On the Shelf: The Land of Decoration

THE LAND OF DECORATION | GRACE MCCLEEN | HARPERCOLLINS | 2011

Ten-year-old Judith McPherson is a believer. Her world is carefully constructed around her faith: nightly scripture reading with her father, weekly gatherings at the Meeting Hall and daily proselytizing to the lost. With no TV and no books “of the world” to entertain her, she passes time by creating The Land of Decoration, a model in miniature of The Promised Land which she has made of collected discarded scraps?divine treasures that she squirrels away. But Judith’s troubles are mounting. At school, Neil Lewis’s relentless terrorizing has reached a feverish, dangerous pitch and, in town, a strike threatens the factory where her father works. One Sunday night, terrified of the violence that awaits her in the halls on Monday, Judith conjures a snowstorm in The Land of Decoration made of shaving cream, cotton and cellophane. The next morning the ground outside her window is a crisp, dazzling white. Judith can perform miracles. In fact, she might just be God’s chosen instrument. But with power comes weighty consequences, and Judith must face them head on to keep her faith - and her family - alive.

It’s difficult to find a novel that so beautifully portrays the world of a child. Judith is only ten years old and her worldview shows her innocence and naivety. The things Judith goes through in this novel are far too realistic for young girls her age. For Judith, miracles seem magical; for the adult reader, the situations are heartbreaking.

McCleen’s novel shows how important a world of escape is for a child. Her words paint a picture our own world, in all its cruelty and wonder, and invite us into the imaginary world of Judith’s that seems to have an even bigger, more intense, more dangerous influence on the narrative’s events.

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“I stared at the snow and wondered if I was still dreaming. But the houses weren’t made out of cardboard and the people weren’t made of clay… The snow wasn’t cotton wool or pipe cleaners or felt. It was real. I turned my face to the sky. Whiteness sealed my eyes and my lips. The cold was like silence around me. I went back inside.”