In 1956, Edie Jo Houp's small town of Half Moon, North Carolina, is bitterly divided over the issue of letting the town's minority Indian population send their children to the vacation bible school. Her family is divided as well; since her father stood up in church to publicly support the integration they have been shunned by many in the community. Even Edie Jo is divided. On one hand, she and her brother narrowly escape an attack by a gang of teenagers who are Indian; an Indian boy is the prime arson suspect when her grandmother's house is burned to the ground. On the other hand, she falls in love with a charismatic older boy named Cherokee Fish, the brother of the suspected arsonist. This powerful, passionate, and deeply moving novel is ripe with intriguing characters, and fills readers with the tension and foreboding of a town turned against itself. Oughton (The Magic Weaver of Rugs, 1994, etc.) offers no simplistic solutions or black and white situations; good and bad exists on all sides and within all people, and no one is a saint (although the angry and preternaturally wise Cherokee Fish comes close). Most important is the message that societies don't change, only the individual does, through a conscious decision to match actions with beliefs. Novels about the evils of prejudice are common, but this intelligent novel is uncommon indeed, and rings with the truth of heartfelt experience. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: April 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-395-70737-4
Page Count: 161
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1995
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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