All He Knew by Helen Frost

The story begins in September 1939 with Henry and his Mama on the Greyhound bus to Riverview. Henry is not sure why his sister Molly cried when they left. As they travel on the bus, Henry thinks about the last time he travelled on a bus. He saw a man who tried to get him to blow out candles. When he wouldn't do it, the man got mad and told Henry's mama that he was "unteachable". As a result, Henry has been sent to Riverview Home For The Feebleminded. The bus trip ends with his Mama leaving Henry at Riverview.

Henry's sister Molly remembers when he was born. Molly was five years old. When their neighbour, Mrs. Grayson, came to their home, she had Papa take her for a walk. When Molly and Papa returned home, there was a baby, her brother, Henry. But life changed forever, Christmas Eve 1937 when Henry became very sick with a fever and painful ears. After four days he started to feel better but they soon realized that Henry was not able to hear.

At first Henry would talk to people even though he couldn't hear them speak. He would try to guess what they were saying. At his sixth birthday party in July 1939, a fight and a ruined cake led Henry to decide to only talk at home to his Mama, Papa and Molly.

When it was time for Henry to go to school, the principal suggested a large, expensive hearing aid or that Henry attend a school for deaf children, the State School for the Deaf. Henry's parents couldn't afford the hearing aid so they applied for Henry to attend the special school.

Henry is now at Riverview, along with thirty-three boys, all dressed in gray-green clothes. One boy whom Henry guesses is called Ted, helps him, showing him how to avoid trouble. Ted has one leg shorter than the other and one arm hangs at his side. Soon another boy arrives, a small boy who is scared and whom Henry calls Billy. Henry and Ted help Billy. Henry wonders about "...the fours boys who can't get to the meal place because their wheelchairs won't go down the stairs" or the "...three held tight by blankets that keep them in their beds." or "the two who have to wear those shirts with the two sleeves tied together so the boys can't use their hands?" or "...the four strapped into chairs in the long dark hallways?"

Christmas of 1939 sees Henry alone at Riverview, his family not visiting him. His seventh birthday also passes without a visit from his family in July of 1940. It isn't until March, 1941 that Henry is visited by his Mama and Molly. Mama explains that they've had no extra money to be able to visit him. Henry thinks that they have come to take him home but quickly learns this is not the case. He is taken away, not hearing his sister's promise to visit him again at Christmas.

But war brings changes to Riverview, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December, 1941. And one of those changes is a conscientious object by the name of Victor Jorgensen. When Victor arrives, he begins advocating for all the boys at Riverview, especially Henry whom he finds to be a sweet-tempered boy who cannot hear. With the help of Molly, Victor is able to bring Henry home and set him on the path to being able to communicate with others and live a fuller life.

 Discussion

All He Knew is based on a real life events that occurred in the author's husband's family in the early 1900's. The novel explores the life experience of  children who because of their disabilities were labelled unteachable and institutionalized in the 1930's and 1940's. Living in an institution in the early 20th century was often a degrading experience due to terrible conditions and poor treatment by staff.

Frost draws from the experiences of her husband's family to portray life inside an institution during the Second World War. Conditions are quite awful as Henry quickly discovers. When he first arrives at Riverview, Henry notices the terrible smell. He along with the other boys wear gray-green clothes. 

Staff are abusive and the boys quickly learn how to avoid certain workers.  There is "Barker Man" "...the one who looks like an angry barking dog and kicks the kids who don't jump up to obey, including Henry when he doesn't see him coming." and "Blanket Man" who jerks Henry's blanket off every morning because he can't hear the whistle to wake up.  When James is returned after running away, Henry notices he's limping, his face is bruised and he's strapped into a chair in the hallway.

Boys can be quickly labelled leading to days or months of abuse.For example, when his friend Ted attempts to protect Billy from being beaten by Barker, he is labelled as violent and from that point on is strapped into a chair all day long. While most boys are strapped down for ten or twenty days, Henry notes that Ted has been strapped down for much more than that. So long, that he has difficulty walking when Victor eventually puts a stop to this practice.

Because they are labelled "unteachable", Henry and the other boys receive no education. His hearing disability is seen as an insurmountable barrier.With the war, conditions deteriorate even more. Some days only one meal is served. There are no snacks or hot drinks. But the war also brings Victor Jorgensen who ultimately helps Henry return home.

Victor is a complete contrast to the other attendants on the ward. Henry notes, "He seems to like us...He doesn't slap us or pull us by our hair, shove us out the door if we're not moving fast enough." Victor sees Henry and Ted as real children, wonders about the individual needs of each child and questions what's being done to some of the children. "Attendants who've been here a while say that Henry's friend is prone to violence and must be restrained at all times. But does that child have to spend his whole life in a chair? He might lash out again, they warn. Victor has his doubts. He decides to wait and see." He ultimately unstraps Ted from his chair.  

In contrast to the degrading conditions at Riverview, Henry is portrayed as a real person who can think and feel and learn. He is shown to be caring and kind, as when he goes after Billy and brings him back to the ward. He is courageous when he speaks up to Victor about Ted being strapped into the chair each day. He is intelligent and resourceful and just a bit cheeky when he devises a way to get Blanket Man to leave him alone. Henry also has a rich inner life which evokes empathy for his situation.

Frost chose to tell her story in free form verse.Victor's narrative is told in sonnet form. The author has included a Notes On Form and Characters at the back, explaining her poems and also detailing more about specific characters in the novel. In her Author's Note, Frost explains the inspiration behind All He Knew. Her husband's mother's brother, Shirley Sowers was labeled unteachable and institutionalized. Maxine Sowers wrote seven poems about her brother Shirley (which Frost includes at the back of the novel) and these poems led to Frost wondering how to capture the experience in a way that would engage young readers. All He Knew accomplishes that very well and in a way that's not overbearing or heavy on detail. The poems allow the reader to think about what it might be like as a child to be taken to an institution and what it was like for families during the war who had no choice but to do this to their child.

Despite the heavy topic, All He Knew ends in an uplifting way with Henry reunited with his family, and the uniting of three families, Henry's, Ted's who is really called Ned, and Victor's who come together for dinner at Henry's home. Henry begins to learn how to communicate using sign language, his old friend Sadie comes by to say hi and there is the hint of a blossoming friendship between Victor and Molly. This is a lovely novel with a sweet protagonist who will capture the hearts of readers of any age.

Book Details:

All He Knew by Helen Frost
New York: Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers    2020
254 pp.

Crossing Stones by Helen Frost

Set during the First World War, Crossing Stones is the story of two families who live across from one another on Crabapple Creek. Frost has structured her novel in a unique way, with four separate narrators who tell their stories in free verse.

The Jorgensen family including Muriel and her younger siblings, sixteen year old Ollie and seven year old Grace, live across Crabapple Creek from the Norman family which includes Emma and Frank and their parents.

The novel opens in April, 1917 with Muriel questioning her teacher, Mr. Sanders, during class as to why all the "real life" secretaries are women but in school they only learn about men secretaries. Muriel is angry to learn from President Woodrow Wilson, that the United States will send men to fight in the war. Ollie is still to young to enlist, but Frank has been in basic training in Kansas for the past six months. The President Wilson tells the nation he will need an army of five hundred thousand men.

Mr. Sanders talks to Muriel's parents telling them she has no "moral compass" when she questions America's involvement in the war. While Muriel's mother is ashamed, her father defends her freedom to express her opinions. Mr. Sanders tells them that if she continues to question the decision the president has made, other students "may wonder if their classmates are risking their lives for nothing." Papa tells Muriel that she must be careful in the future about people like Mr. Sanders who believe others have no right to different opinions.

Ollie wants to go to fight but he's too young yet. Instead he helps Emma's family while Frank is away by mending fences. Ollie figures by helping out he will build up his muscles so he can look older and enlist illegally. He tells Grace he will make her a playhouse out of the scrap wood.

In the poem, Socks, Muriel talks about the expectations of their families. Emma Norman is her best friend and Frank and Ollie are like brothers, but with Frank coming home on leave next week before he ships out, their mothers seem to have the expectation that Muriel will become the next Mrs. Norman. Muriel likes Frank as a friend but she knows she cannot marry him.

Frank arrives home for ten days of leave after which he will be shipped overseas. Both families have a huge dinner at the Normans home to celebrate his homecoming. During his leave, Muriel graduates from high school. Despite being smarter than all the boys, Muriel is not chosen as valedictorian because she received a "D" in comportment, likely the result of her questioning Mr. Sanders view on the war.. Instead, Arthur Anderson is valedictorian and Muriel feels his speech makes no sense.

                                 "Why is everyone just doing what they're told?
                         The presidents of all the countries should
                 meet somewhere and fight this war themselves
        if they think it's worth fighting.
What are they sacrificing? Have they asked the mothers
        who gave the best years of their lives to raise
                 these boys the presidents are sending into battle?
                            No! Women don't even get to vote -- it isn't fair!

Frank thinks Muriel sounds like the suffragettes. Muriel enjoys her graduation dancing with all the boys but Arthur. On the way home, Frank mentions about all the local boys who are enlisting and then suddenly asks Muriel for a kiss. Frank wants to have a girl back home to write to when he is in France, "someone to keep fighting for". Muriel refuses because she doesn't want to just be "someone" whom Frank hurriedly chooses before going off to war. Refusing Frank a kiss results in an argument with Emma who feels this might have been good for Frank while he's at war.

With Frank and many of the other men gone to war, women begin filling in for the men. Muriel's Mama decides to go work for a shop manager as a bookkeeper "for the duration" and the housework falls to Muriel. When Muriel's mother tells her how important mothers are because they raise their children to be honest, Muriel questions the wisdom of this when these children are then sent off to fight wars.

Shortly after Frank is sent overseas, Ollie slips away, taking the train to the city to secretly enlist. Muriel and her family find out when the mailman brings a letter later that day from Ollie explaining what he's done. Muriel's Papa wants to go retrieve Ollie, but Mr. Norman persuades him that doing so might land Ollie in jail.

Meanwhile in July 1917, Papa tells Muriel that the government has passed a law, the Espionage Act,  punishing people who speak out against the war. Papa warns Muriel to be careful and he worries about his sister, Muriel's Aunt Vera, who is involved with the suffragettes protesting for the right to vote for women.

Frank's letters to Emma and his parents tell of adventure. His letters to Muriel are heavily censored, leading Muriel to wonder, if the war is right, why are the soldier's letters blacked out? Ollie too is beginning to regret having signed up and wonders if Muriel was right. A letter from Aunt Vera tells about the protests by the suffragettes and that she is going to Washington to join the picket line in front of the White House. She plans to be in Washington only a week and will stop to visit Muriel.

However shortly after Muriel's father receives a letter from Vera telling them about a controversial sign the suffragettes have made equating President Wilson with the Kaiser of Germany. Vera has been arrested and is in jail. The protests in Washington with new suffragettes replacing those who are arrested mimic the war effort as new soldiers fill in for those who are killed. Frank writes to Muriel that they can't seem to stop a war that is consuming millions.

And then one Saturday afternoon, the lives of the Jorgensen and Norman families are changed forever with the news that Frank has been killed in action. While trying to comfort Emma, Muriel struggles to deal with her own grief for a man she did not want to marry but she certainly wanted to return home safe and sound. Frank's death marks the beginning of several crises that Muriel and her family must deal with leading her to make some hard but different choices about how she will live her life.

Discussion

Crossing Stones is an exquisitely crafted novel, from its expressive jacket art by Richard Tuschman to the uniquely structured poems within. Frost deals with two major historical events in her novel, the entry of the United States into the Great War and the suffragette movement to achieve the right to vote for women. These two dramas are the backdrop for the simple farm life of two families, knit together by the bonds of friendship and love. There are two prospective couples, Ella Norman and Ollie Jorgensen and Muriel Jorgensen and Ella's brother Frank. Ella and Ollie share a mutual affection for one another that eventually leads to love. However, Frank and Muriel, although good friends, do not know what they want. Frank seems to feel an attraction to Muriel but he's a cautious person by nature and without the encouraging cues from Muriel only decides to push their friendship before he leaves for France. This makes him seem a bit calculating which puts Muriel off. And Muriel doesn't like their families' expectations that she will some day marry Frank.

Frank's final letter to Muriel, which comes with his personal affects weeks after his death, reveals the deep conflict he felt over fighting and killing other men, how the truth of the war was being kept out of the newspapers and how Muriel's questions about the war lead him to doubt deeply about what was happening and to hesitate to kill. For Muriel, these revelations have a lasting effect.

"A bullet and a bandage for the wound
         it causes, all in one small envelope.
                  My questions may have caused a hesitation
                           that cost Frank his...his certainty.
                  His life? However long I live, it won't
         be long enough to silence that suggestion."


Grace's drawing is a foreshadowing of Frank's death; the picture showing the crossing stones with Emma and Ollie and "a stone with no one on it, my hand stretched out toward it, reaching out to someone who's not there."

While everyone is struggling to come to some kind of terms with Frank's death, Ollie arrives home, having lost an arm while saving a fellow soldier from being run over by a tank. Emma who is trying to cope with the loss of her brother, now has to deal with what has happened to Ollie. Despite being changed by his experiences in the war, Ollie is helped to heal by the wonderful acceptance and love of Emma.

Besides exploring the issues surrounding the First World War, Frost also includes much information about the suffragette movement in the United States during 1917. This is done through the eyes of Muriel who writes about the picketing women and their treatment by men in Washington, their arrest and the forced feeding of the suffragettes.

Another aspect especially appealing in Crossing Stones was Frost's positive portrayal of family life at the turn of the century. The Norman family suffers the loss of their only son, Frank, and in response to this tragedy, Muriel's Mama goes over to stay with Mrs. Norman. When Ollie returns home recovering from the loss of his arm, Muriel's family pulls together to help him recover, but Muriel also offers him the space on their walks to talk about the war and what he experienced. It is these talks that help Ollie to begin to heal.  When Grace becomes ill with the influenza that is sweeping through the towns, Emma carries her to the stream so Ollie can take her and Mrs. Norman brings soup for Grace.

The poetry in this book is nothing short of impressive. In her Author's Note at the back of the book Helen Frost provides her readers with some information on the form and structure of her poetry which she wanted to reflect the idea of "stepping from stone to stone across a creek". Muriel's poems look like a meandering river while Ollie and Emma's poems are representative of the stepping stones. Their poems are " 'cupped-hand sonnets,' fourteen-line poems in which the first line rhymes with the last line, the second line rhymes with the second-to-last, and so on, so that the seventh and eighth lines rhyme with each other at the poem's center." However, while the rhyming words are found at the end of the lines in Emma's poems, in Ollie's poems the rhyming words are the first in each line. Frost goes on to explain further how Ollie and Emma's poems are connected to each other.

Crossing Stones is a wonderful historical novel that conveys both the horror of World War 1 as experienced by both the men who fought and their families back home, as well as the determination and pluck the suffragettes demonstrated as they fought for the right to be politically equal to men. Creative, unique, poignant and sensitive in its treatment of these issues and of families torn apart by a senseless war and a changing social order, Crossing Stones is a true gem.

Image credit: https://encyclopediavirginia.org/13676-0502d6193039c90/

Book Details:

Crossing Stones by Helen Frost
New York: Frances Foster Books      2009
184 pp.