When Will Newcomb’s father loses his job at the Port of Baltimore things at home start falling apart. The family moves to Grampa’s farm in Pennsylvania for a new beginning, but his father’s depression is taking a toll on the family—especially Will. When Grampa suggests a hunting trip early one morning, Will is eager to go along, especially since he believes it might help him win back his father’s attention. Only later, while hiding beneath the bushes and waiting for the birds to see the decoys, does Will realize how torn inside he is about actually killing a beautiful Canada goose. This is one hunting trip that does not end the way anyone hopes or expects. Autumn Journey is the story of several journeys, not just that of a Canada goose or a young boy. It is the tale of love keeping a struggling family together in the face of hard times. Middle grades–ages 10-13.
Priscilla Cummings is the author of the Chadwick the Crab series and fourteen other picture books, as well as eight novels for older children. She lives in Annapolis, Maryland. A. R. Cohen lives in Jarrettsville, Maryland, and spends his time doing art and being a beekeeper.
A lyrical tale of a family pushed to the edge: In separate stories that eventually converge, a young Canada goose is wounded by a young boy, Will, who is trying to cope with the disintegration of his family. After Will's father loses his job as a longshoreman in Baltimore, the family loses its home as well, and moves in with Will's grandfather on his farm in Pennsylvania. Work is still scarce, money even scarcer; Will's parents fight constantly, and his father's anger and bitterness makes home a place to avoid. Then Grampa has a heart attack, and Will's father disappears. But this is less a tale of unmitigated woe than a beautifully told, uplifting story about the power and strength of family. In her first novel, Cummings adds a ruthlessly realistic look at a family under pressure to a structure and theme reminiscent of R. Wright Campbell's Where Pigeons Go to Die (1978). The story of the goose, which Will ultimately nurses back to health, resonates emotionally with his grandfather's illness and death, and with the rending and healing of his family. The prose shows the ease and confidence of an old pro, and gives off the power of someone who understands well the human heart. (Fiction. 10+) -- Kirkus Reviews
The writing is eloquent and the characters believable in Cummings's (Chadwick the Crab) first novel -- Publisher's Weekly
