ROOTS AND WINGS

Fourteen-year-old Grace’s beloved grandmother Naree has died, and Grace and her mother are going to St. Petersburg, Fla., to give her a traditional funeral in the midst of the Cambodian community that she loved. Grace also hopes to find some answers to the questions that plague her: Why did her mother and grandfather leave Florida for Scottsville, Pa., the only home Grace has ever known, where there is no Cambodian community at all? What scarred her grandmother’s face, and what happened to her before she left Cambodia? How can Grace best honor the memory of her grandmother? What is Cambodian culture really like? And, perhaps most importantly, who and where is Grace’s father? Suddenly caught up in this close-knit community and confused by the clash between Cambodian and American culture, Grace begins to find some answers—and some more questions. Replete with details depicting religious and social beliefs, Grace’s quest for answers makes for an intriguing contemplation on life within Cambodian-American immigrant community, as well as a satisfying coming-of-age story. (Fiction. 12-14)