Love and loss, learning to heal after profound sorrow, and finding redemption in family ties are the themes of this well-done effort from Mazer (Good Night, Maman, 1999, etc.). From the haunting first sentence, readers will be captivated by the plight of 13-year-old Sarabeth Silver, who suffers the premature death of her barely 30-year-old mother from a heart attack. Sarabeth, now an orphan (her father died in an accident years before), is taken in by her mother’s best friend and the woman’s husband. Though these people mean well, the living arrangement proves very unsatisfactory. Sorting through some of her mother’s belongings one day, Sarabeth happens upon a telephone book that contains the names of people she’s never heard of. She discovers that these are the names of relatives her mother never contacted or spoke about. Sarabeth has always believed that her mother’s family callously turned their backs on her and her parents, a repudiation occasioned by the couple’s teenage marriage. With the encouragement of very close and caring friends—including a boy on whom Sarabeth has a crush—she musters the courage to travel to her mother’s hometown and become acquainted with her long-lost family. Not only does she discover that there’s no ill will on their part toward her or her parents, but she also learns some other startling truths that reveal her mother in a new light. Sarabeth is herself a well-limned character; she’s very real, though her friends and some other characters come across as too good to be true and the boy she likes is almost too perfect. Still, it’s a fine, sometimes funny, unsentimental read with an ending that will satisfy. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: May 31, 2001
ISBN: 0-688-13350-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
It’s 1949, and 13-year-old Francine Green lives in “the land of ‘Sit down, Francine’ and ‘Be quiet, Francine’ ” at All Saints School for Girls in Los Angeles. When she meets Sophie Bowman and her father, she’s encouraged to think about issues in the news: the atomic bomb, peace, communism and blacklisting. This is not a story about the McCarthy era so much as one about how one girl—who has been trained to be quiet and obedient by her school, family, church and culture—learns to speak up for herself. Cushman offers a fine sense of the times with such cultural references as President Truman, Hopalong Cassidy, Montgomery Clift, Lucky Strike, “duck and cover” and the Iron Curtain. The dialogue is sharp, carrying a good part of this story of friends and foes, guilt and courage—a story that ought to send readers off to find out more about McCarthy, his witch-hunt and the First Amendment. Though not a happily-ever-after tale, it dramatizes how one person can stand up to unfairness, be it in front of Senate hearings or in the classroom. (author’s note) (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Aug. 14, 2006
ISBN: 0-618-50455-9
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2006
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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