Pieces of Me »

After shy, artistic Mira meets Catherine, her dark thoughts begin to disappear. But Mira finds that her confidence can still be shattered in an instant.

Publishers Weekly

In Gringas's delicately told story, which won the Governor General's Literary Award when it was first published in French, 14-year-old loner Mira feels isolated living in her basement apartment with her suffocating, off-kilter mother ("I feel like I've got a leather collar around my neck and that, every once in a while, she gives a tug on the leash"). Narrating in spare first-person vignettes, Mira ponders her largely absent father, her developing body and her drawing talent. Generally friendless, she finds companionship with a new girl at school, Cath, who shares her passions, but that friendship is tested when Cath charms a young man they are both drawn to. And when Mira faces the sudden loss of her father in a plane accident, she temporarily focuses her misplaced desire on her art teacher. Although the use of bird symbolism (flight as freedom; broken wings as sadness) can be heavy-handed, the story's core appeal lies in its accessible and lyric portrayal of an uncommon girl who comes of age facing her burdens with grace. Ages 12-up. (Apr.)

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