Carla B. (puppyluv) reviewed on + 552 more book reviews
Jon, blind since he was two years old, wants to be a woodcarver as his father was before he died. When Jon meets Carver, the best decoy carver in town and a very bitter person, Jon learns things he never thought he could learn.
Illustrated.
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-6-- Jon hears the ball land near him, and a voice asking him to throw it back. "Where is it?" he calls, and the boy asks, "Are you blind?" "Yeah!," Jon answers. His father died in the accident that blinded him when he was two. Now ten, Jon is back in his birthplace, attending school for the first time with sighted children and with a teacher who doesn't want to teach a blind child. And this is the year he tries to realize his ambition, to carve decoys as his father had. Jon wants the best teacher, but that happens to be an embittered man known to the town as Carver, a recluse who chases everyone away. In nine flowing chapters, Radin weaves together the themes of death, disability, and love. The story is told in simple, well-constructed prose, pulling readers toward the climax in which Jon tells his mother that he, like his father, has become a carver. And the mother, who has carried her memories with pain finds that Jon's carving releases her and allows her to sing again. Through Jon's story, readers learn gentle lessons about determination, the process of grieving, and the renewing powers of love.
Illustrated.
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-6-- Jon hears the ball land near him, and a voice asking him to throw it back. "Where is it?" he calls, and the boy asks, "Are you blind?" "Yeah!," Jon answers. His father died in the accident that blinded him when he was two. Now ten, Jon is back in his birthplace, attending school for the first time with sighted children and with a teacher who doesn't want to teach a blind child. And this is the year he tries to realize his ambition, to carve decoys as his father had. Jon wants the best teacher, but that happens to be an embittered man known to the town as Carver, a recluse who chases everyone away. In nine flowing chapters, Radin weaves together the themes of death, disability, and love. The story is told in simple, well-constructed prose, pulling readers toward the climax in which Jon tells his mother that he, like his father, has become a carver. And the mother, who has carried her memories with pain finds that Jon's carving releases her and allows her to sing again. Through Jon's story, readers learn gentle lessons about determination, the process of grieving, and the renewing powers of love.
