[LM_NET] SEC: BOOK REVIEW: The Year We Disappeared by Cylin and John Busby

[Toni Buzzeo <tonibuzzeo@TONIBUZZEO.COM>]

The Year We Disappeared : A Father-Daughter 
Memoir by Cylin Busby and John Busby. Bloomsbury, 2008. 13-978-1-59990-141-1

Buzz has already begun in the children’s 
bookseller community about The Year We 
Disappeared (September 2008), and it is 
well-deserved. This gripping true story, told in 
two voices, will hold readers in place; rarely 
will they voluntarily set the book down, once 
begun.  Told in alternating chapters by a father 
and daughter who lived a year of violence and 
terror after Falmouth, Massachusetts police 
officer John Busby was shot at point-blank range 
and lost the lower half of his face, the book 
carries one along from happiness to 
heart-pounding fear and despair before landing on 
a more tranquil shore of acceptance. The violence 
of the incident is not toned down, nor are the 
more gruesome aspects of its effects and the long 
recovery, but both serve the authenticity of the 
story. None of what is told is for shock 
value.  Most poignant is the struggle laid bare, 
by both authors, to survive the emotional turmoil 
wrought by the incident­terror on Cylin’s part, 
as the innocence of childhood is stolen from her 
and she and her family are placed under 24 hour 
surveillance; anger on John’s part as he 
undergoes surgery after surgery in an attempt to 
render him whole, able to eat and talk again, 
simply because a crime family has been allowed to 
deliver justice in any way it saw fit.  The 
desire for revenge is palpable in John’s chapters 
and the need to fight against that desire almost 
exceeds the human capacity to control it after 
such trauma. Cylin’s chapters remind us of the 
wages of violence, the fall-out that affects the 
families and communities rocked by such tragedy. 
Prepare for a long reserve list when you add this 
title to your high school collection.  Suggested grades 9-12.


Toni Buzzeo, MA, MLIS <mailto:tonibuzzeo@tonibuzzeo.com>
Maine Library Media Specialist of the Year Emerita
Buxton, ME 04093
http://www.tonibuzzeo.com
R is for Research, illustrated by Nicole Wong (Upstart 2008) BRAND NEW! 

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