Silent Boy
Encyclopedia
The Silent Boy was written by Lois Lowry
and was published in 2003. Categorized as both a young adult novel and historical fiction, The Silent Boy is set in a 20th-century farm community. The story was inspired by a pile of photos that Lowry found and which are interspersed throughout the narrative. The story is told by Katy Thatcher, the daughter of a small-town physician whose heart is softened by a local boy with an undiagnosed mental condition.
In 2008, Greg Gunning adapted Lois Lowry's novel into a play The Silent Boy. The play was produced by ArtsPower National Touring Theatre, and in September 2008 through May 2009, toured the U.S. The original cast included David Beck as Jacob, Kristen Johnson as Katy, Andrew Dawson as Dr. Thatcher, and Mary C. McLellan as Peggy. In January 2009, Ashleigh Catsos replaced Johnson as Katy Thatcher. The production was very well received by both students and adults.
When Nell, the sister of Jacob, has a baby out of wedlock by Paul Bishop, Jacob is aware of the trouble. He abducts and brings the baby to the Thatcher's house on a stormy night, hoping to save it the way he has saved orphaned lambs by bringing them to a substitute mother. But it doesn't go the way he had planned it to. Later, Katy marries Austin Bishop and becomes a doctor. 50 years later the Asylum closed and Jacob was never seen again. There were no records of him there.
Peggy: A neighbor girl who becomes a "mother's helper" for the Thatcher's and a friend to Katy
Jacob: Peggy's "touched" brother who doesn't speak but sings softly to himself and who is drawn to animals
Nellie: Peggy's older sister who gets pregnant out of wedlock and whose infant Jacob accidentally kills while trying to save it
Mr. Bishop: Father of Austin and Paul, prominent town lawyer
Austin Bishop: A young boy who lives next door to Katy and marries Katy when older
Paul Bishop: Austin’s brother who after fathering Nellie’s child is sent to a Connecticut boarding school.
Laura Paisley Bishop: The youngest Bishop.
Jacob was never heard from again.
Old title: September 1908
New title: Baby Bloomin’ in the Garden
Précis for chapter: Katy, age six, constantly compares her experiences with those of
her friend and neighbor, Austin. She thinks he is “fibbing” when he claims his
new baby sister was found in a garden, but Katy’s own mother confirms
Austin’s story.
Chapter # 2
Old Title: September 1910
New Title: Need
Précis for chapter: Katy likes to know more about people in need. This includes
Peggy, the girl who comes to work for Katy’s family, and Jacob, Peggy’s
unusual younger brother. Peggy tells Katy that Jacob is 13 and that he is "touched in the head"(mentally ill). Katy tells Peggy why she will enjoy living with the
Thatcher family.
Chapter # 3
Old title: October 1910
New title: “Shooda, Shooda, Shooda”
Précis for chapter: Katy and her father run into Jacob on the side of the road on their way to the mill. They pick him up and take him there too. He loved the horses and the sound of the grindstone moving over the grain. He made the sound of “Shooda, shooda, shooda” mimicking the sound of the grindstone. When Katy, Jacob, and Katy’s father got to the mill, he takes them into a room where he does doctoring. He shows Jacob and Katy a patient who needed stitches. Katy was very interested in it so she didn’t notice Jacob sneak off. When they found out he did they went to look for him and found him at the grindstones. They soon take Jacob back to the Stoltz farm and then go home.
Chapter # 4
Old Title: November 1910
New Title: Maternity Dresses
Précis for chapter: Katy and Peggy talk about Jacob when getting ready for school. They talk about how he doesn’t have to go to school and how he loved animals. Katy finds a catalogue that she likes and picks out dresses that she wants. She shows it to Peggy but Peggy tells her to put it back on the page her mother had it on—the maternity dress page. Katy is confused by this so her father takes her to his office and explains that her mother is having a baby.
Chapter # 5
Old Title: December 1910
New Title: The First Snowfall
Précis for chapter: Katy wakes up to the first snow of the season. She goes out to sled and her father goes off to work with his patients. Soon after Katy goes out, Nellie (Peggy’s sister), asks Katy if she could let Peggy come out and play. Peggy could so they all went sledding except Peggy and Katy went on the baby hill.
Chapter # 6
Old Title: January 1911
New Title: The Bright Tin Pale
Précis for chapter: Nellie came over to talk with Peggy about “grown up girl” things, in which Katy was not allowed to join into. She went to complain to her mother and found her doing a memory book. Her mother showed her a picture of two little girls standing next to each other looking unhappy. She asked Katy if she remembered this picture and Katy did. She thought about that day and how she was jealous of her friend Jessie’s bright pale, and how she hid from her parents and observing the world from afar.
Chapter # 7
Old Title: February 1911
New Title: Burned to the Ground
Précis for chapter: Katy’s father came home with the news of the mill being burned to the ground. Some people blamed Jacob for the fire but it was really a late worker lighting a cigar and the dust from it exploded and soon after the mill was gone.
Chapter # 8
Old Title: March 1911
New Title: Touched in the Head
Précis for chapter: Katy was very bored so she asked if she could go with her father to the asylum. She waited outside of it while her father went in to help someone. She read and talked to the horses until she heard a scream. She got scared but still waited for her father to come out. When he did he explained to her how they scream to let out emotions.
Chapter # 9
Old Title: April 1911
New Title: Tragedy and Disaster!
Précis for chapter: Katy’s grandma came down for the baby. Katy went to pick her up at the train station. The next day Austin came over and they played a game tragedy and disaster. They played about two boats that collided in the ocean and were ruined.
Chapter # 10
Old Title: April 1911
New Title: Full of Surprises
Précis for chapter: Peggy took Katy on a surprise visit to the Stoltz farm. They went to the barn there and Jacob had a surprise for her, a kitten! They soon went to have and early dinner and Katy’s father called and told her that she had to come home. When she got home she went upstairs to her mother’s room to find a new baby sister.
Lois Lowry
Lois Lowry is an American author of children's literature. She began her career as a photographer and a freelance journalist during the early 1970s...
and was published in 2003. Categorized as both a young adult novel and historical fiction, The Silent Boy is set in a 20th-century farm community. The story was inspired by a pile of photos that Lowry found and which are interspersed throughout the narrative. The story is told by Katy Thatcher, the daughter of a small-town physician whose heart is softened by a local boy with an undiagnosed mental condition.
In 2008, Greg Gunning adapted Lois Lowry's novel into a play The Silent Boy. The play was produced by ArtsPower National Touring Theatre, and in September 2008 through May 2009, toured the U.S. The original cast included David Beck as Jacob, Kristen Johnson as Katy, Andrew Dawson as Dr. Thatcher, and Mary C. McLellan as Peggy. In January 2009, Ashleigh Catsos replaced Johnson as Katy Thatcher. The production was very well received by both students and adults.
Plot summary
The Silent Boy is told by Katy Thatcher, an old woman in 1987, about a critical period in her life from 1908 to 1911. Katy, whose father is a community doctor, dreams of becoming a doctor herself. Katy takes an interest in Jacob, a “touched” boy from a neighboring farm, who can't speak, but somehow hums quietly to himself, and seems able to communicate with animals. Jacob occasionally comes to the Thatcher home to be in the barn with the animals. Katy shares Jacob’s love of animals and comes to feel she can communicate with him in a rudimentary but empathetic way.When Nell, the sister of Jacob, has a baby out of wedlock by Paul Bishop, Jacob is aware of the trouble. He abducts and brings the baby to the Thatcher's house on a stormy night, hoping to save it the way he has saved orphaned lambs by bringing them to a substitute mother. But it doesn't go the way he had planned it to. Later, Katy marries Austin Bishop and becomes a doctor. 50 years later the Asylum closed and Jacob was never seen again. There were no records of him there.
Character List
Katy Thatcher: The main character, a pre-teen daughter of a rural doctor who dreams of becoming a doctor herselfPeggy: A neighbor girl who becomes a "mother's helper" for the Thatcher's and a friend to Katy
Jacob: Peggy's "touched" brother who doesn't speak but sings softly to himself and who is drawn to animals
Nellie: Peggy's older sister who gets pregnant out of wedlock and whose infant Jacob accidentally kills while trying to save it
Mr. Bishop: Father of Austin and Paul, prominent town lawyer
Austin Bishop: A young boy who lives next door to Katy and marries Katy when older
Paul Bishop: Austin’s brother who after fathering Nellie’s child is sent to a Connecticut boarding school.
Laura Paisley Bishop: The youngest Bishop.
Jacob was never heard from again.
Books Summary
Chapter # 1Old title: September 1908
New title: Baby Bloomin’ in the Garden
Précis for chapter: Katy, age six, constantly compares her experiences with those of
her friend and neighbor, Austin. She thinks he is “fibbing” when he claims his
new baby sister was found in a garden, but Katy’s own mother confirms
Austin’s story.
Chapter # 2
Old Title: September 1910
New Title: Need
Précis for chapter: Katy likes to know more about people in need. This includes
Peggy, the girl who comes to work for Katy’s family, and Jacob, Peggy’s
unusual younger brother. Peggy tells Katy that Jacob is 13 and that he is "touched in the head"(mentally ill). Katy tells Peggy why she will enjoy living with the
Thatcher family.
Chapter # 3
Old title: October 1910
New title: “Shooda, Shooda, Shooda”
Précis for chapter: Katy and her father run into Jacob on the side of the road on their way to the mill. They pick him up and take him there too. He loved the horses and the sound of the grindstone moving over the grain. He made the sound of “Shooda, shooda, shooda” mimicking the sound of the grindstone. When Katy, Jacob, and Katy’s father got to the mill, he takes them into a room where he does doctoring. He shows Jacob and Katy a patient who needed stitches. Katy was very interested in it so she didn’t notice Jacob sneak off. When they found out he did they went to look for him and found him at the grindstones. They soon take Jacob back to the Stoltz farm and then go home.
Chapter # 4
Old Title: November 1910
New Title: Maternity Dresses
Précis for chapter: Katy and Peggy talk about Jacob when getting ready for school. They talk about how he doesn’t have to go to school and how he loved animals. Katy finds a catalogue that she likes and picks out dresses that she wants. She shows it to Peggy but Peggy tells her to put it back on the page her mother had it on—the maternity dress page. Katy is confused by this so her father takes her to his office and explains that her mother is having a baby.
Chapter # 5
Old Title: December 1910
New Title: The First Snowfall
Précis for chapter: Katy wakes up to the first snow of the season. She goes out to sled and her father goes off to work with his patients. Soon after Katy goes out, Nellie (Peggy’s sister), asks Katy if she could let Peggy come out and play. Peggy could so they all went sledding except Peggy and Katy went on the baby hill.
Chapter # 6
Old Title: January 1911
New Title: The Bright Tin Pale
Précis for chapter: Nellie came over to talk with Peggy about “grown up girl” things, in which Katy was not allowed to join into. She went to complain to her mother and found her doing a memory book. Her mother showed her a picture of two little girls standing next to each other looking unhappy. She asked Katy if she remembered this picture and Katy did. She thought about that day and how she was jealous of her friend Jessie’s bright pale, and how she hid from her parents and observing the world from afar.
Chapter # 7
Old Title: February 1911
New Title: Burned to the Ground
Précis for chapter: Katy’s father came home with the news of the mill being burned to the ground. Some people blamed Jacob for the fire but it was really a late worker lighting a cigar and the dust from it exploded and soon after the mill was gone.
Chapter # 8
Old Title: March 1911
New Title: Touched in the Head
Précis for chapter: Katy was very bored so she asked if she could go with her father to the asylum. She waited outside of it while her father went in to help someone. She read and talked to the horses until she heard a scream. She got scared but still waited for her father to come out. When he did he explained to her how they scream to let out emotions.
Chapter # 9
Old Title: April 1911
New Title: Tragedy and Disaster!
Précis for chapter: Katy’s grandma came down for the baby. Katy went to pick her up at the train station. The next day Austin came over and they played a game tragedy and disaster. They played about two boats that collided in the ocean and were ruined.
Chapter # 10
Old Title: April 1911
New Title: Full of Surprises
Précis for chapter: Peggy took Katy on a surprise visit to the Stoltz farm. They went to the barn there and Jacob had a surprise for her, a kitten! They soon went to have and early dinner and Katy’s father called and told her that she had to come home. When she got home she went upstairs to her mother’s room to find a new baby sister.