Year of the Jungle

Little Suzy’s father went off to Viet Nam, but what does that mean?

In Year of the Jungle  Suzanne Collins creates a moving autobiographical picture book about her father going off to war. When she is a young girl Suzy’s father leaves for the war in Viet Nam.  While he is gone Suzy struggles to understand where her father went, why, and when he will be back. She only knows that her father has gone to the jungle and through her innocent eyes she imagines a place that resembles her favorite cartoon; full of trees and smiling animals. However, as time passes, letters, postcards, and packages arrive and her ideas about war change into something more worrying.  Suzy recognizes that the war has changed her world and part of it will never be the same.  Suzanne Collins is no stranger to the subject of war and its effect on children. She has written about it in the highly popular series Gregor the Overlander and The Hunger Games. It seems she has made it her mission to give voice to the youngest victims and she does so with skill and honesty. Year of the Jungle brings the subject home for Collins and to a younger audience. She adeptly portrays the struggle of a child to understand the absence of a Solider-parent.  The illustrations by James Proimos are colorful and cartoony. They effectively complement Collins words to create a complete picture of little Suzy’s world. A wonderful story about a difficult subject that is accessible to children of every age.