The Silent Boy

By: Lois Lowry

Narrated by: Karen Allen

Precocious Katy Thatcher comes to realize what a gentle, silent boy did for his family. He meant to help, not harm. It didn’t turn out that way.

“The author balances humor and generosity with the obstacles and injustice of Katy’s world to depict a complete picture of the turn of the 20th century.”—Publishers Weekly, Starred

Katie was far beyond her era and years!

Heartwarming story, I wish we could have had the details on the young man’s future. This story seemed like a true story. Im sure there are many like stories and I know the mob mentality is still a social abnormal. My son is disabled and constantly deals with prejudice, and worst of all, Hate by fear and ignorance.

Didn't expect the ending

Loved this book so much! Having some autistic family members, I knew right away that the boy was autistic. However, they didn't know how to help people like that back then...The ending...I wasn't expecting that!😭

Horrible backgroung music

At beginning has wierd background music that is annoying to me. Maybe not for you but it is for me.

Autistic boy and tragedy

Would you listen to The Silent Boy again? Why?

Yes and probably will. It shows what a developmentally delayed boy had during that time, which was not much. It shows the humanity though, that shines from people with such disabilities. The boy is obviously autistic and the author did great job of capturing both the qualities of a child with autism and the mocking done by a town of people at his expense. Still....the boy is the one with the most humanity as is often the case with autistic people today.

What did you like best about this story?

The portrayal of Jacob as someone solitary but in tune enough to know Katy wanted kittens. To try to help his sister.

What I liked least though, was the end.

Which character – as performed by Karen Allen – was your favorite?

Katy....as the story is told from her viewpoint, it is hard not to like her the best and Jacob does not speak much so he does not really could.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

A silent boy: Humanity misunderstood

Any additional comments?

I recommend this book.

Amazing story, was super good. Loved it 😁😁

I loved it. It had an amazing feel to it when you read it. Super job.