Flying South

May 1, 2003
Gr 4-7-With curiosity and introspection, Alice, 10, recounts one summer's everyday events. She and her widowed mother live near Charlottesville, VA, on the estate that Grace inherited from her parents. While the fashionable, distracted woman seeks the attentions of a well-heeled politician, her daughter soaks up the kindness, wisdom, and affection of the elderly staff-Doc, the gardener, and Edna, the cook. Helping Doc tend the magnificent roses, Alice learns the importance of appreciating differences, protecting others, and standing tall for what you believe. When he has a stroke, she realizes she is saying good-bye to her best friend. Political events of 1968 create a backdrop for the inner turmoil the child experiences and the values she possesses. This spunky, talkative, compassionate girl occasionally seems wiser than her self-absorbed mother and is surprisingly tolerant, acquiescing to such demands as sitting through tedious formal dinners with Grace and her beau. However, when the pompous, bullying suitor threatens Alice while proposing marriage, maternal instincts surface; Grace rejects his offer and recognizes the character and strength in her daughter. This is both a poignant mother-daughter story and a comforting tale of the affection between a lonely young girl and an irascible but devoted old man. Doc's gems of insight invigorate Alice and shape her outlook on life. Readers will find poignancy, humor, and history in this story.-Gerry Larson, Durham School of the Arts, NC

Copyright 2003 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2003
Gr. 5-7. It's the summer of 1968. Alice, nearly 11, on her family farm near Charlottesville, Virginia, can't really please her glamorous, self-absorbed, widowed mom, who is determined to marry the local right-wing politician. Alice's true "parents" are the family housekeeper, Edna, and especially the old gardener, Doc, who teaches her to tend the roses and to stand up for what she knows is right. Through Alice's first-person narrative, Elliott creates a strong sense of the time and place, with issues of feminism and civil rights woven into both plot and characterization. There's no sappiness. Doc loves Alice, but he can be mean, angry, and wrong. Mom isn't demonized; her own mother rejected her, and she struggles now, with Alice's help, to escape the marriage cage. The rose-garden metaphor is subtle, but the hurt and comfort implicit in the thorns and flowers will stay with readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)