Rubber Houses

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by Ellen Yeomans

Kit is a typical teenage girl happily engaged in school and family life. She and her younger brother, Buddy, are deeply bonded, despite their age difference, connected by a love of baseball and math.

Then Kit learns that Buddy has been diagnosed with cancer.

The poems that follow capture both devastating loss and the beginnings of recovery in spare, lyrical verse that throbs with raw emotional power.

Reviews:

“Chelsea Mixon voices Kit perfectly, doing a marvelous job of presenting the girl’s emotions without becoming maudlin. . . . this powerful novel handles a very difficult issue with great finesse.”
— School Library Journal April, 2010

“In the spare language of free verse, Yeomans recounts the impact of a child’s fatal illness on the family left behind. Chelsea Mixon’s narration embraces the language, creating a story that is told primarily through emotion. The rest of the cast, who deliver the words of Buddy and his parents, friends, and doctors, enhance the story like chords building on a tune.”
— AudioFile March, 2010

“A fine recording of a gentle book. ”
— Booklist March 1, 2010

Praise for the print version of Rubber Houses:

“Sixteen-year-old Kit’s normal, happy life is over when her younger brother is diagnosed with leukemia. A feisty eight-year-old kid who loves baseball, Buddy is Kit’s good friend and soul mate, one she is robbed of when he dies. Yeomans weaves the baseball metaphor throughout free-verse poems to trace Buddy’s decline to the poignant conclusion, “I’m calling the game.” Yet the baseball year–and the book–is only half over. Kit and her parents struggle through postseason bereavement to spring training and develop a way of living without Buddy. The interesting plot structure works surprisingly well with both the topic and the narrative style. It also enhances the realistic portrayal of a family, grief stricken and out of balance, struggling to come back after a losing season.”
— Booklist

Listen to samples from this audiobook: