John Riley's Daughter - Hardcover

Matthews, Kezi

3.85

13 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 081262775X ISBN 13: 9780812627756

Publisher: Cricket Books, 2000

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John Riley's Daughter opens in a small South Carolina town in the early 1970s with the disappearance of Memphis Riley's 29-year-old mentally handicapped aunt, Clover. Memphis and Clover have never gotten along, which is just one of the things Memphis's grandmother will never forgive her for. Six years ago Memphis's folksinging father, John Riley, dropped her off at her grandmother's house "temporarily" after her mother died; he hasn't been back since. Now Memphis's life is a constant round of domestic battles and uneasy truces. And she can't rely on her mother, Rosie, who no longer appears in her daughter's dreams. After Clover disappears, Memphis finds herself on the defensive yet again, and even her grandmother suspects that Memphis may have harmed Clover. In this powerful story told in the first person and set over the course of three sweltering July days, Memphis must come to terms with her life, her attitudes, and her options.

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Review:

"When most people hear 'large-print book,' they immediately think senior citizen. But large-print editions of popular children's books -- from the powerhouse Harry Potter series to timeless classics like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer -- are now making their way onto the shelves of the Children's Department at the Canton Library. . . . Although large-print editions are targeted to the visually-impaired or dyslexic child, they can also be used by standard-vision readers. So Kershner [Children's librarian at the Canton Public Library] has decided against creating a special section in the Children's Department (as exists in the Adult Department) opting instead to intersperse large-print books on the shelves with the regular print versions of the same titles."
-- The Observer and Eccentric (October 2000) (The Observer and Eccentric 20001001)

"Thorndike Press has helped me not only find books I want to read, but they also look like regular books. That's important when you're a kid and you can only read Large Print, you want your book to look like all the other books. I'm reading a lot more now that we have found Thorndike Press."
-- Jim Bernardin, Islamorada, FL

"Everyone loves to read, there's nothing like curling up with a good book. We're a reading family, so when our son was diagnosed with Stargardt's Disease and only able to read Large Print, it was particularly difficult. Books on tape are wonderful but they don't fill the void of actually reading a good story. Large Print books have been around a long time for older people, but to find a good novel for a young person in Large Print began to feel nearly impossible. The books that Thorndike Press publishes have truly made a difference in my son's reading life. He can enjoy current novels as well as some of the classics that he missed reading when it became too difficult with regular print."
-- Sara Bernardin, Islamorada, FL

"This memorable novel is as well written and honest as they come."
-- School Library Journal (School Library Journal )

From Kirkus Reviews:

It's 1973, and Memphis Riley, who's just turned 13, has had an explosive fight with her aunt Clover, a 29-year-old woman whom a childhood bout with meningitis left broken inside her head. After smashing her guitar, a precious memento that once belonged to Memphis's dead mother, Clover stomps off down the road. Memphis doesn't give Aunt Clover's departure a second thought until that night when her aunt doesn't reappear. Memphis's grandmother Naomi, whom Memphis has lived with since her father, John Riley, dumped her there and never looked back the day after her eighth birthday, is deeply distressed. As the hours, then days, mount, Naomi begins to think that her granddaughter, whom it's clear she never cared for, might have actually hurt the childlike Clover. Memphis only has two allies in the tiny town of Blue Parrot, her grandmother's childhood chum whom she calls Aunt Birdie and her friend Samson, and she's becoming increasingly scared. The surefooted first-person narrative keeps the pressure steadily building, and the reader becomes ever more fearful not only about Clover's fate, but how it will affect Memphis's tenuous position in her household and the community at large. Memphis comes to learn the sad lesson that being born into a family doesn't necessarily mean that they'll . . . love you, and discovers that home isn't brick or board but instead a feeling of belonging. Matthews's strength is that she creates no villains, but sees all her characters, even the most deeply flawed, with a compassionate eye. (Fiction. 12-14) -- Copyright � 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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