The Mailbox

My daughter had this on her list of summer reading. I read it first and loved it. I cried and I haven't been that touched by a book for a very long time. I am considering reading this book to my 3rd grade class this year.

Thank you, Audrey Shafer for pouring your heart into this beautiful story. The tale is one of mystery, regret, comfort, loss, sacrifice, and the joy of being. Dr. Shafer deftly inserts contemplative literary references to Of Mice and Men and The Call of the Wild. I loved your book and I believe it is true: A Book is a Friend.

A great book for ages 10 and up. I read this with my 12 year old daughter. It is a great story about a 6th grade boy who comes home one day to find his uncle/guardian dead. Before he can take any action the body disappears and mysterious notes are left in the mailbox. The characters are charming and issues of foster children and war veterans are covered. There are some fun scenes in the classroom that had us laughing. It was great to read this well written book of substance with my child. If you tired of fluffy, shallow kids books you will love this book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it is a story that can be enjoyed on several levels, but is also a good read. The presentation of the issues faced by Vietnam vets was also well done, and would be a good way for a young person to get an appreciation for that difficult period in American history.

Any of you familiar with "booktalks"? This is a skill set cultivated and perfected almost entirely by teen and children's librarians. The idea is this: You walk into a classroom. The kids in that classroom are looking at you like you're some kind of freak and the last thing they want is for you to go bobbing about telling them how simply marvelous the library is. What you need is a little something up your sleeve. Something to get them genuinely interested in the books sitting on the shelves. Hence, the booktalk. It's basically a trailer or preview for a book. You don't give away any big plot points and you don't give them a synopsis of the story. What you do is give them a little taste of what the book can offer them. Why am I telling you this? Because it's been a really really long time since I found a book I wanted to booktalk more than Audrey Shafer's, "The Mailbox". It doesn't look like much. It has the standard sepia-toned inanimate object photograph so common in children's bookcovers today. But read the first fourteen pages and then tell me you don't want to know so much more than the book is telling you. A book for kids that would impress Hitchcock himself, this one. Twelve-year-old Gabe Culligan's had a rough life, but things have evened out really nicely for him lately. You see, for years Gabe was a foster kid, shuttled from place to place without a home. Then his social worker found his long-lost Uncle Vernon and things were looking good. Sure, Uncle Vernon's kind of crusty. He has a prosthetic leg and a gruff manner, but it's obvious that he and his nephew get along really well. You can't blame Gabe for not knowing that Vernon would have secrets. So one day, Gabe comes home from school and Uncle Vernon's dead on the floor. Well what would you do? You can't blame the kid for not wanting to deal with the situation. The next morning he goes to school like usual and tries not to think about what to do. When he gets home, there's a note in the mailbox. On one side it says, "I have a secret". On the other side it says, "Do not be afraid". But when Gabe comes into the house and finds his uncle's body has disappeared, he is afraid. Very. Man, do you have a treat in store for you. If you haven't read the book yet you've no idea how good it's going to be. To begin with, first time author Audrey Shafer doesn't come across as first time at all. Her writing is crisp and full of perfectly placed little descriptions. When Gabe discovers his uncle's body right off the bat he cries. "Messy crying, the kind of crying that leaves you swollen, red, and leaky". When later he pets his dog at the base of the neck between the shoulders, "He could lose his hands there, then pull his fingers up, like pink fish rising from a bed of soft seaweed". One more. "Evening, with her blowing skirts of cooling breezes and rustling leaves, swirled her colors, first fiery then deep blue, through the house and around the house". I marked about four or five more of these g