“A delicate, captivating story; her descriptions of Katrina and its monstrous damage are vivid and heart-wrenching.” — Shelf Awareness (starred review)
Bayou Perdu, a tiny fishing town way, way down in Louisiana, is home to sixteen-year-old Evangeline Riley. She has her best friends, her wise Mamere, and, dearest to her heart, she has the peace that only comes when she takes her skiff out to where there is nothing but sky and air and water and wings. It’s a small life, but it is Evangeline’s. And then the storm comes, and everything changes. With a strong, steady voice, a keen sense of place, and a vivid cast of characters, here is a novel that asks compelling questions about class and politics, exile and belonging, and the pain of being cast out of your home. But above all, this remarkable debut tells a gently woven love story, difficult to put down, impossible to forget.
"Maria Testa uses. . . . verse to tell a poignant story about a child touched by war. . . . An excellent choice for classroom discussion." — Booklist
The thirteen-year-old from Kosova thinks of herself as a typical American schoolgirl. But for her parents, moving to Maine was just a sad necessity, a way to escape from war and find medical care for a daughter scarred up to her chin. But then a hateful event changes everything — forcing residents old and new to reexamine what it means to be an American.
A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age
A Bank Street College Best Children’s Book of the Year
