Rubber Houses

Ellen Yeomans
Little, Brown Young Readers (2007)
ISBN 9780316106474
Reviewed by Nicole LeBoeuf (age 16) for Reader Views (6/07)

“Rubber Houses,” by Ellen Yeomans, is a heart-melting story told in a unique and captivating way. The novel is about a teenage girl dealing with the loss of her younger brother, and her personal battle with grief. From her home in New York, Yeomans wrote two picture books titled “Jubilee” and “Lost and Found: Remembering the Sister.” As this is her first novel, she has pulled out all the tricks to make it a spectacular beginning.
           
The novel is a tale that any teenager, or anyone that has suffered a loss, can relate to. Through the use of free-verse, her story is given to us in short individual doses which sing with meaning, both to the tale as a whole, and as a separate entity. You could open to any page of the novel, pick a poem, and delight in it without reading anything else. Reading the novel as a whole, you discover the life of Kit, a teenage girl who is very close to her younger brother, Buddy. It is not long before Buddy is stricken with cancer and passes from her life. Kit is left to deal with her grief, and the chaos her emotions wreak inside her, seemingly on her own. The novel has a baseball theme, as it was his favorite sport. Each section is given a baseball term, like “Spring Training,” creatively symbolizing Kit’s love for Buddy, as well as showing Kit’s step of recovery. Her psychological movements are tracked and explored, and her final courageous movement toward recovering is inspiring. It is possible to recover from losing someone you love so dearly.
           
When I picked up the book, I was not expecting what I discovered hidden underneath its seemingly innocent cover. It is not often that I am emotionally affected by the printed word, but Yeoman’s words were able to reach a part of me that understood every word she wrote so clearly it was as though they were chosen from my own mind. I found myself near tears one moment and underneath a veil of goose bumps the next.
           
“Rubber Houses” is a novel anyone can enjoy as well as learn from. If you have recently lost someone beloved, this inspiring tale can help you through the worst of times.

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