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Summary
Summary
In an effort to fulfill their dying father's last request, nine-year-old Ben and his brother and sister construct a barn on their land in the Oregon Territory.
Author Notes
Avi was born in 1937, in the city of New York and raised in Brooklyn. He began his writing career as a playwright, and didn't start writing childrens books until he had kids of his own.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
A departure from Avi's recent sweeping adventure stories (City of Light, City of Dark; Who Was That Masked Man, Anyway?), this austere tale set in 1855 tells how the children of Oregon settlers are left to fend for themselves on the frontier. Nine-year-old Ben, the scholar of the family and the narrator here, leaves his Portland boarding school after his widowed father is paralyzed by an attack of palsy. While his older brother and sister work the fields of their farm, Ben looks after his stricken father and laments that his father will not be able to realize his dream of building a barn on their property. As the days go by, Ben becomes more and more convinced that he and his siblings must build the barn themselves. Much of the book (which is illustrated with a few diagrams) recounts the children's step-by-step process of raising a structure that will make their father proud. Only after the enormous undertaking is completed does Ben question the meaning of his labor. Easily read in one sitting, this unembellished story proves to be as intimate as a diary, gracefully revealing its protagonist's keen intelligence, strong determination and secret fear of being separated from his loved ones. Although the novella may not draw as wide an audience as many of the author's previous works, it will gratify those who seek a quiet, contemplative read. Ages 9-11. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Ben is convinced that building a barn for his incapacitated father will cure the older man of his recent stroke. The day after Ben and his older siblings finish, Ben discovers that their father has died during the night. The deceptively easy-to-read Oregon Trail book is actually a contemplative survival novel; Ben's drive to bring his project to fruition stands as a testament to hope and to belief in the continuity of life. From HORN BOOK 1994, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Gr. 4^-8. A classic survival story about kids in the Oregon Territory in the 1850s, who suddenly find themselves on their own without adults to care for them.
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-6-After their father suffers a ``fit of palsy,'' three motherless children try to keep their struggling farm going in 1855 Oregon. Although nine-year-old Benjamin is the youngest, he is the cleverest of the three, and also the one who truly believes that the man can recover. His sister Nettie wants to marry and start her own life, but agrees to help the family for as long as she can. Harrison is much bigger and stronger than his younger brother, but not quite as quick thinking. After Benjamin figures out a way to communicate with his father, he convinces the others that if they can build the barn that the man had been planning, he will somehow find a reason to live. The family relationships are well drawn, as the siblings react to each situation in their own way, though Benjamin's obsession with curing his father makes him a hard character to empathize with at times. Ultimately, the boy is forced to question his own additional motives for building the barn. While focusing mainly on his characters, Avi presents a vivid picture of the time and place, including fairly involved details about how the barn is constructed. This novel may not have the wide appeal of some of Avi's earlier titles, but it is a thought-provoking and engaging piece of historical fiction.-Steven Engelfried, West Lynn Library, OR (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Once again, the ever-resourceful Avi (The Bird, the Frog, and the Light, p. 391, etc.) explores new ground. Ben is nine when his teenage sister, Nettie, fetches him from school, where he'd been sent to honor his dead mother's wishes. Their father has had a ``palsy'' (a stroke), and Ben's help is needed on the 300-acre family claim in Oregon Territory. Ben, intellectually gifted and a natural leader, soon determines the most efficient division of labor: He'll care for Father while Harrison, 13, and Nettie farm. (Some of this stretches credulity: Paralyzed and incontinent, Father requires more lifting than a nine-year-old could credibly manage; and, although Avi suggests the difficulties in one poignant scene, dealing with the necessary laundry is never mentioned.) Desperate to reclaim Father, Ben pins his hopes on the idea that if they can build a barn, as Father had planned, then he will recover. The three children do build a sizable, sturdy barn (without even the traditional help of neighbors, stretching credulity still more). Though the effect of the barn's completion doesn't literally match Ben's dream, it's a gift from the three to their dying father and enables him to give them a gift as well: understanding. Ben's spare narrative is lovingly honed, the interaction of the characters drawn with sensitivity and skill. A small, quiet book that may appeal to perceptive readers. (Fiction. 9-12)
