Product Description

“In a series of exquisitely presented snapshots, a young teen struggles to cope with the aftermath of her mother’s suicide. . . . Stunningly beautiful.”—Kirkus Reviews, Starred

“Readers are drawn into Isabel’s world and her determination to keep on going in the face of her overwhelming loss and responsibilities.”—School Library Journal, Starred

An ALA Best Book for Young Adults

A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year

A Kirkus Reviews Editor’s Choice

A Parents’ Choice Gold Award

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #476488 in Books
• Published on: 2005-03-08
• Released on: 2005-03-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 336 pages

Amazon.com Review
In a fascinating departure from her usual folksy Southern fiction, award-winning author Kimberly Willis Holt transports her readers to the island of present-day Guam, where thirteen-year-old Isabel’s family is broken by her mother’s suicide. Numbed by her mother‘s death, Isabel grimly plods through each day, while scribbling in her ever-present notebook. But existence on the colorful, richly cultured island hasn’t ended, and life keeps interrupting Isabel’s sorrow. Her best friend Terecita needs help in becoming the best female cock-fighter on Guam, her father’s fishing assistant, Roman, appears to be flirting with her, and Auntie Bernadette, the local healer, keeps trying to school her in the art of herbs. Meanwhile, Isabel is disturbed by the fact that her father has practically stopped speaking, and her brother Frank is beginning to cut himself when he thinks no one is looking. But Isabel sees, and her heart is hardened: "I may look like my mother, but I’m not like her...I’m not like my mother at all. I am here." Isabel’s challenge will be to learn how to heal, and with the help of her vibrant community, she will. Holt is a masterful plotter--each strand of Isabel’s story comes together beautifully. But that doesn’t mean Holt sacrifices description or character for storyline. Every nuance of the Guam landscape and culture is seen and heard, from the quirky native "eyebrow language," to the illegal thrill of cock fighting. An original and intriguing novel that will send students searching for Guam in the nearest atlas. (Ages 12 to 18) --Jennifer Hubert

From School Library Journal
Grade 5-8-Since her mother's suicide, 13-year-old Isabel Moreno cleans up after her 7-year-old sister and watches and worries about her 12-year-old brother, who spends his nights carving "I hate you" on his bedroom wall. Their fisherman father spends long hours on his boat and has no time for his family. Now, Isabel feels as if she can't remember her mother. No one at her Catholic school or in her small Guam village mentions her name except her Aunt Bernadette, who tries to interest her niece in entering the fiesta-queen contest that her mother won two years in a row. Her brother's collapse, on the day of the fiesta, finally drives the family to get the help they need to work their way out of their grief. Isabel, an aspiring writer, tells her story in short chapters, as if they were entries in a journal. She comes through as a thoroughly believable eighth grader, still in need of support from friends and family, but becoming aware of her distinctive interests and talents as well. A broad range of friends and family is equally believable and sympathetically portrayed. Readers are drawn into Isabel's world and her determination to keep on going in the face of her overwhelming loss and responsibilities. They will welcome the way the adults in her world finally intervene, allowing her to return to middle-school concerns. A beautifully written description of sorrow and recovery that should appeal to a wide audience.
Kathleen Isaacs, Edmund Burke School, Washington, DC
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 6-10. On the first page 13-year-old Isabel finds her mother dead. She committed suicide. What follows is the story of the family's grief, anger, and guilt, told in Isabel's voice in short, sharp vignettes (most a page or less) that capture moments in her life on the island of Guam. There are sudden sharp memories of Mom; compulsive lists Isabel makes to try to get control; fun and rivalry with her friends at school; anger at her cold, distant Tata (he asks her about school but doesn't stop to hear her answer); and always, her anguished feeling of responsibility for her younger siblings. As a child Holt spent several "magical" years on Guam with her father, who was in the military, and the place and culture are an integral part of the story. Occasionally, the local color overwhelms the plot, and the family survivor therapy is purposive. But Holt, who won the National Book Award for When Zachary Beaver Came to Town (1999), is never reverential. Her exquisite, plain, concrete prose never plays down the loss ("At dinner her chair is empty") or the dark, painful struggle to heal. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Character development at its very best!
Isabel was the first to come upon her mother's lifeless body and the empty bottle of sleeping pills. Since that day, Isabel's dad-her Tata-is emotionally haunted by the ghost of his dead wife to the point where he can no longer function as parent to his three young children, choosing instead to spend long hours our on his fishing boat.

Isabel's brother, Frank, has chosen to deal with his sorrow and anger through self-mutilation; and Isabel's little sister, Olivia, is now wetting her bed at night and waking up with nightmares.

Though she needs time to heal and find herself within the remains of her life, Isabel has discovered that her new role in life is of caretaker of the family. To make matters worse, a new American girl has arrived in Guam and threatens to take apart the comfort of Isabel's high school world, her native culture, and her traditional lifestyle-the last things that she felt she had ownership of.

The beauty of this book shows in the easy flow of the words, in the detailed descriptions of the island of Guam, and in the souls of the characters; yet it is unmistakable anguish seen in the pain of the children that stays with you long after the book has ended. The dialogue is honest, so honest that it almost feels as though the reader is invading the privacy of Isabel and her father-a father who still sleeps on the floor of his bedroom, comforted each night by the blanket his daughter lays over him once he has fallen to sleep.

There is nothing assuming or ridiculous about Isabel's thoughts on life, friends, or her mother's death. In fact, her feelings about her friendships leave the reader both annoyed with her childish ways and reminiscent of similar patterns from youth. It's hard to think of a young adult novel that uses its secondary characters so fittingly-Auntie Bernadette, Mrs. Cruz, Teresita, Mary Kelly, and even Mrs. Johnson are all responsible for moving this novel along at a pace that keeps the reader transfixed and hopeful.

While Kimberly Willis Holt is best known for her gentle southern characters, she has introduced the island of Guam with definite exotic warmth.

Moving and Beautiful
I was prepared for another depressing teen angst tale, but instead found myself deeply touched by this book. It is both a wonderful coming of age tale and the story of a family overcoming tragedy and learning to face grief. It is also a fascinating window into the culture of Guam.
Few Americans will be familiar with many aspects of the daily lives of Isobel, her family and her neighbors, but there is a universal experience here for any reader.
Beautifully written in a style reminiscent of Karen Hesse's Into the Dust--not poetry, but yet with a wonderful internal rhythm of its own-- readers who pick up this book are in for a treat. This is young adult fiction as it was meant to be.

A PROFOUND STORY BEAUTIFULLY READ
Award-winning author Kimberly Willis Holt (When Zachary Beaver Came To Town) now brings the poignant story of a young girl's determination to help her family overcome or at least cope with the pain and loss they feel following their mother's suicide.

As read by actress Vivian B. McLaughlin the tale is profound, painful, yet beautiful.

Isabel is good at pretending. She would like to imagine that her mother's death was not unusual; she can think that as no one seems able to voice the reality of the tragedy. Tata responds to overwhelming grief by sleeping on the floor where her mother's body lay. Olivia wets her bed and is wracked by nightmares. Frank, on the other hand, expresses his abandonment by cutting into his bedroom wall.

Isabel knows that she must help them, but how?

There are times when truth is the only antidote for pain.

- Gail Cooke