Hambone

In Hambone, Jeremy starts out to tell a simple story--I want to tell you about my garden and the tomato memorial for Hambone. But in doing this, he tells us much more--about life on a small Vermont farm, about his gruff and loving father, about his big brother who tells him, Girls plant gardens, about his big sister who understands his dreams, about his mother mysteriously gone to the city, and, finally, about Ramona who seems to be taking his mother's place. At the center of this web of relationships is his love for Hambone, the funniest, most mischievous and cleverest pig a boy ever had. Love and loss converge on Jeremy when, at breakfast one morning, his father announces, We're doing Hambone in today and I want you out there. Taking one of his first, halting steps toward growing-up, Jeremy refuses. In the midst of a flawed but loving family Jeremy learns that love forever changes us and endures beyond space and time. Hambone is the first in a forthcoming series of books by Caroline S. Fairless, centering on children facing painful and frightening changes.