Watch Over Me

July 1, 2020
When she ages out of foster care, Mila takes an internship on a haunted farm outside Mendocino. After being abandoned by her single mother, Mila was placed in foster care. The family she lives with now wants a baby and won't adopt her, so Mila gets a farm internship after high school graduation. Mila is a quiet, beautifully written character; LaCour is a master at depicting loneliness. The farm is run by Terry and Julia, whose focus is on rebuilding the lives of youth impacted by foster care. Although the farm is in a remote rural area, Mila is determined to make it her new home. In addition to the seven foster children and two other interns, ghosts live there. The sense of place is strong, and readers will be transported to the rocky, coastal hills shrouded in fog and full of secrets. When mementos from her past begin to appear, Mila must decide if she is strong enough to remain at the farm. The pacing of the book is excellent; readers won't get a full picture of the physical and emotional trauma Mila suffered until she herself is ready to process and confront it. Mila's journey to reclaim herself and find independence is tense and powerful. Mila and Julia are white, Terry is black, and the interns and children are ethnically diverse. Gripping; an emotion-packed must-read. (Fiction. 12-18)

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Starred review from August 1, 2020

Gr 9 Up-Mila has just aged out of the foster care system and is presented with a new opportunity. She will get to live and work at the farm of Terry and Julia in isolated Northern California, and she's viewing the move as a positive step forward. Moving to the farm will be a chance to leave behind the dark parts of her past while she teaches the younger children who live there, tends to the flowers, and runs the Sunday market farm stand. Mila has been warned that the farm is "a special place" and tries to enter with an open mind. While the farm provides a refuge, and Mila yearns for acceptance from her newfound family, she is haunted. It turns out that a change in scenery doesn't allow her to escape the ghosts from her past and she has to confront them head on. LaCour presents a ghost story that is moving, unsettling, and full of atmospheric beauty with foggy, coastal air that hangs heavy in the pages. This is a quiet, contemporary tale filled with loneliness and dark undertones. While this feels like a shift from her previous novels, this story goes right to readers' feelings and is still 100% LaCour at its core. VERDICT Fans of LaCour's previous work will clamor to get their hands on this one. A first purchase for all collections.-Alicia Kalan, The Northwest Sch., Seattle

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Starred review from August 10, 2020
Mila, 18, is thrilled to leave behind four years of foster care when she is given the opportunity to live and work at a picturesque coastal farm in Northern California whose owners, Terry and Julia, care for adopted children of all ages and bring on interns to share the workload. Mila, haunted by the events that led to her mother’s abandoning her, wants desperately to believe that she is “good,” and she strives to be a trusted companion and compassionate teacher to her sole student on the farm, nine-year-old Lee. The two bond over their similar histories, made-up fairy tales, and a shared sense of distance from the rest of the close-knit community, including their dislike of the ghosts that inhabit the idyllic, foggy farm. As mysterious gifts that link to Mila’s past begin appearing on her doorstep, she confronts memories of childhood trauma, told in short interstitial chapters. Printz Medalist LaCour’s (We Are Okay) portrait of a young woman yearning to belong and facing her past while navigating the liminal space between childhood and adulthood brims with tender moments and sensory details. Ages 14–up. Agent: Sara Crowe, Pippin Properties.

Starred review from September 1, 2020
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Ghosts lingered at the periphery of LaCour's Printz-winning We Are Okay (2017); in her latest novel, they take shape. When Mila lands an internship at a farm on the remote Pacific coast in Northern California, she doesn't hesitate to accept. The foster family she's been living with has only ever been a way station, and on this farm, owned by a couple that houses and educates other teens and children in need of shelter, Mila hopes she might find a home. Though the farm, isolated and rugged, is beautiful, it's haunted, too; Mila sees her first ghost soon after she arrives, although the residents seem to take it in stride. As Mila settles into her new life and her work tutoring Lee, a young boy with a troubled past, her own ghosts begin to arrive, dark memories resurfacing. Less a linear narrative and more an intently focused character study, this meditative exploration of the deep effects of trauma draws much of its strength from its crystalline and powerful sense of place. LaCour, who alludes to The Turn of the Screw and other Gothic novels, maintains an eerie, otherworldly atmosphere while keeping her heroine's journey through trauma grounded and true. A painfully compelling gem from a masterful creator.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)