I'll Be Watching

September 1, 2011

Gr 9 Up-Porter tells the story of the Loney family and a patchwork of other townspeople living in Argue, Saskatchewan in the early 1940s. Margaret Loney passed away in a snowy car wreck, draining the last bit of hope from her already disillusioned husband, George. Their kids, Ran, 16; Nora, 14; Jim, 12; and little Addie, struggle to live with their hard-drinking father and his embittered new wife of convenience, Effie. When George freezes to death in a blizzard and Effie promptly runs off with a traveling Bible salesman, the kids are left on their own. Ran enlists in the military to support his family and escape their hopeless state. The story is told in lyrical verse by the family members (including the ghosts of Margaret and George) as well as various townspeople. Through them, readers catch a glimpse into unforgiving life in a small, prairie town. Porter vividly captures both the depths of the Loney children's poverty and their ingenuity in making ends meet. The premise that their parents' ghosts are watching over them is sweet, but somewhat out of place and hokey in the middle of such harsh realism. The novel touches on first love and the struggle to decide on one's life direction, but it doesn't push far enough into this part of Ran's and Nora's experiences to heighten the story's impact. Likewise, the town's other backstories (incest and anti-German sentiment to name two) are compelling, but not deep-rooted. While stalwart fans of historical fiction, or this era, will likely enjoy this story and the Canadian perspective, both Steven Herrick's Cold Skin (Front Street) and Helen Frost's Crossing Stones (Farrar, both 2009) provide more satisfying emotional connections.-Jill Heritage Maza, Montclair Kimberley Academy, Montclair, NJ

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2011

Kindness ultimately prevails, but not before hard times and ugly parochialism have their ways with several small-town residents, particularly three orphaned and then abandoned children.

Cast in the voices of the four Loney children, their neighbors, their dead parents and other witnesses living or otherwise, Porter's free-verse poems tell a bleak story in plain, bleak language. The children are left to shift for themselves through a hard Saskatchewan winter after a series of miseries. First, their drunkard father freezes to death on the porch after being locked out, then their harsh stepmother abruptly departs with a traveling con man. Finally, the eldest, Randall, goes off to war (this is 1941). Not surprisingly, 14-year-old Nora and her two younger brothers quickly find themselves in desperate straits. The quiet acts of charity that help them get by are almost hidden beneath the weight of the local gossips' cruel attitudes, the forced departures of the town's German school teacher and a minister's daughter sexually abused by her father and such less-public miseries as a postmistress who intercepts the money that Randall sends home and a lonely doctor who discourages his daughter's recovery from polio. Though an extended side story about Randall's experiences as a downed aviator in Nazi territory comes off as tangential, the admirably resilient Loneys well merit the ending's reunions and new lives.

Strongly felt, if overstuffed, family drama. (Historical fiction/verse. 12-16)

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October 1, 2011
Grades 7-12 In 1941 Saskatchewan, the orphaned Loneys (Ran, 16; Nora, 14; Jim, 12; and Addie, 7) try their best to manage after their stepmother abandons them. Money is scarce, so Ran enlists in the RCAF, Nora becomes a housemaid, and Jim cuts Christmas trees and tries to hunt rabbits. Despite Ran's plane being shot down over Germany, Nora being assaulted by her minister employer, and the small-mindedness of some townsfolk, the Loneys survivethanks to their deceased parents' watchfulness, the efforts of sympathetic neighbors, and their own resilience. Porter, author of the Governor General's Awardwinning The Crazy Man (2005), echoes her earlier themes here: the severity of prairie life, small-town intolerance, unexpected kindnesses, and the difficulties of life without a safety net. The free verse reads smoothly, and the use of multiple narrators allows readers access to the necessary omniscience. Full of rich, believable characters, this emotionally taut story offers no simple solutions, only a window of hope. Give to fans of Wendy Phillips' Fishtailing (2010) or Alma Fullerton's Libertad (2008).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)