Review: Tree. Table. Book.
Tree. Table. Book.
by Lois Lowry
Clarion Books (imprint of HarperCollins), 2024
Category: Middle Grade
Reviewer: Heather J. Matthews
Buy at Bookshop.org
Tree. Table. Book. examines the friendship between two neighbors – Sophia Henry Winslow, 11 years old, and Sophie Gershowitz, 88 years old. Sophia, after learning that Sophie’s son suspects his mother is in the early stages of dementia, takes it upon herself to prove her friend is mentally fit, and therefore, will not need to move out of her home. Armed with a friend’s father’s copy of the Merck manual, Sophia “tests” her friend’s ability to complete tasks; for example, Sophie’s abstract reasoning is tested when she is asked to determine what the words cat, dog, hamster and gerbil have in common. After passing some “tests” and failing others, Sophia revisits one test over and over – a short-term memory test, in which Sophie is told three words and then is asked to recall the words after three minutes have passed. Trying to stack the deck in her friend’s favor, Sophia asks Sophie to tell her a story about the new set of three words – tree, table, and book – in hopes that this process will help Sophie remember the words. What follows are three stories of Sophie’s childhood.
Author Lois Lowry has examined World War II in past literature for children, namely Number the Stars, the fictional tale set during the Danish resistance during the Holocaust, and On the Horizon, a non-fiction story detailing the events of Pearl Harbor and the bombing of Hiroshima. In Tree. Table. Book., Lowry re-visits World War II through the lens of Sophie Gershowitz’s childhood in Poland. The titular tree, table, and book take Sophie, Sophia, and the reader through three snapshots of small village life as life for Jews became more dangerous. First, Sophie’s father does not return from work one evening and is seen being taken from his work and forced onto a train with his male colleagues. Then, Sophie’s two older brothers were taken by soldiers with the reader unsure as to their fate. Finally, while Sophie’s older sister Chana and their mother simply disappear into history, Sophie, at age 8, find refuge with a Christian Polish family, becoming Zofia.
In terms of Sydney Taylor Book Award criteria, I think that readers will find literary merit and authentic Jewish content. Where I foresee potential award criteria problems is in the amount of Jewish representation – Sophie's Judaism is seen only in flashbacks of her childhood in Poland. In fact, Sophie does not verbally identify as a Jew, only commenting that the family had “stars sewn on our clothing,” and were disallowed to go to certain places, such as the village’s bakery. In this way, a reader who is not paying close attention may miss Sophie’s Jewish identity. With Sophie’s Jewish identity being less than self-evident for younger readers, this book may not be able to stand up to other award contenders with more obvious Jewish content.
Reviewer Heather J. Matthews, PhD, is an assistant professor at Salisbury University. Her specialization is in children’s and young adult literature. She is specifically interested in diverse representation within children’s literature.
Tree. Table. Book. examines the friendship between two neighbors – Sophia Henry Winslow, 11 years old, and Sophie Gershowitz, 88 years old. Sophia, after learning that Sophie’s son suspects his mother is in the early stages of dementia, takes it upon herself to prove her friend is mentally fit, and therefore, will not need to move out of her home. Armed with a friend’s father’s copy of the Merck manual, Sophia “tests” her friend’s ability to complete tasks; for example, Sophie’s abstract reasoning is tested when she is asked to determine what the words cat, dog, hamster and gerbil have in common. After passing some “tests” and failing others, Sophia revisits one test over and over – a short-term memory test, in which Sophie is told three words and then is asked to recall the words after three minutes have passed. Trying to stack the deck in her friend’s favor, Sophia asks Sophie to tell her a story about the new set of three words – tree, table, and book – in hopes that this process will help Sophie remember the words. What follows are three stories of Sophie’s childhood.
Author Lois Lowry has examined World War II in past literature for children, namely Number the Stars, the fictional tale set during the Danish resistance during the Holocaust, and On the Horizon, a non-fiction story detailing the events of Pearl Harbor and the bombing of Hiroshima. In Tree. Table. Book., Lowry re-visits World War II through the lens of Sophie Gershowitz’s childhood in Poland. The titular tree, table, and book take Sophie, Sophia, and the reader through three snapshots of small village life as life for Jews became more dangerous. First, Sophie’s father does not return from work one evening and is seen being taken from his work and forced onto a train with his male colleagues. Then, Sophie’s two older brothers were taken by soldiers with the reader unsure as to their fate. Finally, while Sophie’s older sister Chana and their mother simply disappear into history, Sophie, at age 8, find refuge with a Christian Polish family, becoming Zofia.
In terms of Sydney Taylor Book Award criteria, I think that readers will find literary merit and authentic Jewish content. Where I foresee potential award criteria problems is in the amount of Jewish representation – Sophie's Judaism is seen only in flashbacks of her childhood in Poland. In fact, Sophie does not verbally identify as a Jew, only commenting that the family had “stars sewn on our clothing,” and were disallowed to go to certain places, such as the village’s bakery. In this way, a reader who is not paying close attention may miss Sophie’s Jewish identity. With Sophie’s Jewish identity being less than self-evident for younger readers, this book may not be able to stand up to other award contenders with more obvious Jewish content.
Are you interested in reviewing books for The Sydney Taylor Shmooze? Click here!
Comments
Post a Comment