Getting Near to Baby

Well, I finished. It really shouldn't have been as painful a process as it was, and yet...I struggled. Probably more due to the fact that I had a lot going on, rather than that the book wasn't interesting.

It was interesting, mostly. There were some parts where it dragged, the whole thing probably could have been a little bit shorter, but on the whole it was very good.

Willa Jo and Little Sister have climbed up onto the roof of their aunt's house to watch the sunrise, and have not come down since. They've been living with their aunt since their father left and their baby sister died, leaving their mom too grief-stricken to care for them. In spite of the fact that living with their mom does offer them a little more stability, they hate most of the things about living with her.

The book jumps back and forth between the present, in which they are sitting up on the roof, embarrassing their aunt in front of the whole town, and the past, in which they struggle with grieving over the death of their sister. As it goes back in time, the narrator (Willa Jo) talks about how she struggles with her own grief, while also trying to explain away to others why her sister has refused to talk since Baby died. While living with their aunt, the sisters friend The Fingers, a large family who lives across the street and who are largely frowned upon by the town's elite. While the author is not specific about dates in the book, there is a stage version which states that the action takes place in 1967, and there are some colloquialisms that aren't really used anymore, so that timing makes sense.

This book is perfect for any student who is currently grieving. I think there's a lot here that a child could relate to, and a lot of important lessons to be learned about grieving, such as the importance of just letting yourself cry sometimes. This book would, however, be tedious for some students who are not interested in exploring emotional issues experienced by the grief-stricken, so I think I will be judicious with whom I recommend this book to. I would love to do this as a guided reading book, since there are so many idioms I would like to explore with students. While the book does not have a level according Fountas and Pinnell, I would guess it's an S or T, because of the idioms and the non-chronological timeline. This non-chronological timeline would also be a great thing to explore with students, since such a style is what modern American fiction is all about.

All in all, in spite of occasionally erring on the boring side, the book is a great one for students who are looking for a challenging read and/or are grieving in some way. I'm excited to return it to its place in my classroom library.