A Time to Keep Silent [Paperback]

Gloria Whelan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1993 | Age Level: 9 and up

In a moving story, the author of The Secret Keeper and Goodbye, Vietnam tells of a father and daughter overcoming their grief at the loss of wife and mother, and their dramatic attempts to resolve the conflicts in their relationship. A Children's Choice Book for 1980.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-8-Clair has stopped talking in a desperate attempt to get her father's attention after her mother's death. Ironically, her success at putting him in touch with reality has also given him the courage to fulfill a lifelong calling: to establish a mission church. As a minister, he feels guilty about his affluent, suburban life style and transplants himself and his daughter to an economically depressed, rural community. There Clair meets Dorrie, also 13 and motherless, who lives alone in the basement of their unfinished house while her abusive, violent father is in jail. She is fascinated by her new friend's unending tricks of survival, and Dorrie loves having a silent partner. The novel climaxes with an exciting chase through the woods when Dorrie's father is released and wants to teach his daughter a lesson. Clair is frightened into speaking, her father becomes Dorrie's willing protector, and Clair decides she loves her new life. This book really belongs to Dorrie, whose gutsy personality and life of adventure will excite readers' imagination. Clair's character lacks complexity, and her first-person narrative fails to give any insight into the psychological machinations behind her muteness. Young teens who are satisfied by a smoothly flowing story with an uncomplicated plot will enjoy this, but anyone hoping for more will find it to be a series of missed opportunities.
Margaret Cole, Oceanside Library, NY
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Paperback: 124 pages
• Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (July 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802801188
• ISBN-13: 978-0802801180
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,014,161 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:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kept me silent!, March 31, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: A Time to Keep Silent (Paperback)

This was a great book! I read another book by this author, Forgive The River, Forgive The Sky, but this was much better. At first I put off reading this book because it didn't really seen all that interesting, but once I got reading it, I couldn't put it down. I kept on trying to find time during the day to read more about Claire and Dorrie and the other realistic characters in this evolving story. Gloria Whelan is an excelent writer and it is a very easy read. But when I say an easy read, I in no way mean that this was boring or childish. I am 16 and this book was fabulous. It kept my interest and I highly recommand it. I look forward to reading some of the author's other works. Take some time to be silent and enjoy this novel.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Shhh! Be very very quiet!, May 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Time to Keep Silent (Paperback)

In the fiction novel, A Time To Keep Silent, written by Gloria Whelan is about a thirteen-year-old Clair Lothrop's. She lives in Westville Heights with her father because her mother had died. Ever since her mother died her father, Reverend David Lothrop, had been to himself reading in the dark in his study room. Clair keeps her silence by not speaking anymore in attempt to regain her father's love and attention. Reverend notices his daughter's silence and went to miraculous measure to cure Clair's silence. They made a drastic move up North of Michigan to start a new mission church and to hopefully allow Clair to start her life over. Clair feels that her father is doing this sudden move up North to teach her a lesson. She loses her friends, she has no option but to leave Westville Heights. Reverend and his daughter start a new life in the woods with mice, spider, and an old run down shack. Clair was extremely unhappy but soon a new friend, Dorrie Norcher, had changed her mind. She finds a new friend, new neighbors, and a new improved father. She also realizes that her time of silence was the best thing that she could have ever done. Clair discovers that there is so much more to life than what she had at Westville Heights. Now that you know a little idea of what this book is about I would like to break my silence and share with you my opinion about this interesting and very enjoyable book. Gloria Whelan most definitely captured my attention when I realized that the main character, Clair Lothrop, was at complete silence. Whelan was very descriptive and expressive on the creation of Clair and her friend Dorrie. The flow of this book allowed me to finish it without wanting to put it down, wondering what will happend next on Clair's mute adventure. I hightly recommend this book to anyone because Whelan grabbed my attention, my heart, and my interest in more of her books.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Book, April 2, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: A Time to Keep Silent (Paperback)

I loved this book. I came across it becuase I had a report to do in less than a week and the book was so intresting that I just kept reading it until I was done I couldn't stop. I would highly recommended this book to everyone. I think that this book is good for poelpe that don't really like to read becuase it makes you want to read.