Girl in Reverse
Gr 7 Up—Lillian Firestone describes herself as "a Chinese character without a plot." Adopted at an early age by an American couple, Lily has few memories of her birth mother and knows practically nothing about her Chinese heritage, yet she has been the recipient of Asian slurs from friends and classmates for as long as she can remember. Now, at the height of the Korean War, media-fueled hatred for Communist China is making high school, and even her home life, intolerable. When her little brother finds a hidden box of priceless Chinese antiquities bearing Lily's name, she becomes obsessed with discovering why she was abandoned by her "Gone Mom." Her adoptive parents dismiss her concerns, adamant that she is a member of their family and that she should not be living her life "in reverse." She seeks help from the nun at the orphanage, who helped with her adoption, but discovers more questions than answers when she is handed yet another box of Chinese artifacts left for her by her birth mother. It is the opening of a new exhibit of Chinese art and antiquities at the museum that finally provides her with some surprising revelations about her past. 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.—Cary Frostick, formerly at Mary Riley Styles Public Library, Falls Church, VA