The emotionally satisfying ending underscores the relationship beautifully.
Amelia Otterchild Mackenzie, a Cree-Scottish half-blood, orphaned twice, struggles to find places for herself and her young sister Charlotte among the Hudson’s Bay fur-trading community.
Her birth father abandoned her and her mother when she was an infant, traveling west to the Red River and never returning. She has friends among the white men of the fort, but no place to live; the Cree, who welcome her, are starving. When a mysterious creature swims toward her in a fogbound river, Amelia recognizes it as her pawakan, her spirit-animal, and hopes it will lead her to her true life. The creature is a stallion whose white mistress—the first white woman Amelia has ever seen—is bound for none other than the Red River. Amelia's fascination with the horse leads it to trust her enough to follow her up a swaying gangplank onto a small riverboat; she, Charlotte and the white woman, Orchid, embark on a 600-mile journey west. Harrison sensitively depicts Amelia's feelings of both belonging and abandonment as she stands with her feet in two worlds. The Cree and the white settlers are portrayed accurately and sympathetically, but without sentiment; complicated situations unfold without simple answers. Amelia never believes that the stallion Foxfire belongs to her, only feeling in her heart that they are linked. (A map will be posted on the author’s website.)
The emotionally satisfying ending underscores the relationship beautifully. (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-59990-845-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2013
Poignant, respectful, and historically accurate while pulsating with emotional turmoil, adventure, and suspense.
In the midst of political turmoil, how do you escape the only country that you’ve ever known and navigate a new life? Parallel stories of three different middle school–aged refugees—Josef from Nazi Germany in 1938, Isabel from 1994 Cuba, and Mahmoud from 2015 Aleppo—eventually intertwine for maximum impact.
Three countries, three time periods, three brave protagonists. Yet these three refugee odysseys have so much in common. Each traverses a landscape ruled by a dictator and must balance freedom, family, and responsibility. Each initially leaves by boat, struggles between visibility and invisibility, copes with repeated obstacles and heart-wrenching loss, and gains resilience in the process. Each third-person narrative offers an accessible look at migration under duress, in which the behavior of familiar adults changes unpredictably, strangers exploit the vulnerabilities of transients, and circumstances seem driven by random luck. Mahmoud eventually concludes that visibility is best: “See us….Hear us. Help us.” With this book, Gratz accomplishes a feat that is nothing short of brilliant, offering a skillfully wrought narrative laced with global and intergenerational reverberations that signal hope for the future. Excellent for older middle grade and above in classrooms, book groups, and/or communities looking to increase empathy for new and existing arrivals from afar.
Poignant, respectful, and historically accurate while pulsating with emotional turmoil, adventure, and suspense. (maps, author’s note) (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: July 25, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-88083-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
PROFILES
Dolphin lovers will appreciate this look at our complicated relationship with these marine mammals.
Is dolphin-assisted therapy so beneficial to patients that it’s worth keeping a wild dolphin captive?
Twelve-year-old Lily has lived with her emotionally distant oncologist stepfather and a succession of nannies since her mother died in a car accident two years ago. Nannies leave because of the difficulty of caring for Adam, Lily’s severely autistic 4-year-old half brother. The newest, Suzanne, seems promising, but Lily is tired of feeling like a planet orbiting the sun Adam. When she meets blind Zoe, who will attend the same private middle school as Lily in the fall, Lily’s happy to have a friend. However, Zoe’s take on the plight of the captive dolphin, Nori, used in Adam’s therapy opens Lily’s eyes. She knows she must use her influence over her stepfather, who is consulting on Nori’s treatment for cancer (caused by an oil spill), to free the animal. Lily’s got several fine lines to walk, as she works to hold onto her new friend, convince her stepfather of the rightness of releasing Nori, and do what’s best for Adam. In her newest exploration of animal-human relationships, Rorby’s lonely, mature heroine faces tough but realistic situations. Siblings of children on the spectrum will identify with Lily. If the tale flirts with sentimentality and some of the characters are strident in their views, the whole never feels maudlin or didactic.
Dolphin lovers will appreciate this look at our complicated relationship with these marine mammals. (Fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: May 26, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-545-67605-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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