WHERE TO NOW, BLUE?

by Adrien Stoutenburg ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 18, 1978

Where, indeed? Twelve-year-old Blueberry (for her eyes) Flynn (after her lowdown stepfather) prefers to think of herself as Linda Lincoln, destined for better things than Chicksaw Landing has to offer. Ma has sunk into love-story-and-beer lethargy, wonderful big brother Tad has taken off, but down the river in Minneapolis lives Uncle Stewart Lincoln, who sent Blue some treasured beads one Christmas and must be a gentleman and rich. So Blue sets off--in the boat that Tad left, with cat, parrot, and little orphan Tibo, who insists on being taken or he'll tell. A good thing too, since Blue is a stock wishful-thinker (seeing a family connection, also, with President Abe) whereas Tibo is a realist: told by the picky, intolerant Blue that he's always feeling sorry for himself, he retorts: ""Who else is gonna?"" The two are grudgingly aided by loner Lena Finch, then--when a storm batters their boat--taken in by the nice solicitous middle-class Coulters (14-year old Harley will be Blue's first small flame) who, however, speed them straightaway to Uncle Stewart. At whose address, unsurprisingly, they find a ramshackle house, a glum woman (Blue's hitherto unknown aunt), and the news that Uncle Stewart is a year dead. With no place else to go--the Coulters wouldn't, Miss Finch can't, take them in--Blue and Tibo head for home, sad but, they insist, wiser; together they'll bide their time. More sit-tight advice (see Smith, above) but in this case a big letdown and something of a fraud: to take the pair from a real plight through rigged adventures only to deposit them on the same, unchanged doorstep is hardly fair to the reader.

Pub Date: Sept. 18, 1978

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Four Winds

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1978

Categories: FICTION