Kindred Souls (review)

Ten-year-old Jake lives on his family's farm with his parents, his brother, his sister, and his eighty-eight-year-old grandfather, Billy. When a dog shows up one day, Billy names her Lucy and announces that she will be staying; man and dog are inseparable until Billy gets bronchitis and has to be hospitalized. Prior to his illness, he and Jake had planned to build a sod house, like the one in which Billy was raised, so Jake gets his family members together to build it as a surprise for Billy while he is away. The surprise turns out to be Jake's in the end; while he built the house so Billy could get well and be happy, what he ended up doing was giving Billy "the place he wanted so he could leave," as Billy dies peacefully in his sod house a few days later. This slim novel is both quiet and profound; there is nothing overstated, nothing shocking, just the simply told tale of an affectionate, loving relationship between a boy and his grandfather with the added bonus of a solid dog storyline. The possibility of Billy's death is suggested early on, particularly as Jake frequently tells himself that "Billy is going to live forever," and the progress of the illness storyline is organic, as is Jake's growing acceptance of the inevitability of Billy's eventual passing. The quiet rhythms of the story and the gentle banter of the dialogue make this an ideal group readaloud, but plenty of young readers will simply find it the perfect book to curl up with on their own.