In fiction as in life, change (plot action) is often driven by pain. In children’s fiction, the child herself is in pain and/or she is trying to lift someone else’s pain. Pain comes in many forms. Neglect is a common one: it sometimes doesn’t look so bad, but beneath the surface, the pain of neglect digs a deep trench.
Neglect is common to all the girls at Fitch’s Last Ditch Foster Home. Instead of drawing them together, the girls become more isolated. It takes a journey to the Neverland and the task of working together to save Pip’s life to transform the girls from “The Lifers,” to “The Merry Band.”
Today’s book recommendation is also rooted in the pain of neglect. In The Land of Forgotten Girls, by Erin Entrada Kelly, neglect is almost a character in its own right. It certainly weaves itself into the stark setting. Here’s the summary:
“Abandoned by their father and living in poverty with their heartless step-mother in Louisiana, two sisters from the Philippines, twelve-year-old Sol and six-year-old Ming, learn the true meaning of family.”
The pain of neglect is not the only thing The Land of Forgotten Girls has in common with The Curse of the Neverland and Becoming Piper Pan. Sol and Ming live in a multi-cultural environment including stereotyping, discrimination, and judgment that lift upon actually getting to know the other parties. Also, as they make friends, things get better.
Sol uses a coping tool very dear to my heart in helping her and her sister through their daily difficulties: her imagination. She tells stories, and chooses which view of things is most helpful to their emotional wellbeing.
Finally, while Sol does not have a fairy, she does have an advisor she leans on who is invisible to all but her.
The Land of Forgotten Girls is a beautifully told story of two immigrant sisters, finding their way together with the unexpected help of some friends.
Happy Reading!