Sunday, April 12, 2015

Silent Boy / Lois Lowry / 178 pages / Twentieth Century Fiction Challenge

The story begins in September, 1908 when Katie is eight years old.  She is curious about a neighbor boy named Jacob who is touched.  Jacob has a great affinity for animals but communicates through sounds and gestures.  Katie would like to invite him to her birthday party but she is told this would not be appropriate.  Ms. Lowry provides a vivid view of rural life in the early twentieth century, telling how girls from large families were often loaned to neighbors; mentions the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, Mary Pickford, The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, and the transitions from horse to automobile.  This is a heart-warming story of one girl's compassion and her desire to understand and serve her fellow man.  The ending is heart-wrenching, but skillfully done.

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