Frenchtown Summer

In a manner similar to Cynthia Rylant's in Waiting to Waltz and Lee Bennett Hopkins' Been to Yesterdays, Cormier uses spare, blank verse to recreate the characters, mainly family, in one summer in the life of Eugene, a lonely twelve year old whose father works in the comb factory . We get to know his extended family as he comes to understand and appreciate each one. His mother is the image of grace and love while Eugene's father remains kindly, but remote. Then, in this era in which airplanes are a rarity, the boy spots one in the back of one of the tenements. The airplane disappears before anyone else can see it. Eugene is subjected to the jeers and scorn of his playmates until his father's loud proclamation affirms his sighting. The connection between father and son becomes almost tangible in that one, shining moment.

Related Areas of Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site

• Flight and Planes. Featured Subject with books, activities and links.
• Listing of All Reviewed Books.

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