because it presents a child's perspective on the show more effects of war. Students will be able to connect with the young narrator; and although the violence and danger is described, it is not presented too morbidly. The author does a good job presenting accurate details as the true story is described at the back of the book. However, she makes the story general enough so that many people can relate to and learn from the conflict and struggles.

GENRE: Historical Fiction

USES:
- use to deepen student understanding of the effects of war on families and day to day life
- have students construct paper fish with gold glitter before writing on them about things that bring them encouragement or hope show less

Summary:
After Papa leaves to join the underground in his war-torn country, life for the eight-year-old narrator, Viktor, his five-year-old sister, Marina, and their mother grows increasingly grim. "Every day we heard distant gunshots and saw smoke rise into faraway skies," while strangers fleeing the conflict share terrible stories. The only bright spot is the pair of goldfish one refugee leaves behind. Marina names them Gleam and Glow and dotes on them. But when the threesome finally departs for the border, they must leave the fish behind, so Viktor releases them into the family's pond. After a long stay in a refugee camp and a tearful reunion with their father, the family returns to find their home devastated but the pond full of show more fish.

Genre:
It's a contemporary realistic fiction based in a real story happened during the war. The author adapted the the real story with some fictions to create this story.

Critiques:
This book focuses on the fearsome impact of war upon families and children, and on those things that allow people to retain their humanity. Peaceful and elegant language, emotional images.

Common on use:
Teachers can let students read it or read it aloud them on history classes. show less

This book would be appropriate for primary and intermediate readers with a content warning for descriptions of war
This book is about a young boy named Viktor whose family must flee their home during war. When coming back home his house is destroyed but the fish he released in his pond are alive which is a sign of hope.
This book would be useful in teaching about why people must leave their home countries due to war and teaching about symbols, fish = hope.

This book is appropriate for first through third grade. This book is inspired by true events and beautifully depicts a family's journey during a time of war. In the book, a family must flee because of a war, but they have to leave everything behind, including their two fish Gleam and Glow.