Year of the Jungle: Memories from the Home Front

by Suzanne Collins, James Proimos (Illustrator)

Overview

NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Suzanne Collins has created a deeply moving autobiographical picture book about a father who must go off to the war in Vietnam -- and the daughter who stays behind.When young Suzy's father leaves for Vietnam, she struggles to understand what this means for her and her family. What is the jungle like? Will her father be safe? When will he return? The months slip by, marked by the passing of the familiar holidays and the postcards that her father sends. With each one, he feels more and more distant, until Suzy isn't sure she'd even recognize her father anymore.This heartfelt and accessible picture book by Suzanne Collins, the NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of the Hunger Games series, is accompanied by James Proimos's sweet and funny illustrations. This picture book will speak to any child who has had to spend time away from a parent.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545623056
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	08/27/2013
Sold by:	Scholastic, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Suzanne Collins is the inter­nationally bestselling author of the Hunger Games series, which also includes the novels The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay, and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Together, the books have sold over 100 million copies and were the basis for five popular films. Her other books include the acclaimed Underland Chronicles series, which begins with Gregor the Overlander, and the picture book Year of the Jungle, illustrated by James Proimos. To date, her books have been published in fifty-three languages around the world.
James Proimos has created many books for children, including The Best Bike Ride Ever and 12 Things to Do Before You Crash and Burn. He is the illustrator of Year of the Jungle, by Suzanne Collins, a Parents' Choice Silver Award winner. He is also the mastermind behind Swim! Swim!, under the name Lerch. At the time you are reading this there is a sixty-four percent chance he is bearded. And a ninety percent chance he is at least eighty-two percent vegan. Learn more at jamesproimos.blogspot.com/

Editorial Reviews

First-grader Suzy's father is in the jungles of Vietnam for a year. Through a tightly controlled child's point of view, readers live the year with little Suzy in the sheltered world her parents have built for her. She understands little at first, imagining romps in the jungle with elephants and apes. Her father sends her postcards every so often with cheery scenes of the tropics. Eventually, the postcards stop coming. She misses her dad, especially when her brother takes over some of her father's duties, like reading the comics or Ogden Nash's poems to her. One day, the wall of protection is broken by the television, with frightening visions of explosions, helicopters, guns and dead soldiers. Her mother whisks her away, too late. Proimos' ink-and-digital art, in his signature cartoon style, adds needed humor to a frankly scary story that honors Suzy's experience and respects those who share it. Occasional full-page wordless spreads allow readers to see into Suzy's mind, beginning with her flying through the jungle and leading up to her post-epiphany anxiety about tanks and helicopters and rifles. With a notable lack of patriotic rhetoric or clichés about bravery and honor, Collins holds firm to her childhood memories, creating a universal story for any child whose life is disrupted by war. Important and necessary. (Picture book. 4-10)

Kirkus Reviews