*****9 stars****
Dedication: "For Virginia Duncan"
Interesting, funny, and well-written. Sparrow Delaney is the seventh daughter of the seventh daughter, and we all know what that means!
No? You DON'T?
Well, it means that Sparrow is supposed to have...well, let's say "unusual" spiritual gifts. The only problem, as far as her spiritually-gifted family is concerned, is that she hasn't shown a bit of talent. She can't see the ghosts sitting right in the same room, doesn't receive messages from The Great Beyond, and doesn't attend the "message services" held for the assembled tourists visiting Spookytown--what the locals call the Delaneys' spiritualist community.
Her grandmother thinks she may be hiding her talents, her mother is ever hopeful, and her older sisters tease her about her lack of ability. So what's Sparrow's story? Is she truly blind and deaf to the ones who have crossed over? Now that she's fifteen, her abilities only have one more year to manifest themselves!
I loved the Delaney gals. They handled their poverty with a sense of optimism and cheerfulness and put the FUN in dysFUNction. It was also cool how Sparrow's sisters' names perfectly matched their personalities and the qualities of the bird for which they were all named. I wished the ending would have been a little more satisfying for Sparrow on a personal family level, but to reveal more would be to spoil the ending for you so you'll just have to read it yourself.
Warning, especially for our sixth graders: If your family doesn't want you to read books with magical elements or characters who can contact the dead or a sprinkling of "bad" words, feel free to skip this one. You only have to read 15 of the 20 Lone Stars to be recognized at the awards luncheon so you can afford to skip the ones that aren't right for you...
P.S. Does it make me *old-fashioned* that I think this book would have been better (and more appropriate for our state's awards list) without the "bad" words parents & teachers don't like to see on the page...the same ones that, if uttered aloud in the principal's office or in front of most parents would get kids in *serious* trouble?
Fine. Then I'm old-fashioned.
