Red Glass [Hardcover]

Laura Resau (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 11, 2007

ONE NIGHT SOPHIE and her parents are called to a hospital where Pedro, 6-year-old Mexican boy, is recovering from dehydration. Crossing the border into Arizona with a group of Mexicans and a coyote, or guide, Pedro and his parents faced such harsh conditions that the boy is the only survivor. Pedro comes to live with Sophie, her parents, and Sophie's Aunt Dika, a refugee of the war in Bosnia. Sophie loves Pedro - her Principito, or Little Prince. But after a year, Pedro's surviving family in Mexico makes contact, and Sophie, Dika, Dika's new boyfriend, and his son must travel with Pedro to his hometown so that he can make a heartwrenching decision.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Starred Review, Booklist, September 15, 2007:
"The vivid characters, the fine imagery, and the satisfying story arc make this a rewarding novel."
—Carolyn Phelan

Starred Review, Publishers Weekly, October 1, 2007:
"The prose captivates from the first chapter ... a vibrant, large-hearted story."

About the Author

Laura Resau lived in the Mixtec region of Oaxaca, Mexico, for two years as an English teacher and anthropologist. She now lives with her husband and her dog in Colorado.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers; First Edition edition (September 11, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385734662
• ISBN-13: 978-0385734660
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 1 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #670,715 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

With a background in cultural anthropology and ESL-teaching, Laura Resau has lived and traveled in Latin America and Europe - experiences that inspired her books for young people. Her latest novel, The Jade Notebook, was praised by School Library Journal for "the lush descriptions, intermittent action sequences, and sprinkling of fantasy [that] all come together to form an engaging reading experience."

Her previous novels - The Queen of Water, Star in the Forest, The Ruby Notebook, The Indigo Notebook, Red Glass, and What the Moon Saw - have garnered many starred reviews and awards, including the IRA YA Fiction Award, the Américas Award, and spots on Oprah's Kids' Book List. Acclaimed for its sensitive treatment of immigration issues, Resau's writing has been called "vibrant, large-hearted" (Publishers' Weekly) and "powerful, magical" (Booklist).

Resau lives with her husband and young son in Colorado. She donates a portion of her royalties to indigenous rights organizations in Latin America.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too November 28, 2007

By TeensReadToo

Format:Hardcover

Laura Resau's RED GLASS was an amazing read. It's a wonderful mixture of excerpts from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince, eccentric people, political unrest, and magical fortunes folded into a cross-continental summer road trip.

Sophie is an amoeba, a free-floating spirit who is not attached to anything besides her family and her books. Then one night she picks up a phone call from the hospital. Seven Mexican migrants and their guide have died crossing the Arizona border. The lone survivor is a six-year-old boy named Pablo who had Sophie's stepfather's business card in his pocket. Pablo comes to live with Sophie, her parents, and Sophie's great aunt Dika, a Bosnian war refugee. Sophie grows to love her Principito, or Little Prince, but after a year her parents get in contact with Pablo's remaining family in Mexico.

Over the summer, Sophie, Dika, Dika's boyfriend, and his son must take Pablo back to his hometown so that he can choose between his new family and his birth family. The trip is hard at first, because Sophie is afraid that anything and everything will go wrong. But the stories and the struggles of her companions change her perception of danger and she grows attached to Ángel despite her fears that she will lose him. When a terrible accident occurs, Sophie is forced to make a dangerous trip by herself. On the way, she realizes that while life has its risks, it is still beautiful and even fun.

I loved this book. One of the things that was really well done was how it was multi-cultural without being culturally exclusive. Even though some of the dialogue was written in Spanish, it was still easy to read. But the best part of the book was its characters. They are both hilarious and tragic, but never melodramatic. At times, I felt as if author Laura Resau was in my head. Teens will identify with Sophie as one of their own.

Reviewed by: Natalie Tsang

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Barbara Kingsolver for the Slightly Younger Set November 5, 2007

By L. Patterson

Format:Hardcover

Like a Barbara Kingsolver for the slightly younger set, Laura Resau uses gorgeous, sensuous language to create a galloping good story with a timely social theme. Readers will never want this wonderful road trip with its cast of utterly convincing oddball characters to end. Red Glass is a book to fall in love with.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars For girls who are going to travel the world/join the peace corps/speak 5 languages/kick butt November 6, 2007

By S. Ryan

Format:Hardcover

I love this book. Sophie is the kind of best friend every girl should have--she's generous, funny, artsy, more than a little neurotic, and really brave. She takes off with a crazy cast of characters on an adventure to die for, traveling from Arizona to Mexico and then into Guatemala to rescue her boyfriend-to-be. It made me want to learn 10 languages and travel around the world. I cried and laughed a lot, and had to look up places on Google Earth! Great read.