about the book
Jake is ten. Billy is Jake’s 88-year-old grandfather. Every morning the two of them wake up and take a walk around the family farm. Jake’s mom calls them kindred souls.
Jake has never had to deal with death. It is something that doesn’t even come into his mind: “Billy is eighty-eight years old, and I don’t worry about him dying,” he says. “He will live forever. I know that.”
One of the weirdest things Billy ever tells Jake is about the sod house he lived in while growing up. A sod house! At first Jake doesn’t know what to think.
Then Billy has to take a trip to the hospital.
During that time, Jake does some research on how to build a sod house, and, with no small amount of convincing, gets his family to help him build one for when Billy comes back from the hospital.
If he comes back… Young Jake is about to receive a lesson about the inevitability of death, and how his family can help him face it with warmth and love.
about the author
Patricia MacLachlan was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and spent her earliest years in Minnesota. An only child, she often played out favorite scenes in books and had an imaginary friend that was so real her father had to negotiate with her to get the couch after dinner! Both of Patricia’s parents died when she was young. Forced to move out east, she always carries a small bag of prairie dirt with her.
Although she loved books, the thought of writing was intimidating. She once completed a school writing assignment on a 3×5 index card. The teacher was not amused. That night, Patricia wrote in her diary, “I shall try not to be writer.”
After attending the University of Connecticut, Patricia taught English, married Robert, and had three children. They lived in Williamsburg, Massachusetts, in a house built in 1793 that had mice and snakes in the basement.
Patricia didn’t start writing until she was 35 years old. After living and working with foster care and adoptive families, she knew she wanted to write about families and children. She won the Newbery Medal for her book, Sarah, Plain and Tall. She also won a National Humanities Medal for her distinguished intellectual achievements in the humanities.
After moving to a new house (one with no mice or snakes), Patricia had trouble writing. As she talked about what home is with young readers one day at the library, she remembered her little bag of prairie dirt, which helped her reconnect!
Sources:
Author profile : Amazon
Author biography : JRank
Author biography : NCBLA
Author profile : Education Place
Also by Patricia MacLachlan:
White Fur Flying. Margaret K. McElderry Books. 2013.
Waiting for the Magic. Atheneum Books for Young Readers. 2011.
Word After Word After Word. Katherine Tegen Books. 2010.
Edward’s Eyes. Atheneum Books for Young Readers. 2007.
The Sarah, Plain and Tall series. Joanna Colter. 2001-2006.
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