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In Times Past
an eBook on CD
by Carol Hurst and Rebecca Otis

Integrating US History with Literature in Grades 3-8.

Enliven your US History curriculum!

Teach US History using great kids books.

More Info

The Moves Make the Man

by Brooks, Bruce. (HarperCollins, 1984 ISBN 0-06-020679-9) Novel. 280 pages. Grades 5+.
This book was reviewed by Carol Otis Hurst in Teaching K-8 Magazine.

Review

Jerome Foxworthy, 13, ace student, first black in an all white school and a basketball fanatic, narrates this story of his friendship with Bix. Bix's game is baseball but Jerome recognizes in his skill the same passion and technical accuracy that he himself has in his sport. When Jerome and Bix end up in the same cooking class, a friendship begins. It is clear from the beginning that Bix is deeply disturbed. Eventually it becomes clear that his mother is in an institution. This is a exquisite portrait of Jerome,a bright confident loner and Bix, distant and frightened and the fragile friendship that develops between them.

Bix's inability to compromise or to tolerate uncertainty or deception make Jerome's friendship with him a constant challenge and the basis for friendships can become a topic for discussion. Bix's relationship with his step-father is a competitive and frustrating one for both of them. Within the book, this is contrasted with Jerome's family most sharply when his mother is hospitalized and the whole family works together to make things easier for them all. There's an obvious moral and parallel here.

The scene in which Bix and his institutionalized mother meet can be contrasted with a similar scene in Lois Lowry's Rabble Starkey.

Racial tension and relations, while not the focus of the book, are a subplot here and can lead to discussions about integration forced or not. Jerome's self-confidence gets him through what could be a terrible time as he becomes the first black student. What got other real life characters through such ordeals in the fifties and sixties? Who were they and what became of these segregation-breakers?

The author's choice of title is also an interesting subject for discussion. What is the context of that phrase within the book and would you have made the same choice? Looking through the library for other intriguing titles can come next and the reverse, looking for turn-off titles could be equally informative. The sports context in which much of the book, including the title, is set make this book one toward which some otherwise reluctant readers might be led.

Related Areas of Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site

• Rabble Starkey by Lois Lowry, book review