Three Little Words

September 24, 2012
In a quiet but moving story about the different forms family can take, 16-year-old Sid has grown up happily with foster parents on an island off Canada’s west coast, an evocative setting that Harvey (Death Benefits) paints with care. Sid is an artistic loner, but his innate kindness is readily apparent: he’s the kind of teen who’s happy to create stories with Fariza, a newly arrived foster child recovering from a family trauma, and whip up éclairs for the annual island potluck. Sid’s idyllic summer takes a turn when a man shows up with the news that Sid’s bipolar biological mother has disappeared—along with a half-brother Sid didn’t know he had. Sid agrees to travel to Victoria, B.C., to meet his grandmother and search for 13-year-old Wain. Sid is a bit too good to be true, and he finds Wain without much incident. Harvey is more interested in Sid’s struggles to make headway with moody, aggressive Wain (who, to Sid’s surprise, is half black) and Sid’s unresolved feelings toward his mother, both
of which come to realistically imperfect resolutions. Ages 12–up.

March 1, 2013

Gr 8 Up-Sixteen-year-old Sid is a budding artist who lives with his beloved foster parents, Megan and Caleb, on an island in British Columbia. His parents have just taken in Fariza, a girl who distrusts all males and does not speak at all. Soon, Sid and Fariza are together and Fariza grows comfortable around him. Just as they begin to make a connection, Phil arrives. He is a friend of Sid's birth mother, Devi, and needs Sid's help. He explains that Sid has a half brother, Wain, who has gone missing, and he needs help finding him. After deciding to go, Sid meets his wealthy grandmother. He visits his mother's studio and discovers where his artistic abilities come from. And, he eventually finds his brother, who also had no idea that he has a sibling. Sid soon realizes how lucky he is to have been taken in by his foster parents, as he has manners, a moral compass, and a quiet life that he loves. The plot is a bit far-fetched, and loose ends are tied up all too quickly in a pretty package at the book's end. However, the author offers insight into what it is like to deal with a parent's mental illness. Sid is too good to be true, and his ability to stay calm in all crises will either be inspiring or too saccharine for readers.-Lindsay Klemas, JM Rapport School for Career Development, Bronx, NY

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2012
Sid, 16, is an odd, orderly soul. He wears black T-shirts and jeans exclusively, sketches obsessively, hangs out with his best friend, Chloe, and helps out with Caleb and Megan's other foster kids on their peaceful British Columbia island. At age 2, Sid (short for Siddhartha) was taken from his bipolar mother, Devi, who'd neglected him; now only his private sketchbooks hint at his difficult history. After he shares these with mute, traumatized foster child Fariza, they create stories together, a healing process interrupted when Devi's friend Phil arrives. Sid learns he has a 13-year-old half brother, Wain (short for Gawain), who's gone missing. Phil enlists Sid's help in searching for him in Victoria. There, Sid discovers the source of his artistic gifts, meets his congenial grandmother and easily locates his brother, who's touchy, sullen and black. Many questions go unasked and unanswered. Why, after 14 years, haven't Sid's foster parents adopted him? Do the boys ever think about their birth fathers? What is it like to be the black son of a white mother in such a white world? Appealing, original characters--especially Sid, eccentric but high-functioning--are a strong suit. While strangely tone deaf to adoption and transracial family issues, Harvey portrays parental mental illness and the long-term effects of childhood trauma with compassionate insight. (Fiction. 12 & up)

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December 1, 2012
Grades 8-12 Sixteen-year-old Sid lives a contented, quiet, art-centered life with the couple who rescued him, as a toddler, from his neglectful birth mother. In the care of Caleb and Megan, he has matured and is responsive to the needs of the other foster kids who come and go from their small island home off the West Coast of Canada. As he develops his friendship with a talkative but good-hearted neighbor girl, the arrival of a small, silent girl gives him cause to reflect on his ability to be patient. Then Sid and his foster parents are surprised by a stranger who requests that Sid visit his birth grandmother. Harvey does a beautiful job balancing the story's many plot threads, while creating realistic, compelling characters. Identity, mental illness, social security (and insecurity), racial concerns, and recovery from trauma are all themes that surface throughout the novel without ever overwhelming the strong, skillfully told story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)