Reviewer: Mary Lignor
Title: Diamonds in the Shadow
Author: Caroline B. Cooney
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
ISBN-13: 978-0-385-73261-1
Release Date: March 2009
Genre/Sub-genre: Young Adult
Publisher’s Age/Grade Recommendation: 12 and up
OUAR’s Age/Grade Recommendation: 14 and up
Year/Setting: Present day
Overall Rating: 3.0
Sexual Content Rating: N/A
Language (Profanity/Slang) Content Rating: N/A
Violent Content Rating: Minimal
Caroline's Website: None found
Hi All,
This book centers around the Finch Family, who live in Connecticut and have agreed to take in a church-sponsored refugee family from Sierra Leone, Africa. This family has undergone a horrible life in their former home and are trying to learn the ways of their new American sponsors. Jared, the teenage son of the host family, is horrified and extremely angry that he has to share his room with another teenage boy and his home with a family who never used a phone, drove a car, or even seen a supermarket full of food.
The Amabo Family, a family of four, Andre and Celestine, Mom and Dad; Mattu a teen age son and Alake a younger daughter, have been invited to stay at the Finch family home until they land on their feet. They have arrived full of hope having escaped the horrors of their homeland. While Jared is angry that he has to share his room and introduce the refugee at school, his younger sister tries to help the daughter, Alake, who is mute and very still because of the life she led in Sierra Leone. But, even in the Land of Plenty, there's fear to deal with: A killer wants the uncut diamonds he forced the two children to smuggle out of Africa for him.
I'm sure that this book could be a learning experience for the young reader as the families do finally bond and when Jared finds out in history classes that Mattu never heard of the Holocaust, he is amazed. But, Mattu says, "We have those in Africa, I have been in one." I guess that we are learning about new Holocausts all the time.
Talk to you soon,
MaryMary
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