The Reappearance of Sam Webber

When eleven-year-old Sam Webber's father disappears without a trace, he and his mother are forced to relocate to a tough neighborhood, closer to her job. Unfamiliar with his surroundings and intimidated by the students of his new school, Sam recounts the sometimes frightening, sometimes delightful details of his life with touching, humorous sincerity. Living in a tiny apartment, he is forced to deal with the legacy of depression that marked his father, and threatens to envelop him. The city remains a cold and unwelcoming place to Sam until he meets Greely, an elderly black janitor at his junior high. Through this unlikely friendship, Sam begins to heal, as well as confront the racism that surrounds his community, and his life. Tracing a year in the life of an exceptional young boy, newcomer Jonathon Scott Fuqua leaves an impression that endures like a watermark. A masterfully written novel full of beautifully drawn, unforgettable characters, The Reappearance of Sam Webber is only the first from a top writer whose talented storytelling will touch every reader.

A year in the life of a Baltimore boy provides the basis for a formidable portrait of urban American life. Eleven-year-old Sam Webber, usually known as Little Sam, abruptly becomes just plain Samuel when his father disappears without a trace. Hoping he was kidnaped (abandonment is the far more devastating, though likely, explanation), Sam is traumatized further by the move his mothers forced to make from their pristine middle-class neighborhood to a rough area of town. A closet in their new home becomes the TV room, and Sam watches rain pour in through a leaky kitchen window. Completing the transformation of Sam's old life to new is his attendance at an unfamiliar school full of bullies, pregnant teens, and, miraculously, Greely. A black janitor at the school, Greely notices Sam's distressthe constant hyperventilation, the nausea, his obvious fearsand befriends the boy in a way that alters him profoundly. Greely tells Sam about the civil rights movement, tosses a football with him, takes him to the Little Tavern for burgersin short, becomes a surrogate father. Others slowly fill the shoes Sams father left empty: His mother's new boyfriend Howard, sharing comic books and companionship; and Junie and Ditch, his mother's employers at the flower shop. In Sams second Baltimore, a skinned, gritty version of what he once knew, he comes into his own, no longer afraid of dirty streets or gangs of kids and slowly accepting the loss of his father as he learns to depend more on himself. Although his father never returns, others love and nurture Little Sam, leading to the emergence of a Sam who is less troubled. A warming exploration of fairly routine material, made attractive by newcomer Fuquas depiction of city life. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

YA-In a style somewhat reminiscent of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird or Olive Ann Burns's Cold Sassy Tree, a slightly older Sam relates the events of a watershed year in his life. In the summer after his 11th birthday, Sam's father disappeared. Although the boy's mother soon realizes that her husband has abandoned them, Samuel clings to the belief that his father was kidnapped and involuntarily remains apart from them. Facing reduced circumstances, the Webbers move to an impoverished area in Baltimore. A rough neighborhood, a dwelling with an inner waterfall during rainstorms, and a school bully are only some of the new experiences in store for the boy. Sam is a realistic, vivid character. He anxiously waits out his mother's grief-provoked depression and begins facing his new life. He is prone to hyperventilating when faced with stress or anxiety, a trait that usually results in a dead faint or a bout of vomiting. He has trouble relating to other kids and he is often frightened, confused, and lonely. He learns, however, that family doesn't have to be composed of blood relatives, that love comes in various colors and sizes, and that what seems to be the worst of circumstances can actually turn out to be a blessing. With so many young adults facing family breakups personally or through their friends, this delightful and captivating story will be a welcome glimmer of hope.
Carol De-Angelo, Kings Park Library, Burke, VA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A white 11-year-old becomes fast friends with a black school janitor and learns about racism, loss, grief, forgiveness and the landscape of Baltimore in this heartfelt but simplistic debut novel, the first work of fiction from Bancroft Press. Narrator Sam Webber was shy and fearful even before his depressed father disappeared; now Sam lives near the poverty line with his mother, who works in a flower shop. At a low point in his life, Sam is taken under the wing of the kindly, wise school janitor. African-American WWII veteran Greely Clemons offers Sam fatherly advice and reels off stories about his own experiences. Sam's friendship with Greely sensitizes the boy to racial bigotry spouted by his mother's drawling boss, Ditch Gordon, and the class bully, fat, ugly Newt Novacek. Sam finds another father-surrogate in his mother's new boyfriend, but his leap toward emotional maturity comes when Greely, in the hospital recovering from a heart attack, confesses that he too walked out on his wife and kids back in Atlanta. Shaken, Sam finally realizes that the father he idolized may never return. Fuqua, who has written children's nonfiction (B&O: America's Railroad), seems to have envisioned this earnest tale as part tract on teenage depression and part coming-of-age novel. He has a sensitive understanding of the shaky emotional terrain of preadolescence, and he displays a good ear for dialogue and an intimate feel for Baltimore's rowhouses, creaky buses and broad sidewalks. Though teenagers may find Sam's story inspiring, adult readers may find it predictable and didactic. Agent, Robbie Hare.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

After his father's desertion, 11-year-old Sam learns that family can come in various shapes, colors, and sizes and that the worst of circumstances can be a blessing in disguise. A message of hope underlies this captivating tale.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.