Dove Song
by Kristine L. Franklin
published by Candlewick Press
190 pages

Review by Anna, age 13

Ten-year-old Bobbie Lynn barely knows how to take care of herself, but in six short weeks she has to learn how to support herself and also her mother.

Bobbie Lynn is a happy girl until her father gets sent away to fight in a country she has never heard of - Vietnam. She has seen riots against the Vietnam war on TV but she doesn't know much else about war or soldiers. She has never thought of her dad as a soldier. To her he's a mechanic and her dad. The thought of him killing anyone makes her shudder.

Her mother has always been sensitive and dependent on Bobbie Lynn's father so him going off to fight is extra hard on her. The family moves to the base in Washington State to be near her Dad before he ships out. Bobbie Lynn has moved so many times that she hardly ever makes friends. "Us army brats come and go. Everyone knows that." The other kids make fun of her at school. Her mother cries every night and her big brother, Mason, is busy with his own stuff.

When her mother hears that her husband is missing in action, she breaks down and tries to shoot God through the ceiling with a shotgun.

She stops going to work and just lies in bed smoking. Mason makes Bobbie Lynn promise not to tell anyone about their situation. Together, they manage to keep things going for a while, taking care of their mother and lying to well-meaning people who call and stop by. But it is very hard on them. "Why did treating Mama like a child make me feel so little?" wonders Bobbie Lynn.

At school, Bobbie Lynn meets a girl called Wendy and they slowly become friends. People have always said Wendy's crazy and she starts to believe them when Wendy talks about guardian angels and doves. But their friendship grows stronger as Bobbie Lynn's mother's health declines.

"We were outcasts so we had something in common."

They become so close that Bobbie Lynn begins to think she can tell Wendy anything...even what Mason told her to keep secret.

I have always been the kind of reader that loved to read a junky book involving teen issues, although sometimes I have the craving for a book that can challenge me. This book has just the right combination of both. The first two chapters are a bit slow, but after the third chapter you'll find yourself reading ten chapters at a time.

This book took me right in to Bobbie Lynn's world. It will leave you feeling hopeless, excited, hopeful, and angry. And it'll make you do something I almost never do -- cry. I figure if a book can make me feel all those things and even make me cry, it must be pretty good.

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