The Treasure of Maria Mamoun - Hardcover

Chalfoun, Michelle

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374303401 ISBN 13: 9780374303402

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 2016

Synopsis

Winner of the 2017 Arab American Book Award

Twelve-year-old Maria lives a lonely, latchkey-kid's life in the Bronx. Her Lebanese mother is working two nursing jobs to keep them afloat, and Maria keeps her worries to herself, not wanting to be a burden. Then something happens one day between home and school that changes everything. Mom whisks them to an altogether different world on Martha's Vineyard, where she's found a job on a seaside estate. While the mysterious bedridden owner―a former film director―keeps her mother busy, Maria has the freedom to explore a place she thought could only exist in the movies. Making friends with a troublesome local character, Maria finds an old sailboat that could make a marvelous clubhouse. She also stumbles upon an old map that she is sure will lead to pirate's plunder―but golden treasure may not be the most valuable thing she discovers for herself this special summer.

About this title

About the Author:

Michelle Chalfoun is a pediatric nurse who lives with her husband and children on Long Island, New York. Her first book for young readers, The Treasure of Maria Mamoun, is the winner of the 2017 Arab American Book Award for Children/Young Adults.

From School Library Journal:

Gr 4–7—A city girl moves to an island and finds her true place in the world. Twelve-year-old Maria Mamoun has never met her father, her mother works long hours at two nursing jobs, and Maria's chief entertainment is watching the birds and flowering weeds in the vacant lot across from her dingy Bronx apartment. But after bullying classmates attack Maria, her mother takes a new position as a personal nurse to an elderly film director living on Martha's Vineyard. The protagonist soon uncovers a mystery involving pirates, hidden treasure, and possibly the enigmatic film director himself. Chalfoun's deft prose captures the glories of the New England oceanside, and her well-portrayed major characters change and grow throughout the narrative. The author draws on her own experiences for well-integrated details of the heroine's half-Lebanese background. Although unfamiliar sailing terms are defined in the text, a glossary would have been a helpful addition. The tale wraps up a bit quickly, but happy endings all around fit well within this slightly old-fashioned tale, and Maria's blossoming connections with a large local family and the island itself prove to be the true treasure of the title. VERDICT Readers who enjoyed Jeanne Birdsall's "Penderwicks" series and Elizabeth Enright's "Gone Away Lake" books will appreciate this satisfying summer adventure.—Beth Wright Redford, Richmond Elementary School Library, VT

About this edition

• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0374303401
• ISBN 13: 9780374303402
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352