Yonder by Ali Standish

Abstract

Reviewed by: Yonder by Ali Standish Kara Forde Standish, Ali Yonder. HarperCollins, 2022 [368p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780062985682 $16.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780062985705 $10.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 5-9 Jack Bailey is the town hero for saving twin toddlers from drowning in a flood, and he's also narrator Danny Timmons's personal protector. When Jack doesn't show up for their shared morning paper delivery route, Danny enlists Lou, his former best friend, to figure out why Jack disappeared. Most townspeople dismiss Danny's concerns about Jack, especially any accusation against Jack's physically abusive father, a decorated war veteran who is buddies with the local Sergeant. One day, Danny finds a clue at the riverside site where he last saw Jack—the word "YONDER" scratched into the bark of a tree. Danny recognizes the reference to Jack's late mother's mythical tale of a hidden forest town called Yonder: "A perfect town. The kind where there's never any trouble. Where they've never even heard of war." Vivid imagery evoking the tale of Yonder keeps readers guessing whether the story might slip into a fantastical resolution for Jack, but the ending is touchingly [End Page 261] grounded in reality. Set in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina during the Second World War, Danny's narrative cycles back and forth in time, marching toward an unspecified pivotal moment when he fell short of being the hero of his own story. The pace of the plot is brisk, yet Standish sensitively incorporates details about the era's problematic politics, and the story ultimately serves as a sophisticated analogy for the self-serving and simplistic stories perpetuated about the role of the United States in World War II. A historical note reinforces Standish's intention to complicate the portrayal of American heroism found in textbooks. The concluding message imparts there is no final horizon in the pursuit of peace and justice. Rather, like yonder, it is a direction. Copyright © 2022 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois