Review: Scattergood

Scattergood

by H.M. Bouwman

Neal Porter Books (imprint of Holiday House), 2025

Category: Middle Grade

Reviewer: Ellen Scolnic

 

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This historical novel takes place in 1941, as the United States prepares to enter World War II. Thirteen year old Peggy grapples with daily chores and farm life while her town welcomes refugees and her cousin and best friend is dying of leukemia.

"Authentic" is the word that comes to mind when describing this book. Bouwman has a solid grasp of her teenage protagonist’s point of view. Dialogue rings true. Peg’s ideas and hopes are valid. She is rational and very talented in math, so she tries desperately to save her cousin’s life - or find a doctor who can care her. Peg’s ideas – ambushing a visiting professor or praying because that’s what some adults have said they are doing - seem like ideas a real teen would come up with.

This book is beautifully written. Peg is a self-described nerd who enjoys playing chess with an elderly refugee, enjoys library research, and is ahead in her grade. Thus her description of how she enjoys the mathematical properties of corn: “It’s sad to admit but a true fact: Corn is beautiful. The kernels grow always in even-numbered rows—and our variety, Reid’s yellow dent, most commonly sported eighteen or so rows. Reids grew in ‘sixteens to twenty-twos,’ The cob divides itself into its perfect conclusion, like the boom in your head when you solve an equation and all the factors add up right. Corn is built of numbers.” This descriptive writing gives the reader a greater understanding of Peg, beyond just “nerdy.”

I cried at the conclusion of this book. I’m a well-read adult reader and I empathized with Peg, saw her point-of-view and all the actions and happenings swirling around her. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but suffice it to say it was a satisfying end and the story wrapped up in a believable way. The story was well-researched and very beautifully written. Through the quality of her writing, he author manages to convey what a thirteen-year-old, in that era, would know about love and relationships. When Peg is confused about what love is, and who loves her, Bouwman puts it in terms a farm teen would use and writes: “His voice was curiously soft, like I was a horse he wanted to gentle. It was the same voice my dad employed to welcome calves into the world. It sounded like love. But it was also the voice my dad used before butchering the old cows. That sounded like love, too.” Such beautiful writing. 

 

The story takes place in 1941, so mentions of the Holocaust and camps and how people didn't know what was happening sound very authentic. Descriptions of round-ups of Jews, and disappeared families from the refugees - was explained to the main character (and thus the readers) in a believable, understandable way. The protagonist and her family are not Jewish, but the Jewish refugees are central to the story.

 

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Reviewer Ellen Scolnic has been an award-winning writer for more than 20 years. Her features and personal essays appear in Parents Magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Science Monitor, The Jerusalem Post, The Forward and more. Ellen and her writing partner, Joyce Eisenberg, write, speak and blog together as The Word Mavens. They dispense their advice and opinions on everything from dealing with new technology to sneaking out of a party early. Together, they are the authors of the best-selling "Dictionary of Jewish Words,” and "The Whole Spiel: Funny essays about digital nudniks, seder selfies and chicken soup memories." Connect with them at TheWordMavens.com