| Reaction
to The Secret of Me
THE
SECRET OF ME Earns a Star From KIRKUS REVIEWS
"A sincere, at times
poignant, novel-in-verse reads like a memoir and tells the
story of a teenager who wishes to explore her identity as
an adopted child. Lizzie (age 14) expresses her deepest and
most personal thoughts about being adopted with her three
best friends. But she longs to share her secret identity with
her new boyfriend and to probe openly her biological background,
even though her siblings (also adopted) view doing so as an
act of disloyalty to their devoted adoptive parents. Kearney
exploits poetry and its variety of forms uniquely to access
and express Lizzie's innermost hopes and desires and how they
affect the choices she makes. A real balance of personal exploration
as an adoptee and new teenage emotions creates a powerful
blend in a warm character ready to connect and sustain that
bond to readers. Not only will adolescents feel expertly sensitized
to issues of adoption, they will get a good dose of real poetry
with unique and inspiring language so often sacrificed for
story in this genre. Substantive backmatter (afterword, guide
to the poetics, reprints of poems Lizzie loves, recommended
links and bibliography) makes this a first-rate offering."
The
Brattleboro Reformer, “The Bookshelf”
review written by Elena Eames
Brattleboro, VT, February 9, 2006
[Note: “The Bookshelf” features book
reviews written by elementary school students in Brattleboro,
Vermont, who have participated in the BEEP Literary Club,
organized by Flo Nester, coordinator of the Brattleboro Elementary
Enrichment Program. The students meet monthly to share book
reviews they have written.]
In this welcoming and amazing novel, The
Secret of Me, author Meg Kearney crafts a heartfelt
story. Written in verse, this book tells how Lizzie McLane,
an innocent teenager, winds her way through life with many
unanswered questions about her adoption.
Two of Lizzie’s friends are adopted, as
well as her older brother and sister. Confiding in these four,
she finds it hard to let others in on her family’s well-kept
secret. Lizzie’s family avoids talking about adoption, which
troubles her, because her friend’s families are more open-minded
when it comes to talking to their children about this subject.
Many authors write books about adoption;
however, I found this book to really stand out. It was deep
and emotional, explaining the never-ending questioning and
emptiness that consumed Lizzie. This novel was very poetic
and the writing flowed evenly.
Though I will never fully know what it’s
like to be adopted, the book opened up and let me into the
life of an adopted teen. It really made me think about and
wonder what life must be like not knowing your birth mother
and birth father. It proved to be one of the few books I have
read that I cannot relate to on a personal level, but I still
find to be much more than enjoyable.
If you are in sixth grade or above and are
looking for a powerful book that you can jump right into,
I would highly recommend this one to you.
Voice
of Youth Advocates (VOYA), April 2006
The magazine serving those who serve young adults”
review by Susan Allen
www.voya.com
On rare occasions one reads a book that
is just plain touching, pulling the reader in and allowing
one to feel what the character feels. Here is such a book.
In poetic form, it is written in the voice of a fourteen-year-old
Lizzie, who journals her feelings about being adopted. Lizzie’s
siblings are also adopted, and instead of “when you were born”
tales, McLane family members recount their “phone call” stories.
Outside the family, however, the fact that the children are
adopted is never mentioned. Lizzie gets into trouble with
her older siblings when she voices questions about her birthmother.
She is seen as being disloyal. Among Lizzie’s tight group
of friends are two other girls who are adopted. They talk
about their shared secret. Do they tell their other friends?
Did the boyfriend break up with one of them because he was
told that she was adopted? Should they search for their birth
parents? Lizzie presents all these feelings and decisions.
The afterword tells about the author’s struggle
with the knowledge of her adoption as she grew up. A section
tells about the types of poetics that Lizzie uses. There are
recommendations for poetry collections and books on poetry
and several selections of poems by other poets that are mentioned
by Lizzie as her favorites. This tenderly written books is
definitely for the adopted teen but can be enjoyed by all
others. It can be used within classroom poetry units with
great success.
“Walking
into this book is like walking into the world of people you've
always known but now get a chance to be close to. Meg Kearney
has written a collection of poems that tell an amazing story
of loss, love, growing up, and forgiving. This book speaks
to anyone who has ever asked the questions ‘Who am I?’ and
‘Who will I become?’”
—JACQUELINE WOODSON
“In
this tender, wonderfully written story of Lizzie McLane, a
vulnerable teenager seeking the strength to speak the secret
of her life, Meg Kearney draws the reader into a world that
is both real and revelatory, a world of food and friends,
candles and kisses and questions. After reading this novel,
no one will ever again wonder why adoptees of all ages long
so fiercely to know their biological parentage.”
—NORMA
FOX MAZER
“Wonderfully
written, often funny, always alive and honest, this brave
book is about the agony of being different, of keeping the
secret of yourself—and it speaks to the outsider and the searcher
in all of us.”
—ADAM BAGDASARIAN
“The
Secret of Me is lovely and insightful, moving and thought-provoking,
and a joy to read. This is a book for anyone touched by adoption
and anyone who loves poetry. I couldn’t put it down, and I’m
very glad I didn’t.”
—ADAM PERTMAN,
author of Adoption Nation
and Executive Director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute |
