Ranching and soldiering are what men do where Brother lives, in eastern Oregon. Trouble is, the nearly 12-year-old boy doesn't think he'd be much good at either. But then his father's reserve unit is sent to Iraq, and the boy and his elderly grandfather are left in charge of the family ranch. Much soul-searching ensues, ultimately leading Brother to his own personal path to the future. Parry's first novel, about a boy's emotional and spiritual coming-of-age, is heartfelt and often heartwarming, though her characters are a bit too saintly for credibility, and her occasionally preachy tone strays into the didactic more than it should. She does an excellent job, however, of acquainting readers with the realities of modern ranching life and the impact a distant war has on the families who are left at home to cope.

With his brothers away at school or in the service and his father in Iraq, sixth grader Ignatius (nicknamed Brother) must help his grandparents run the family ranch. The story chronicles Brother's year of hard work, danger, worry, and pondering of his own future. Brother's honest voice conveys an emotional terrain as thoughtfully developed as Parry's evocation of the Western landscape.

Sixth-grader Ignatius—he goes by "Brother"—faces a hard year as his father is deployed to Iraq, and he, the youngest of five boys, is left with his aging grandparents to manage the family ranch in Oregon. The episodic presentation, with each chapter a vignette from one of the months his father is gone, effectively portrays the seasonal changes of farm life. The spare, evocative language of his first-person narration immediately captures readers' interest and never falters in describing a year in the life of this eminently likable boy trying hard to be the man of the house, facing up to one believable challenge after another. From raising orphaned lambs he names after hobbits to delivering a calf to rescuing a farmhand and the stock from a raging prairie fire, each event moves Brother toward a new sense of his own emotional strength. At once a gripping coming-of-age novel and a celebration of rural life, quiet heroism and the strength that comes from spirituality, this first novel is an unassuming, transcendent joy. (Fiction. 10 & up)

In Parry's debut novel, 11-year-old Brother (his given name is Ignatius: """"Guess they ran out of all the good saints by the time they got to me"""") helps manage his family's Oregon ranch. With his father in Iraq, his four older brothers at school or in the military, and his mother painting abroad, caring for family's livestock falls to Brother, his grandparents and some hired help. Though he is eager to prove to his siblings, grandparents and most importantly, his father, that he can handle it, Brother nonetheless struggles with the rigors of the job, his father's and brothers' absence and the stress of war (""""I could never do it.... I could never take those salutes and the 'yes, sirs' and then take moms and dads into danger""""). Slowly, Brother fills the shoes of his elders and realizes his own calling when he is literally tested by fire. Brother's spiritual growth and gentle but strong nature, in tandem with details of ranch life and the backdrop of war, add up to a powerful, unique coming-of-age story. Ages 8-12.

Gr 4-8 In this coming-of-age story, Ignatius, the youngest of five brothers in a military family grounded in the Christian faith, promises to take care of the ranch while his father is deployed in Iraq. Since his mother left years earlier to pursue life as an artist, and his older brothers are off to school or military training camps, the 11-year-old looks to his grandparents for guidance, but often feels angry and alone trying to keep his heroic promise. Although some of the realities of the Iraq war are threaded in, the author primarily focuses on the details of contemporary Oregonian ranch life. Ignatius's series of firsts that move him beyond his absolute, always-saying-never ways are the novel's most suspenseful scenes: he stitches up his brother's head, births a calf, and survives a wildfire. In the end, his relationships with his Quaker grandfather, an Ecuadoran shepherd who works on the ranch, and a new Catholic circuit priest help him to discover his true calling, to become a military chaplain. Despite a heavy-handed message and an unevenness in tonethe present-tense first-person narrative changes awkwardly between a reflective and an imaginary play voiceit remains a good purchase for readers who are looking for realistic fiction written from the point of view of a soldier's child, along with Maria Testa's Almost Forever (Candlewick, 2003) and Gary Paulsen's The Quilt (Random, 2004). Sara Paulson, American Sign Language and English Lower School PS 347, New York City

IgnatiusùBrother for shortùis only eleven when his father, a colonel in the Reserves, is ordered to Iraq. The family ranch should have plenty of hands, but Brother's four older brothers are in the Army or at boarding school and their artist mother is permanently AWOL in Italy. That leaves Brother and his grandparents to run the ranchùa tall order. They work hard together while Brother worries about his father's safety and that of other area soldiers on duty. Although the ranch, their Catholic faith, and the military are the foundations of their family life, Brother does not feel that he is meant to be a rancher or a soldier. What he does have is a caring heart. When a wildfire threatens a hired hand and the sheep, Brother and Grandpa ride out to the rescue. Subsequently Grandpa suffers a heart attack and dies. Brother manages against odds to bring his body home. It is at this terrible time that Brother realizes that his true calling is to be a priest and an army chaplain. Brother tells his story in the present tense, month by month. Parry writes well and feelingly, and the reader comes to care about Brother and to appreciate his father's deep sense of honor and love of land. But the older brothers remain stubbornly indistinguishable, and Grandma is a virtual parody of Irish Catholicism. Brother's story will appeal to those looking for tales of western life or of vocations discovered.ùRayna Patton.