The Cuckoo's Child [Hardcover]

Suzanne Freeman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 21, 1996 | Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

Mia Veery wants her family to behave like the families she reads about. They would never include a mother who flies airplanes and trades one husband for another. Or older sisters who dress all in black and read French novels. Or a father who moves his family from Ohio to live in Lebanon, where even the tangy air tastes foreign.

Every day in Beirut, Mia wishes she could live the way kids are living in America in 1962, eating hot dogs, drinking real milk, maybe watching Bonanza on TV. Then her wish comes true, but in a way she'd never intended.

Mia is sent back to the United States, to Tennessee, to stay with an aunt she's never met. During a summer spent longing for her parents and trying to find her place in her new surroundings, Mia figures out a few truths about families and all that they can and cannot be.

Mia Veery is fierce, funny, and finally, indomitable. Her story marks the extraordinary debut of a talented writer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

First-time novelist Freeman conveys the essence of estrangement in a unique coming-of-age story, at once profound and darkly humorous. The youngest member of a studiedly individualist American family living in Beirut during the early '60s, Mia longs to be a "normal" American girl, but her chance to make this dream come true arrives via tragedy. Only after her parents are lost at sea and her "beatnik" older half-sisters are sent off for a lengthy visit with their real father does Mia find herself being reshaped as an "ordinary kid" by her Aunt Kit in Ionia, Tenn. Although Mia quickly learns how to blend in with the popular girls at the local Vacation Bible School, she continues to be haunted by her memories. It takes much soul-searching for her to realize that the things that made her different are the same things that made her truly happy. A number of the minor characters are somewhat stereotyped, but Mia's psyche is painstakingly developed and she emerges as a highly complex character, very much an original. Readers will become absorbed in Mia's battle to overcome grief and guilt, and will identify with the growing pains she suffers and the social blunders she commits. Sure to make a lasting impression. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-9?The summer their parents disappear at sea on a sailing vacation off the coast of Greece, Mia and her two older half-sisters, Bibi and Nell, must leave their home in Beirut to live in Ionia, Tennessee, with their mother's unmarried sister, Kit. It is 1962, and the summer looms long, as Bibi and Nell are invited to visit their father in Boston, while Mia remains with Aunt Kit, whom she has just met. Frustrated by her young charge's rudeness, Kit sends her niece to Bible School, a place replete with snobbery and wickedly funny incidents. Although Mia finds one comfortable friend, she still feels like an outsider. She savors memories of their life in Beirut, even though she dreamed only of living in America during her three years there. Her reality now includes her aunt's insufferable boyfriend, one of many minor characters drawn with razor accuracy. Eventually, Bibi and Nell return to Ionia to comfort Mia, bringing along their father, another male whom Mia is poised to resent. With all the recent changes in her perception of family, her acting out becomes so severe that she is finally forced to let down her guard and allow others to help her find a new equilibrium. Freeman's first-person narrative presents Mia as a complex young woman, often outrageous, sometimes poetic, in a tale rich with insight and droll humor. This is a strong first novel, reminiscent in both its story and its depth and sensitivity, of Sharon Crete's Walk Two Moons (HarperCollins, 1994). A stunning debut.
Susan W. Hunter, Riverside Middle School, Springfield, VT
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Greenwillow Books; F edition (March 21, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688142907
• ISBN-13: 978-0688142902
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,201,762 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just for kids, March 23, 2000

By 

J. C. Bradley "portledge" (DUXBURY, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cuckoo's Child (Paperback)

This is one of those books that has a child for a narrator but speaks to all ages, especially those of us who remember the feel and details of life in 1962. It has the unchildlike true voice found in To Kill a Mockingbird or Member of the Wedding. Most of all it captures, with humor and quiet drama, one's growing inner life and the struggle to guide that life by the signposts of the outer world. Look for the passages on eating cookies, touching the clock dial -- you'll see what I mean. It's a treasure.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It blew me away, November 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Cuckoo's Child (Paperback)

This book is amazing! Mia's dream was to return to her homeland,America,but her wish wassn't granted the way she expected. When her bohemian parents got lost at sea,she and her eccentric older half-sisters were sent to their aunt in Tennessee. Orphaned and unable to fit in with other kids,Mia was as unhappy there as she had been in Beirut. She felt alienated in both countries and didn't appreciate her parents until they got taken from her. Then,she slowly reverted to compulsive behavior. I knew how she felt in her isolation,wondering if she would ever catch up to her new friends in matters such as love. I became totally immersed in the story. For anyone who's ever doubted whether they belong,I reccomend this book. Please,Mrs. Freeman,write a sequel! We want to know if Mia's parents ever come back.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Cuckoos Child Review, January 25, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Cuckoo's Child (Hardcover)

Traveling to Tennessee due to their parents being lost at sea was not an easy task to swallow. Mia, and her two older sisters, Bibi and Nell, went to live with their Aunt Kit whom they had never met. Since Mia was dealing with the fact that her parents were lost at sea, she was very hard to talk to. Because of this, Mia's Aunt Kit sends her to Bible School in hope that she would improve behaviorally wise. At Bible School, she meets a girl named Sinclair and they both become best friends. Sinclair and Mia become best friends, but when they get into a fight, Mia decides that she will join another group called the Devotions, who are the leaders of Bible School. Eventually, Mia and Sinclair make up and create their own group where they write poems. Mia writes a poem and decides to call it "The Cuckoo Child". This book has many characteristics that you don't see in other books.

Mia reacted to her being orphaned in a repulsive, unhappy attitude. When she had arrived at the ceremony and was so upset because everyone else's parents were there she climbed up into a tree. She stayed their until her family had came and found her. Because of her having to realize the fact that she was orphaned she had many mixed emotions. In this book, I think that in some cases her approach on things would have been completely different if she wasn't dealing with that fact. I really liked how the author depicted that in this book.

Mia's dream was to return to her homeland America. When her parents were lost at sea she got to fulfill this dream. Throughout the whole beginning of this book the author talked about this and Mia's feelings toward America. She always said that she was missing out on the American childhood. When she was orphaned she was devastated, but along with that I think she had a side of her that thought of how she was fulfilling her dream, and going back to America. In another look at things, Mia was going to her Aunt Kit's house whom she had never met. She may have had her two step sisters with her, but that was also a major impact to the story.

In the beginning of this book it was really slow. All it talked about was Mia's dream to going to America. As the story went on, more details were put in and the story became more interesting. For two chapters or more, though, the main subject was Mia and her dream. When she got over to America the real story began.

This book is not a book for those who like adventure novels. It is more of a dramatic book dealing with some mystery, where you wonder if her parents will ever come back. This book would also be good for anyone that has ever doubted themselves. Mia felt alienated in both countries she lived in. She had to adjust to the habitat, but could never find anywhere that actually "fit".

-H. Cooper