Precocious Katy Thatcher comes to realize what a gentle, silent boy did for his family. He meant to help, not harm. It didn’t turn out that way.
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Apr 07, 2008
Rebecca
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Ugh, this was such paint by numbers historical fiction. Little girl ahead of her time (She wants to be a doctor like her daddy!) + vaguely quaint descriptions of daily life (Time to harness the horses and hang the laundry!) + awkwardly inserted Important Historical Events (The Triangle Shirtwaist fire! The first car in town!) + Special Lessons (Guess where babies come from! The hired girl's brother is "touched!"). It has that vacuous invented middle class sense of nostalgia we associat
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Dec 18, 2007
Brynn
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While this book was beautiful, as well as being a useful look at autism before we began to understand it, I think it is completely inappropriate for the age range for whom it was written. Reviews suggest grades 5-8. The serious subject matter, references to sex and a resulting pregnancy, and a very horrific ending make this book only appropriate for a YA audience. That audience must also be comfortable with a dark tale that has no real resolution. In general, I found this book too gloomy to
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Oct 27, 2011
Tamara
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This great book was written by Lois Lowry. The writer of the book, Lois Lowry, uses a very easy language to understand. "The Silent Boy" is written in a diary format, and has tiny pictures of its' characters.
This story was told by Katy Thatcher, an old woman which lived in 1987. In the book she tells the reader about the critical period in her life. Katy's dad, who is a rich doctor, gets a maid once his wife (Katy's mom) gets pregnant. This maid Peggy, has a brother who is More...
This story was told by Katy Thatcher, an old woman which lived in 1987. In the book she tells the reader about the critical period in her life. Katy's dad, who is a rich doctor, gets a maid once his wife (Katy's mom) gets pregnant. This maid Peggy, has a brother who is More...
Jul 27, 2010
Nancy
rated it: 
The Silent Boy is a story about a unique relationship between Katy Thatcher, a young girl with dreams of becoming a doctor like her father, and Jacob, a special needs boy that cannot speak but has a close connection with animals. When Jacob unknowingly does something unforgivable, only Katy can understand why. The Silent Boy is a work of historical fiction taking place in the early 1900s. The book features a photograph at the beginning of each section, which does a great job of future immersing
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Jun 10, 2010
Matt
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jan 31, 2010
Jan
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This is a short but beautifully written book that tells so much in so few pages. Black and white photos at the beginning of each chapter will give you a glimpse of how children appeared in the early 1900s. While considered to contain "quaint" passages by some, Lowry uses phrases contained in everyday language -- you didn't "throw a load in" as we are apt to say today -- laundry took the better part of the morning to accomplish and had to be soaked and washed and hung out to d
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Dec 08, 2010
Erin
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Oct 30, 2009
Allie
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Genre/Category: mental illness/family/loss of innocence
Read for "oral author report: Lowry"
Summary: Katy Thatcher grows up in a small town hoping to be a doctor like her father. On a trip to pick up the "hired girl," Katy meets and befriends Jacob, a boy with a mental illness. As Katy goes through the year, she meets Jacob in a variety of situations and she begins to understand his actions and reasons for doing certain things. Katy also tries to make sense o More...
Read for "oral author report: Lowry"
Summary: Katy Thatcher grows up in a small town hoping to be a doctor like her father. On a trip to pick up the "hired girl," Katy meets and befriends Jacob, a boy with a mental illness. As Katy goes through the year, she meets Jacob in a variety of situations and she begins to understand his actions and reasons for doing certain things. Katy also tries to make sense o More...
Nov 21, 2011
Josiah
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Thinking back, my interest in literary historical fiction can very much be traced to the works of Lois Lowry; in particular, to Number the Stars, winner of the 1990 Newbery Medal. It was Lois Lowry's realistic, soul-stirring, searingly painful novels about events that actually happened in our earth's history that began in me a hunger for wanting to learn more, to find out what else there was to know about these time periods that were brought to life so vividly by the author. I trust Lois Lowr
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Dec 08, 2011
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Mar 18, 2011
Annie
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I love Lois Lowry's Number the Stars and The Giver and gave this book a try for that reason. While I don't think this one of Lowry's best-written books, I always felt myself wanting to turn the page. This was not because I had a lot of "edge of my seat" moments, but because I knew something big was coming. And it certainly came at the end of the book. It was worth the wait and I enjoyed putting myself in the shoes of a young child growing up in the early 1900s. It was such a simple
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Oct 06, 2011
Sheila
rated it:
An easy read, just over 100 pages. An elderly woman, a retired doctor, is reminiscing an event from her childhood. As a doctor's daughter, and because of her interest in becoming a doctor herself, she goes with her father on some of his visits to the ill. She meets a young teenager who has never spoken and has never attended school. The boy's two older sisters are employed by her father, when her mother is pregnant and by the next door neighbor. The boy is ridiculed by the surrounding area and l
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Dec 17, 2008
Lisa
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I read this with Kaitlyn and she loved it, even though it was a little sad. The Silent Boy is a boy with mental illness and the author was good about describing mental illness in a way a young child could understand. The characters were engaging and Kaitlyn had some good laughs. Overall, a good story.
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Mar 02, 2011
Lora Leigh
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Beautifully written, thought-provoking, and just a little bit haunting, like most of Lois Lowry's books that I have read. The narrator in this book is a woman recalling some experiences from her childhood, specifically ones that have to do with a boy named Jacob. Jacob is a few years older, but has (to my best guess) some degree of autism. She forms an unusual sort of friendship with him, and comes to understand him in a way that proves important as the story goes on. The only thing I didn't enj
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Jan 04, 2011
J LOWRY
Melvin-4 stars
Young Katy wants to be a doctor like her father...in 1910! Her dad encourages her curiosity and takes her with him on multiple visits to patients. The story takes a turn when the Thatcher family takes in a new "hired girl," Peg, whose family has a simple country farm. Peg's brother Jacob is said to be "touched," he doesn't speak but can imitate nearly any sound and works hard on the farm. He loves animals and has a special way More...
Melvin-4 stars
Young Katy wants to be a doctor like her father...in 1910! Her dad encourages her curiosity and takes her with him on multiple visits to patients. The story takes a turn when the Thatcher family takes in a new "hired girl," Peg, whose family has a simple country farm. Peg's brother Jacob is said to be "touched," he doesn't speak but can imitate nearly any sound and works hard on the farm. He loves animals and has a special way More...
Mar 19, 2009
Claire
rated it:
Lois Lowery never disappoints! What a beautifully written book...
As the first-person narrator flashes back in time her voice changes subtly to reflect the age that she is in each chapter of the story. This book is short and poignant, and the author tells us apologetically from the very first pages that it's going to be so. She makes the end as painless as possible for us, though, while still preserving the integrity of the sorrow of Jacob Stoltz's fate. The denoument left me just we More...
As the first-person narrator flashes back in time her voice changes subtly to reflect the age that she is in each chapter of the story. This book is short and poignant, and the author tells us apologetically from the very first pages that it's going to be so. She makes the end as painless as possible for us, though, while still preserving the integrity of the sorrow of Jacob Stoltz's fate. The denoument left me just we More...
Jan 14, 2009
Cynthia
rated it:
I think this book had a lot of issues of fitting in, individuality, and relationships. I liked the fact that the first time Katy met Jacob (a boy from a neighboring farm), she thought he was weird and unusually silent. People all Jacob's life have always thought he was too quiet for a young boy and was perhaps mental. But as Katy and Jacob hung out with each other more, she began to understand him in a way that others did not, and as if he saw the world in a more different and unique way. She be
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Dec 14, 2011
Michelle
rated it:
(review originally posted on my livejournal account: http://intoyourlungs.livejournal.com/278...)
Why I Read It: Waayyy back in grade 11(5-6 years ago), I read Lowry's The Giver and fell absolutely in LOVE with it. Since then, I've only read her other Newberry Award winner Number the Stars (which I also enjoyed, but not with the fervor that I loved The Giver). Since then, I have been interested in reading more of her work, but I was convinced that nothing would ever impress me as much More...
Why I Read It: Waayyy back in grade 11(5-6 years ago), I read Lowry's The Giver and fell absolutely in LOVE with it. Since then, I've only read her other Newberry Award winner Number the Stars (which I also enjoyed, but not with the fervor that I loved The Giver). Since then, I have been interested in reading more of her work, but I was convinced that nothing would ever impress me as much More...
Aug 14, 2010
Shannon
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Feb 23, 2009
Katy
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I really enjoyed reading The Silent Boy. It seemed to resonate with me because I've been caring for a handicapped girl who has limited means of communicating but is still pretty smart in her own way, smarter than I give her credit for a lot of the time. I figure that the character in this book "The Silent Boy" is much smarter than people realize, except for the main character in the book, who seems to have a much more open mind and a mind that is ahead of her time. As with all of th
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Nov 11, 2011
Brian
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Jul 11, 2011
Christine
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This story didn't provide the emotional connection it should have. The potential was huge but I felt like the author stood between me and story, especially when she tells about the final incriminating evidence, after the fact, instead of showing the reader. Lowry is a talented writer but I feel she played it too safe with this story. Maybe this was her intention because when observing photographs you are very much kept on the outside, never really feeling what the subject feels. Maybe this was h
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Feb 04, 2011
Dotty
rated it:
This was a very powerful book with wonderful picture of the early 20th century. Using photos to illustrate and perhaps drive the plot Lowry has spun a tale that revolves around the characters she has drawn.
Katy Thatcher, daughter of a doctor, is constantly curious about everything around her yet has a good sense of boundaries. She befriends a silent boy who is mentally disabled and the boy’s teenage sister who comes to help in Katy’s home. Katy learns to understand Jacob and her k More...
Katy Thatcher, daughter of a doctor, is constantly curious about everything around her yet has a good sense of boundaries. She befriends a silent boy who is mentally disabled and the boy’s teenage sister who comes to help in Katy’s home. Katy learns to understand Jacob and her k More...
Jul 25, 2009
Kristi
rated it:
I picked up this book because I wanted to read more of Lois Lowry's stuff. The story is a woman's recollection that takes place in the early 1900s. I loved that each chapter had an old-fashioned b&w picture at the beginning. The plot was kind of weak. There wasn't any big tragedy really or climax. The story was more like a long recollection. It reminded me of what my grandmother's life might have been like. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves hearing stories from when their gra
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Nov 13, 2011
Gwen
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Mar 16, 2010
Gina
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Format: Audio
Interest Level: 4th-6th grade
Young Katy Thatcher wants to be a doctor just like her father. Katy meets a young boy named Jacob who is "touched" or "touched in the head". He is the silent boy the book is named after. A lot of people talk about Jacob because he is different, but Katy befriends him. However, Jacob is not really a factor until over an hour in the recording. The story does not really pick up until almost the end of the book.
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Interest Level: 4th-6th grade
Young Katy Thatcher wants to be a doctor just like her father. Katy meets a young boy named Jacob who is "touched" or "touched in the head". He is the silent boy the book is named after. A lot of people talk about Jacob because he is different, but Katy befriends him. However, Jacob is not really a factor until over an hour in the recording. The story does not really pick up until almost the end of the book.
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Jun 03, 2010
Jordan
rated it:
A book about a little girl growing up and learning all the important lessons. When I started this book I thought it was going to be about a little girl that somehow helped a boy that needed it. I don't think that now. First of all you don't really hear about the boy much, only a in a couple chapters. Second the girl never comes close to helping him. Third, I sandly thought that the only exiting part about this book was the ending. I just wasn't at all what I was expecting though it was intrestin
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Mar 23, 2010
Sarah
rated it:
I've read four books by Lois Lowry. All of her books have been very different and all of them have made me think. With the exception of The Willoughbys the books I've read have tended towards the depressing end of the emotional spectrum.
In The Silent Boy, Katy Thatcher, daughter of a doctor, befriends the local "touched boy" who by modern standards would probably be diagnosed as autistic. But this is a small town in 1911.
Katy whose own mother is expecting a seco More...
In The Silent Boy, Katy Thatcher, daughter of a doctor, befriends the local "touched boy" who by modern standards would probably be diagnosed as autistic. But this is a small town in 1911.
Katy whose own mother is expecting a seco More...
Sep 10, 2009
Anne
rated it:
This short novel written for young adults begins with narration from Katy, an eighty-year old lady who is telling her story for her grandchildren. After her short introduction the story goes back to over 70 years ago and it is the beginning of the twentieth century. Little Katy tells the story of her simple childhood, living in a small American town with her doctor father and her housewife mother. Katy is an innocent, surrounded by the love of her family and friends.
Katy's situati More...
Katy's situati More...
Jun 30, 2011
Irsyad
rated it:
This is a great book... However it requires patience because the plot isn't revealed until the last hundred pages or so, but it pays off. It's a story of Old America before the first world war and speaks of how the mentally challenged were treated back in the day. The book from the beginning and the middle doesn't actually make sense until the around the end when all the things that happened in the past pages are finally made sense of and all the troubles collide in a satisfying, but haunting e
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