Description:

Bicentennial fireworks burn the sky. Bob Seger growls from a transistor radio. And down by the river, girls line up on lawn chairs in pursuit of the perfect tan. Yet for ten-year-old Eli Book, the summer of 1976 will go down as the one that threatened to tear his family apart. There is his beautiful and distant mother; his traumatized Vietnam vet dad; his wild and confused sister; his former war-protester aunt who moves in under mysterious circumstances; and his tough yet troubled best friend Edie, the only person with whom he can completely be himself. As tempers flare and his father’s nightmares rage, Eli watches from the sidelines, but soon even he cannot escape the current of conflict. From the award-winning Silas House comes a tender look at the complexities of childhood and the realities of war—a quintessentially Southern novel filled with music, nostalgic detail, a deep respect for nature, and the powerful sense of place that House is hailed for. ** ### From School Library Journal Starred Review. Grade 5–8—Eli, 10, spends the summer of 1976 riding bikes with his friend Edie, reading Anne Frank's diary, talking with his Aunt Nell, and watching his Vietnam-vet father experience flashbacks. He observes his mother trying to ride out various storms: 16-year-old Josie's rebellious attitude; the anger between her husband and his sister, Nell (who protested the war); and the flashes of violence and despair that wrack her spouse. Eli is curious, thoughtful, and not above eavesdropping or snooping through personal letters to find out things that his family would prefer to keep private. He learns that Nell came home with cancer; that he and Josie do not share a biological father; and how his father felt after killing a man in the war. Nell nicknames him Eli the Good, and he is. He is a decent kid, just trying to understand his family and the world around him. He makes mistakes, but he learns from them, and simply wants the best for those he loves. House writes beautifully, with a gentle tone. He lays out Eli's world in exquisite detail. A Bicentennial celebration, along with mentions of pop songs and clothing styles, sets the stage, but never takes over the narrative. The story flows along as steadily as a stream, carrying readers and Eli to the end of summer and beyond, into a coda where he is an adult. Eli is good company and children will enjoy accompanying him on his journey.—*Geri Diorio, The Ridgefield Library, CT* Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ### About the Author Silas House is the nationally bestselling author of the award-winning novels Clay’s Quilt, A Parchment of Leaves, and The Coal Tattoo, and he is the co-author of Same Sun Here with Neela Vaswani. He lives in eastern Kentucky with two daughters and two dogs.