Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews (Thu Apr 28 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

A farm child and a fugitive make an unspoken connection in this suspenseful, wordless Civil War episode. Drawn in monochrome pencil on rough-textured paper, the broad, full-page and full-spread rural scenes give the encounter a shadowy, atmospheric setting. Going about her chores after watching a detachment of mounted soldiers beneath a Confederate flag trot by, the child is startled and fearful to realize that someone is hiding in a pile of cornstalks in the storehouse. Rather than mention this to the (seemingly) oblivious adults in her extended family or, later, to the hunters who come by with a reward poster, she courageously ventures out by herself, carrying small gifts of food. Never seen beyond a glimpse of an eye amid the leaves, the fugitive at last departs as silently as he (or she) came--leaving a corn doll in return for the girl's kindness. In a ruminative afterword, Cole reflects on his Virginia family's own connections to the war and, though silent about the signal quilt he hangs on the farmyard's fence in the illustrations, explains the significance of the Big Dipper visible in the nighttime sky. Moving and emotionally charged, the book is capped with a powerful close-up of the child's face on the rear cover with the legend "What would you do if you had the chance to help a person find freedom?" (Picture book. 7-10)

ALA Booklist (Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 CST 2012)

From the title on, silence and secrets create stirring drama in this wordless picture book about a child who helps a runaway slave escape. The full-page charcoal-and-pencil drawings in sepia tones show the girl busy with her chores on her family's farm. Then she glimpses someone watching her in the barn. She barely sees the runaway; the pictures show just an eye. She never speaks with the hidden figure, but she leaves food, wrapped in cloth, even as terrifying, armed slave hunters on horseback show her family a poster: "Wanted. Escaped. Reward." Then the fugitive disappears in the night, but the girl finds a doll made from the star-patterned cloth that covered the food she had brought. At the story's end, the girl lies in bed watching the stars in the night sky. A long afterword adds context to the historical setting, and children will be moved to return to the images many times and fill in their own words.

Horn Book (Mon Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2013)

In this wordless book, a young girl discovers a fugitive hiding amongst the cut cornstalks stored in the root cellar. What Cole shows so superbly through his accomplished yet unpretentious pencil art is the keeping of secrets. The entire family appears to know what's going on, but the extent of each character's involvement is never made explicit; it is conveyed by body language alone.

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

A farm child and a fugitive make an unspoken connection in this suspenseful, wordless Civil War episode. Drawn in monochrome pencil on rough-textured paper, the broad, full-page and full-spread rural scenes give the encounter a shadowy, atmospheric setting. Going about her chores after watching a detachment of mounted soldiers beneath a Confederate flag trot by, the child is startled and fearful to realize that someone is hiding in a pile of cornstalks in the storehouse. Rather than mention this to the (seemingly) oblivious adults in her extended family or, later, to the hunters who come by with a reward poster, she courageously ventures out by herself, carrying small gifts of food. Never seen beyond a glimpse of an eye amid the leaves, the fugitive at last departs as silently as he (or she) came--leaving a corn doll in return for the girl's kindness. In a ruminative afterword, Cole reflects on his Virginia family's own connections to the war and, though silent about the signal quilt he hangs on the farmyard's fence in the illustrations, explains the significance of the Big Dipper visible in the nighttime sky. Moving and emotionally charged, the book is capped with a powerful close-up of the child's face on the rear cover with the legend "What would you do if you had the chance to help a person find freedom?" (Picture book. 7-10)

School Library Journal (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Gr 7 Up-Aspiring journalist Kami lives in Sorry-in-the-Vale, a sleepy little town in the English Cotswolds. The school year's just started and she's already achieved a major coup-after sweet-talking the administration into letting her start a school newspaper, she convinces her best friend, Angela, to partner with her. They promptly set up shop in an empty room, dub the glorified closet "headquarters," and start sniffing out stories. The out-of-the-way arrangement works well. Gorgeous Angela prefers to be away from the ogling eyes of others and Kami, well, Kami has not kept it a secret that she talks to a boy's voice in her head, a fact that doesn't make her the most popular girl in school. When the Lynburns, the "ruling family" in town, return to their home after 17 years away, Kami is able to get to the bottom of the many secrets swirling in the air. And when the boy in her head appears in the flesh, her own story intertwines more and more tightly with those of the Lynburns and of the townfolk. The cover aptly describes Unspoken as a "gothic romance," but it has equal parts fantasy and supernatural rolled in, all emanating from the somewhat mythical forest around the town. While the rush of overly witty, pithy banter rolling from Kami's lips can be a tad much at times, Brennan molds a likable and independent heroine. Most importantly, the cliff-hanger ending and depths left untrolled will keep readers guessing and wishing for book two. Fans of Maggie Stiefvater's "Wolves of Mercy Falls" books (Scholastic) need look no further for their next series. Jill Heritage Maza, Montclair Kimberley Academy, Montclair, NJ