January 20th, 2009
I just finished reading a book entitled The Box Children by Sharon Wyse. It was an intriguing tale of 11 year old Lou Ann in a most memorable summer in 1960′s Texas farmland where she turns 12. Her mother, a cruel and crazy woman, is pregnant, and Lou Ann must bear the brunt of her mother’s anger as her father is caught in a series of adulterous acts. Her brother has turned away from her as he himself struggles with becoming a man and all that it entails. She begins a diary, which she keeps hidden from everyone, and thus ensues her tale of this remarkable summer and all of the trials and tribulations that occur as she becomes a young woman.
It narrates her struggles with understanding how people judge other people, what it means to become a woman, romance and relationships.
All of this is accompanied by the box children- who are a group of plastic dolls she keeps in a box in her room. Each doll represents one of the babies her mother has miscarried before.
It is told in a sweet and innocent voice. The phonetic misspellings just add to the atmosphere of this young lady’s tale. I was a bit disappointed at the end, however, as I very much would like to know what happened next.