Paper Faces - Hardcover

Rachel Anderson

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0192716549 ISBN 13: 9780192716545

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1991

Synopsis

Although life in London during World War II has been difficult for Dot and her mother, the young girl is frightened by the changes that the end of the war brings, particularly the impending return of the father she has never known.

About this title

About the Author

Rachel Anderson won the Guardian Children's Fiction Award for this novel

From Booklist

Gr. 6-12. Like Wolff's Make Lemonade , this story gives a human face to childhood poverty. The child this time is preschooler Dot who has spent her life huddled in the London slums with her mother during the Blitz. As World War II finally ends, Dot dreads one thing--change. She can't remember her father and doesn't want him to come back and disrupt things. She tries to be a "good girl," to stay safe, even as she feels herself breaking into pieces. Anderson's great achievement is to remain true to Dot's bewildered point of view. Occasionally she's too articulate, but we see what she sees. Her images are of flames, of rescue workers struggling in rubble, of shattered glass and gaping craters. Dot's mother is drawn with humanity: She's young, ignorant, overwhelmed, dreaming of the movies and the royal princesses. When Dot gets a chance to spend time in the country, she dreads the change, but she finds not only food and space, but also beauty--a whole outdoors world of color, movement, animals, and flowers. She also discovers a loving mentor who talks to her and teaches her to read. When Dot must go back to London, the memories of the country help her be brave. Her father finally does come home, and the anticlimax is shattering: No hero, he's ordinary; he had a breakdown in the war. Dot understands that, and she'll stay with him; he needs her. "We have to live where we live." This is a YA novel in which the hero who goes on a journey and returns home transformed is a small child. Anderson adds depth to the unusual World War II adventure in which the kid gets a chance to be heroic. The last thing Dot wants is adventure. She finds the courage of ordinary life. Hazel Rochman

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0192716549
• ISBN 13: 9780192716545
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 121