Mud Girl

Mud Girl for ages 13 and up Abi - Aba Zytka Jones lives with her dad in an odd little house that hangs over the Fraser River in British Columbia, Canada. Her mom took off a year ago. In his own way, so did her dad. Abi doesn't fit in, never has, and she has questions. Jude - the cute guy from the paint shop - starts to take an interest. Then Abi meets hiw two-year-old son, Dyl. The questions get even more complicated. Ernestine - is she there to help Abi - or her dad? Can Abi find the answers? Amanda, a more helpful and responsive "big sister" than Ernestine, gives Abi a job and some valuable perspective on life and relationships, both familial and romantic. Jude, the lost and self-centered boy who becomes Abi's boyfriend, is her foil, and their faltering romance allows Abi to learn to trust her own judgment and intuition. Jude's mother, Lily, and his son, Dyl, also enable Abi to grow, and she repays the chance they give her a thousandfold. By the end of the novel, Abi has grown from a confused, frightened child to a much more decisive young woman who is aware of the realities of both her limitations and power. Every element of Mud Girl is just right. The characters are round and realistic, the plot compels page-turning, the setting symbolically mirrors the theme, and the resolution is satisfying. Particularly impressive is Acheson's use of language. Every sentence is understated yet filled with a full depth of meaning while the diction is gratifying for its warm poetic rhythm. Mud Girl's best quality, though, is its tone. Acheson manages to strike the almost impossible balance between hope for Abi's future and the true direness of her current situation. That this is done without the least hint of heavy handed didacticism is even more striking. In a genre crowded with depressing mediocrity, Acheson has defied the norm by producing a work of high artistic quality that is also fully accessible to young adult readers. It is a pleasure not to be burdened with another cookie cutter slick teen throwaway story. Mud Girl is a compelling novel—easily the best YA book of the year. It deserves to be in the hands of every teenager in Canada. Highly Recommended