Red Sky in the Morning

Kids & Parents

Twelve-year-old Anna is looking forward to the birth of her baby brother. Ben arrives, but is disabled and will never be like other children. Anna loves him immensely but she finds herself unable to admit the truth about Ben to her school friends. Eventually the truth gets out and leads not to the ridicule Anna expected, but sympathy and understanding.

About the author

Elizabeth Laird has won numerous awards for her daring children’s books, which have been published around the world. Her last book published by Haymarket Books, A Little Piece of Ground, was named Outstanding International Book for 2007 (U.S. Board on Books for Young People and the Children's Book Council) and received the Young Adult Literature Award for 2006 (Middle East Outreach Council). The 2006 release of Oranges in No Man’s Land in England won the Hull KS2 award and was shortlisted for the Sheffield Children’s Book Award.

Reviews

School Library Journal review of 1989 edition
When Anna Peacock is 12, her brother Benedict is born. Ben is hydrocephalic, loving, and playful, and is easily susceptible to illness. Anna instantly loves her brother but soon realizes that her family life and friendships will be changed by his birth. In a wry first-person narrative, Anna talks about her life with Ben as well as her own self-image, her schoolwork, friendships, and her first job during the two years of Ben's life and the year after he dies. Anna's voice rings true throughout as she moves from awkwardness and judgmental statements to a more mature empathy with others and acceptance of herself. Discussion of handicaps, death and bereavement, and religious belief are carefully integrated into the story and emerge as natural concerns of Anna and her family rather than as issues to be addressed lightly. An additional strength is the well-rounded portrayal of adult characters. Anna's mother, alternately distracted and affectionate; Mrs. Chapman, the insightful shopkeeper who helps Anna understand herself and her brother better; and a sympathetic minister all help Anna to grow up.

"It is, quite simply, a wonderfully moving story about the power of love." —Times Educational Supplement