Robin Wall Kimmerer didn’t set out to change the world—or even to become particularly famous within the canon of environmental...
Silhouette of a Sparrow
Growing up in the 1920s, sixteen-year-old Garnet Richardson watches the birds outside her window, admiring their freedom and beauty. Her mother, on the other hand, does not approve of Garnet climbing trees to peer into nests. She has Garnet’s life all planned out: after finishing high school, she’ll marry and tend to the home.
When Garnet is sent away for the summer to stay with relatives in the lakeside resort town of Excelsior, Minnesota, she discovers a chance to spread her wings. There she finds herself under the supervision of oppressive guardians and her father’s wealthy cousin. But an amusement park and roaring dance hall beckon, and her explorations land her where she least expects—enthralled with a beautiful and daring flapper, Isabella. Caught between her family’s expectations and her own newfound passions, Garnet must decide whose dreams to follow.
Tender and moving, Silhouette of a Sparrow is the tale of a young woman’s discovery of the science of risk, the art of rebellion, and, of course, the power of unexpected love.
ISBN:
9781571317049 Publish Date:
08/06/2013
Pages:
206
Size:
5.25 × 8 × 0.5 in
Weight:
8.5 oz
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Praise and Prizes
“Rich with emotion and loaded with fascinating details of the flapper era, Silhouette of a Sparrow is a wonderful novel about independence and first love.”
Marsha Qualey
author of Just Like That
“A sweet, quiet coming-of-age story . . . Garnet’s narration reveals a girl on the cusp of modernity, one whose desire for something more and something else feels both alluring and terrifying. . . . A positive breath of fresh air.”
Kirkus
“An excellent example of an historical coming-of-age lesbian young adult novel. Written with a deft hand, based in the true history of its setting, and with characterizations that will ring true to any teenager, it is a worthy and enjoyable read for anyone.”
Lambda Literary
“Tenderly and touchingly realized.”
Booklist
“An immensely charming short novel . . . Molly Beth Griffin perfectly captures the mood of America in the twenties—prohibition, first wave feminism, ongoing and virulent racism, the class war at one of its many peaks—and it is this that pushes Silhouette to be more than ‘just’ a coming of age romance novel, but an example of historical fiction at its most vivid. . . . Well-researched and beautifully lyrical.”
Vada Magazine
Lambda Literary Awards Finalist
ALA Rainbow List
Amelia Bloomer Project List
Milkweed Prize for Children's Literature
Minnesota Book Award Finalist
.
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