Opal: The Journal of an Understanding Heart
From ChildLitWiki
Contents |
by Opal Whitely and Jane Boulton, ed.
Notes
Bibliographic Data
Original Publication Date: 1976
Publisher: Random House Inc.
Imprint: Crown
ISBN: 0517885166
Hardcover Price: $
Paperback Price: $11
Number of Pages: 185
Best for ages: 9-12
Library of Congress Descriptor: Adaptation of: The story of Opal / Opal Whiteley. Diary entries from six-year-old Opal Whiteley that chronicle her life as a foster child at the end of the nineteenth-century.
Categorization
Type of Book: Chapter/Nonfiction
Genres: Poetry, Autobiography]]
Topics and Themes: , Poetry, Biography, Diaries, Historical, Frontier, Nature, Orphans, 19th Century, Dialect, Memoirs, Books by Kids
Summary
Opal Whitely was a little orphan girl taken in by the wife of a lumberman in turn-of-the-century Oregon. A budding young naturalist and preciously gifted writer, Opal kept a journal of her difficult life on scraps of paper. When she was around twelve, a foster sister found her journal and tore it up into tiny pieces. Opal kept the pieces in a box.
In 1920 the editor of the Atlantic Monthly persuaded her to spend nine months putting all the pieces back together again, and published it. The result was a sensation, albeit a controversial one (there were some who claimed it was a hoax, though it seems clear that it’s genuine). In 1976 Jane Boulton edited it down and broke up the lyrical lines into free verse poetry. This is the result.
Reviews
Jane Boulton includes an introduction, afterword, and postscript to give more of Opal’s story, including what happened to her after publication. There are also websites about Opal which include archival photographs.
The journal itself, written in Opal’s strange dialect which included numerous French words and phrases (and which give rise to speculation that Opal was descended from French aristocracy), is lovely, and warrants the poetic treatment. It is also not the work of a professional (most of it was done when Opal was six), and Boulton’s editing makes the whole tighter and more cohesive. Opal’s tendency to see soul and intelligence and feeling in everything, living and inanimate, brings her world to magical, shimmering life, and hearkens back to animist and pagan religions.
This is clearly not a book for every child, or even for many. There’s no plot, little action, and a confusing abundance of characters, both human and animal. But for children who love nature, and language, the way Opal did it could be entrancing, and any reader will be inspired to look at their own world through Opals’ eyes. This gentle, visionary journal is perfect for sharing in small doses between adult and child, and would be a perfect companion on hikes, picnics, and camping trips.
-- Matt Berman, Family Wonder and Common Sense Media
Excerpt
Back of the house are some nice woodrats,
The most lovely of them all
is Thomas Chatterton Jupiter Zeus.
He has been waiting in my sunbonnet
long waits while I make prints.
He wants to go explores.
The dog, Brave Horatius, has longings in his eyes.
He wants to go.
In the pig pen I hear Peter Paul Rubens squealing.
We will all go explores.
Publisher Info and Jacket Copy
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