The Eagles' Child
Family stories, General fiction, Multi-cultural fiction
Synthetic audio, Automated braille
Summary
Amy is looking forward to staying in New York City with her godmother, Liz, while her mother's away in Africa collecting folktales. But Liz cooks strange gourmet food, cleans all the time, and doesn't even own a VCR. Amy's father… lives in New York, too, but he's so preoccupied with his paintings of purple trees that it looks as though he'll have no time for her at all. Then, to make things even worse, Liz lets Amy's beloved pet rat run away! Luckily there's Amy's new best friend, Matilda, who teaches her to tap-dance and introduces her to some of the unusual people in Liz's apartment house. Meanwhile Liz and Amy's father seem to be getting interested in each other, and Amy has mixed feelings as she observes the romance develop. When Amy's mother sends her a folktale about a lizard who saves an eagle's child from a crocodile, Amy realizes the tale is like her life in the city. All the same, though, Amy is sure that she will never, ever understand grown-ups. This lively, funny novel will have readers sympathizing with Amy's struggle to get along in the strange world of adults, and cheering for her newfound self-reliance.