Review: Little Joe
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 30, 2013
SPOILERS WITHIN.After his parents death, Little Joe ends up living with his grandparents in Round Rock. He soon learns life on a farm is much different than life in a city. One of the hardest things for him is to see the animals they feed and care for be prepared as food. When his grandmother prepares meals he complains about the amount of grease and salt as it's not the way his own mother prepared it. He manages to run away from the farm and return to Texas only to realise by the end of the story he is home.The story incorporates history of the time via the boys grandparents and radio, but also it brings to life the issues involving little known discrimination as well as gives us an idea as to how even the smallest action can affect someone in ways we may never know.  The author tells uses an attack of a Chinese citizen being attacked by people thinking he is Japanese. Luckily for the man, Francis steps up to defend him as Persifor goes to fetch the Sheriff.  During the confrontation, Little Joe witness' his grandmother standing up to ignorance and before he leaves the man tells them he is on his way to see his son before he ships off to war. He had merely stopped to ask them for directions. Later on, Little Joe learns the man saw his son for the last time because he is killed in action, when the man sends Francis a letter thanking her for this gift. One thing I would have liked to seen mentioned was the concentration camps Japanese citizens were forced to live in during the time period.Another thing I liked was the differences I could see between Little Joes' parents and grandparents.  When he comes to live with his grandparents, things are more to the point and straight forward.  Instead of going to the market to get a chicken, they go to the hen house, killed the chicken and prepare it.  Instead of being able to sleep in and merely awaken to eat his breakfast, Little Joe has chores to do and he collects the eggs they eat for breakfast. Little Joe finds friends and for the first time gets to go sledding in the snow and how he feels when he writes his first check to pay for a ball with money he earned himself.Finally, the war a continent away is brought home when war games are held in the area. At first the author tells us how people are lining up to see the soldiers prepare and really at some level see it as a sort of game. The author shows us Little Joe as he sees a neighbors' pain at the untimely death of her son in the war. He can empathize with her as he still feels the loss of his parents.  Little Joe watches as his friend Sugar is caught in the crossfire of the war games. He is able to see his grandfather's strength as he once again comes to their rescue.  When two soldiers come to stay the weekend with them, Little Joe gets to know them, then later learns of their deaths.  The author shows us how Little Joe grows up a little faster because of the times and events in his life, yet he retains his childhood innocence.