Being Fishkill

(Hardback)

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Description

Born in the backseat of a moving car, Carmel Fishkill was unceremoniously pushed into a world that refuses to offer her security, stability, love. At age thirteen, she begins to fight back. Carmel Fishkill becomes Fishkill Carmel, who deflects her tormenters with a strong left hook and conceals her secrets from teachers and social workers. But Fishkills fierce defenses falter when she meets eccentric optimist Duck-Duck Farina, and soon they, along with Duck-Ducks mother, Molly, form a tentative family, even as Fishkill struggles to understand her place in it. This fragile new beginning is threatened by the reappearance of Fishkills unstable mother and by unfathomable tragedy. Poet Ruth Lehrers young adult debut is a stunning, revelatory look at what defines and sustains "family." And, just as it does for Fishkill, meeting Duck-Duck Farina and her mother will leave readers forever changed.

Reviews

A desperately sad story of profound abuse is softened somewhat by the highly intelligent Duck-Duck and her loving mother. But neither love nor grief is linear. Fishkill's guilt, anger, and abandonment only intensify as the story unfolds, leaving her desperate and unsure where to turn...Abuse is eclipsed by love in this moving novel.
Kirkus Reviews

Lehrer pulls at heartstrings in her thought-provoking debut...a complex and well-plotted work.
Booklist

In Lehrers engrossing first novel, 12-year-old Carmel Fishkill (named after a highway exit sign her mother, Keely, glimpsed while giving birth in the back seat of a car) decides that starting seventh grade in a new school is an opportunity to toughen up her image...The plot, as well as Duck-Duck and Fishkills friendship, twists and turns as Keely reappears and disappears, until a tragic development changes the entire tone of the book, providing a bittersweet resolution.
Publishers Weekly

Lehrers debut is well written and touches upon tough subjects such as bullying, abuse, and teen pregnancy in a lyrical but age-appropriate way. Fishkill lives a hard life, but the book speaks to how schools and institutions handle students in poverty. A great purchase for public libraries.
School Library Journal

The deep sadness undergirding this story is held in check, rhetorically speaking, by Fishkills matter-of-fact, survivalist perspective and a fast-moving plot...Fans of Catherine Ryan Hydes rescue dramas are the audience for this.
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

In the years most heartwarming, heartbreaking teen novel, Carmel Fishkill whos been abused for years decides to reinvent herself and change her name to Fishkill Carmel. After she finally finds some solace, her unstable mother reappears.
Entertainment Weekly

Poet Lehrers YA debut is a beautifully written and authentic look at rural poverty, and a great choice for fans of Kody Keplingers Run and Sarah Nicole Lemons Done Dirt Cheap.
B&N Teen Blog

Author Bio

Ruth Lehrer is a poet, author, and American Sign Language interpreter. She lives in the woods of western Massachusetts.