The Minnow

Starred review from March 23, 2015
Winner of the publisher's Text Prize, Sweeneyâs first novel is a powerful touchstone of longing and melancholy. Tomâas in Tomboy, as in Holly Thomasâis a 15-year-old wordsmith still reeling from the Mother's Day flood that decimated her town and killed numerous residents, including her parents and younger sister. When Tom discovers she is pregnant by Bill, one of her father's friends and her unofficial guardian, she opts for a makeshift life with her best friend Jonah instead, offering her support as he struggles with his own orphanhood and sexuality. With only Jonah and her grandmother to rely on as she prepares for baby Minnow, Tom navigates between reality and waking dreams, where conversations with her dead grandfather, animals from the pet shop, and mermaids abound, and where she can ignore the police's questions about Bill. Town characters are sharply drawn and memorable, particularly the residents of the nursing home Tom visits. Sweeney expertly moves between memories and time periods, creating a patchwork narrative that pulls readers toward answers just below the surface. Ages 12âup.

May 1, 2015

Gr 8 Up-Tom's family was killed in a flood. Only Tom and her Nana remain. In her grief, the teen has formed a profound bond with the water-it is a place of peace, but also a place of overwhelming grief and loss. Living with her father's friend Bill (who might have taken advantage of her), she is neither cared for or loved by him and is acutely alone. When she discovers that she is pregnant, she leaves Bill and moves in with a childhood friend, Jonah, who has also lost most of his family. As her life and pregnancy progress, Tom is guided out of her grief by the ghost of her dead grandfather, her Nana's vivacity, and Jonah's steadfastness. She slowly bonds with her unborn child whom she calls The Minnow and whose clear voice only Tom can hear. The people in the young woman's life never push her harshly to face her loses, but offer palliation. By the end of the novel, Tom has perhaps not found a gleaming happiness, but has made peace with her losses and grows to love her child and friends who have become her family. The writing is lyrical and fragmented with a dreamlike style that swirls together like oil on water. The watery imagery throughout perfectly expresses the grief and the guilt of a survivor without being colored black with depression but rather blue-green with sadness. VERDICT A haunting and beautiful novel for sophisticated readers.-Patricia Feriano, Montgomery County Public Schools, MD

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2015
Grades 9-12 Suspend disbelief and prepare to accept talking animals, dead and alive, as well as a protagonist who maintains relationships with her deceased family and friends. Australian debut-novelist Sweeney has created a unique and fascinating world in which 14-year-old Holly Thomas (aka Tom, short for Tomboy) loses her family in the devastating Jessops Creek Mother's Day flood, finds herself pregnant by an older friend of the family, and yet discovers strength and resilience amid her grief. Her living, human support system includes her nana and other elderly friends, classmate Jonah (with whom she lives platonically), the sheriff, and a teacher. Her fantastical, extended family includes her deceased grandfather, a dead fish, and, above all, the Minnow, her growing fetus. Sweeney renders this world with a delicate touch while Tom navigates a treacherous time in her young life. Readers who can accept the ambiguous chronology and Tom's glib ability to communicate beyond worlds will be rewarded: the universe into which Minnow is born and will undoubtedly thrive is engaging and extraordinary. A promising and welcome debut.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)