Tall Story

by Candy Gourlay

Overview

Andi is short. And she has lots of wishes. She wishes she could play on the school basketball team, she wishes for her own bedroom, but most of all she wishes that her long-lost half-brother, Bernardo, could come and live in London where he belongs.

Then Andi's biggest wish comes true and she's minutes away from becoming someone's little sister. As she waits anxiously for Bernardo to arrive from the Philippines, she hopes he'll turn out to be tall and just as crazy as she is about basketball. When he finally arrives, he's tall all right. Eight feet tall, in fact—plagued by condition called Gigantism and troubled by secrets that he believes led to his phenomenal growth.

In a novel packed with quirkiness and humor, Gourlay explores a touching sibling relationship and the clash of two very different cultures.


From the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780375898471
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	02/08/2011
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	10 Years

About the Author

CANDY GOURLAY was born in Manila during the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. After working as a journalist for some years, she moved to the U.K. in her twenties. Candy is now a full-time writer across a range of mediums: short stories, blogs, Web sites, journalistic features, and radio programs. Tall Story is Candy's first full-length published novel.  Visit her on the Web at CandyGourlay.com.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 6–9—Separated for years by immigration restrictions, Bernardo, a Philippine teen, finally gets legal permission to join his mother, a nurse, in England. His younger half sister, Andi, can't wait to meet her eight-foot-tall brother and share with him her love of basketball. Bernardo's desire to join his family is tempered by his loyalty to his village where he is compared to a legendary giant revered as a protector from earthquakes. After arriving in England, Bernardo gets medical help for a pituitary tumor and seizures; inadvertently propels his sister into realizing her dream of playing basketball; and reconciles his fears about leaving his village. Bernardo and Andi tell their compelling, heartwarming reunion story in alternating chapters. Bernardo grapples with adjusting to life in England, physical pain and superstition, and guilt when an earthquake destroys his Philippine village. Meanwhile, Andi struggles to fit into a new school and cope with added family responsibilities. Contemporary Tagalong and British vernacular enhance the brother/sister narration and enliven the depiction of cultures. In her first young adult novel, Gourlay offers an appealing blend of diverse characters, emotional conflicts, well-paced action, and an upbeat finale. The challenges facing separated, immigrant families and the universal teen desire for acceptance and respect ring true.—Gerry Larson, Durham School of the Arts, NC

School Library Journal

Thirteen-year-old Andi's brother, Bernardo, has lived halfway across the world from her since she was born. But the British Home Office has finally allowed 16-year-old Bernardo to immigrate to London, and he arrives just as basketball-obsessed Andi is struggling at a new school where the basketball team is boys-only. Bernardo has grown up in the small Philippine village of San Andres where he is hailed as a hero—often compared to the legendary, Paul Bunyanesque figure of Bernardo Carpio—yet is plagued by a past tragedy. At over eight feet tall, Bernardo is indeed a giant, a fact that initially freaks out tiny Andi (the family discovers he has a tumor on his pituitary gland). The story switches between Andi's feisty narration and Bernardo's descriptions of life in his village (and the mystical responsibility he feels for it) as well as his adjustment to life in London. Small details, such as why modern-day Andi idolizes Michael Jordan instead of, say, LeBron James distract slightly, but overall first-time author Gourlay weaves just enough magic into this moving family reunion to deliver an emotional punch. Ages 10–up. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review, School Library Journal, March 2011:
"Contemporary Tagalong and British vernacular enhance the brother/sister narration and enliven the depiction of cultures. In her first young adult novel, Gourlay offers an appealing blend of diverse characters, emotional conflicts, well-paced action, and an upbeat finale. The challenges facing separated, immigrant families and the universal teen desire for acceptance and respect ring true."

From the Publisher

In this story of a family caught between two cultures, a dual narration illuminates the dichotomy of realities faced by half-siblings Andi and Bernardo. Jayne Entwistle captures Andi’s humor and youthful hopefulness as the story opens with a dramatic homecoming. Ramon de Ocampo gives a stellar performance as Bernardo, the long-lost brother who has grown up in the Philippines and who suffers from gigantism. The vocal contrast between Entwistle’s British accent and de Ocampo’s Filipino one adds to the polarity of the characters. Andi, the smallest in her grade, has big dreams of playing basketball, and Bernardo, at eight feet tall, is trying to find his place outside the superstitions he left behind. Like Andi’s shot, you can’t miss with this production. E.A.B. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

JUNE 2012 - AudioFile

In this story of a family caught between two cultures, a dual narration illuminates the dichotomy of realities faced by half-siblings Andi and Bernardo. Jayne Entwistle captures Andi’s humor and youthful hopefulness as the story opens with a dramatic homecoming. Ramon de Ocampo gives a stellar performance as Bernardo, the long-lost brother who has grown up in the Philippines and who suffers from gigantism. The vocal contrast between Entwistle’s British accent and de Ocampo’s Filipino one adds to the polarity of the characters. Andi, the smallest in her grade, has big dreams of playing basketball, and Bernardo, at eight feet tall, is trying to find his place outside the superstitions he left behind. Like Andi’s shot, you can’t miss with this production. E.A.B. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

JUNE 2012 - AudioFile

Twelve-year-old Andi's pleasure in her family's move to a real house and the coincidental long-awaited arrival of her older half brother from the Philippines is overshadowed by learning that only boys play basketball at her new school. For Bernardo, happiness about his immigration clearance is tempered by worry that his departure will expose his small village to earthquakes. Ever since he began to grow—he's now 8 feet tall—some villagers believe he is the returned legendary giant Bernardo Carpio, who saved San Andres from being crushed long ago. In alternating chapters, Andi and Bernardo describe Bernardo's first days in London—the chilly weather, the MRI for the seizures that Bernardo has begun to experience, the first real clothes that fit his tall body, the sister and parents who love him.Andi's voice is genuinely funny, tender and acerbic, especially about her parents; Bernardo's is thoughtful and earnest, his forays into English nicely handled with sympathetic humor.Gourlay spins slender threads of wishes and prayers, magic and miracles, desires and redemption and weaves together an impressively sweet and rich tale.(Fiction. 9-13)

Kirkus Reviews