Being Fishkill

Fishkill Carmel fends for herself, with her fists if need be -- until a thwarted lunch theft introduces her to strange, sunny Duck-Duck and a chance for a new start.

Born in the backseat of a moving car, Carmel Fishkill was unceremoniously pushed into a world that refuses to offer her security, stability, love. At age thirteen, she begins to fight back. Carmel Fishkill becomes Fishkill Carmel, who deflects her tormenters with a strong left hook and conceals her secrets from teachers and social workers. But Fishkill's fierce defenses falter when she meets eccentric optimist Duck-Duck Farina, and soon they, along with Duck-Duck's mother, Molly, form a tentative family, even as Fishkill struggles to understand her place in it. This fragile new beginning is threatened by the reappearance of Fishkill's unstable mother -- and by unfathomable tragedy. Poet Ruth Lehrer's young adult debut is a stunning, revelatory look at what defines and sustains "family." And, just as it does for Fishkill, meeting Duck-Duck Farina and her mother will leave readers forever changed.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Candlewick Press (MA)
Published: 11/14/2017
ISBN: 9780763684426
Pages: 320
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 8.60h x 5.60w x 1.10d

Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 08/15/2017
Booklist 09/15/2017 pg. 50
Publishers Weekly 09/18/2017
School Library Journal 10/01/2017
Voice of Youth Advocates 10/01/2017 - Recommended - Hard To Beat
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 12/01/2017
Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2018 pg. 150 - Recommended, Satisfactory

Accelerated Reader Quiz #/Name: 192538 / Being Fishkill
Reading Level: 5 / Interest Level: Middle Grade Plus / Point Value: 12