Kindred Souls Patricia MacLachlan

"Billy is eight-eight years old, and I don't worry about him dying. He will live forever. I know that."

This first sentence is near the beginning of Kindred Souls. An astute reader is sure to realise Patricia MacLachlan is giving you a hint about the possible ending to this family story. 

Billy lives with his extended family on a farm near where he was born. His grandchildren are Lida, Jesse and Jake. Jake is named after a plow horse that Billy used to use on his farm and Jake is our narrator.

"I look at Billy's large gnarled hands and his wrinkled face and his bush of white hair. I believe him when he says he talked to the first bird of time. He lives in a sunny room that looks up to the slough that is empty in the summer and filled with water and ducks in the fall. It is a small piece of his old life, like the big prairie that spreads out around is a big piece of his old life."

The word slough is mentioned a few times in this story - it is an important word and one that was new to me. I read Kindred Souls on a Kindle and so I was able to use the online dictionary:

Slough: A swamp, a muddy side channel or inlet.

It is the summer holidays. Jake and Billy take a daily walk around the farm. Billy speaks gently to the cows and he feeds carrots to the horses. 

"And then we go where we always end our walk. We go to the place where Billy was born on this farm. Up the rise and higher up the hill to the edge of the slough ... (and) When Billy pushes the branches of one bush aside, there it is. A small wall of prairie grass and mud three feet high."

This is all that remains of the old sod house. Billy misses it so much.

"I'll tell you everything. ... And then you can build me a sod house ... 

Because we're kindred souls, you and I."

And this, my blog reading friend, is another hint about what is to come. Have you guessed?

After their walk on this day a dog arrives at the house. A small black and white dog. Billy seems to know this dog. He even knows her name is Lucy. It seems Lucy has come to stay, and she is here for Billy.

Back to the sod house. Billy is sure Jake can build this, and the family still have a very old book of instructions. Warning - this book will make you cry. When a new calf is born Billy insists he will also be called Billy - "That means there will be a Billy around here for a long time." Then Billy is unwell and the doctor (who Billy likes to flirt with) says Billy needs to go to hospital. Now Jake just HAS to build that sod house. But will Billy be able to come home and will the house be finished in time and most important of all will Billy like the little sod house.

Here are a few text quotes - they show how beautifully Patricia MacLachlan composes her sentences:

"He tells me the hummingbirds outside speak to him in short, brisk sentences when they fly quickly up and down and around the hanging feeders of sugar water."

"We are quiet. I love the feel of his hand. Outside the hummingbirds flash silently in the sunlight."

"My mama sang lullabies to me in the sod house ... She sat in that old rocking chair in my room and sang lullabies."  [Hello again blog reader - this this sound familiar - an echo of a scene in Sarah, Plain and Tall perhaps].

Publisher blurb: Jake’s grandfather, Billy, hears the talk of birds, is eighty-eight years old, and is going to live forever. Even when Billy gets sick, Jake knows that everything will go on as always. But there’s one thing Billy wants: to rebuild the sod house where he grew up. Can Jake give him this one special thing.

Whenever I finish one of her books, I sit and wonder what it is she does so well... try to define it. It won't take you more than 35 minutes to read through this book but it will stay with you for a long, long time. It's one of those. She reaches to your soul... A Book and a Hug

It's rare to find a children's book that deals so well with death as part of life, offering kids an effective approach to coping with sadness that incorporates humor, love and joy. Kirkus Star review

This small book looks at the role of grandparents in the lives of children in a quiet yet powerful way.  Billy is the center of the book, since he is the center of Jake’s world.  The book, told in the first person by Jake, also explores connections between generations that are strong and true.  The sense of kindred spirits is strong but never overplayed.  This entire book exudes a quiet strength that makes for a compelling read. Waking Brain Cells

If you click on the label I've given this post you can find all of the Patricia MacLachlan books I have talked about here on this blog. 

If you are interested in the idea of the sod house or life on the prairie, try to find this gentle story:

Black-eyed Susan

And this verse novel:

May B: A Novel

A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck

It seems odd to say I really love books set in America (remember I live in Australia), set in times past (this is set in 1937) and set in small rural towns (this one is in Illinois). Perhaps it goes back to my childhood reading of the Little House books which I devoured.

A Year Down Yonder won the Newbery Medal in 2001. This means it is famous in America and it also means it has gone through lots of cover designs (see below).  I spied my copy (above) with a sale price in a Sydney children's bookstore. I know how much Horn Book editor, Roger Sutton, adores the writing of Richard Peck and I knew I had already read and enjoyed A long way from Chicago - many years ago so it was easy to make the decision to buy this book. I started reading it this morning and finished it about two hours later - yes it is THAT good!

This book is a sequel but I have no memory of reading of A long Way from Chicago so A Year down Yonder can certainly stand alone. Mary Alice is a wonderful character but it is her Grandmother that I especially love. She has a gruff exterior but underneath she has a heart of gold. She is wise, confident, loud, clever, caring and so very very hard working.

Click these review quotes for more plot details:

And the vignettes, some involving a persnickety Grandma acting nasty while accomplishing a kindness, others in which she deflates an overblown ego or deals with a petty rivalry, are original and wildly funny. The arena may be a small hick town, but the battle for domination over that tiny turf is fierce, and Grandma Dowdel is a canny player for whom losing isn’t an option. Kirkus

Between antic capers, Peck reveals a marshmallow heart inside Grandma's rock-hard exterior and adroitly exposes the mutual, unspoken affection she shares with her granddaughter. Like Mary Alice, audience members will breathe a sigh of regret when the eventful year ""down yonder"" draws to a close. Publishers Weekly

You can read an extract here.  You can also listen to an audio sample from the first page onwards.  I would follow A Year Down Under with Letters to Missy Violet, Turtle in Paradise, and The Girl who bought mischief.  I also recommend other books by Richard Peck such as The Mouse with the question mark Tail and Secrets at Sea.