Culture 1: Garmann's Street

Bibliography: Hole, Stian. 2008. Garmann's Street. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers. ISBN: 9780802853578.

Plot Summary: Garmann is a young boy who is constantly bullied by an older boy from his neighborhood named Roy. Roy makes up stories and tells lies yet everyone listens to him. One day Garmann walks into Stamp Man's yard to collect flowers for his flower book for school. Roy suddenly appears and bullies him into lighting a match. Garmann drops the match after it burns his fingers and the dry grass in the yard catches fire. He tries desperately to put it out but he cannot do it alone. Firefighters are finally able to put the fire out before Stamp Man's house catches fire. Stamp Man is impressed that Garmann did not try to run away after starting the fire, and he ends up taking the matches and hiding them before Garmann's mom sees them. Garmann and Stamp Man become unlikely friends in the end.


Critical Analysis (Including Cultural Markers): Stian Hole is an award-winning Norwegian author and illustrator. The realistic illustrations are what drew me to this book. (I especially liked Elvis is the leaf blower at the end of the story.) The facial expressions of each of the characters sometimes say more than the words on the pages. The reader can empathize with Garmann as he is being bullied. We are scared with him as he is trying to put out the fire, and we feel the pain of Stamp Man as he watches the fire consume his yard and quite possibly his house. And even though Roy, the bully, is showing the "peace" sign you can see mischievousness all over his face.

The types of flowers found in his flower book, germander speedwell, bloody cranesbill, and hairy rock cress, are one indication the story takes place outside of the United States. There are also postage stamps from around the world on various pages throughout the book.

Garmann's father always says that "life is never completely safe". Garmann thinks about this as he wanders into Stamp Man's overgrown yard. The neighborhood kids think Stamp Man is a creepy old man whose head is "full of ideas that haven't been sorted". An unlikely friendship forms after the fire. Garmann starts to realize that the Stamp Man is not so bad after all. He starts to spend more and more time with him. They share quirky facts with each other like "you think 50,000 thoughts every day" and "there are 440 steps to school". The story begins and ends with Garmann making observations of everything he sees outside of his window.

This is the follow-up book to Garmann's Summer, which won the 2007 Bologna Ragazzi Award.

Review Excerpts:
Publishers Weekly
This sequel to Garmann's Summer traverses equally inventive, if unsettling, territory. A bully named Roy, who is “Congress, God, the basketball team's top scorer, and first in everything” pressures Garmann to light a match, which starts a fire in the yard of a scary, eccentric neighbor, known as the “Stamp Man.” The fire is put out, and an odd friendship grows between Garmann and the man, who shares with the boy his stamp collection and unconventional trains of thought. “If you stretch out your intestines, they will be over twenty-five feet long,” he says, to which Garmann replies, “There are 440 steps to school, 230 days until summer vacation... and I am always last to be picked when we make teams at recess time.” Such revealing, unexpected connections also occur in the wild juxtaposition of illustrations and photos, including oversize heads, stamp cancellations, and a rainstorm comprising people in parachutes. With its dark undercurrents and startlingly original style, this book may not have broad appeal. But for children aware that “Life is never completely safe,” as Garmann's father says, it will be reassuring to see the help a like-minded companion can offer. Ages 6-10. (Apr.)
From Booklist
Norwegian author-illustrator Hole applies his philosophical sensibility and blisteringly original visual style to another multilayered peek into the life of young Garmann. Egged on by the neighborhood alpha boy, Garmann lights a match and accidentally sets a fire in the overgrown yard of the strange old man who lives at the end of the street. After an intense sequence putting the blaze out, Garmann and the man form the cautious friendship of kindred spirits. The old man's transformation from a creepy weirdo to a quirky grandfather figure is pitched nearly seamlessly. Hole's mixed-media collage artwork may be unmatched in capturing some of the true flavor of childhood whimsy and wonder, including the sometimes darker side. Here he hints at this subtext, but it never becomes quite as unsettling (or as powerful) as the scary spreads of the deaths-head aunts in his Batchelder Honor Book, Garmann's Summer (2008). With the same respect for the intelligence and mental flexibility of his audience, Hole suggests much but tells little in this deceptively simple slice-of-life tale. Grades 1-3. --Ian Chipman

Connections
Discussion Questions:
Describe a time when you or a friend were bullied. How did you respond to it?
Describe Garmann's character. What kind of person was he?
How did the illustrations help you understand the characters and story better?
Other books by this author:
Garmann's Summer (translated by Don Bartlett)ISBN 9780802853394
Other 2011 USBBY Outstanding International Books:
I Know Here by Laurel Croza. Illus. by Matt James. (Canada) ISBN 9780888999238
April and Esme, Tooth Fairies by Bob Graham. (Australia) ISBN 9780763646837
Oops! by Jean-Luc Fromental. Translated by Thomas Connors. Illus. by Joëlle Jolivet. (France) ISBN 9780810987494
The Shadow Hunt by Katherine Langrish. (UK)ISBN 9780061116766