From Newbery Honor author Janet Taylor Lisle comes a lyrical story about one girls discovery of her startling pastand her search to understand her complicated present.Joelles height and dark skin set her apart from everyone in Marshfield. Its no secret that shes adopted, but where is she from? Aunt Mary Louise says she came from Chicago on a freight train, but the story doesnt sit right with Joelle. Theres something more. She feels it. Carlos, the quiet boy in Joelles Spanish class, sees it. When he tells her that she looks like a girl in the town librarys old mural of Narragansett Indians, Joelle cant help sneaking a look. Shes surprised by a flicker of recognition. And when Carlos tells her about the Crying Rocks, where the ghosts of Narragansett children are said to cry for their lost mothers, Joelle knows she must visit them. When they finally set out through the forest, neither she nor Carlos anticipates the power of the ancient place, or the revelations to be found thereabout the pasts theyve both buried, and the discovery of a rare kind of courage that runs deep in Joelles family.

 

 

This book is aimed at children at US 7th grade+.

This book has been graded for interest at 12-18 years.

There are 224 pages in this book.

It is aimed at Young Adult readers. The term Young Adult (YA) is used for books which have the following characteristics: (1) aimed at ages 12-18 years, US grades 7-12, UK school years 8-15, (2) around 50-75k words long, (3) main character is aged 12-18 years, (4) topics include self-reflection, internal conflict vs external, analyzing life and its meaning, (5) point of view is often in the first person, and (6) swearing, violence, romance and sexuality are allowed.

This book was published in 2017 by Simon & Schuster .

Janet Taylor Lisle's books for young readers have received the Newbery Honor Award (Afternoon of the Elves), the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction (The Art of Keeping Cool), Holland's Zilveren Griffel, and Italy's Premio Andersen Award, among other honors. A graduate of Smith College and former journalist, Janet lives in Rhode Island and often draws on Rhode Island history in her work. Visit her online at JanetTaylorLisle. com.