My Life Before Me

July 15, 2015
In the summer of 1964, 16-year-old Cady Andrews is unexpectedly sent out into the world from the Canadian orphanage where she grew up, determined to become a reporter. She's armed with just a single piece of information about her own mysterious past, a newspaper clipping that shows the vandalized gravestone of a young man, Thomas Jefferson, from Orrenstown, Indiana. Convinced that the story this tidbit might reveal will get her published, Cady takes the bus south. McClintock uses this intriguing clue to take readers on a sensitive exploration of the appalling, racially motivated prejudice that inflamed even northern areas in the mid-20th century. Thomas, a black man, was sentenced for murder and then shot in the back while supposedly escaping from prison. Cady asks questions everywhere; it quickly becomes obvious that there has been a coverup, but of what? Her plucky demeanor adds plausibility to her determined quest; the seething menace of some in the village increases the sense of peril. A minor quibble is that Cady's first-person narration sometimes strays toward authorial. Phrases like "with a cluck of annoyance" and "weathered...disapproval with aplomb" are sprinkled throughout the otherwise teen-typical prose. The more Cady learns from her unerring investigative persistence, the more horrific and revealing the story-a fictionalized version of grim reality-becomes. This entry in the Secrets series embeds a tragic past within an engrossing mystery-masterfully. (Historical mystery. 11-18)

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November 1, 2015

Gr 8 Up-This title is part of the six-part "Secrets" series (Orca), and it is a historical fiction book that weaves together several different periods of time. The story is set in the 1940s, when a teenager named Cady tries to uncover her own family history after her orphanage burns down. When she decides to follow the only clue about her past-a newspaper clipping about a vandalized grave-she leaves Canada and travels to Indiana. There she starts to uncover the shameful secrets of the small town where that grave is located. Cady is a strong and determined girl who takes her inspiration from the famous female reporter Nellie Bly, and like Nellie before her, she keeps pushing forward even when other people tell her that what she wants is impossible. Cady is a plucky heroine, and her strength and positive energy serve her well when the townspeople become suspicious and threatening because of her snooping. Readers will become immersed in different historical periods while reading this work and see how racial tensions permeated events that took place in the 1920s and 1940s. Cady is a realistically drawn character, and teens will find themselves worrying about her and cheering for her as she uncovers the dark truth about several murders that were covered up years earlier. VERDICT For fans of historical fiction, intrepid female reporters, and uncovering secrets.-Andrea Lipinski, New York Public Library

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