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I picked this up as a possibility for my Intermediate readers who want accessible realistic fiction with a few tears at the end and "Defiance" proved to be just that. It opens with 11-year-old Toby, who has undergone treatment for cancer, meeting a neighboring cow. He is away on vacation with his mother, while his dad comes in on the weekends from work.

Toby develops a fondness for Blossom the cow, and eventually gains a job as her milker and as a house-helper to Blossom's aged, infirm owner, Pearl, a poet with failing eyesight who refuses to relinquish her independence and her farm. You can envision the trajectory of the story with the overprotective parents, the children who want to institutionalize their ailing mother, Toby's secrets to protect both himself & Pearl from loss of freedom, and (spoiler!) the eventual demise of Blossom. Pearl lives to be 100 & Toby lives on to become a doctor.

It delivered what I had hoped and I already have a list of readers lined up with the tissue box. ( )

I picked this up as a possibility for my Intermediate readers who want accessible realistic fiction with a few tears at the end and "Defiance" proved to be just that. It opens with 11-year-old Toby, who has undergone treatment for cancer, meeting a neighboring cow. He is away on vacation with his mother, while his dad comes in on the weekends from work.

Toby develops a fondness for Blossom the cow, and eventually gains a job as her milker and as a house-helper to Blossom's aged, infirm owner, Pearl, a poet with failing eyesight who refuses to relinquish her independence and her farm. You can envision the trajectory of the story with the overprotective parents, the children who want to institutionalize their ailing mother, Toby's secrets to protect both himself & Pearl from loss of freedom, and (spoiler!) the eventual demise of Blossom. Pearl lives to be 100 & Toby lives on to become a doctor.

It delivered what I had hoped and I already have a list of readers lined up with the tissue box. ( )

Eleven-year-old Toby Steiner is spending vacation with his mom in a summer cabin. It's a break at last from his hospital stays, surgeries and medications for cancer. He enjoys riding his bike and exploring the country but his mother's protective ways drive him crazy. It's partly why he hasn't yet told anyone about the new lump in his side. While exploring the area, he befriends Pearl, a no-nonsense elder woman who owns a farm with a cow and was once an esteemed poet. Her daughters argue over whether to place her in a home. Toby and Pearl are kindred spirits in that they both are sure of where the belong no matter what family says. Yet each pushes the other to stretch beyond their personal boundaries.

I read this book at the request of a friend who wanted to recommend it for a county read. I tend to avoid books like this knowing that I will be bawling my eyes out and have puffy bleary vision the next day. And that's just what happened.

A young boy has been growing up mainly in hospitals undergoing treatment for cancer. His parents rent a cabin in the country for the summer and he defiantly rides a bicycle down the lane, much to the consternation of his hyper-vigilant mother. He meets a cow and her owner, an elderly blind woman who lives by herself but manages to have an impressive vegetable garden. Toby is mistaken for a boy sent from the village to help her and is made to read her mail for her and learns how to milk the cow and retrieve eggs from chickens.

This is pretty heavy stuff for young kids. I don't know if my own kids would have read a book like this and I doubt I would have ever chosen it for them. It is inspirational and uplifting at the same time as tragic.

A fast read for an adult but it still packs a punch! ( )