Book Review - The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp
by Kathi Appelt
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Paperback - May 20, 2014

Deep in the Sugar Man Swamp, Audie Brayburn's rusted 1949 Chrysler DeSoto has become home to raccoon brothers Bingo and J'miah. As brand new swamp scouts, their job is to monitor the swamp and wake up the mysterious Sugar Man in the event of an emergency. Their first five days on the job coincide with an ominous rumbling created by an animal threat drawing near.

Meanwhile Audie Brayburn's grandson, Chap, is learning what it means to be the man of the house following his grandfather's death. His family's way of life is in danger as their home and bakery at the edge of the swamp stands in the way of a proposed Gator Wrestling Arena and Theme Park. He needs a boatload of cash or a visit from the Sugar Man to stop this human threat.

From beginning to end, this was a fun book to read. I really enjoyed getting to know the characters. J'miah's nervousness at Bingo's death-defying tree climbs, Gertrude the giant rattlesnake's itchiness, and Coyoteman Jim's late-night thoughts at the local radio station made the characters feel real. Chap was the star of the story, though, as he longed for a message from his grandpa that would help him save the Paradise Pies Cafe. I was moved by the mixture of hope and longing as he revisited Audie's birding sketchbooks to search for ideas and advice.

When a book knows it's using terrific vocabulary!

As great as the characters were, the author's voice is what really makes this a special book. The frequent perspective changes between the human and animal world are often separated by chapters full of facts about topics ranging from the history of the Polaroid camera to the behavior of alligators that quickly tie in to the story's big picture. In addition, the book often draws attention to its own beautiful vocabulary. After one character proposes that the Sugar Man is no longer extant the author places the message "Extant. What a great word that is" in parentheses. It's one of many times that the narration pops off the page.

This was one of the 2019 Idaho Kids Vote Book Award nominees I had not read before this year's program began. When I started reading, I thought the Deep South setting was an unusual choice for our state book award. Wouldn't Idaho kids relate to a book about life in the mountains better? Even though we don't have bayous, our wilderness faces threats, too. I think the unfamiliar setting gives readers in Idaho just enough distance to consider the message of finding harmony with nature. Not only will that message stick with me, I think the laugh out loud moments and touching relationships in the book will have me remembering the residents of the Sugar Man Swamp for years to come.

Idaho Kids Vote Book Award year two

One of my students, Hattie, created the logo

Last summer at this time, KidsVoteAward.com was still a week away from becoming a registered domain name. I wanted to get my kids talking and sharing about the books they read and reading more complex books. The idea of having a statewide book award had been bouncing around in my head since I saw displays for Oregon Battle of the Books and ORCA (Oregon Reader's Choice Awards) at Powell's books in Portland. That led to a flurry of activity for me that started in early July as I built the aforementioned website and began reaching out to others to make the Idaho Kids Vote Book Award a reality.

One of the inspiring displays

The premise of the award was simple. Teachers would nominate outstanding middle grade books that had been published in the last few years. They would then make these books available in their classrooms and encourage students to read about them. Kids would naturally talk about the books, but teachers could set up blogs and arrange connections with other participating classrooms to get the conversations flowing beyond classroom walls. Finally, in April, kids who read two or more of the books would vote to choose a winner.

With one year of the award completed, it's time to reflect and start thinking about the next one. Things went well in my classroom. Using my classroom budget and donations, I was able to get three copies of most of the books. There was buzz around them throughout the school year (especially the winning book). Although students talked about the books, not many chose to write about them when they created blog posts.

My students contributed one-sentence review blurbs to this bulletin board.

From the feedback I received, things did not go quite as well in the other 21 classes that signed up to participate. Few teachers were able to devote funds to buy all eight books. Others said their administration and district policies were roadblocks to connecting with other classrooms outside their district. Still, four classes contributed votes for the winner and suggestions for this year's award.

In the next few weeks I'll be ramping up for the second year of the Idaho Kids Vote Book Award. I'm presenting about it (and classroom connection strategies) at the P20 Conference at College of Southern Idaho. I'm also reading possible nominees for the award and hope to publish some book reviews here. Of course, there are some questions I still need to answer: How can we get nominated books into classrooms? What could remove some of the barriers to connecting classrooms? Is there a better way to make this accessible to students?

That's a lot to think about while I also catch up on household projects, work at my summer job, and take advantage of some extra family time I don't get during the school year. If you have ideas to help this succeed, please share. And I'll keep you updated as I continue to experiment and refine...