The Silent Boy Book Review

I read “The Silent Boy”. This book was published in 2003. It is classified as a “Young adult literature” and “Historical fiction” book. This great book was written by Lois Lowry. The writer of the book, Lois Lowry, uses a very easy language to understand. "The Silent Boy" is written in a diary format, and has tiny pictures of its' characters. This story was told by Katy Thatcher, an old woman which lived in 1987. In the book she tells the reader about the critical period in her life. Katy's dad, who is a rich doctor, gets a maid once his wife ,Katy's mom, gets pregnant. This maid Peggy, has a brother who is about five years younger than Peggy is. Once Peggy and Katy become really good friends, and start to hang out with each other, Katy also gets to know Peggys family ,including Peggy’s younger brother Jacob. Katy suddenly becomes very interesterd in Jacob, who never talks with anyone, who is known as "touched", but who sings quietly to himself, and who seems to be able to communicate with animals. Once Katy gets really good friends with Jacob they get to communicate with sounds, and actually be friends, since in the middle of the book, Jacob gives his new friend Katy a newborn kitten.

The book end is rather strange, somewhat difficult to understand, and a little bit sad. After people acussed Jacob of doing something he wasnt supposed to do, Jacob runs away from the village, never to be seen again. No records were even recorded of him in the asylum.

While this book was really good to read, as well as being a useful look at autism before we began to understand it, I think it is completely inappropriate for the age range for whom it was written. The serious subject matter, references to sex and a resulting pregnancy, and a very horrific ending make this book only appropriate for a YA audience. That audience must also be comfortable with a dark tale that has no real resolution. In general, I found this book too gloomy to be enjoyable.

He was different