"Me and Dion, when we go, if I never see you again, I want you to know that I'm somewhere thinking about you, Marie.''...
Friendship lightens the burden of adolescence in a spare novel about two girls drawn together by the common thread of their loss.
Marie, popular daughter of a black professor who developed anti- white sentiments during the civil rights movement, befriends Lena, the essence of "poor white trash.'' Not only is Lena struggling with the death of her mother; she's also tormented by her father's sexual advances. "Lena's eyes seemed to hold on to that sadness as though any minute she'd start crying and no one in the world, not even God, could stop the tears. She didn't cry, though. Behind the sadness in her eyes there was something—like a thin layer of steel.'' Marie's mother, too, is gone, on a ``walkabout'' from which Marie and her father know she'll never return. Marked by their abandonment, the two struggle to negotiate treacherous early adolescence; briefly, they find a gritty comfort in each other. But when Lena's father makes a pass at Lena's younger sister Dion, Lena summons the courage to take her and disappear. Woodson's poignant prose deftly understates issues of race, abuse, and loss as it tracks the friendship's brief course.
"Me and Dion, when we go, if I never see you again, I want you to know that I'm somewhere thinking about you, Marie.'' (Fiction. 12+)Pub Date: May 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-385-32031-0
Page Count: 115
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1994
Beautiful and important.
When Death tells a story, you pay attention.
Liesel Meminger is a young girl growing up outside of Munich in Nazi Germany, and Death tells her story as “an attempt—a flying jump of an attempt—to prove to me that you, and your human existence, are worth it.” When her foster father helps her learn to read and she discovers the power of words, Liesel begins stealing books from Nazi book burnings and the mayor’s wife’s library. As she becomes a better reader, she becomes a writer, writing a book about her life in such a miserable time. Liesel’s experiences move Death to say, “I am haunted by humans.” How could the human race be “so ugly and so glorious” at the same time? This big, expansive novel is a leisurely working out of fate, of seemingly chance encounters and events that ultimately touch, like dominoes as they collide. The writing is elegant, philosophical and moving. Even at its length, it’s a work to read slowly and savor.
Beautiful and important. (Fiction. 12+)Pub Date: March 14, 2006
ISBN: 0-375-83100-2
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
A powerful tale of found family and first love.
After a year away, Ellis returns home to confront her past.
Graduating from high school far from everything familiar was not part of Ellis Truman’s original plans, but she nevertheless ended up spending her senior year with her aunt in California. In Indiana, Ellis practically grew up with the Albrey family and their three tightknit sons, Dixon, Tucker, and Easton. Now, Tucker wants her to return home for matriarch Sandry Albrey’s 50th birthday celebration on the Fourth of July—but Ellis is dreading seeing Easton, as they haven’t talked since she left. Chapters alternate between past and present, and much of the story unravels slowly: How did she come to live with the Albreys? What caused Ellis to then end up in San Diego? What happened in her relationship with Easton? Patient readers will find the heartfelt tension pays off. With her father in and out of jail and an absent mother, socio-economic differences separating Ellis from the middle-class Albreys don’t go unnoticed, and Ellis’ down-to-earth journey shows how she unpacks her feelings about her relationship with her parents. The slow-build romance is swoonworthy, and young adult fans of Colleen Hoover seeking emotional devastation and unforgettable characters will find much to enjoy here. Characters read as White.
A powerful tale of found family and first love. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 10, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-308853-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Jan. 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2022
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