Marilyn Courtot (Children's Literature)
The story opens with a young girl heading out on a hunting trip with a father she has not seen for some time. He has been off fighting a war and now he is home. Previously when in town, Lizzie had spied a hunting shirt in a store window. It was a beautiful rainbow plaid, but way to big for such a young girl. No matter, her father made the purchase noting that she would never outgrow the shirt. They stop at a diner and have cherry pie for breakfast--Lizzie’s favorite thing to eat. They discuss the war and his fears--as well as her fears, in particular going hunting. They discuss the cycle of life and how crows eat the crops to survive. In spite of that Lizzie just doesn’t have it in her heart to hunt them. She uses her crow call and they flock to her and surround her. Lizzie says “They think I’m their friend!” Her father refrains from shooting the crows and leaves that for another day or another hunter. Today, he and his daughter walk hand--in-hand and head back home. The illustration by Ibatoulline are evocative of a frosty autumn morning--soft browns with a sky that is just beginning to light up. The trees bare of leaves and mist rising from the hills add a sense of mystery and fear as the two wait to see if the crows will respond to Lizzie’s call. They are a perfect match for the story. Lowry’s story will resonate today as it did back in 1945 when she went through the experience of reacquainting herself with a father who had recently returned from World War II. Today’s children are separated not only from fathers but mothers who head off to places like Afghanistan and Iraq, risking their lives and then having to come home and try to re-establish relationships with family and life in general. As Lois Lowry says on the closing page “And so this story is not really just my story, but everyone’s.” 2009, Scholastic, $16.99. Ages 7 up.

Ilene Cooper (Booklist, Oct. 15, 2009 (Vol. 106, No. 4))
Starred Review* Drawing on a childhood memory, Lowry offers a story where the specific becomes universal. Lizzie’s father is back from the war, and to her, he is almost a stranger. He doesn’t even know how much she loves cherry pie. But he does understand when she picks out an unconventional adult-size hunting shirt, which at least she won’t outgrow. One cold morning, Lizzie dons her shirt and goes out with Daddy to hunt crows. Crows eat crops; of that there’s no doubt. Daddy has his shotgun. He’s given Lizzie a crow call so she can gather the birds together in the trees. In a subtle dialogue, Lizzie says things without saying the big thing on her mind: “I wish the crows didn’t eat the crops. . . . They might have babies to take care of.” Not wanting to disappoint her father, Lizzie calls the birds until they fill the sky, and then, after a breathless moment, her father, not wanting to disappoint Lizzie, takes her home. Each frame of the story is captured like an old-time movie in Ibatoulline’s tender watercolor and acrylic gouache artwork. Particularly effective is the double-page spread in which father and daughter walk among the leafless trees on that chilly autumn day, when their “words seemed etched and breakable on the brittle stillness.” In the end, words aren’t needed after all. Grades K-3