The Mailbox

by Audrey Shafer

By far the best book I have read all summer long. It's a quiet book, focusing on a young boy's love of his uncle.

Gabe Price has had a hard life - tossed from foster home to foster home - until his social worker is able to find his one last living relative - Uncle Vernon. So fifth grader Gabe finally has the stability and home that he always wanted. Vernon's not the warm, fuzzy type, though. A bit rough and crusty, and certainly more than a bit curmudgeonly, Vernon - a vet who seems somewhat haunted by his life in Vietnam - dispenses advice and knowledge to Gabe in small bits and pieces. But it is a good fit for both of them, and they clearly appreciate each other's presence. Oddly, the reader learns all of this after Vernon's death - so I'll back up a bit.

Gabe, a 12 year old boy, returns from his first day of middle school to find Uncle Vernon dead in his study. No fowl play. Just dead. Gabe is naturally shocked and terrified. While most 12 year-olds would run to the nearest adult, Gabe must contend with the fact that Vernon's death means that he will return to foster care. So Gabe shuts the door and goes to bed.

When he wakes up the body is gone. (Ah, the plot thickens!) Gabe is now even more terrified, but in an effort to cling to the one bit of security and stability he has left, he goes to school and returns to find an envelope in the mailbox. A stranger is communicating to Gabe. A stranger who knows about Uncle Vernon. A stranger who seems to know Gabe's conundrum. And where Uncle Vernon's body is.

The mystery of it pulls you in, eh? That's why so many 6th graders said they wanted to read it. But while you wait to discover what exactly happened to Uncle Vernon's body, you fall in love with Gabe and his bittersweet grieving reflections.

This book rocked. I loved the characterization. Gabe and his desire for a home. Gabe and his friends, sometimes childish, sometimes so genuine. Gabe and his dog. Gabe and his teachers. Gabe and the mysterious letter writer. Just a plain great read.

Grade: A+