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A SONG FOR JEFFREY

Name: A SONG FOR JEFFREY
Author: Constance M. Foland
ISBN: 1-56247-849-4

by Constance M. Foland ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1999

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In a loving, occasionally sentimental story, Dodie is having a hard year: her parents are separated, and heading for divorce; her older brother, once a comrade, now finds her useless; her hopes for the school talent show are squashed by a disastrous tryout; and there is no one her age in the neighborhood. She’s feeling sorry for herself until Jeffrey moves in, a wheelchair-bound boy with muscular dystrophy and plenty of attitude about those who look upon him with pity. Dodie is just plain curious, and her persistent overtures of friendship win out. They become good friends, and unite his talent—painting—with her singing for another talent show. Jeffrey’s condition is deteriorating rapidly, however, and Dodie is on stage alone on the night of the performance. Dodie’s self-pity, abundant in the beginning, will be difficult for readers to abide, until it becomes a part of her realistic response to Jeffrey’s illness; shocked that he will die so young, Dodie finds herself blaming him for being one more disappointment in her life. Her turnaround is warming; as the disease progresses, Dodie faces up to her selfishness, and her own good fortune in knowing Jeffrey at all. Foland skips the death scene, reigning in the sadness while celebrating the serenity the two friends have found. For sheer tear-jerking, this is not up to Lurlene McDaniel’s formulaic novels, but it has rewarding moments. (Fiction. 9-12)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999

ISBN: 1-56247-849-4

Page Count: 194

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1999

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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THE SELFISH CROCODILE

by Faustin Charles ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1999

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A weak story that has echoes of familiar folktales, but no resonance. A selfish crocodile who lived “deep in the forest” commands all the other animals to stay away from the river, which he considers his. “I’ll eat you up!” he warns. The animals have to walk “for miles out of their way” to find drinking water. One day the crocodile has a toothache, and when the others are too frightened to get close, a mouse pulls the tooth and promises to help him in the future. Consequently, the crocodile invites all the creatures to enjoy the river, although the connection between having a friend and declaring open house is left vague. The illustrations have a greeting-card charm, with 13 animals trudging off for water bearing the same pop-eyed, frowning expression. When the crocodile groans in pain, the animals don’t look toward the source of sound, but up in the air at the words “GROAN . . . GROAN.” (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1999

ISBN: 1-888444-56-8

Page Count: 28

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1999

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
A CARIBBEAN COUNTING BOOK
by Faustin Charles & illustrated by Roberta Arenson

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THE GOODBYE BOAT

by Mary Joslin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1999

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A picture book for the very young that attempts to grapple with the sorrow of coping with the death of a loved one. The text has so few words that readers and listeners will have to work hard to plumb its significance. “Friends together/laughing,/loving./Sad friends leaving,/wondering,/weeping.” The pictures show a gray-haired woman, a younger woman and man, a boy, a girl, and a dog in the sun; the children and the dog play on the beach, and then, as the sky grows dark, watch a boat in the distance. “Goodbye boat./It’s lost from sight.” The children are seen separate and alone in the twilight, and then in their beds. Soon it is morning again, and they play along the shore. “Yet when the boat has gone from view/it’s surely sailing somewhere new” and the scene is of a boat in full sun, with the older woman on board, and a dove flying in the golden light. The illustrations are hieratic and based on full, rounded geometric forms: the colors are beautifully rendered from light to dark, and each page has tiny boxes of details, almost like a bit of stop-action film, along its borders. With the aid of an imaginative adult, this book may spark comforting discussion in the face of losing a loved one; young readers may find it too abstract for perusing alone. (Picture book. 3-7)