Colibri [Hardcover]

Ann Cameron (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up

A young Mayan girl's quest for the family she was stolen from

She was little and quick and pretty. Her mother nicknamed her Colibrí, Spanish for "Hummingbird." At age four she was kidnapped, torn from her parents on a crowded bus in Guatemala City. Since then she's traveled with "Uncle," the ex-soldier and wandering beggar who has renamed her Rosa. Uncle has always told Rosa that he searched for her parents but had no success. There's almost no chance Rosa will ever find them - but Rosa still remembers and longs for them.

When she was young, Uncle consulted fortune-tellers who told him that Rosa would bring him luck - a treasure big enough to last him all his life. So he's kept her with him. Together,
they have traveled from town to town in the highlands of Guatemala, scraping out a living, hoping to find the treasure. Eight years have passed, and Rosa has turned twelve. No treasure has been found, and Uncle has almost given up hope. When he turns angry and desperate, danger threatens Rosa from all sides - but especially from Uncle himself.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8-Contemporary Guatemala is the setting for this story of 12-year-old Tzunun Chumil (Mayan for "Hummingbird Star"), called Rosa Garcia by the man who supposedly rescued her from abandonment at age four. Rosa and "Uncle" Baltasar travel from place to place, begging for their livelihood as he pretends to be blind. But, despite her dependence on and devotion to him, Rosa is distressed by the dishonesty of their lifestyle and has memories of loving parents. Told by a seer, the Day-Keeper Do-a Celestina, that the child will bring him a treasure, Baltasar takes Rosa to the town of San Sebastian where he and a friend develop a plan to steal a valuable statue from the town's church. The plot backfires when Rosa's conscience forces her to seek out the priest and reveal their intentions, and the two men are jailed. Rosa runs back to the kindly Day-Keeper, who takes her in and gives her the courage to make a new life for herself. When Uncle escapes, Rosa must confront him and, in a dramatic scene in which he plunges off a cliff, she learns that she was kidnapped. With the help of the Day-Keeper and a scrap of paper found in his wallet, Tzunun is reunited with her parents. Cameron layers her compelling story with vivid descriptions of setting and weaves into the narrative the complexities inherent in the blending of Mayan and ladino cultures and religious practices. This is reflected in the book's title, which is the Spanish translation of Tzunun's name. A well-written and engrossing read.
Marie Orlando, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Gr. 5-8. Twelve-year-old Rosa remembers only a few things about the home she shared with her loving parents in a Mayan village before she was kidnapped at the age of four. Since then, she has traveled with Uncle, an abusive con artist. After being convinced by a fortune-teller that Rosa will make him rich, Uncle embarks on an obsessive treasure hunt, forcing Rosa to join in his scams for food and money. Rosa hates Uncle's dishonesty and anger, and she feels trapped. Then Uncle consults another fortune-teller, a kind, wise woman who gives Rosa the courage to escape. Uncle remains a dark, mortal threat, though, and his search for riches coincides with Rosa's search for identity. The taut, chilling suspense and search for riches will keep readers flying through the pages. But it's Cameron's beautiful language and Rosa's larger identity quest that make this novel extraordinary. Her poetic words evoke Guatemalan towns and lush forests where the earth smells "as if it were singing." Rosa narrates in a voice that sometimes seems to belong to an older, wiser self, but readers will be deeply moved by her intense yearning for security, love, and integrity and her sense of a spiritual world that is felt but never fully known. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); First Edition edition (August 27, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374315191
• ISBN-13: 978-0374315191
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,335,800 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ann Cameron has worked in publishing, as a university teacher and as a camp cook on a Mayan dig in Belize where boa constrictors climbed into the thatch of the roof to hunt mice at night. Ann has written a number of books for children and those for Transworld's Corgi Yearling imprint feature a small boy called Julian: JULIAN, SECRET AGENT, JULIAN, DREAM DOCTOR AND THE JULIAN STORIES.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A vivid and mystical adventure., January 15, 2004

By 

Anne Holcomb "biblio_tech" (Kalamazoo, MI, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Colibri (Hardcover)

Tzunun Chumil, a Mayan child in Guatemala, was stolen from her parents on a crowded bus when she was four years old. Since that day, she has traveled with "Uncle," a sinister con artist who involves his unwilling charge in his schemes. Uncle supports "Rosa," as he prefers to call her, because many fortunetellers have predicted that she will find him a great treasure. Readers will identify with Tzunun as she searches her past for her true heritage, escapes her guardian and strikes up a friendship with a Mayan astrologer, and struggles to overcome her own inability to express her feelings, symbolized in the book by a claustrophobic, crushing sensation in her throat. (shy kids can relate). Readers of all ages will love the scary and magical elements of the story and savor the suspense. I especially loved the descriptions of the Guatemalan countryside and the little details which colorfully evoked the characters' way of life and their travels. Cameron has crafted a deliciously vivid depiction of Central America, and a thrilling tale of mystery.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Car Trip Material, November 12, 2004

By 

10-Year Mom (PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Colibri (Audio Cassette)

This story (unabridged on CD) kept me, my husband, and our 9-year-old daughter riveted for hours on a long car trip. The story is interesting and the reader is excellent (not annoying, as some are). We stopped the CD many times to discuss the story. It is difficult to find a story that keeps the interest of adults AND is appropriate for kids; this is one!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yinhatil Nab'en Seeds of Knowledge, September 26, 2005

By 

Kirsten Miles (Charlottesville, Virginia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Colibri (Hardcover)

I read this story after having visited a small Mayan village in Guatemala. In it, a young Mayan girl is used by an older man, "Uncle", to provide an extra income as he travels and begs. Ann Cameron has done a lovely job of blending the dynamics between abuser and abused, revealing how deeply a child can be severed from their own identity, and how difficult it is to see it, or to imagine a life outside of it once you are in it. She weaves a story of self-discovery, of strength and compassion. She reminds us that it only takes one caring person to reach out and empower another.

Ann Cameron incorporates the traditions and cultural intricacies of the people she writes about with great tenderness, respect, and honesty. This is a book rich with the texture and feel, color and brilliance of Guatemala through the eyes of her indigenous people.