February 17, 2022

One-In-A-Million Boy by Monica Wood
#throwbackthursday

Genre/Categories: Fiction, Family Life, Unique Characters

Welcome to Throwback Thursday where I highlight an older review or post a current review of an old read. Today, I’m re-sharing one of my favorite quirky reads, One-In-A-Million Boy by Monica Wood. I included a brief review of this story in another post and now on the occassion of Throwback Thursday, I’m giving this review its own post.

I’m linking up today with Davida @ The Chocolate Lady’s Book Review Blog for #throwbackthursday.

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

My Summary:

Are you looking for a unique story?

An atypical 11-year-old boy is sent to help 104-year-old Ona every Saturday morning as part of a community service project. As he refills the bird feeders and helps with other odd jobs, he and Ona share cookies and milk and Ona tells him about her long life. He records her responses as part of a school interview project.

One Saturday, the boy doesn’t show up. Ona starts to think he’s not so special after all, but then his father arrives on her doorstep, determined to finish his son’s good deed.

My Thoughts:

Character Driven and Plot-Driven Balance: I love a character-driven story with enough plot to keep my interest. In the story, there are quirky characters to meet, relationships to figure out, a project to be completed, and a mission to achieve. It’s unique, heartfelt, memorable, and quirky; hopeful and bittersweet.

Structure: Told in a past and present timeline, the story has an interesting main character in that the boy is unnamed. This deliberate choice by the author left me pondering why. The boy is only half the story. The other half is about the boy’s father and his own relationship with Ona.

Themes: Important themes include the unlikely friendship between generations, loneliness, loss, grief, hope, healing, chosen family, and second chances.

Recommended: I’m recommending this unique story for fans of quirky characters, warm-hearted and endearing fiction, and chosen family.  One-In-A-Million Boy earned a spot as one of my favorites of 2016, and I’m urging you not to miss this memorable and uplifting story!

Trigger Warning: Loss of a child

My rating: 4.5 Stars

One-In-A-Million Boy Information Here

Meet the Author, Monica Wood

I was born in Mexico, Maine, to a family of devout Irish Catholics, a family of paper mill workers. My father and my mother’s parents came from Prince Edward Island in Canada, and brought with them the island tradition of storytelling. Although my sisters and I were the first generation in the family to go to college, I think of my background as a literary one. My father had a lilting island brogue and beautiful grammar; the notion that stories had to be told in a certain way was something I learned early. My grandfather used to sing long, melodramatic, novelistic ballads, another island tradition. I am not one of those writers who claim to have been weaned on  Proust, but I did read a lot, a happy habit for a child, I think, no matter what the material.  http://www.monicawood.com/

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QOTD:

Have you read One-In-A-Million Boy or is it on your TBR?

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Happy Reading Book Buddies!

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“I read because books are a form of transportation, of teaching, and of connection! Books take us to places we’ve never been, they teach us about our world, and they help us to understand human experience.”
~Madeleine Riley, Top Shelf Text

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Unless explicitly stated that they are free, all books that I review have been purchased by me or borrowed from the library.

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