by Susan Taylor Brown ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2006
When Rachel’s mother runs away from home, Rachel and her dad can barely cope. In a series of bland verses, Rachel breaks up the time since her mother’s flight into sections labeled, The First Day, The First Week, The First Month, The First Year. As she and her father get to know one another, they cope with grief, guilt and their newly-forming affection for each other. Rachel’s initial shock and fury are tempered as she learns how her seemingly distant father always wanted a child and so convinced his pregnant, bipolar girlfriend to stay with him and raise their baby. Rachel’s growing comprehension of her mother’s mental illness is heartbreaking, despite the story’s troubling judgmental perspective of a severely ill woman whose issues with unplanned motherhood are presented as indifference. Despite weaknesses, a poignant tale of father-daughter love and friendship. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2006
ISBN: 1-58246-180-5
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Tricycle
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2006
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by Susan Taylor Brown & illustrated by Mary Sullivan
by Kimberley Griffiths Little ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 8, 1999
An Anglo-Indian boy finds a measure of peace in the landscape of his deceased mother’s childhood, and begins to understand the source of his compulsion to run. The summer after his mother’s death, Kendall is sent to visit his great-grandfather, Armando, a Native American who lives on top of a mesa, in Acoma, or Sky City; it’s a largely abandoned pueblo built centuries ago, overlooking the valley that lies between it and another mesa known as the Enchanted Mesa. Kendall has always been a runner, driven by some inner spirit; he learns from Armando that he is the last in a long line of Acoma runners, men who ran as part of their belief system, and who were especially revered for their bravery and stamina. The mysterious Enchanted Mesa challenges Kendall to run as he never has before, and that kindles his curiosity about his family’s past and his own destiny. He begins to understand the part of his nature that he inherited from his mother, but also realizes that he will never be accepted as a true Acoman because of the Anglo blood that is his legacy from his father. Little has composed a fine coming-of-age story; she enhances it with a lot of insight into a vanishing way of life and the need to preserve it. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Aug. 8, 1999
ISBN: 0-380-97623-4
Page Count: 147
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1999
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by Lynne Rae Perkins ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1999
In a quiet, introspective novel, Debbie, 13, faces one of the worst things that can happen to the young; she’s lost a best friend, Maureen, to a boring, rather unpleasant classmate, Glenna. With carefully observed details and moments, picture-book creator Perkins (Clouds for Dinner, 1997, etc.) shows why Debbie can believe that she’ll never have a happy day again. Of course, there are others around, such as her new neighbor, the worldly Maria, and girls from school, but none of them is as wonderful as Maureen. Debbie finds herself hating Glenna, but a kindly teacher helps her realize that Glenna didn’t “take” Maureen—Maureen left. It all adds up to a just examination of one of the small but piercing sorrows of growing up, with a cast of arresting characters, freckles of humor, and black-and-white drawings that enhance the muted tale; Perkins gives the significance of friendship its due, and then some. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-688-16881-7
Page Count: 132
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1999
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by Lynne Rae Perkins ; illustrated by Lynne Rae Perkins
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by Lynne Rae Perkins ; illustrated by Lynne Rae Perkins
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by Cynthia Voigt ; illustrated by Lynne Rae Perkins
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