REVIEWS:
YEAR OF THE JUNGLE
“In this picture book, Collins sensitively examines the impact of war on the very young, using her own family history as a template.”
—Publishers Weekly
“With a notable lack of patriotic rhetoric or clichés about bravery and honor, Collins holds firm to her childhood memories, creating a universal story for any child whose life is disrupted by war. Important and necessary .”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Collins’ unflinching first-person account details the fears and disappointments of the situation as a child would experience them. And where more realistic illustrations would feel overwrought and sentimental, Proimos’s flat, cartoony drawings, with their heavy lines and blocky shapes, are sturdy and sweet, reflecting a child’s clear-eyed innocence.”
—Booklist
“Proimos’ ink-lined, digitally colored illustrations are the pitch-perfect tonal complement to Collins’ narration, with the family portrayed as wide-eyed, childlike cartoons that carry on with daily life in crayon-bright hues, while young Suzy’s angst-filled imaginings take shape in full-spread, full-bleed gray-tone scenes that twist her innocent favorite animals into recurrent nightmarish motifs and symbols of war. With text and illustrations that invite close reading, this will be a powerful title to share with children well beyond picture-book age.”
—The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
“Collins offers no moralizing on war, just a vivid reminder of what it’s like to be young and innocent in a world that’s not. I can see a lot of kids whose parents are in someplace called Afghanistan — or another confusing place — identifying with Suzy.”
—USA Today, 3 1/2 OUT OF 4 STARS
“Collins deftly balances the fear and freakout of a little girl who learns her dad’s in danger with the upbeat, optimistic portrayal of a kid going about the business of being a kid. James Proimos’ cartoony illustrations are more reassuring and funny than scary. “
—Common Sense Media, 5 OUT OF 5 STARS
“But though post-traumatic stress disorder is often spoken of these days, the more subtle effects of war on the children of men and women serving abroad are less well known…While Sue is not able to formulate her feelings in words, James Proimos’s excellent illustrations capture her confusion…’ Year of the Jungle” may take place in the late 1960s, but with more than 2.3 million Americans deployed abroad between 2001 and 2012, the mixture of anxiety, excitement, fear, boredom and confusion Sue experiences on the home front will be sadly familiar to many children. For them, Collins’s picture book may be a good tool to discuss the complex feelings war brings into a household .”
—The New York Times