Shadow Girl - Softcover

Morrison, Patricia

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1770492909 ISBN 13: 9781770492905

Publisher: Tundra Books, 2013

Synopsis

This novel for ages nine and up is the story of a resilient young girl who struggles as the daughter of an alcoholic father and an absentee mother. Left alone to fend for herself for days at a time, she is observed by a kind and compassionate saleswoman at the mall she retreats to every day after school to avoid going "home." The saleswoman gains her trust and takes action into her own hands by reporting the girl's situation to social services. She is placed in foster care, where she dreams of being reunited with her dad, despite the deprivations in her life with him. The relationship between the girl and her foster mother is painful, and the girl's spirit disintegrates. Eventually, the saleswoman "adopts" the girl into her caring family, whose love and support enable her, finally, to believe in herself.

About this title

About the Author

Born and raised in Toronto, Patricia Morrison traveled extensively before settling down in Langley, British Columbia. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Simon Fraser University, where she majored in English and Women's Studies. She worked for fourteen years in child welfare for the Ministry of Children and Families and was a community activist for more than twenty years. She is married with children. Shadow Girl is her first book.

From School Library Journal

Gr 5-8-In 1963, Jules, 11, lives with her father after her mother's departure, and their fragile situation becomes more tenuous when he leaves her on her own for days. Her visits to a nearby department store to play with a doll help her imagine a better life, but that isn't what she gets. Confessing her abandonment to a friendly clerk results in Jules being put into foster care where her hurt and loneliness become sharper. Some small blessings are outweighed by the distracted parents and older sisters who can't be bothered. Morrison shows Jules's thoughts in first-person italics while the third-person narrative describes events. These italics are effective in showing how the girl's perspective is not what those around her expect and the depth of her distress as she struggles to be loved. As her alcoholic father distances himself and becomes increasingly unreliable and eventually disappears, Jules longs for a normal family and a place where she is not a shadow. Acting out at school and in the foster home are attempts to be seen for herself, but it doesn't work. Touching and painful at times, this story reads like a memoir, and it will satisfy those who want a sad story. Tears will flow.-Carol A. Edwards, Denver Public Library, COα(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

About this edition

• Publisher: Tundra Books
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1770492909
• ISBN 13: 9781770492905
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224