Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published May 2014
336 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
When Lily was three, her mother put her up for adoption, then disappeared without a trace. Or so Lily was told. Lily grew up in her new family and tried to forget her past. But with the Korean War raging and the fear of "Commies" everywhere, Lily's Asian heritage makes her a target. She is sick of the racism she faces, a fact her adoptive parents won't take seriously. For Lily, war is everywhere - the dinner table, the halls at school, and especially within her own skin.
Then her brainy little brother, Ralph, finds a box containing a baffling jumble of broken antiques - clues to her past left by her "Gone Mom." Lily and Ralph attempt to match these fragments with rare Chinese artifacts at the art museum, where she encounters the artistic genius Elliot James. Elliot attracts and infuriates Lily - especially when he calls their first kiss "undimensional." With the help of Ralph and Elliot, will Lily summon the courage to confront her own remarkable creation story?
A poignantly beautiful novel, Girl in Reverse celebrates the formation of identity as well as the art that draws us all together.
"Starred Review. [Stuber] creates a remarkable journey of self-discovery, inner resilience, and the fragile, surprising, and exquisite complexity of family. Ages 12–up." - Publishers Weekly
"Stuber has created a fully realized, age-appropriate personality in the protagonist but fails to adequately develop the stories of intriguing secondary characters, such as her adoptive mother and Sister Evangeline, that could have provided additional insight into Lily's struggle for self-discovery to readers who face similar issues with their own adoptions." - School Library Journal
"Despite moments of beautiful sensory detail, the novel ends up feeling didactic rather than genuine." - Kirkus
This information about Girl in Reverse was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Barbara Stuber is the author of the novels Girl in Reverse and Crossing the Tracks, which was a finalist for the American Library Association William C. Morris Debut Award, a YALSA Best Fiction for YA and a Kirkus Best Book for Teens. When not writing, she is a docent at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.
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