2005-06 TeXas Tayshas List
2005 Ala Best Book for Young Adults 2005
Best Books for Middle School and Junior High Readers, Grades 6-9
Brodart's TOP Young Adult Titles
Horn Book Guide Titles, Rated 1-4
Middle and Junior High School Library Catalog, 9th ed. and Supplements

2004-BOOKLIST's Top 10 Black History Titles for Youth

Amazon.com

Kirkus Reviews for 11/15/03 issue

This exquisitely written short novel tackles an enormous and sensitive subject. Ten-year-old Akilah waits for her friend Victoria to return to Queens from a summer trip to Victoria's birthplace, Nigeria. But when Victoria returns, she's different. She won't leave her house or even say hello. Eventually she returns to school but gives only one-word answers; she seems wilted and stunned. Where is her laughter, her sharp wit, her academic sparkle? Akilah stays confused until Victoria finally talks: in complete ignorance, she was taken by her family to Nigeria specifically to undergo female genital mutilation. As Akilah, sickened, begins to comprehend, so does the reader. Williams-Garcia pulls no punches: the operation's consquences are clearly explained, not gratuitously but for truth. Eye-opening and grounded solidly in the present, this piece has absolutely non-generic characters and allows a shocking subject various points of vew (all black) without sacrificing a moral compass. Unapologetic, fresh, and painful. (authors note [included]) (Fiction. 10-16).

ALA Booklist for 12/1/03 issue

Gr4-8. Akilah can't wait to start fifth grade with her best friend, Victoria, who has been in Nigeria for the summer. But Victoria returns completely changed: withdrawn, physically unwell, and unable to laugh. A fifth-grade puberty film gives Victoria the words to tell Akilah what has happened to her: "I don't have what other girls have."

Victoria has survived female circumcision, and Akilah is furious but sword to secrecy, until her warn, supportive parents discover the truth and expose Victoria's family secret. Of the several recent novels about FGM (female genital mutilation), including Pat Collins' The Fattening Hut [BKL N 1 2003], for older readers, Williams-Garcia's story, written in Akilah's colloquial African American voice, is most successful. It combines a richly layered story with accurate, culturally specific information in language that's on-target for the audience, and the author tempers what could have been strident messages with interesting contrasts; Akilah's aunt, who beats her children, raises questions about the forms of brutality ingrained in many families. Then there's Akilah herself, simultaneously confronted with her first menstrual period and the gravity of what has happened to her friend: "Being a ten-year-old woman sucked raw eggs." Young people will have plenty of questions for adults after reading this skillfully told, powerful story. – Gillian Enberg.