Anderson offers a beauty—rich, multilayered, full of stories within stories, with the ethereal touch she showed so deftly in Going Through the Gate (1997) and The Monkey Tree (1998). On his 13th birthday, Ellsworth Smith—his father calls him Zee—finds, as usual, a card from his distant cousin Elizabeth. This time, though, she asks him to come to Smiths Mills in upstate New York, to the family’s place, and sends him the money to do so. Zee’s dad, Ben Robert, cannot even talk about his family, so Zee makes the journey alone. It’s a wonderful place, where, in the 19th century, John Matthew Smith built ten houses around the Sward for his children and left treasures for them. As the tale unfolds, Zee, along with his vibrant, jittery girl cousin, Jess, learns in complicated ways how the first two treasures were found in houses now abandoned. Zee learns which cousins no longer speak, which can do nothing but fight, and sees how traits of artistic talent, mechanical puzzles, and love of animals run through the family. The Civil War, Quaker belief, and the joys of cats all play a role here, but none so strong as the fierce bonds between parent and child, brother and cousin, and soon, between Jess and Zee, who look alike enough to be twins. They discover that treasure comes in many forms. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: April 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-525-46919-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
Illegal immigrant sisters learn a lot about themselves when their family faces deportation in this compelling contemporary drama. Immigrants from Bangladesh, Nadira, her older sister Aisha and their parents live in New York City with expired visas. Fourteen-year-old Nadira describes herself as “the slow-wit second-born” who follows Aisha, the family star who’s on track for class valedictorian and a top-rate college. Everything changes when post-9/11 government crack-downs on Muslim immigrants push the family to seek asylum in Canada where they are turned away at the border and their father is arrested by U.S. immigration. The sisters return to New York living in constant fear of detection and trying to pretend everything is normal. As months pass, Aisha falls apart while Nadira uses her head in “a right way” to save her father and her family. Nadira’s need for acceptance by her family neatly parallels the family’s desire for acceptance in their adopted country. A perceptive peek into the lives of foreigners on the fringe. (endnote) (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2006
ISBN: 1-4169-0351-8
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Ginee Seo/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2005
When Clara Luna, 14, visits rural Mexico for the summer to visit the paternal grandparents she has never met, she cannot know her trip will involve an emotional and spiritual journey into her family’s past and a deep connection to a rich heritage of which she was barely aware. Long estranged from his parents, Clara’s father had entered the U.S. illegally years before, subsequently becoming a successful business owner who never spoke about what he left behind. Clara’s journey into her grandmother’s history (told in alternating chapters with Clara’s own first-person narrative) and her discovery that she, like her grandmother and ancestors, has a gift for healing, awakens her to the simple, mystical joys of a rural lifestyle she comes to love and wholly embrace. Painfully aware of not fitting into suburban teen life in her native Maryland, Clara awakens to feeling alive in Mexico and realizes a sweet first love with Pedro, a charming goat herder. Beautifully written, this is filled with evocative language that is rich in imagery and nuance and speaks to the connections that bind us all. Add a thrilling adventure and all the makings of an entrancing read are here. (glossaries) (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2006
ISBN: 0-385-73343-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2006
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