Mimi

June 20, 2011
Irish author Newman's first solo effort and U.S. debut will win readers' hearts through the conversational tone and openhearted observations of elementary schoolâaged narrator Mimi, whose mother died 149 days earlier (she is counting) after being hit by a bus. Mimi's life has settled into something of a routine, with Mimi drawing comfort from her extended family and grandparents, but it's not enough: Mimi's family is falling down around her. Her father burns pizza every night for dinner; laundry and groceries have fallen by the wayside; Mimi does not brush her teeth, is late for school, and only does her homework on Wednesdays; and her older siblings, Sally and Conor, barely talk to Mimi or each other. Newman ably conveys a family hanging together by a thread; that Mimi, who is Chinese, is adopted is nearly incidental to the plotâuntil a climactic scene in which she stands up to a school bully. Closing chapters, set six months after the rest of the book's events, provide just enough hope to reassure readers without minimizing the struggles the family has overcome. Ages 8â10.

September 1, 2011

Gr 4-6-Mimi's mother was killed in an accident 149 days ago, and the entire family-father, older brother, and older sister-is still grieving and unable to cope with daily life. The children's father sits at home all day and cooks burnt pizza for dinner, Sally has a horrible secret (according to her diary), and Conor plays drums until late into the night. Mimi can't get to school on time, doesn't do her homework, and misses Mammy terribly. She does regularly see her extended family, giving her some structure and continuity. And all is not dark in Mimi's life-she has a good friend who tells her jokes and stands up for her at school, supportive teachers, and a cousin who is a fun playmate, and the lighthearted bickering of her grandparents is humorous. But a tipping point is looming for this family, and it comes when Sally is accused of stealing from a neighborhood shop and runs away after a fight with their father. His worry and fear finally wake him up, and he knows he has to bring the family back together. With just enough humor to keep readers engaged and a protagonist to whom they can relate, Newman adeptly portrays a family on an emotional edge. He also subtly lets readers figure out that Mimi is Asian and adopted-it is not a big part of her story, just reality.-Terrie Dorio, Santa Monica Public Library, CA

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 15, 2011

A family struggles to get back on track after a bereavement.

"Monday--149 days since Mammy died," heads chapter one, conveying the shape of Mimi's world. Mimi walks through her days leaning on routine: "Monday is Granny's day," when she visits Granny and Grandad after school; Tuesday it's one aunt, Wednesday another. Older siblings Sally and Conor meet her there, and they converge back at home for the evening, where Dad nightly burns a pizza that Mimi tosses to the dog. Grieving dysfunctionally, Dad barely registers his kids besides scorching supper for them. Mimi does no homework; tooth-brushing is ignored. Newman's simple, uncluttered narration skillfully reports action more than emotion, even when the action is crying. Buoying the vibe is ongoing humor--would a goth kid enjoy burnt food because it's black? Why is the pregnant teacher having "contraptions" in class? Mimi seeks connection to Sally via reading Sally's hidden diary, which Sally accusingly addresses to a certain younger-sister spy. Missing Mammy (and Dad, although he's right there), Mimi confronts a school bully and processes her own wish "that I hadn't gotten slanty eyes." However, readers are secure that this extended Irish family considers (adopted, Chinese) Mimi to be 100% their own beloved girl.

Unassuming prose does the trick for this sad and funny tale with a warm ending. (Fiction. 8-10)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

January 1, 2012
This Irish import follows a family through the year following the death of the mother, as described by primary schoolaged Mimi. A rich cast of deftly drawn supporting characters and a couple of subplots (one focusing on Mimi as a child adopted from China) all add up to a warm, believable, and optimistic portrait of grief and connection.

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

November 1, 2011
In this Irish import we follow a family through the year following the death of the mother, a journey described by primary school-aged Mimi. Even with the help of extended family, domestic life has fallen apart as the father has fallen into depression and all the routines of meals, dog-walking, laundry, weeding, and tooth-brushing have been left by the wayside. A rich cast of deftly drawn supporting characters (including aunts, uncles, neighbors, and teachers) and a couple of subplots (one involving Mimi's older sister taking up shoplifting and another focusing on Mimi as a child adopted from China) all add up to a warm, believable, and optimistic portrait of grief and connection. The comfort of a shared running joke is especially nicely woven into the emotional landscape. Newman indulges in an unfortunate tendency to cuteness with Mimi's occasional malapropisms (contraptions for contractions, althesizers for alzheimers), which makes us wink over her head and pulls us away, momentarily, from an otherwise fresh and convincing narrative of what can happen when the bottom falls out of your world. sarah ellis November/Decembr 2011 p. 106 There Is No Long Distance Now: Very Short Stories by Naomi Shihab Nye Middle School, High School Greenwillow 202 pp. 10/11 978-0-06-201965-3 $16.99 The protagonists of each of these thirty-nine very short stories (one thousand words or fewer) are intelligent, articulate adolescents who crave meaningful connections with the wider world. We enter each story quickly, see something happening, get a flash of insight or two, and then exit, often wanting to know more about the characters and their lives. In one of the most moving stories, "Are We Friends?" a chatty cab driver complains about many things, including mosques ruining the whole coast of Texas, and his teenage fare blurts out, "Well, my dad is an Arab...from a Muslim family...and he's adorable. Not very religious in any way but super-sweet. I think you might like him." Her honest response elicits a heartfelt apology from the cabbie, and then the two search for and finally find one thing they can agree on -- the bravery of Elizabeth Smart. Some of the characters recur, but the events don't necessarily occur in chronological order, so the stories do not need to be read in sequence. In "Johnnie," for example, we see the death of a girl named Annie's great-aunt Spitzy, who has mysteriously left a note for a man the family doesn't know. A few stories later, in "Where We Come From," Spitzy is alive and vibrant, telling Annie, "I've become one of the little old ladies I used to make fun of." The stories are persistently hopeful, and they will resonate most deeply with teens who, like the stories' protagonists, have that same craving for meaningful connection. kathleen t. horning

(Copyright 2011 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)