Family sticks with family. That s the golden rule G ma taught Kendall. But once G ma s gone, Kendall has no family left except for an aunt G ma asked for at the end, who Kendall barely remembers. Only Aunt Janet knows what G ma had in mind, but she never even shows up at the funeral. With child services on Kendall s case and just 10 days to get her apartment lease renewed, Kendall sets out for Janet s home in New Orleans to get her life in order and her questions answered. But what she finds are new friends, like Evie, who is confined to a wheelchair, but can sing like the women on G ma s old records; Miss Clare, who needs Kendall s help as much as Kendall needs hers; and Marcus, who is younger than them all, but still knows how to get by. And when Mardi Gras arrives, with its parades and prizes and music, anything seems possible even making a fresh start, with or without Janet. From the Hardcover edition. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

As the last of her family slips away, 17-year-old narrator Kendall struggles for equilibrium against bleak odds. A prologue establishes the loss, at age four, of her mother, father and brother in a car crash. Her grandmother raises Kendall in Chicago until a second, fatal stroke. Kendall, who had already been struggling with juggling school and the responsibility of caring for her grandmother, heads to New Orleans to try to find her Aunt Janet. Janet hastily abandons her duplex apartment before Kendall gets there. But her aunt's landlady, Miss Clare, who lives with her wheelchair-bound daughter, Evie, in the adjacent apartment, offers Kendall several nights' lodging at Janet's place in return for light duties for Evie. Smith (Lucy the Giant) reveals through smooth dialogue and prescient details, several characters who grow in importance for Kendall. Smart 17-year-old Evie, who has muscular dystrophy and sings like Sarah Vaughan, masks her vulnerability with a sneering devil-may-care attitude. Kendall calls Evie on her self-pity and her disregard for her hard-working mother. In turn, Evie and Clare, first by relying on Kendall and then through genuinely caring, help her to realize that true friends can bridge chasms caused by family loss. The New Orleans setting predominates: the Cafe du Monde, shotgun shacks, the Mississippi and Mardi Gras add gritty verve. Even before-and despite-a disappointing heart-to-heart with her reluctant aunt, Kendall has found her new home. Ages 12-up. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gr 7-9-At a young age, Kendall, now 17, lost her parents and younger brother in a car accident. Her grandmother has raised her in Chicago, in a modest apartment, the best way she knows how. Despite having recently suffered a stroke, the woman doesn't want her health to stand in the way of Kendall graduating with the rest of her class. When G'ma dies, the teen finds herself in search of the only family she knows of, an Aunt Janet in New Orleans, who has the reputation of being unreliable. Kendall can't locate her aunt, but is befriended by Clare, Janet's landlord, and Evie, Clare's daughter. Her relationship with Evie is rocky at first, until both girls learn to look beyond their own problems and help one another. Sonorous blues tunes from Sarah Vaughn, memories of her family before the accident, and recollections of moments spent with G'ma make Kendall's story real. This is a touching novel of a teen left behind by circumstance and a relative who fails her. In the end, Kendall is on her own, working, and holding hope for the future.-Kelly Czarnecki, Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg, NC Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gr. 7-10. Since her parents and little brother died in a car crash when she was five, African American Kendall has been raised by tough, loving G'ma. But when G'ma dies, Kendall, 17, must cope alone. Though she knows very little about her aunt Janet, G'ma's "other daughter," Kendall decides to go to New Orleans to find her. Why did Janet leave home? Why does she run from Kendall now? When Kendall reaches New Orleans, she is taken in by Janet's neighbor, a kind white woman who needs a caregiver for her disabled teenage daughter, Evie. Evie is as tough and smart as she is physically needy, and the teens' growing friendship is drawn without sentimentality; the girls quarrel and help each other in their pride and loneliness. The mystery surrounding Janet will draw readers in, and as the revelations build to a quiet climax, the warm characters redefine what family means. Recommend I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This0 (1994), by Jacqueline Woodson, for readers wanting another story about an interracial friendship. --Hazel Rochman Copyright 2006 Booklist From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.