School Library Journal
SEAGRAVES,
Donny Bailey. Gone from These Woods. 192p. Web sites. CIP.
Delacorte. 2009. Tr $15.99. ISBN 978-0-385-73629-9; PLB $18.99. ISBN
978-0-385-90599-2. LC 2008028467.
Gr 4-6–Daniel’s nickname, D-Man, came from his Uncle Clay, who has been more of a father to him than the boy’s mean, beer-drinking, cigarette-smoking dad. One fall morning, Clay gives his nephew his Granddaddy’s shotgun and they go out to bag a few rabbits. Daniel’s queasiness about hunting is embarrassing, so he tries to mask his qualms, and, concentrating only on his relief at escaping detection, inadvertently shoots Clay. The 11-year-old’s first-person narrative of the ensuing trauma describes a community doing its best to understand the accident and support the boy, except for his abusive father. Even as his mother, teacher, neighbor, school counselor, and friends attempt to help Daniel return to normal, guilt overwhelms him. Metaphors and similes abound, in fitting with the folksy rural Georgia setting but never outstripping the logical vocabulary of a kid, and giving the narrative a somewhat ordinary flavor despite the horrific events. Understanding or coping with an accidental death is seldom so directly connected to real responsibility or the need to make peace with such a mistake. Seagraves shows the best way for support to be given as well as how hard it is to forgive. These are tough topics to read about, but the book will bring up many discussions. An appendix provides statistics on gun violence and a list of sources to contact for more information.–Carol A. Edwards, Denver Public Library, CO
SLJ
Booklist
"Uncle killer. That’s what Daniel fears he has become after a tragic hunting accident in which he shot and killed his beloved Uncle Clay. Now Daniel must learn how to make peace with the loss of his uncle and his role in his death, in addition to navigating his alcoholic, abusive father and weak mother. Thankfully, his school guidance counselor is there for him, and with his help—along with the words of his uncle running through his head—Daniel finds a way to go on. Set in a small, rural southern town, this novel covers the ethical issues surrounding hunting for sport and investigates the notions of bravery, fear, and sticking up for what you believe in. There is a lot of complexity in this short, quiet coming-of-age novel. Sensitive younger readers will be drawn in by Daniel’s story, which can be likened to a more emotional twin of Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet (1987)."
Kirkus
"Daniel Sartain never wanted to hunt rabbits in his family’s Georgia woods, but coming from a long line of hunters and idolizing his uncle, Clay, Danny follows him one cold November morning in 1992, carrying his grandfather’s shotgun . . . this satisfactory debut novel depicts a realistic portrayal of grief from a youth’s perspective. Middle-grade boys will take interest in Danny’s internal superhero-vs.-villain battle and rally around him when he finds the strength to stand up to his father. (author’s note) (Fiction. 9-12)"
Brodart, one of the largest educational wholesalers, has selected Donny as their first-time novelist feature in the October 2009 McNaughton YA catalog.The McNaughton catalog is a publication that is mailed out to the McNaughton subscriber list. McNaughton is a “best of the best” standing order program for public librarians. Those librarians who sign up are on automatic-order status for the selections on the McNaughton list.
Mary Jessica Hammes, Journalist, Writer, Blogger & More
"Winterville writer Donny Bailey Seagraves' debut novel, "Gone From These Woods," tenderly and realistically explores Daniel's grief, the attempts of his young friends and guidance counselor to bring him back to normalcy, and his compassionate mother trying to hold her family together while working night shifts at the carpet mill.
Booklist calls the story "an emotional twin" of Gary Paulsen's Newbery Honor-award winning "Hatchet." Seagraves' first bookstore signing will be Aug. 30 at Borders. While the intended audience is middle-school students, the book's authentic Southern voice and richly detailed characters offers universal appeal. . . " Click here to read this entire review on the Athens Banner-Herald's website.
AUTHOR PHILIP LEE WILLIAMS
The book is for middle-school-age readers and just above, though anyone, including adults, can read it with pleasure and profit. The plot surrounds the events that occur after a tragic hunting accident and the effect it has on a family in a small town. That might sound fairly simple, but in Donny's hands, it's anything but an easy situation to write about. I read every page, and I just loved it.
She delves deeply into the moral complexities of guilt and family love, and she does it with subtlety and intelligence, and with a command of language that is admirable. Frankly, I can't imagine anything harder than writing for this specific audience, because many of them are confused, a bit edgy, and afraid to venture far from received ideas.
Donny does a masterful job of creating characters, especially young Daniel Sartain and his grieving family. She understands grief from the inside, but even more impressive, she understands how adolescents struggle with self-identity and how they need loving adults to help them steer the way to adulthood.
Perhaps most important, she has a level-headed and pragmatic position on hunting that gives the narrative a moral weight. It would have been easy for her to condemn the whole "sport," as a dwindling piece of American history with no place in the here and now. But she doesn't do that. She understands the deep nexus of associations that hunting holds among many fine people and why it is something fathers and mothers still pass down to sons and daughters.
To have written a book of such moral weight and complexity and to teach without being preachy are magnificent achievements.
Go buy this book. Give it to a family with youngsters or without. This book, took will be a gift that will passed from parents to children and on and on for generations."-- Philip Lee Williams, author of fourteen books including A Distant Flame, St. Martin's Griffin, winner of the Michael Shaara Prize for the best Civil War novel published in the U.S. in 2004; and two new books: Elegies for the Water and The Campfire Boys.
Jane Penland Hoover, Writer and Writing Coach
