Awards: Saving Winslow

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Award: TLA Texas Bluebonnet Award

Evaluation of the book:

The plot of Saving Winslow is simple enough: Louie’s father brings home a dying baby donkey and Louie, unable to bear the thought of losing another pet, decides to “accept the mission” (p. 4) of keeping the donkey alive. In the end, the donkey Winslow, lives. It’s a straightforward plot (at least on the surface) for its young readers.

In contrast to the plot, the characters in Saving Winslow are rather complex for being so young. Louie, the protagonist of the story who takes in a sickly baby donkey and is determined to nurse it back to health, both misses his brother Gus who is away at the army and struggles with the fact that he too was once a sickly newborn baby fighting for his life. Maybe Louie misses Gus so much because Gus was there to nurse him when he was a baby, and now Louie has to be the one to do the nursing? In addition, Louie and Winslow the donkey befriend Nora, a troubled little girl who also has an experience with a struggling baby - her own baby brother - who, unlike Louie and Winslow, didn’t make it. These issues of life and death are hard ones for any person to deal with, especially young children like Louie and Nora.

The text of the book is primarily dialogue. The voices of Louie, Nora, the adults, and even Winslow tell their own stories. Because the text is mostly dialogue, the reader is reminded again and again that, even though the main characters might be going through some complex stuff as discussed above, they are just children. The dialogue lets the children’s innocence and simplicity shine.

Response:

How did you learn, and how much were your views and opinions challenged or changed by this text, if at all?

It’s easy for adults, like me, to assume that because children are young they are not as affected by serious matters as we are. We don’t include them in our discussions, our grief, our feelings. This book challenged that attitude and made me realize that children, no matter how young, feel things deeply and have the right to be heard when they are going through something difficult.

How well does it address things that you, personally, care about and consider important to the world?

It’s important for the world not to take the strength and determination of a child for granted. Louie decided to accept the mission of keeping Winslow alive and, through his determination and hard work, he did just that. We adults have a lot to learn from this story!

How well did you enjoy the text (or not) as entertainment or as a work of art?

I didn’t personally enjoy the book; I found it overly simplistic in writing, but overly complicated in underlying themes, most of which didn’t seem to be resolved at any point. That being said, the themes are all important ones and the writing, though simple, is clear and good. It’s a cute story, even if I didn’t personally find it entertaining.

Conclusion:

I’d recommend Saving Winslow to any child who might need a mission in life to figure out his or her place in this world. The simple plot and complex characters will attract a reader who wants to see that he or she is not alone in going through difficult things in life. Besides, what child could resist a cute baby donkey?

APA Style Reference:

Creech, S. (2018). Saving Winslow. New York, NY: HarperCollins Children’s.