Publishers Weekly
Abandoned as an infant, Jip West accepts his grim fate on a Vermont poor farm without question until a series of disturbing events changes his beliefs about himself and the people around him. The turning point occurs when, in the year 1855, Jip (who has a gift for "handling beasts and residents") becomes caretaker of a lunatic brought to the farm. The boy's growing friendship with the mysterious, moody man called Put coincides with Jip's discovery that his mother was a runaway slave. Tension mounts when Jip's biological father, the master of a Southern plantation, arrives to retrieve his "property." Like Paterson's Newbery-winning Bridge to Terabithia and Jacob Have I Loved, this historically accurate story is full of revelations and surprises, one of which is the return appearance of the heroine of Lyddie. While Jip's concerns provide insight into 19th-century society, his yearnings for freedom and knowledge are timeless. The taut, extremely readable narrative and its tender depictions of friendship and loyalty provide first-rate entertainment. Ages 10-14. (Oct.)
Jip could not understand why no one had claimed him after he tumbled off a wagon on the West HIl Road when he was a small child. Brought to the town poor farm, Jip was content to tend the animals and do chores-until the day the lunatic arrived.. Put's rages in his padlocked wooden cage terrified the residents, but when the old man was lucid, he sang sweetly and let the boy take care of him.
This was a terrific and very surprising read... I enjoyed this book very much... The stories beginning set in 1847 in Vermont farm lands... The small town poor farm raises a baby found on the West Road... Believed to be a Gypsy baby fallen from a wagon on the way west... But, there isn't anyone who comes to reclaim the baby. Until a stranger comes to town asking questions about the boy Jip... What a surprise you will find when the plot is revealed... An Historical/Fiction... Katherine Paterson has out done herself here... Maybe Jip's Story will become a movie as Terabithia did...dg
I love this author. Jip is a wonderful story about freedom and identity. Worth reading.
