The Land of Forgotten Girls

by Erin Entrada Kelly

Overview

Two sisters from the Philippines, abandoned by their father and living in impoverished circumstances in Louisiana, fight to make their lives better. School Library Journal called The Land of Forgotten Girls “A charming and affecting novel about sisterhood, the magic of imagination, and perseverance.” For readers of Pam Muñoz Ryan, Rita Williams-Garcia, and anyone searching for the true meaning of family. Winner of a Parents’ Choice Gold Award.

Soledad has always been able to escape into the stories she creates. Just like her mother always could. And Soledad has needed that escape more than ever in the five years since her mother and sister died, and her father moved Sol and her youngest sister from the Philippines to Louisiana. After her father leaves, all Sol and Ming have is their evil stepmother, Vea. Sol has protected Ming all this time, but then Ming begins to believe that Auntie Jove—their mythical, world-traveling aunt—is really going to come rescue them. Can Sol protect Ming from this impossible hope? Acclaimed and award-winning author Erin Entrada Kelly writes masterfully about the challenges of finding hope in impossible circumstances, in this novel that will appeal to fans of Cynthia Kadohata and Thanhha Lai. Booklist said, “Kelly’s sophomore novel is both hopeful and heartfelt, but strong emotions are only part of the successful equation here. Told in Sol’s true voice, the direct dialogue brings the diverse characters to vivid life.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062238641
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	03/01/2016
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.30(d)
Lexile:	640L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Erin Entrada Kelly grew up in south Louisiana and now lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Erin's mother was the first in her family to immigrate to the United States from the Philippines. This is Erin Entrada Kelly's first book.

Editorial Reviews

03/14/2016
Kelly (Blackbird Fly) balances the bleak and the beautiful in a novel about the multilayered bond between sisters. Twelve-year-old narrator Sol and her six-year-old sister, Ming, live in a depressing, rat-infested apartment building with their cruel stepmother, Vea, who taps cigarette ashes into the carpet and locks them in the closet when they misbehave. Soon after the girls' mother and younger sister Amelia died, their father married Vea and moved all of them from the Philippines to Louisiana, only to abandon them and return home. In a supernatural thread woven into the story, Sol converses with the ghost of Amelia, who offers advice and helps Sol parse what is true and what is real. Fairy-tale fantasies and extensions of the tales their mother once told Sol contrast with her day-to-day life with her best friend Manny and a well-developed cast that includes an artistically inclined junkyard owner and a kind neighbor. While the story is resolved a bit tidily, Kelly's strong heroine offers hope in the face of loss. Ages 8–12. Agent: Sara Crowe, Harvey Klinger. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Soledad Elia Madrid thinks she knows how the world ticks. It’s complicated, just as her family is. Mama’s dead. So is Sol’s sister Amelia, who drowned when Sol was seven. Evil stepmother Vea married Papa only because she wanted to come to the United States, and now Papa’s gone back to the Philippines, likely for good. Magnolia Towers, in Giverny, Louisiana, where Sol and her sister Dominga (Ming) live with Vea, is a dump. There are rats in the walls and the bathroom mirror has a bad luck crack. Class lines are drawn, with Sol and her friend Manny yelling insults at the parochial school kids. Adults in the neighborhood display their own distinctive quirks. And then there’s the story world that Mama left, with tales of Auntie Jove—is she real, or did Mama make her up? Kelly (Blackbird Fly) has created an array of well-honed characters. The plucky young narrator must learn to navigate the sometimes blurry borders between truth and fantasy, reality and longing. The prose is simple, often striking. Vea “talks in thorns.” A balmy afternoon is “the kind that makes you thirsty all day.” Past and present, real and imagined, intersect in this touching middle grade novel about friendship, community, and the power of sisterhood. The book ends on a note of hope while avoiding an overly tidy resolution. Reviewer: Uma Krishnaswami; Ages 8 to 12.

Children's Literature - Uma Krishnaswami

12/01/2016
Gr 3–6—After their mother dies, Soledad and Ming's father brings his daughters and his new wife from the Philippines to the United States—and soon abandons them. Their stepmother, Vea, is angry and abusive, and Soledad spins stories for her younger sister to help them both survive. Themes of resilience, sisterhood, and the power of the imagination are interwoven in this tender, ultimately hopeful tale.

School Library Journal

2015-12-08
Two Filipino sisters living with their mean stepmother discover hope in unexpected places. Kelly (Blackbird Fly, 2015) returns to southern Louisiana in her second book. Twelve-year-old Sol has no family left except for her youngest sister, Ming. Soon after they immigrated to a small Louisiana town, their father returned to the Philippines, abandoning the sisters with their unhappy stepmother, Vea. Sol imagines herself and Ming as princesses fighting an evil dragon in order to endure their stepmother's verbal and physical abuse, their subsidized apartment building becoming a fairy-tale tower. She and her best friend, Manny, befriend a white girl from the other side of town, and Sol begins to rely less on her stories while Ming desperately holds on. When Ming announces that an aunt will save the sisters from their evil stepmother, Sol can't bear to tell Ming that the aunt doesn't exist. Always the strong older sister, she desperately searches for a solution before her heated relationship with Vea explodes. Kelly deftly captures the tumultuous emotions of a preteen who is forced to grow up faster than other girls her age. The book focuses mostly on Sol's inner struggles, however, and it lacks the momentum to turn its quiet characters into a full-blown tale that effectively handles the class and race issues that it touches upon. A promising story that doesn't quite find its footing. (Fiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews

Sisterhood, friendship, truth, hope: these are the themes that lift The Land of Forgotten Girls… into the realm of the truly special. …Readers who feel marginalized or alone in their troubles-and who doesn’t at times?-will adore Sol and her ragtag family, both chosen and real.’

Shelf Awareness

This story addresses the importance of family, especially sisterhood, diversity in friendships, the gift of forgiveness, perseverance through difficult circumstances, and the need for hope.…Erin Entrada Kelly is a formidable middle grade author.

Litstack

Kelly’s sophomore novel is both hopeful and heartfelt, but strong emotions are only part of the successful equation here. Told in Sol’s true voice, the direct dialogue brings the diverse characters to vivid life.

Booklist (starred review)

[A] delightful debut . . . Through her love of music . . . Apple starts to soar like the eponymous blackbird of her favorite Beatles song.

Los Angeles Times Book Review

A smart, sensitive, and resilient heroine who is authentic and relatable in her strengths and imperfections. This poignant novel would make for a particularly fine readaloud; expect visceral reactions . . . This is a must-read for those kids cringing at their own identities.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Kelly has written another beautiful story which will appeal to readers of all ages. ...The story is one of love and courage in the face of adversity, sisterly bonds, and the realization that family can be formed in many different ways.

Catholic Library World