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Description
It is 1965, and twelve-year-old Emaline lives on a wheat farm in southern Saskatchewan. Her family has fallen apart. When her beloved dog, Prince, chased a hare into the path of the tractor, she chased after him, and her dad accidentally ran over her leg with the discer, leaving her with a long convalescence and a permanent disability. But perhaps the worst thing from Emaline's point of view is that in his grief and guilt, her father shot Prince and then left Emaline and her mother on their own.
Despite the neighbors' disapproval, Emaline's mother hires Angus, a patient from the local mental hospital, to work their fields. Angus is a red-haired giant whom the local kids tease and call the gorilla. Though the small town's prejudice creates a cloud of suspicion around Angus that nearly results in tragedy, in the end he becomes a force for healing as Emaline comes to terms with her injury and the loss of her father.
In the tradition of novels such as Kevin Major's Ann and Seamus and Karen Hesse's Out of the Dust, novelist and poet Pamela Porter uses free verse to tell this moving, gritty story that is accessible to a wide range of ages and reading abilities.
Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels
- Age:
- 9 to 12
- Grade:
- 4 to 7
- Reading age:
- 9 to 12
Awards
- Winner, OLA Golden Oak Award
- Winner, Hackmatack Award
- Winner, Manitoba Young Reader's Choice Award
- Winner, Rocky Mountain Book Award
- Winner, CLA Book of the Year for Children Award
- Winner, Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People
- Winner, TD Canadian Children's Literature Award
- Winner, Texas Institute of Letters Friends of the Austin Public Library Award for Best Y
- Winner, Governor General's Literary Awards: Text
Editorial Reviews
The marvel of this novel is that language as plainspoken as Porter's can be as revelatory as those prairie plains themselves....Porter cultivates her characters and her plot with huge deftness and tenderness.
— Globe and Mail
Subtle in its themes and organization, this book is pure pleasure, offering lessons about love, loyalty, and loss.
— School Library Journal
This...would be a valuable addition to young adult collections
— Resource Links
...a rich, full story of growth and questioning...
— Toronto Star
A richly written character study containing echoes of To Kill a Mocking Bird's Scout Finch and Boo Radley and Of Mice and Men's Lennie, The Crazy Man, which explores prejudices in many forms, is a quick read meriting several rereadings. Highly Recommended.
— Canadian Children's Literature - CBRA
...[a] moving, gritty story...accessible to a wide range of ages and reading abilities. It is amazing how much emotion and character Porter manages to convey with so few words.
— VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates)
...it's deceptively simple, rewardingly rich.
— Quill & Quire
...a touching portrait of a real-seeming girl, set in a well-delineated time and place.
— Horn Book
...Potter's free-verse narrative explores prejudice, fear, and disability with quiet grace.
— Book Links
Powerfully told in poetic verse, this story is fast paced and heartfelt.
— Brandon Sun
Among the pleasures of this novel are the muted longing in the young girl's expression, the explications of the 1960s definitions of crazy - and, perhaps most impressively, Porter's play with a verbal colour palette that tempts us to read this initiation narrative as impressionism, studied in its composite detail, and intelligently sentimental.
— Canadian Literature
