Year of the Jungle
By Regan McMahon,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Moving yet upbeat story of girl with dad away at war.
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What's the Story?
Little Suzy knows her dad \"has to go to something called a war. It's in a place called Viet Nam.... He will be gone a year. How long is a year?\" She finds out it's very long when he misses holidays, birthdays, and her first communion. Someone says her dad will be in a jungle, so she pictures him playing with an elephant and an ape. But then she accidentally catches a TV news report about Viet Nam and sees \"Explosions. Helicopters. Guns. Soldiers lie on the ground. Some of them aren't moving.\" Her mom quickly turns it off, and Suzy doesn't say anything. \"Later I hide in the closet and cry,\" she recalls. These candid recollections of fear and confusion are based on author Suzanne Collins' own childhood, when her father was deployed to Vietnam in 1968.
Is It Any Good?
YEAR OF THE JUNGLE is a moving, personal account of how it feels to have a parent off at war when you're too young to understand what war means or how long a year is. Little Suzy is confused and misses her dad terribly, delighting in his postcards and praying for his return, and using her imagination to picture him in the jungle. She's also a regular, smiley kid with a cat, two older siblings, and a friend she draws with.
Collins deftly balances the fear and freakout of a little girl who learns her dad's in danger with the upbeat, optimistic portrayal of a kid going about the business of being a kid. James Poimos' cartoony illustrations are more reassuring and funny than scary. But there's one imagined war scene (with images of guns, tanks, airplanes, explosions), and he clearly expresses Suzy's fear and worry when her eyes get very big, in one case filling nearly the whole page.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about parents being away. Has your mom or dad ever spent time away from home? How did it make you feel? Were you worried about them coming back soon?
What do you know about war? Do you know any soldiers, sailors, or people serving in the Air Force or Marines who are away from home? Can you imagine how their kids feel?
In Year of the Jungle, author Suzanne Collins tells a story about something that happened in her family when she was a kid and how she felt at that time. Tell a story about something that happened to you and try to remember and describe how you felt as you were going through it.
Book Details
- Author: Suzanne Collins
- Illustrator: James Proimos
- Genre: Picture Book
- Topics: Brothers and Sisters , Cats, Dogs, and Mice , Wild Animals
- Book type: Non-Fiction
- Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
- Publication date: September 10, 2013
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 4 - 8
- Number of pages: 40
- Available on: Nook, Hardback, Kindle
- Last updated: July 12, 2017
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