Although all the evidence points to a plane crash when her dancer mother fails to return from a flight with her stunt-pilot boyfriend, LaMarr refuses to believe she’s dead, insisting that she has gone to Hollywood and will soon be seen in a movie musical. But she’s sent to live with heretofore-unknown relatives in the South. On the long bus ride, she has her first encounter with the sad and mysterious Truly. Her uncle Vital accepts her lovingly, remorseful over his treatment of his sister; her aunt Millie accepts her with trepidation and doubt. Truly appears intermittently and disturbingly at key times and places during her initiation into this new life. Is he her guardian angel or is she his? But it is her relationship with a crusty, wheelchair-bound writer of dime-novel Westerns, as they follow Amelia Earhart’s doomed flight, which leads to the painful acceptance that her mother, like Amelia, is gone forever. The plot encompasses a myriad of problems and events that push the “suspense of disbelief” to its outer limits. LaMarr must face so many issues that it a wonder that she can cope at all. She is dealing with her mother’s death, an entirely new family and way of life, the mystery of Truly’s existence or nonexistence, and on top of that, the identity of her father and the question of whether they can possibly acknowledge each other. In spite of the convoluted plot, Matthews (Scorpio’s Child, 2001, etc.) has created a cast of characters of depth and mystery. Although LaMarr barely scratches the surface in her understanding of the people around her, she realizes that there is more to them and their relationships than she can fathom. Readers will concur. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-8126-2671-0
Page Count: 168
Publisher: Cricket
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
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