Editorial Reviews编辑推荐
From Publishers Weekly
Byars (Summer of the Swans) organizes this jewel-like novel into 26 brief chapters, each beginning with a letter of the alphabet, and often resting upon a single image. Amen ("Amie") McBee, born in 1891 and the fifth daughter of a fragile mother and a father who ardently wishes for a son, searches for her place in the family and discovers a talent of her own. Even before Amie, who narrates, pens her first poem at age six, she shows signs of a poet"s sensibility. She admires her sister Augusta, who "knew more words than anyone in the world," and eloquently sums up her bitter aunt: "She seemed to see life as a narrow and dangerous cliff, with charmed objects and correct action all there was to keep you from falling over the edge." Amie grows fascinated with the enigmatic Mr. Tominski, who tends the doves behind the nearby chapel. A seemingly harmless game of hide-and-seek that Amie plays with her devious twin sisters (Arabella and Annabella, dubbed "the Bellas"), in which the person being "it" pretends to be the feared Mr. Tominski, prompts their father to explain the man"s importance to him. In tightly constructed scenes such as this, the author slowly and fluidly unspools the small revelations that aid in Amie"s understanding of the world around her. With the arrival of Amie"s grandmother (to assist with Amie"s mother"s pregnancy), the girl begins to blossom: Grandmama calls Amie a "wordsmith" and dispels her fears about Mr. Tominski, unveiling him as a "dove magician." The woman also gives each granddaughter a camera, and the subjects of their photographs reveal much about who they are. Amie, after photographing the lamb on the gravestone of her sister, Anita, who died at 10 days old, discovers Mr. Tominski behind her and photographs him, in what turns out to be a prophetic encounter. Byars effortlessly links subtle images into a cycle of life a death comes closely on the heels of the birth of Amie"s brother, Adam; an early chapter in which three-year-old Amie names the parts of their dog reverberates at the novel"s close, when two-year-old Adam recites the parts of the gravestone lamb. The snippets of Amie"s and her family"s lives add up to an exquisitely complete picture. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Gr. 5-8. In this spare story young Amen McBee confronts birth and death and tries to reconcile the enigmatic behavior of human beings and the shifting realities that comprise life. Her father wants a son, but Amie is the youngest of five daughters who include "the Bellas," the inseparable, identical twins, Arabella and Annabella. In the quiet world of the late 1800s, unusual things demand attention, and one of those is a Kodak camera. Amie takes a picture of Mr. Tomanski, a reclusive Polish immigrant who lives on the family estate. The mysterious old man once saved Amie"s father from death, but he can be strange and frightening. The Bellas use him as a bogey man, but Amie has seen him with his doves and knows he has a gentler side. When the family dog is killed, the Bellas have good reason to believe Mr. Tomanski is to blame. For Amen, the issue is more poignant, more complex. The events of the story, which occasionally seem abruptly handled, are secondary to the mood Byars creates in short, short chapters in which every word is important. Amie"s own love of words is central to the story, and the word pictures, both Byars" and Amie"s, are so light they almost float--like the doves Mr. Tomanski lets loose in the air. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
From School Library Journal
Grade 3-6-In 26 short chapters, this well-formed, introspective novel chronicles Amie McBee"s life from her birth in 1891 until a pivotal summer eight years later. Throughout her childhood the awful Bellas, her older twin sisters, tell scary stories and make fun of the mysterious Mr. Tominski, who saved their father"s life and, in return, is allowed to live in the old chapel behind the house. But Amie, a bright, observant child, is convinced that the "Keeper of the Doves" is no more than a harmless, gentle recluse. In a memorable scene, she and her grandmother secretly observe Mr. Tominski with his birds, and her grandmother says, "The man is a dove magician." Byars has a gift for writing dialogue, and here she uses a spare, almost poetic style to craft an accessible story that grapples with life-altering issues. And because Amie is an aspiring poet, the story is also about the creative process, with examples of her poetry woven into the text. The thematic elements interplay in perfect symmetry; when older sister Augusta recites the names of garden flowers in alphabetical order, she echoes the alphabet structure of the chapters. All of the characters are vividly portrayed, from feisty and frank Grandmama to stern Aunt Pauline, who has a "deep respect for bad luck." Even the awful Bellas provide some comic relief while revealing just how malicious human nature can be. The effective foreshadowing of a death provides dramatic tension throughout the narrative, and the surprising climax presents provocative questions about judging others and the nature of truth.
Caroline Ward, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
评论晒单