Mama's Window (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Mama's Window Karen Coats Rubright, Lynn Mama's Window; illus. by Duane Smith. Lee & Low, 200589p ISBN 1-57480-160-0$16.95 Ad Gr. 4-8 Sugar hasn't yet warmed up to the idea that he has to live in a swamp in the Mississippi Delta with Uncle Free, but that's what Mama wanted, and ever since she died that's where he's been. Uncle Free, crippled in a train wreck, makes a decent living fishing, catching turtles, and gigging frogs, and he is teaching Sugar how to do the same, even though Sugar is terrified of the water and the haunting vegetation of the swamp. Gradually, though, he comes to see the wisdom of Mama's choice; she found beauty in the swamp, and her faith in the necessity of beauty in everyday life seeps into Sugar's perspective as well. The chief conflict in the story comes when money Mama earned for a stained-glass window for the new church is diverted to the purchase of brick after her death; Sugar is deeply angered by the decision, feeling it as added insult to the injury of losing his mother. Uncle Free manages to intervene, however, and see his sister's dream to fruition. According to the afterword, the narrative is based on the true-life experience of Owen Whitfield, a civil-rights activist at the turn of the twentieth century, who, like Sugar, helped his mother save money for a stained-glass window she would never see. Having started life as a short story, the incident is a bit strained in its treatment as a novel, though Rubright does a lovely job of evoking the natural setting of the swamp, in both its beautiful and its threatening aspect. Character development is slim, making both Uncle Free's actions and Sugar's transformation seem rather abrupt and loosely motivated, and leaving readers to fill in the gaps regarding their respective grief responses to the loss of their sister and mother. However, it is a gentle, accessible story about the redemptive power of beauty, and the afterword will introduce students to a little-known figure from the early days of the struggle for civil rights. Copyright © 2005 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois