‘The Silent Boy’ is an easy read that will make you think

    It seems like everyone reads “The Giver” and “Number the Stars,” but when I was at Heginbotham Library looking for my next resolution read, I got to thinking about all of Lois Lowry’s other books. What are they? Does anyone ever read them? Are they as good as her two big ones?
    Luckily the library had some of her others on the shelf, so I checked out “The Silent Boy.” It’s a shorter book for younger readers than the others I’ve reviewed so far, but I enjoyed it even as an adult.
    Based on the blurb printed on the dust cover, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book. The title boy, Jacob, doesn’t speak to his friend Katy or even look directly at her. But he’s good with animals, and he conveys meaning through his sounds and movements. It sounded like a different sort of friendship, and I like reading stories about those different life experiences. What really convinced me to give it a shot, however, was this line: “Through Katy’s eyes, readers can see the human face so often hidden under modern psychological terminology and experience for themselves the haunting impact of her friendship with the silent boy.”
    The bulk of the book is set in 1910-1911 in rural Pennsylvania. Narrating the story is Katy, just 8 years old at the time. Lowry does an impressive job of making it read like a young person is really telling the story without dumbing it down. The quirky understandings — and misunderstandings —characteristic of kids made me smile repeatedly as I read it.
    Similarly, the author has a talent for placing the story in the early 20th century. Several stretches of text made me stop and think about how different life must have been 100 years ago. Detailed descriptions of the sounds surrounding Katy, for example, are believable in a world in which everyone isn’t constantly using headphones.
    Lowry casually weaves in real-life events such as the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. A reader may just learn a thing or two about history from this work of fiction, too.

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