Invisible Threads

April 3, 2006
Annie Dalton has paired up with her adopted daughter to create this inventive if uneven dual portrait of a British teen trying to find where she belongs among family and friends; and her birth mother, who gave the child up for adoption after delivering her on her 16th birthday. Written in the alternating voices of the teen and her birth mother, the novel opens as Carrie-Anne celebrates her 16th birthday with her adoptive parents and muses, "This day, my birthday, reminds me that there is a woman out there, and by bone and by blood I belong to her. I am that woman's shame and regret." Naomi, the teen's biological mother, first recounts Carrie-Anne's birth, then flashes back to her own childhood. Naomi lived with a needy, eccentric mother, who repeatedly glommed onto individuals she-usually mistakenly-perceived as "soul mates," only to return her attention to her daughter when they let her down. Describing this pattern, Naomi perceptively notes, "When did she get to be the child, causing mayhem, while I'm stuck with playing responsible adult?" Carrie-Anne meanwhile struggles with her own volatile relationship with her adoptive mother, and the situation worsens when the teen tells her that she wants to find her "real mum." Curiously, Naomi's account of her young life is more compelling and immediate than Carrie-Anne's present-day narrative, which occasionally borders on melodrama. Yet these two threads weave a variegated fabric, revealing the complexities of loss, of finding one's place and of the mother-daughter bond. Ages 14-up.

April 1, 2006
Gr 8 Up -Naomi, 16, became pregnant after her first sexual experience. Her story is told in alternating chapters with those of Carrie-Anne, the daughter she gave away, who, at 16, decides to find her birth mother. As a child, Naomi walks a fine line around her erratic single mother who expresses adoration of her one moment and verbally abuses her the next, blaming the girl for all her troubles. When free-spirited Lily and her two daughters enter their lives, Naomi glimpses what a healthier, more stable home life could be like and eventually moves in with Lily for the duration of her pregnancy. Carrie-Anne is adopted by a married couple who are also out of balance, and neither parent is equipped to deal with a rebellious teenager. Carrie-Anne reacts to their emotional detachment by fantasizing that her birth mother would love and appreciate her, and sets out to contact Naomi. Set in England, "Invisible Threads" is full of British slang and flavor and features characters who have no qualms about using profanity liberally. At times, the depiction of teenagers' hopelessness in the face of family dysfunction and social pressure to enter uncomfortable romantic and sexual relationships is dishearteningly vivid. However, in this intriguing study of two young women of succeeding generations, the major characters are sympathetically developed and multidimensional, and both Naomi and Carrie-Anne are able to see beyond their immediate circumstances and reach out to key adults for help." -Joyce Adams Burner, Hillcrest Library, Prairie Village, KS"

Copyright 2006 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 19, 2006
Annie Dalton has paired up with her adopted daughter to create this inventive if uneven dual portrait of a British teen trying to find where she belongs among family and friends; and her birth mother, who gave the child up for adoption after delivering her on her 16th birthday. Written in the alternating voices of the teen and her birth mother, the novel opens as Carrie-Anne celebrates her 16th birthday with her adoptive parents and muses, "This day, my birthday, reminds me that there is a woman out there, and by bone and by blood I belong to her. I am that woman's shame and regret." Naomi, the teen's biological mother, first recounts Carrie-Anne's birth, then flashes back to her own childhood. Naomi lived with a needy, eccentric mother, who repeatedly glommed onto individuals she-usually mistakenly-perceived as "soul mates," only to return her attention to her daughter when they let her down. Describing this pattern, Naomi perceptively notes, "When did she get to be the child, causing mayhem, while I'm stuck with playing responsible adult?" Carrie-Anne meanwhile struggles with her own volatile relationship with her adoptive mother, and the situation worsens when the teen tells her that she wants to find her "real mum." Curiously, Naomi's account of her young life is more compelling and immediate than Carrie-Anne's present-day narrative, which occasionally borders on melodrama. Yet these two threads weave a variegated fabric, revealing the complexities of loss, of finding one's place and of the mother-daughter bond. Ages 14-up.

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2006
Gr. 8-11. Carrie Ann is determined to find her birth mother, Naomi, regardless of the pain it causes her family. With the support of best friends Gemma, Carl, and Matt, she heads for Naomi's hometown. Authors Annie Dalton and her adopted daughter, Maria, tell the story in alternating chapters alternately narrated by Carrie Ann and Naomi. Carrie Ann's sections relay far-flung emotions: an insatiable need to find her birth mother and a quantifiable love of her adoptive one; her idealized image of Naomi and the reality of her contentious relationship with the mother who raised her; and the fear of finding Naomi while possibly losing her adoptive mom. Naomi's chapters reveal the circumstances of Carrie Ann's birth: the alcohol-induced liaison with Carrie Ann's father, her surprise pregnancy, the loving preparation she makes for Carrie Ann's arrival, and her decision to give her daughter to adoptive parents. It's a sad yet validating story, one with all-too-human, authentically drawn teenagers and adults. A welcome, unusual view of teen motherhood.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)