From: Elsa Marston <elsa.marston>
Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:58:12 -0500

I hope it's not too late to say something about *Garmann's Summer. *Inspired by all the raves,* *I checked it out of the library last night, and I can partly understand the raves. Intriguing illustrations; and it says a lot, in a gentle way, about the passage of time--which someone my age relates to, though I'm not so sure about kids. But I must have missed something, because I found the very last lines--"And Garmann is scared."--a shock. I agree, there's no need for a pat ending, with Garmann marching off bravely to KG, ready to take on all comers. But to my mind it seems so very inconclusive and negative as almost to spoil the book for me.

The only sense I can make of it is a link back to the page about Aunti Augusta, who doesn't remember much other than almond tart. Garmann reasons that if you can't remember anything, you have nothing to be scared of. But at the end, he DOES remember things, many nice things about the summer, so it followes that he is scared. Maybe we're meant to infer, and explain to our young ones, that remembering things can make you strong, too, and better able to deal with things that might scare you. ?? I guess it's a matter of how we see the world; but I personally prefer things a tiny bit more spelled out. If anyone wants to enlighten me, privately or on this list, I would welcome it.

Elsa Marston www.elsamarston.com
Received on Wed 25 Feb 2009 01:58:12 PM CST