Pictures, 1918

KLIATT

To quote KLIATT's Sept. 1998 review of the hardcover edition: Fifteen-year-old Asia lives in the tiny town of Dust Crossing, Texas, in 1918. The novel opens with a bang—a suspicious fire in the chicken house erupts in the night, killing a jackrabbit baby that Asia has been nurturing. Asia wishes she could somehow have captured and kept the image of the rabbit as it was, and when she sees a fancy new Autographic camera in the drugstore, she wants it more than anything she's ever seen. With the help of her loving grandmother, and the support of her boyfriend Nick, Asia buys the camera and becomes an assistant to the town's portrait photographer in order to learn how to take pictures. Meanwhile, Nick's cousin Boy has his eye on Asia too, and she doesn't quite trust him; and her proud grandmother is growing increasingly forgetful, which scares Asia. This is an affecting coming-of-age tale, set against the backdrop of WW I, that depicts small-town and family life warmly and realistically. Asia is an appealing protagonist, and her interest in photography is described in enthusiastic detail (the author is a photographer herself). Her romantic life will interest readers, too, as she and Nick have a falling out and then make up. KLIATT Codes: JS—Recommended for junior and senior high school students. 1998, Penguin/Puffin, 154p, 18cm, 99-27763, $5.99. Ages 13 to 18. Reviewer: Paula Rohrlick; July 2000 (Vol. 34 No. 4)

VOYA - Florence H. Munat

For Asia McKinna, a sixteen-year-old girl living in the small west Texas town of Dust Crossing, the final year of World War I brings many changes. First, an apparent arsonist sets her family's chicken coop ablaze, and Asia's pet rabbit dies in the fire. Her beloved Grandmama is drifting into senility, and Asia fears losing her. Her best friend, Nick Grissom, has become her boyfriend, but their relationship is undermined by Nick's Louisiana cousin, Boy Blackwell, who tricks Asia into kissing him while Nick is watching. Boy is staying with Nick's family while his father recovers from war wounds received in France. Asia finds Boy's avid anti-German sentiments and his angry, brooding behavior disturbing. Asia finds solace in photography. Using her savings and some money borrowed from Grandmama, Asia purchases a Kodak Autographic for fifty-five dollars and arranges to apprentice herself to the local portrait photographer, who is impressed by her talent. Preserving images of the people and places she loves helps Asia cope with her rapidly changing world. In the end, when the arsonist is revealed and other secrets come out, Asia has come to understand that it takes not only her photos but also her memories (mind pictures) to create a full picture of the truth. The story moves briskly, the characters are endearing though a bit clichéd at times (e.g., the grandmother who understands better than the parents, the pesky younger brother), and the scenes involving picture taking and developing hold the readers' interest. The book creates a picture of how the events of a faraway war can trickle down and affect a small rural community. VOYA Codes: 3Q 3P M J (Readable without serious defects, Will appeal with pushing, Middle School-defined as grades 6 to 8 and Junior High-defined as grades 7 to 9).

Children's Literature - Helen J. Pavick

Asia is determined to discover who set the fire that killed her rabbit, Straw Bit. However, all she has to rely upon is a blurred image in the back of her mind. Even more distressing, though, is that she has no photo by which to remember her beloved pet. Therefore, when she discovers an Autographic camera staring at her from a shop window, Asia knows that she must own the camera. The skills she hones as a photographer are the very ones that lead her to identify Straw Bit's killer and to a future in photography. What an uplifting story of determination and courage.

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up-A novel set in rural Texas during World War I. The story begins with a suspicious barnyard fire that claims the life of Asia's beloved pet rabbit. In the days that follow, the teen's longtime friend, Nick Grissom, and his cousin Boy, who has just moved in with Nick's family, compete for her attention. Asia senses that there is something dangerous about Boy, and soon realizes that her feelings for Nick run deep. Meanwhile, she sees a Kodak Autographic camera in the drugstore window, earns the money to purchase it, begins to experiment, and eventually becomes an apprentice to the town photographer. Woven into this story line are subplots about other unexplained fires, Asia's grandmother's growing dementia, concerns about the war, and the limitations set on women at the time. The dominant theme of Asia's desire to take pictures is slow moving, and readers may wonder when the camera will play a larger role. However, the characters are believable and unique. The author presents Grandmama in an especially realistic and endearing way, addressing her gradual dementia and its effects on her granddaughter. Boy's anger is explained as his past is revealed. Through the first-person narrative, Asia shares her thoughts and insights. This novel should appeal to those who enjoy historical fiction with a little romance. Although events unfold slowly, Ingold draws readers in and makes them want to know and understand the characters as they grow and change.-Susan Knell, Pittsburgh State University, Pittsburgh, KS

Kirkus Reviews

An innovative novel from Ingold (The Window, 1996, etc.), in some ways reminiscent of Patricia MacLachlan's Journey (1991), where photography serves as the metaphor for a clarifying of many kinds of vision. In 1918 in Dust Crossing, Texas, Asia is a high-school junior. As the story opens someone has set fire to her family's chicken house and Asia has lost a pet jackrabbit in the blaze. The experience starts her thinking about loss and change, and the precarious balance of life. With WWI raging, there's plenty to think about; boys Asia's age, 17, are going off to fight. There are changes at home, too: Asia's grandmother, a strong woman who has always been a bulwark, is having memory problems and lapses of strange behavior. Romance begins to blossom between Asia and Nick, a boy who's always been her best friend; Nick's cousin, Boy Blackwell, who is rabidly anti-German, likes Asia, too, and she finds herself in the middle of an uncomfortable rivalry. At first Asia wants to take pictures to capture and preserve the present. But as she becomes more involved with the photographic process (buying a camera and apprenticing at a local studio), she acquires a different view of the world. Ingold makes vivid the last days of WWI, March to November, relayed in a first-person present tense that gives Asia's growing-up a very contemporary texture. This perceptive novel has believable characters and complex, evolving relationships. The element of mystery about the fire, gratifyingly played out, leads to a satisfying, fully-rounded conclusion. (Fiction. 10-12)