![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The heroine of this children's book, who I regret to say is named Gypsy, acquires a new live-in family member when her cousin Woodrow moves in after his mother, Belle Prater, vanishes without a trace or explanation. It's 1953 Virginia and they're both twelve.
Most of this book is a gentle, well-written story about their relationship. It's a good book, objectively speaking, and I generally enjoyed reading it, but it's a 1996 Newbery Honor book and it is SO Newbery Honor.
There are two central mysteries in this book. One is why Gypsy's father committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. He was a firefighter who was burned on the job, but had recovered before inexplicably killing himself.
Belle Prater's disappearance is set up as this big mystery. She vanished without a trace, no one saw her go, none of her possessions were missing, there was no sign of violence, and her husband wasn't abusive. Woodrow says there was a magical place in their backyard and he thinks she stepped into it. But this is a Newbery book so...
...obviously there's no magic portal. That was just a make-believe game she and Woodrow played. She found her life suffocating so she ran away to have a new one, dressed in Woodrow's clothes. He knew all along and never told because he was hoping she'd contact him in the way they'd previously discussed, via newspaper classified ads, either to take him with her or at least let him know she's still alive.
But a year goes by and he realizes that his mother will NEVER EVER CONTACT HIM AT ALL, NOT EVEN TO LET HIM KNOW SHE'S ALIVE.
The other reveal is that Gypsy's father killed himself because he had facial scars that were a huge big deal to him because his self image was a handsome man.
The lesson is that sometimes adults are carrying a huge amount of pain you can't understand and you have to forgive them for the hurtful things they do because of it. I have to say that I feel a lot more sympathetic to the Dad. Seriously, Woodrow's mom can't drop him a goddamn secret message just to let him know she's not dead?!
Incidentally, this book from 1996 is the most recent one I've read with a strong "there's no such thing as magic, it's all make-believe" message. Either I'm missing some books, or writers and publishers eventually figured out that it's not that crucial to teach kids that there's no such thing as magic.
That aside, it's quite well-written and atmospheric. I can see why it was a Newbery book. In more ways than one.
Most of this book is a gentle, well-written story about their relationship. It's a good book, objectively speaking, and I generally enjoyed reading it, but it's a 1996 Newbery Honor book and it is SO Newbery Honor.
There are two central mysteries in this book. One is why Gypsy's father committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. He was a firefighter who was burned on the job, but had recovered before inexplicably killing himself.
Belle Prater's disappearance is set up as this big mystery. She vanished without a trace, no one saw her go, none of her possessions were missing, there was no sign of violence, and her husband wasn't abusive. Woodrow says there was a magical place in their backyard and he thinks she stepped into it. But this is a Newbery book so...
...obviously there's no magic portal. That was just a make-believe game she and Woodrow played. She found her life suffocating so she ran away to have a new one, dressed in Woodrow's clothes. He knew all along and never told because he was hoping she'd contact him in the way they'd previously discussed, via newspaper classified ads, either to take him with her or at least let him know she's still alive.
But a year goes by and he realizes that his mother will NEVER EVER CONTACT HIM AT ALL, NOT EVEN TO LET HIM KNOW SHE'S ALIVE.
The other reveal is that Gypsy's father killed himself because he had facial scars that were a huge big deal to him because his self image was a handsome man.
The lesson is that sometimes adults are carrying a huge amount of pain you can't understand and you have to forgive them for the hurtful things they do because of it. I have to say that I feel a lot more sympathetic to the Dad. Seriously, Woodrow's mom can't drop him a goddamn secret message just to let him know she's not dead?!
Incidentally, this book from 1996 is the most recent one I've read with a strong "there's no such thing as magic, it's all make-believe" message. Either I'm missing some books, or writers and publishers eventually figured out that it's not that crucial to teach kids that there's no such thing as magic.
That aside, it's quite well-written and atmospheric. I can see why it was a Newbery book. In more ways than one.
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
That is some serious nightmare fuel and I bet it scarred the kids who read it. Is Susan Pfeffer's secret life goal to convince kids never to take elevators?
From:
no subject
Nothing tops the sister dying of thirst alone in a pitch black elevator though.
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
Whoa, there's a fourth book! I wonder if it can top the ending of the third book, in which ANOTHER little sister is killed BY HER OLDER SISTER, because she was paralyzed by a falling branch.
From:
The fourth book
It's been more than two years since Jon Evans and his family left Pennsylvania, hoping to find a safe place to live, yet Jon remains haunted by the deaths of those he loved. His prowess on a soccer field has guaranteed him a home in a well-protected enclave.
LOLOLOL what? Everyone is dying of starvation because there's no sun, but they still care deeply about high school soccer?
From:
Re: The fourth book
From:
Re: The fourth book
1. Four years post-apocalypse, society is randomly divided into castes called clavers, grubs, and slips. Different castes can exist within the same family, but then they're forced to live in different towns. Clavers rule, slips are junior clovers, and grubs are treated as subhuman. Everyone accepts this as totally normal.
2. High school soccer is very very very important.
3. The hero, the younger brother of the heroine of the previous books, is now a soccer star who is a rapist and an arsonist.
4. There is a comical field trip late in the book.
From:
Re: The fourth book
From:
Re: The fourth book
From:
Re: The fourth book
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject