Book #19: The Silent Boy by Lois Lowry

[colorlessgreenideas]

I picked this up at a used bookstore in Fredericksburg last week (after getting bitched at for trying to parallel park, but whatever). It's a young adult book, and I read a few others by Lois Lowry back in elementary/middle/high school, either on my own or for a class. I can see why this one wasn't included. It's a great story, and definitely would provoke discussion, but issues of mental illness and developmental disability are challenging for any age group. In this story, the title character is most likely autistic, though he's never labelled as such. His behavior is different enough, though, for the town's people to hold it against him, and it's clear that he could never live on his own, though he gets along okay with his family. The narrator (a young girl) and her father are noteworthy in their attempts not only to understand the boy, but to accommodate him. The book's ending is sort of abrupt, with a few character's story lines wrapped up quickly but satisfactorily. Lowry generally handles heavy material very well, I think, and this book wasn't an exception.