Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Stayton Public Library | SP JF CAMERON | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Newberg Public Library | J ESPAÑOL FICTION CAMERON | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
A young Guatemalan girl searches for the family she was stolen from eight years earlier.
She was little and quick and pretty. Her mother nicknamed her Colibr#65533;, Spanish for "Hummingbird". At age four she was kidnapped, torn from her parents on a crowded bus in Guatemala City. Since then, she's traveled with "Uncle," the ex-soldier and wandering beggar who has renamed her Rosa. Uncle has always told Rosa that he searched for his parents but had no success. There's almost no chance Rosa will ever find them--but Rosa still remembers and longs for them.
Summary
A young Guatemalan girl searches for the family she was stolen from eight years earlier.
Su madre la llam#65533; Colibr#65533; porque era una ni#65533;a chiquita y hermosa. A los cuatro a#65533;os fue raptada en la Ciudad de Guatemala mientras viajaba con sus padres en un autob#65533;s. Desde entonces, ha viajado con un ex soldado mendigo y andariego, su "t#65533;o", que la llama Rosa. #65533;l siempre le ha dicho que busc#65533; a sus padres, pero lo cierto es que cuando Rosa era joven, una adivina le dijo que la ni#65533;a le ayudar#65533;a a encontrar un tesoro muy grande que le durar#65533;a toda la vida y es la #65533;nica raz#65533;n por la que la mantiene a su lado. Pero Rosa ya tiene 12 a#65533;os y no hay se#65533;al del tesoro y T#65533;o se est#65533; impacientando.
Reviews (10)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-A suspenseful story set in Guatemala and steeped in cultural details and traditions. Told by "Uncle" that she was abandoned by her parents eight years ago, 12-year-old Tzun#n Chumil learns that this dishonest man had kidnapped her, and she is determined to escape his clutches. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Achieving an almost hypnotic intensity, this taut novel invites readers to sample both savory and bitter flavors of Guatemalan culture as Cameron (The Secret Life of Amanda K. Woods) creates a melting pot of mixed values, religions and races, where both the pure and not-so-pure of heart have faith in a spirit world. The narrator, a 12-year-old girl, navigates an uncertain, mysterious world; in bits and pieces, the author reveals that Tzunun (Mayan for "hummingbird," which is colibri in Spanish) was kidnapped at age four, while her family was visiting Guatemala City. In the intervening eight years, Tzunun has wandered from village to village with the man she knows only as "Uncle." Most of her early childhood has slipped from her memory, but she does remember that the "first job" her mother gave her was "to be honest." Cameron's understated prose eloquently expresses the complex, interdependent relationship between Tzunun and her kidnapper, who remain linked even though they feel little affection for each other. Tzunun does not leave Uncle because she is afraid of being alone, and Uncle keeps close watch over Tzunun because a fortuneteller predicted that she will lead him to treasure some day. Tension mounts as Tzunun is pressured to lie, cheat and eventually steal for Uncle. In the end, her strong morality is both a saving grace and a threat to her survival, freeing her from Uncle but putting her in danger of his vengeance. Tzunun's struggle to stay true to herself is moving and suspenseful. If the protagonist's final destiny feels somewhat contrived, her growth is convincing nonetheless. Ages 10-up. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Intermediate, Middle School) Tzunun Chumil, around twelve years old, barely remembers her parents but knows their nickname for her: Colibri. Tzunun's fortunes are tethered to an itinerant ex-soldier who kidnapped her when she was four and has since forced her into a life of begging and petty thievery. Narrator Kim perfectly captures the timbre of a pre-adolescent girl's voice, and her pronunciation of Spanish phrases and Guatemalan place names is effortlessly lilting. She shifts easily among the other players in this tense drama: brutal ""Uncle,"" his sleazy partner Raimundo, and the kind visionary Dona Celestina. Moving carefully from flat hopelessness to timorous determination to fiery rage, Kim, in the persona of Tzunun, gives us a clear portrait of a child gradually gathering the strength to take her destiny into her own hands. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Twelve-year-old Tzunún barely remembers her life before Uncle, but what she does remember features a loving mother and father. Uncle is far from loving, traipsing her over the Guatemalan countryside and forcing her to assist him in fraudulent and humiliating begging schemes. Life with Uncle is barely a life, but he's the only security she has. His conviction that Tzunún will bring him fortune leads him first to consult a fortune-teller for confirmation and then to force Tzunún to assist in a church robbery. These two encounters force Tzunún to examine herself and finally to reject submission, as she first thwarts the robbery and then flees to live with DoÑa Celestina, the fortune-teller--until the destiny that she shares with Uncle exerts itself. Tzunún is an entirely sympathetic narrator, her heartbreakingly ingenuous voice at turns describing modern-day rural Guatemala, and plumbing her own moral depths with complete believability. Readers will ache with her longing for love and her need to claim her own individual humanity. Painful, beautiful, and ultimately triumphant. (Fiction. 10-14) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Gr. 5-8. Twelve-year-old Rosa remembers only a few things about the home she shared with her loving parents in a Mayan village before she was kidnapped at the age of four. Since then, she has traveled with Uncle, an abusive con artist. After being convinced by a fortune-teller that Rosa will make him rich, Uncle embarks on an obsessive treasure hunt, forcing Rosa to join in his scams for food and money. Rosa hates Uncle's dishonesty and anger, and she feels trapped. Then Uncle consults another fortune-teller, a kind, wise woman who gives Rosa the courage to escape. Uncle remains a dark, mortal threat, though, and his search for riches coincides with Rosa's search for identity. The taut, chilling suspense and search for riches will keep readers flying through the pages. But it's Cameron's beautiful language and Rosa's larger identity quest that make this novel extraordinary. Her poetic words evoke Guatemalan towns and lush forests where the earth smells as if it were singing. Rosa narrates in a voice that sometimes seems to belong to an older, wiser self, but readers will be deeply moved by her intense yearning for security, love, and integrity and her sense of a spiritual world that is felt but never fully known. --Gillian Engberg Copyright 2003 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-A suspenseful story set in Guatemala and steeped in cultural details and traditions. Told by "Uncle" that she was abandoned by her parents eight years ago, 12-year-old Tzun#n Chumil learns that this dishonest man had kidnapped her, and she is determined to escape his clutches. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Achieving an almost hypnotic intensity, this taut novel invites readers to sample both savory and bitter flavors of Guatemalan culture as Cameron (The Secret Life of Amanda K. Woods) creates a melting pot of mixed values, religions and races, where both the pure and not-so-pure of heart have faith in a spirit world. The narrator, a 12-year-old girl, navigates an uncertain, mysterious world; in bits and pieces, the author reveals that Tzunun (Mayan for "hummingbird," which is colibri in Spanish) was kidnapped at age four, while her family was visiting Guatemala City. In the intervening eight years, Tzunun has wandered from village to village with the man she knows only as "Uncle." Most of her early childhood has slipped from her memory, but she does remember that the "first job" her mother gave her was "to be honest." Cameron's understated prose eloquently expresses the complex, interdependent relationship between Tzunun and her kidnapper, who remain linked even though they feel little affection for each other. Tzunun does not leave Uncle because she is afraid of being alone, and Uncle keeps close watch over Tzunun because a fortuneteller predicted that she will lead him to treasure some day. Tension mounts as Tzunun is pressured to lie, cheat and eventually steal for Uncle. In the end, her strong morality is both a saving grace and a threat to her survival, freeing her from Uncle but putting her in danger of his vengeance. Tzunun's struggle to stay true to herself is moving and suspenseful. If the protagonist's final destiny feels somewhat contrived, her growth is convincing nonetheless. Ages 10-up. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Intermediate, Middle School) Tzunun Chumil, around twelve years old, barely remembers her parents but knows their nickname for her: Colibri. Tzunun's fortunes are tethered to an itinerant ex-soldier who kidnapped her when she was four and has since forced her into a life of begging and petty thievery. Narrator Kim perfectly captures the timbre of a pre-adolescent girl's voice, and her pronunciation of Spanish phrases and Guatemalan place names is effortlessly lilting. She shifts easily among the other players in this tense drama: brutal ""Uncle,"" his sleazy partner Raimundo, and the kind visionary Dona Celestina. Moving carefully from flat hopelessness to timorous determination to fiery rage, Kim, in the persona of Tzunun, gives us a clear portrait of a child gradually gathering the strength to take her destiny into her own hands. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Twelve-year-old Tzunún barely remembers her life before Uncle, but what she does remember features a loving mother and father. Uncle is far from loving, traipsing her over the Guatemalan countryside and forcing her to assist him in fraudulent and humiliating begging schemes. Life with Uncle is barely a life, but he's the only security she has. His conviction that Tzunún will bring him fortune leads him first to consult a fortune-teller for confirmation and then to force Tzunún to assist in a church robbery. These two encounters force Tzunún to examine herself and finally to reject submission, as she first thwarts the robbery and then flees to live with DoÑa Celestina, the fortune-teller--until the destiny that she shares with Uncle exerts itself. Tzunún is an entirely sympathetic narrator, her heartbreakingly ingenuous voice at turns describing modern-day rural Guatemala, and plumbing her own moral depths with complete believability. Readers will ache with her longing for love and her need to claim her own individual humanity. Painful, beautiful, and ultimately triumphant. (Fiction. 10-14) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Gr. 5-8. Twelve-year-old Rosa remembers only a few things about the home she shared with her loving parents in a Mayan village before she was kidnapped at the age of four. Since then, she has traveled with Uncle, an abusive con artist. After being convinced by a fortune-teller that Rosa will make him rich, Uncle embarks on an obsessive treasure hunt, forcing Rosa to join in his scams for food and money. Rosa hates Uncle's dishonesty and anger, and she feels trapped. Then Uncle consults another fortune-teller, a kind, wise woman who gives Rosa the courage to escape. Uncle remains a dark, mortal threat, though, and his search for riches coincides with Rosa's search for identity. The taut, chilling suspense and search for riches will keep readers flying through the pages. But it's Cameron's beautiful language and Rosa's larger identity quest that make this novel extraordinary. Her poetic words evoke Guatemalan towns and lush forests where the earth smells as if it were singing. Rosa narrates in a voice that sometimes seems to belong to an older, wiser self, but readers will be deeply moved by her intense yearning for security, love, and integrity and her sense of a spiritual world that is felt but never fully known. --Gillian Engberg Copyright 2003 Booklist