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When
Kambia Elaine Flew From Neptune
Lori Aurelia Williams
Simon & Schuster
Young Adult
ISBN: 0689824688
In
WHEN KAMBIA ELAINE FLEW IN FROM NEPTUNE, first-time novelist
Lori Aurelia Williams fashions a contemporary, coming-of-age
tale as beautiful as it is difficult. Her narrator, 12-year-old
Shayla Dubois, an aspiring writer with a gift for language,
fills her blue notebooks with the observations and emotions
("Tia's nature is boiling out of her like a hot soup out of
a pot") she isn't allowed to express --- as children should
be seen and not heard.
In parallel plot-lines, Williams explores Shayla's sister
Tia's blossoming sexuality and the tension it causes, as well
as Shayla's budding friendship with Kambia --- a girl with
a far-out imagination who moves in next door with her no-good
mother. Hoping to prevent Tia from making the same mistake
she did, Shayla's mama puts Tia out of the house when she
discovers she is sexually involved with the town dumbbell,
Doo-Witty.
Meanwhile, Kambia is filling Shayla's head with stories of
Wallpaper Wolves that come to her in the night, Memory Beetles
that store good memories in their chubby bodies, and Lizard
People that turn into purple chewing gum. At first, Kambia's
strange tales and antics annoy the usually word-loving Shayla,
but when she accidentally sees Kambia's bruised and bloodied
thighs, it dawns on her that something dangerous is lurking
in her tortured tales. But when Kambia begs Shayla not to
tell anyone about her injuries, Shayla learns, with the help
of her wise and opinionated Grandmother Augustine, that sometimes
you have to break a promise to protect a friend.
Williams's utterly original and metaphorical treatment of
Kambia's sexual abuse, along with her tender handling of Tia's
deepening relationship with herself and the seemingly dumb,
yet gifted Doo-Witty, combine to create an engaging, original
story too good to be missed.
--- Reviewed by Tammy L. Currier
(c)
Copyright 2003, Teenreads.com. All rights reserved.
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