Where You Belong

by Mary Ann McGuigan

Overview

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST. Where You Belong is the story of thirteen-year-old Fiona, in the Bronx in 1963, who runs away from her alcoholic father and a family that's been evicted. Alone, hungry, with no choices left, she wanders into the black neighborhood and finds her classmate Yolanda-and a journey of self-discovery begins. Together they learn that beyond the bigotry and chaos that adults leave behind lie reasons for hope, a place they can belong-to each other. Originally published in 1997 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Where You Belong was chosen by the National Book Foundation as finalist for the 1997 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. The New York Public Library also named the book to its list of Best Books for the Teen Age. In citing her work, the National Book Foundation wrote: "McGuigan limns the territory between divergent inner and outer landscapes and how individuals learn a tremulous courage to trust themselves and their experiences, despite the physical and psychological violence of the adult world. With sensitivity, empathy, and insight, McGuigan shows us that the young have the character and emotional acumen to recreate themselves and, in doing so, recreate history."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781632635990
Publisher:	Booklocker.com, Incorporated
Publication date:	11/01/2014
Pages:	158
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.37(d)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

Editorial Reviews

Gr 5-8Fleeing her abusive husband, Fiona's mother has found a safe place for herself and her four children in their Bronx neighborhooduntil they are evicted. Now, they face having to board once again with the woman's sister and her six children. Humiliated, Fiona, 13, goes with her older brother, Liam, to stay with their father. She is the one person in the family whom he has never hit, but when it appears that that too may change, Fiona runs away. Her flight takes her into a black neighborhood where she is spotted by Yolanda, a former classmate who takes her under her wing. Yolanda's family circumstances puzzle Fiona, and some of the adventures the girls have both frighten and excite her. But despite her Irish family's prejudices against "coloreds," Fiona's relationship with Yolanda becomes very important to her. After being reunited with her family, Fiona must defy her mother to visit her injured friend in the hospital. If she has learned one thing from Yolanda, it is that if she doesn't stand up for herself, no one will. Fiona's first-person narrative seems at first too mature and self-observant, but as her experiences unfold, the narrator's voice fits her better and better. Set in 1963, this novel brings the girls' very different worlds to life, and the attitudes expressed by the various characters seem authentic as well. The picture of a family nearly destroyed by alcoholism rings true and the presence of drugs in these changing neighborhoods (while very tame by today's standards) adds a note of realism. Only Fiona and Yolanda emerge fully as real, textured characters; nonetheless, the story is an exciting one.Linda Greengrass, Bank Street College Library, New York City

School Library Journal

This second novel from McGuigan (Cloud Dancer, 1994, not reviewed) is set in the Bronx of 1963. When her mother is evicted from her apartment, Fiona, 13, and her older brother, Liam, go back to their father, an abusive drunk. Things don't go well, and Fiona runs away before she is hit, ending up in the black and Puerto Rican neighborhood her parents always warned her away from. At first Fiona is scared, but then she runs into Yolanda Baker, a friend from a former school. The girls spend a picaresque day together, and Fiona's eyes are opened to the African-American community and the civil-rights movement. She meets some caring and unique characters: Yolanda's activist Aunt Cheryl; elderly family friend and doll-maker Cas; daffy Mrs. Carson. A contrived storyline and setting, and Fiona's wise-beyond- her-years narration, result in an unconvincing and sometimes didactic work. The strong point of the novel is that there are no easy answers: Yolanda and Liam's drug-running is catastrophic but unresolved, and, realistically, readers never know whether Fiona's father will be able to reform or if her mother can keep the family together.

Kirkus Reviews