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Barbara Sjoholm

A Clear Spring (Girls First!) Hardcover – January 1, 2002

by Barbara Wilson (Author)

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Willa C. Lopez is traveling on her own for the first time. She's almost twelve, and grown-up enough to fly on a plane by herself and spend the summer away from home. But is Willa ready for the changes, surprises, and mysteries she'll find when she arrives?

Willa is spending her summer in Seattle with Aunt Ceci and her partner, Janie. Through her work as a naturalist, Janie introduces Willa to the local wildlife and ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest. Then someone starts polluting the salmon stream in the park where Janie works, and Willa teams up with her cousin Tabitha to find the culprit. From her diverse, confident, and sometimes eccentric bunch of relatives, Willa learns that there isn't any one kind of family—the only requirement is love. She also learns about ecosystems and "scientific sleuthing," and discovers what may be her life's work.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Gr. 4-6. Wilson is best known for her adult mysteries starring lesbian sleuths and for her searing memoir, Blue Windows (1997). Her first offering for young readers combines a detective story with a girl's pivotal summer. Eleven-year-old Willa is nervous about leaving her mother and Chicago behind for a summer in Seattle with her aunts, Carmen and Ceci. But she adapts quickly to her new environment, especially after she follows Janie, Aunt Ceci's lesbian partner, to work at a nature center. Aunt Carmen's kids embrace Willa, and through their joint detective work, they nab the polluter of a salmon creek. The overtly didactic text is likely to bog down a few readers, and the characters often seem to speak in the same voice--earnest, intelligent, and liberal. But Wilson convincingly portrays Willa's excitement as she develops a passionate interest in nature, and the "eco-sleuthing" will attract mystery fans. Children looking for books showing nontraditional families will find a range of families here, including gay couples, interracial marriages, and single parents. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Wilson convincingly portrays Willa's excitement as she develops a passionate interest in nature, and the 'eco-sleuthing' will attract mystery fans. Children looking for books showing nontraditional families will find a range of families here, including gay couples, interracial marriages, and single parents."
—Booklist

"Wilson convincingly portrays Willa's excitement as she develops a passionate interest in nature, and the 'eco-sleuthing' will attract mystery fans. Children looking for books showing nontraditional families will find a range of families here, including gay couples, interracial marriages, and single parents."
―Booklist

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ The Feminist Press at CUNY; 1st edition (January 1, 2002)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 112 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1558612777
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1558612778
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 8 - 12 years
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.2 x 0.7 x 8 inches

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Barbara Sjoholm

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I’m a writer of nonfiction, including memoirs (Blue Windows) and travel books (The Pirate Queen). As Barbara Sjoholm I have published essays and travel articles in The New York Times, Smithsonian, Slate, and American Scholar, as well as many other publications. My focus as a nonfiction writer has been on Scandinavia and the Indigenous Sami people of the Nordic countries (Black Fox, Palace of the Snow Queen). I also translate from Danish (By the Fire: Sami Folktales) and Norwegian (Clearing Out by Helene Uri) and have received awards from the American Scandinavian Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

As Barbara Wilson I have a long career as a mystery writer, with two series featuring lesbian sleuths, Pam Nilsen, a printer in Seattle, and the globe-trotting translator Cassandra Reilly. Gaudi Afternoon, with Cassandra, and set in Barcelona, was awarded a Lambda Literary Award and a British Crime Writers Award and made into a film with Judy Davis and Marcia Gay Harden. After a bit of a hiatus, I've resumed writing mysteries with Cassandra Reilly. The latest is Love Dies Twice.

I live in the Pacific Northwest.

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Jonathan Betz-Zall

rousing feminist multicultural detective story

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 18, 2005

Many points to the author for conveying a lot of ecological information in a believable mystery story, with credible adults and believable teenage behavior. I agree with the Booklist reviewer that the text is a bit didactic but this is not necessarily a handicap if environmental educators can subtly recommend it for their more reluctant students. And the multicultural elements are very strong--not many novels for teenagers do this good a job of integrating them.

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