Water Girl

by Joyce Carol Thomas

Amber Westbrook, who is more reflective, more intense, and more emotional than the rest of her family, escapes to the river when the arrival of a letter shatters her world in order to discover the meaning of her life.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction

119 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1986

About the author

Joyce Carol Thomas was an internationally renowned author who received the National Book Award for her first novel, Marked By Fire, and a Coretta Scott King Honor for her first picture book, Brown Honey In Broomwheat Tea. Her other titles include I Have Heard Of A Land, a Coretta Scott King Honor Book; The Gospel Cinderella; cCrowning Glory; Gingerbread Days; and A Gathering Of Flowers. Ms. Thomas lived in Berkeley, California.

Reviews

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well this story was truly bizarre. At first I really liked the fifteen-year-old protagonist, Amber. She lives in Tracy, CA and reads Jet and Ebony magazines. She is angry about the way the migrant farm workers are treated. She is a voracious reader about so many injustices in the world. She educates herself on Japanese-American internment, the Holocaust, treatment on the Native Americans, and her own Black history. She's an expert marksperson, she plays the flute and swims, and she's outspoken.

Then she finds a letter about her past and leaves home to live in the woods for a few days. While she's missing, the family tells three stories from her past. One about a rattlesnake, one about a fake baby, and one that's a story about a mouse. In a book that's only 119 pages, why are these here? Oy, were they weird. Then there's all the nature/spiritual stuff about the eagle and the water and the earthquake. I've never been drawn to any kind of magical myths, spiritualism, symbolism. Great character. Strange book.

[Belle Meade School]

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