Borrowed Children [pb]
By George Ella Lyon [Kentucky]
Twelve-year-old Amanda Perritt is pitched head-first into adult responsibilities when she has to quit school to care for her newborn brother and incapacitated mother. She gets an escape, she thinks, when she's offered a trip to stay with her grandmother and her sophisticated Aunt Laura in Memphis. But during the visit, she discovers unexpected parallels between her mother's childhood and her own and comes to understand her own individuality as well as what it means to be part of a family. 136 pages
"Set during the Depression, this vivid, complex novel introduces Amanda, who leaves the drudgery of home to live with her sophisticated aunt in Memphis, only to learn that nothing there is quite what it seems." -Booklist, Starred Review (Grades 6-9)
"With eloquence and an economy of language, Lyon tells a story of dreams, of journeys, of family love and acceptance, set in Kentucky during the Depression... She weaves together a many layered story of near tragedies and funny incidents, family history and bonds, and a girl who comes to understand her family and how much she loves each member of it." -School Library Journal, Starred Review (Grades 5-9)
September 23, 1999; originally published in 1988
AR Level=3.6; Lexile Level=580
Golden Kite Award winner
1989 Booklist, Editor's Choice
1988 School Library Journal, Best Books
1988 Publisher's Weekly, Best Books
