Synopsis
Dot tries to summon all her bravery to deal with the frightening changes that greet her as World War II draws to a close in England--above all the return of her father, whom she has never met before.
Reviews
Along with peace, V-Day introduces a host of new worries for Dot, a young Londoner. After the death of her sickly infant brother, Dot and her flighty mother, Gloria, leave the bomb-scarred city for the country home of the genteel (and aptly named) Mrs. Hollidaye. As much a British stereotype as Dot's vaguely tarty, Cockney mother, the pearl-and-tweed-clad Mrs. Hollidaye could easily be the original English Rose. Though she is by far the most nurturing and imaginative person Dot meets, a stiff upper lip keeps the gracious matron from openly acknowledging her protegee's worst fears. Instead, she slowly and subtly helps Dot muster up the strength to cope with her own confusion, Gloria's immaturity and the return of Dot's father, whose activities during the war have somehow earned Gloria's contempt. Although Anderson ( The Bus People ) never quite offsets the melancholy, distancing tone of this story, she shows enormous skill in imagining a child's perspective on events bewildering even to adults. Ages 9-12.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From the author of Bus People (1992), another perceptive, unsentimental depiction of a child emotionally abandoned by her parents. Gloria, Dot's mum, isn't evil; but she's very young, thoughtless, and overwhelmed. Since Anderson skillfully maintains Dot's viewpoint, Gloria's troubles are poignantly enigmatic, to be interpreted as if by a six-year-old who's been taught nothing but who's absorbed the slogans and fears rife in WW II London: not until the end do we know that Dot's dad, traumatized by the military, has been in an asylum; and we never learn whether Gloria's absences, when she leaves Dot in the care of a landlady of Dickensian meanness, are only selfish, or worse. When ``Baby,'' Dot's brother, dies in hospital, no one tells Dot what's really happened, so when she falls ill and goes to the same hospital she has real reason to be frightened; even losing her first tooth is totally unexpected and alarming. There are two idyllic interludes in her bleak existence: Gloria has a friend in the country, a wholesome and compassionate woman who has taken her in before; visits on her farm expand Dot's horizons (she even learns to read there) and help her form a resolve; and when Dad comes home, though he's vacant and withdrawn, Dot clings to the hope that she and her parents will become a real family. A spare, wonderfully evocative picture of Britain in the hard times following the war--and of one small survivor creating her own life, from virtually nothing. (Fiction. 10+) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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
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