Have Courage, Hazel Green

Hazel Green #3

by Odo Hirsch, Andrew McLean (Illustrator)

Early in the morning, Hazel Green sees a man shouting at a caretaker, Mr. Egozian. She can hardly believe the awful things he is saying! Hazel comes up with a plan to teach him a lesson and help Mr. Egozian--but when her plan backfires, Hazel finds that she's the villain! It will take all her courage and determination, as well as some help from her friend, the Yak, to prove what really happened. This winning tale of a spunky and brave young heroine will surely inspire readers of all ages.

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Adventure

Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Odo Hirsch was born and grew up in Melbourne, where he trained to be a doctor. He now lives in London and writes excellent books that are published not only in Australia but also in the US, UK, Netherlands, Korea, Germany, and Italy.

For more information, please see http://www.answers.com/topic/odo-hirsch

Reviews

[Kibble · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book. Hazel is a vibrant character and the story is convincingly real. The plot is engaging and dramatic in the way that ordinary life is. Hazel navigates confusing moral questions, with an appealing mix of thoughtfulness and passion, gently tempered by her friends. Hirsch has a light touch with serious issues, and a quirky humour which made me laugh out loud several times.

[Infamous Sphere · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my mind, the strongest of the Hazel Green books. This book is an absolutely beautiful exploration both of the danger of the rumour mill, the utter hypocrisy of adults, and the insidious and intergenerational nature of discrimination. Hazel Green overhears one of her classmate's parents, a lawyer, yelling at the caretaker of the apartment they all live in. Mr Davis is clearly prejudiced against Mr Egozian, simply because of who Mr Egozian is (either an ethnic or religious minority, it's left deliberately ambiguous.) Hazel decides to teach Mr Davis a lesson by staging a fight between herself, and her own friend Yakov, also an immigrant - only for her elaborate plan to brutally backfire. Hazel's fight for justice doesn't go the way she expected, but in the end, everyone is forced to confront their own prejudices.
On a significantly more trivial note, a lot of the book revolves around discussion of a big 25th anniversary party hosted by two delicatessens, the Frengels, and the description of their various special delicacies makes me feel damn hungry every time.

[Matthew Hodge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Odo Hirsch is somewhat like literary fiction for kids - the plot is less of a story and more of an excuse to get young readers to think through different topics. In this case, the idea of racism and standing up against injustice. You might think that's weighty subject matter, and it is, but Hirsch manages to walk a fine line where the story is entertaining and funny enough to keep youngsters interested while still dealing with its topic seriously.

The short version is that young Hazel Green lives in the Moodey Building and one morning catches one of the adults in the building telling off the cleaner. The man tells the cleaner that 'I don't like your kind.' Hazel understandably doesn't think this is fair and sets up an elaborate plot to catch the bigoted adult out but it all backfires on her instead.

Worth a read and an interesting way of raising the topic of racism with your kids.

[N · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hazel, you can't apologise for that. It's a matter of principle. If you start apologising for telling the truth, where will it stop?

Policy, Marcus, is something that lets you be horrible to someone else and pretend that there's nothing you can do about it.

For such a short novel, it took quite a while to finish. Not my favourite and is quite serious compared to the first two in the series.

Although it is targeted at 10-12 year olds, there were quite a few references / themes that I definitely did not pick up when I first read it at that age. Brief references to the Holocaust and anti-Semitism (unless I've completely misinterpreted the intentionally vague references)

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, this is probably the one from this series with the greatest resonance or message. Good for kids- touching on racism, community, courage. Also the walking past the Botanic Gardens to the Auction Houses has stuck in my head FOR YEARS (if I walk through the Sydney Botanic Gardens I always think of this book). The scenery is wonderful- also all the food mentions makes me so hungry, especially for halva which I don't even like all that much!

Two bits that stuck out for me reading this (as an adult, compared to well, as a kid) the first, Leon Davis is a little shit head and secondly, Hazel's parents are so absent and vague with basically everything.

[Nell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some characters in this story have had hard lives which can be heart-wrenching to read of, but this is woven in with the spirited, idiosnycratic thoughts and actions of Hazel Green, giving the story great humor and subtlety.

[eRin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hazel Green sees something awful early one morning in the courtyard--the head of the resident committee yelling at the caretaker, and saying some truly hateful things. Hazel is shocked and upset, but she comes up with a plan to teach that mean Mr. Davis a lesson. Unfortunately things don't go as planned and Hazel ends up as the bad guy. Now everyone's mad at Hazel and she doesn't quite know what to do.

What a great little book! So many lessons I don't know where to start (or if I remember all that was addressed): prejudice, racism, right and wrong, maintaining integrity, standing up for what you believe, and being a champion for others, among other things. Charming little heroine in a book with a serious message.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Have Courage, Hazel Green by Odo Hirsch (2007)"