Through the first-person narrative of an 11-year-old girl, this brief hand-sized volume collects a daughter's memories of her mother's year-long descent into death from cancer. Emily and her mother begin a tradition of making "sky memories" the day before the woman is diagnosed. The snapshots they "click" in their minds evolve from one of gray sky with the merest patch of blue ("Large enough to mend a Dutchman's breeches," her mother says) to bleaker subjects, such as bare, skeleton-like trees against a setting sun, as Emily's fragile belief that her mother can beat her illness changes to a recognition that it will lead to her death. While Brisson's (The Summer My Father Was Ten) images aptly parallel the mother's eroding health, readers never really get to know Emily, so that the text becomes a means for connecting one sky memory to the next in a kind of poetic melancholy. The author drops some hints about Emily's thoughtsA"I didn't play softball that spring" or "It was at times like those that I wished I had a father"Abut never delves much more deeply into how the girl feels about submerging her life in deference to her mother. Without such details, it may be hard for readers to imagine how Emily's life will go on after her mother's inevitable end (despite her favorite aunt stepping in as guardian); this approach stirs up more anxiety than it delivers reassurance. Minor's (Arctic Son) dramatic watercolors focus on the sky memories, rather than on mother and daughter, further enhancing the feeling of the book as a meditation on death. Ages 10-up. (June)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 3-6-A small, slim book with a big heart and worthy aspirations. Emily is just 10-years-old when her mother is diagnosed with cancer. Like a scrapbook of photos, the story captures the 10 months from the discovery of the disease to the woman's death. Each period is remembered by a vivid sky portrait shared by Emily and her mother. Together they focus on the brilliance and variety of clouds, trees, weather, and light. They clasp and squeeze each other's hands like the click of a camera, capturing in their memory a shared, special time. By the tale's end, Emily continues to appreciate and "collect" a beautiful evening sky that her mother would have enjoyed. Minor's watercolor paintings reflect the changing color and dramatic vistas the author skillfully paints with words. Although the night sky is large, Emily's immediate universe is quite small. Thankfully, the child has a best friend and an aunt who takes over when her mother dies. The author is honest about the stages of illness and physical reactions to chemotherapy, but never overwhelms readers with too much detail. Brisson wrote this easy-to-read novel with the hope that it would be useful to terminally ill mothers trying to prepare their children for their impending death. It should serve that purpose quite well.-
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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