spare and lovely

KINDRED SOULS by Patricia MacLachlan (Katherine Tegen Books 2012)is simply a beautiful story of the love between a grandfather and his grandson. Our narrator, Jake, is 10. He adores Billy (no one calls grandfather anything other than Bill) who is 88 years old and will live forever (according to Jake). Each day during the summer, Jake and Billy walk the farm. They visit with the cows, put food in the hummingbird feeder, and enjoy each other's company. Billy's old sod house still has a tiny remnant left up by the slough. When Billy falls ill, Jake is determined with the help of his family, to rebuild that sod house for his beloved grandfather. MacLachlan's story celebrates all that is warm and wonderful about a close knit multi-generation family in this spare and moving novel. <123>