Bigger - Hardcover

Calvert, Patricia

3.7

79 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684196859 ISBN 13: 9780684196855

Publisher: Atheneum, 1994

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After the Civil War, twelve-year-old Tyler Bohannon embarks on a journey through the perils of the American West, accompanied only by a stray dog named Bigger, in search of his father, who refuses to return home to Missouri to live in defeat.

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From School Library Journal:

Grade 5-8-The Civil War is over and Tyler Bohannon, 12, begins a trek that will take him from his secure home in Sweet Creek, Missouri, to Eagle Pass, Texas. His goal is to find and bring back his father, who joined General Jo Shelby and the Confederates four years earlier. Soon after setting out, Bigger, a fierce, apparently abused dog, becomes Tyler's companion. Their odyssey is one of body, mind, and spirit. They face hunger, heat, and exhaustion; in a brief meeting with a scarred, orphaned black boy, Tyler confronts the brutality of slavery; and walking over Pea Ridge, he is horrified by the bones littering the battlefield. He finally finds his father, but the man is hardened in his resolve to settle his score with the Union, and refuses to go home. As the boy tries to understand this rejection, he must face further heartbreak when, on the way home, Bigger is killed. Through strong characters, flowing narrative, geographic description, and historical detail, Calvert draws readers into her hero's life and times. Although he endures a heavy dose of adversity, the boy is not extraordinary. His resilience stems from his realization that loyalty, love, and courage take many forms. Readers will relate to his friendship with Bigger, his emerging social consciousness, and his struggle to accept the loss of his dreams and the hard realities of the adult world.
Gerry Larson, Chewning Middle School, Durham, NC
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews:

The Civil War is over, but Tyler is still waiting for his father, Black Jack Bohannon, to return to their Missouri home. Hearing of Confederate soldiers who, rather than surrender, are moving into Mexico to gather their forces, Tyler decides Black Jack must be among them and begins a journey to the border, determined to locate him and dreaming of their happy reunion. Along the way he adopts an abused dog and becomes friends with an abused slave; but when he eventually returns home he's alone once more. His father has chosen to remain a soldier and the family may never see him again. Tyler's dawning maturity is sensitively handled. It may seem as if he grows up a lot in five months, but his cleansing journey reaches closure before he begins to rebuild his life, as the country must also rebuild. But while the story is infused with compassion for players in the historical tragedy, Calvert inspires less concern for characters involved in the plot. With a modern sensibility toward battle, she deromanticizes the War even while offering up an idealized boy with no faults or troubles beyond missing his pa; and though much is made of his bond with the dog, it's never really heartfelt. (Fiction. 9-12) -- Copyright �1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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