Toby's cancer has recurred, but he defiantly determines not to share this information with his parents. The prospect of hospitalization and additional painful treatments are more than the 11-year-old can bear. His decision is reinforced after he meets and befriends a fiercely independent, elderly neighbor, Pearl, once a famous poet who hasn't published for years. Although she is in her 90s and nearly blind, Pearl stubbornly refuses to leave her tumbledown home to live with her daughters. Drawn together by their mutual affection for Pearl's beloved cow, Blossom, these two characters gradually develop a mutually supportive and loving friendship, which, with the death of Blossom as a catalyst, helps them reclaim their lives and a promising future. Occasionally predictable in both plot and characterization, the story is nonetheless emotionally satisfying, and Hobbs, a gifted writer, does a quietly effective job of dramatizing the life-affirming power of both poetry and a cross-generational friendship.

Eleven-year-old Toby, who has been "in and out of Children's [Hospital]" for years, spends a summer in the country, in remission, where he meets a cow named Blossom and her owner, a cranky, half-blind poet. Equally vulnerable, Toby and Pearl fall into the abrupt and perfect friendship of young and old. Without morbidity, Hobbs ranges between tart and poignant, sorrowful rage and hope.

Toby Steiner, age 11, doesn't want to go back to the cancer hospital. He doesn't want to "puke up his guts" or "make . . . friends with kids who disappeared." So he's not going to tell anyone about the hard marble-sized lump that just reappeared in his side. Instead, while on a country vacation, he's going to ride a bike, view the heavens through his telescope and enjoy being a regular kid. What happens in this stirring evocative tale is that Toby strikes up an unlikely acquaintanceship with an elderly lady who lives nearby, a once famous poet who has been "losing her vision" both physically and metaphorically. Hobbs manages to wring genuine emotion from the reader despite a somewhat pat ending. The feisty, life-affirming, lesson-teaching elder is a familiar character in children's literature, but Hobbs breathes new life into the situation, giving the character some problems of her own and making the intersection of these two souls both real and poignant. (Fiction. 10+)

Gr 5-7-After finally finishing his painful cancer treatment, Toby Steiner, 11, is spending the summer in a rented cabin with his overprotective mother and weekender dad. Determined not to go back into therapy, he hides from his parents the lump he's discovered on his side. Exploring the countryside on an old bike, he encounters a skinny old cow and its owner, an almost-blind woman whose motto, "Whoever steals my freedom takes my life," represents her own defiance over attempts to usurp her independence. Embittered by life, Pearl Rhodes Richardson, 94, is a celebrated poet who has vowed never to write again. She and Toby develop a friendship and find common ground in their resistance to their families' interference in their lives. He helps with chores and reads poetry to her, and the two care for the failing cow whose inevitable death becomes a metaphor for what must be accepted and for what it is not yet time. Defiance turns to decision as each one helps the other face a difficult but hopeful future. An afterword, set several years later, provides a triumphant conclusion for both Toby's and Pearl's stories. Spare, graceful writing, with just enough detail to bring the characters and setting to life, skillfully paces the action and keeps the focus on Toby's conflicted feelings, ultimately celebrating the source of strength he and Pearl become to one another. A quiet, yet resonant story.-Marie Orlando, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Toby has had enough of spending his life bouncing in and out of cancer treatment. He is finally well enough to go on a summer retreat, and he will have the chance to do all the things that normal eleven-year-olds do, such as riding his bike or going fishing with his father. Then he finds the lump, something that means more suffering. He decides simply to refuse to acknowledge it and defy his cancer outright. One day he meets Pearl, an elderly poet, who has also suffered loss and who has cut herself off from the world. Pearl forms a friendship with Toby through the reading of poetry and the milking of her very wise cow, Blossom. Through Pearl, he gains the strength to become a "warrior" again and to "rage against the dying of the light." This simple, touching story offers great characterization. From Toby's overprotective mother, who plays cello at Blossom's funeral, to his father, who insists that Toby will be playing JV basketball next year, the characters are multidimensional and compelling. The plot, however, is predictable, and the device of bonding through poetry is not tremendously original. The book is inspiring but not terribly memorable. It will be difficult to convince teens to read it, although it is worth the read and is recommended for school and public libraries.-Angela Semifero.