An often painful yet forthright tale of loss and healing in a time of war.
The Pritchard family comes to terms with the death of a family member in Turner’s (Rufus Steele 1940, 2010, etc.) latest emotionally charged tale.
When Walter Pritchard is killed in Afghanistan near the village of Kandahar, his belongings are carried to the Pritchard home in a series of numbered black boxes. Within each box are mementos of the man’s life, returned to his family by the military after being carefully catalogued and separated. Learning from the contents of the boxes, young Leah Pritchard slowly copes with the absence of her father while, within the household, her little brother Noah and mother Elise attempt to do the same. Short chapters, each containing kernels of Walter’s life, work as intriguing windows for the reader to peer into the lives of America’s war-torn families and those who died in service to their country. Here we see one particular serviceman’s world and how each cherished article within the black boxes shaped the tightly knit, loving family he left behind. Leah, who consoles herself by spending time alone with her father’s possessions, finds the collar of Clyde, the family’s Labrador, within box five. In box six she finds a nearly complete painting her father made of a young Afghan girl. In box 11, a journal she shared with her father. Box one, however, Elise keeps for herself. In time, Leah learns of its mundane contents and of her mother’s fervent need to remember her husband’s smell and touch during her own tumultuous recovery process. Turner’s style carries an alluring simplicity and offers no opinions on the war in Afghanistan, only in the way it affects the family of Walter Pritchard. Turner’s audience will likely find themselves mourning the death of Leah’s father with each chapter and subsequently learning how to live with the loss.
An often painful yet forthright tale of loss and healing in a time of war.Pub Date: June 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0982284247
Page Count: 79
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 4, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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