Snowdrops For Cousin Ruth [Hardcover]

Susan Katz (Author)

Book Description

Nine-year-old Johanna and eighty-two year-old Cousin Ruth try to help their family heal after the accidental death of Johanna's younger brother.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Award-winning poet Katz shifts to prose to spin a delicate story about love, grief and recovery from loss. After the death of Johanna's little brother, Johnny, she still hears his voice and feels his presence, but for everyone else in the family, he seems to have disappeared completely. Susie, Johnny's twin, has not uttered a word since his death, and the girls' parents avoid discussing him altogether ("Talking about him makes Momma and Susie feel sad," says Johanna's father). It takes energetic, elderly Cousin Ruth, who "looks into people and... pulls out what is good," to bring the members of the fragmented family back together. A widow herself, she understands the pain of loss and offers both compassion and her own joie de vivre. With extraordinary sensitivity and poetic language ("My gigantic wish, the wish that shimmered like a soap bubble, was no different than the real bubbles I used to blow"), Katz deftly weaves a story of love and rejuvenation around a stone-faced, silent child, her frustrated sister and a zestful octagenarian. Her narrative, written from Johanna's perspective, presents various expressions of grief, then goes on to show how time eases the pain of loss. Those touched by Kevin Henkes's Sun and Spoon will also be moved by this tender story. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6AThis promising first novel is about 9-year-old Johanna, her family's reaction to a terrible accident, and the indomitable spirit of 82-year-old Cousin Ruth. Johanna's younger brother, Johnny, is killed by an out-of-control car while playing outside with his twin sister. Susie is so devastated that she has closed down completely and everyone is worried about her. Even as her sibling quits talking, Johanna has conversations with Johnny in her mind. When Cousin Ruth moves in next door, her cheer and wisdom about life gradually work their healing magic. In her first-person narrative, Johanna describes school friends, a "mean" teacher, and a class bully. Almost stereotypical at first, these characters are gradually fleshed out and become vivid. Johanna's voice has a realistic bite when she reports classroom travails, thus avoiding a syrupy tone. Her parents are loving, if occasionally misguided, and Susie's healing is realistically slow. Many of the details of cupcakes, aprons, baking bread, mittens, and a wind-up gramophone create a soothing sense of timelessness, with a few jarring references to video games and computers that place the story in the present. Altogether, a warm and cozy read for those longing for a few tears and a happy ending.ACarol A. Edwards, Minneapolis Public Library
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing; 1st edition (May 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689813910
• ISBN-13: 978-0689813917
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,991,389 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A touching novel for children and adults alike., June 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Snowdrops For Cousin Ruth (Hardcover)

I found Susan Katz' first novel to be very moving in its portrayal of fully-realized characters and a plot that keeps the reader involved. It reminded me of the well-known novel and movie Ordinary People in its careful handling of the death of a child and how that death affects a family. I would recommend this book to anyone.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Snowdrops for Cousin Ruth, January 19, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Snowdrops For Cousin Ruth (Hardcover)

A fiction story of a family who lost a young boy to an accident. It is told from the perspective of an older sister. Deals with the whole family's struggle with their grief and how they grow past it. No illustrations in this book, and I would recommend it to the 8th grade level for reading, along with the teachers and parents.