Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
This short, lyrical novel concerns a five-year-old boy who is sent to the north woods of Minnesota to live with his grandmother, a cook for a rough-and-tumble road-building crew, because his father is off fighting in World War II and his mother has taken a job in a factory. Paulsen's simply told story strikes extraordinary emotional chords, from the boy's wide-eyed wonder at the giant men and their giant machines, to his searing rage at his mother's new boyfriend (the real reason he's been packed off to the woods), to his profound love for his grandmother, to his aching loneliness for his mother. Paulsen expertly balances sensitive probing of the boy's mental and emotional life with superb descriptions of the boy helping the men build the road, making Paulsen's unnamed hero one of the most fully realized characters in recent memory. Those hungry for adventure stories, as well as more introspective readers, will be spellbound by this stirring novel, which is every bit the equal of The Winter Room and Paulsen's other works. Ages 10-12. (Mar.)
Publishers Weekly
"This short, lyrical novel concerns a five-year-old boy who is sent to the north woods of Minnesota to live with his grandmother, a cook for a rough-and-tumble road-building crew," wrote PW. "Paulsen makes this hero one of the most fully realized characters in recent memory." Ages 6-9. (June) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
School Library Journal
Gr 5-8-- In its simplicity of story line but depth of imagery and emotion, Paulsen's latest work is very much like MacLachlan's Sarah , Plain and Tall (Harper, 1985). During World War II, the father is in the army and the mother has to work, so a five-year-old boy is sent to stay with his grandmother who works as a cook for a road-building crew in northern Minnesota. At first his day consists of long stretches of quiet as he tries to amuse himself, only to have the peace invaded by the crew of large, loud, good-natured men who inhale great amounts of food, ruffle the boy's hair, and then get back to work. The boy ultimately gets over his shyness when they take him out to work with them and let him ride in the big trucks. But still, he misses his mother, and soon he is sent back to her. Paulsen does an excellent job of portraying the lightning-quick changes of a young child's emotions, from the upheaval of being sent away to the wonder of coaxing a chipmunk to accept food from his finger, from the exhilaration of being in the large trucks to the quiet security of being sung a Norwegian lullaby. In the boy's eyes, the men are so much larger than life that they seem almost mythic, as if he had been suddenly transported to Paul Bunyan's camp. But he's not so dazzled by their size that he misses the small things: he is equally enthralled by the tiny detailed painting on his grandmother's thimble or the colors in her apple pie. While the boy is very young, his experiences are universal, making this a superb book for readers just old enough to look back and remember their childhoods and grandparents with a feeling of nostalgia. --Susan M. Harding, Mesquite Public Library, TX
JAN 96 - AudioFile
A boy, who is five, must leave his home in Chicago while his father is away at war. He travels alone by train to the woods of Minnesota where he comes to love his grandmother and his life in the rough lumber camp where she cooks. At the conclusion of the recording Paulsen himself tells the listener more about the autobiographical aspects of this novel. C.J. Critt’s breathy, sibilant style and her careful pacing add solidly to all of the story’s characters. She has the subtle touch of a portraitist. While she doesn’t rely on a wide variation in dynamics, pace or volume, nonetheless, the listener shares the boy’s loneliness and understands his courage, longing and delight. It’s a masterful performance of a touching book. L.R.S. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine
