Sparely written, powerfully told story of Berry, a girl dealing with her sister's death and her troubled relationship with her dad. Coman gets inside her protagonist's head with an extraordinary amount of sensitivity and empathy. ( )

This book is filled with emotion of every kind. It deals with the many difficult issues in life, such as death, divorce, anger, and loneliness. This is the story of a girl, Berry, who goes on a journey to South Africa with her hated father, to attend the memorial of her sister's death there. Her teenage struggle is captured in the extreme in this novel, but it is also interesting set in a country in the process of recovery itself- from apartheid. There is an interesting layering as Berry learns from the people of South Africa, and eventually learns to leave behind some of her own anger and suffering. A good novel, but very heavy for young readers.

This book is about a sixteen year old girl who's family relationships are complicated. She doesn't have a great relationship with her father. Berry's sister Laura was murdered in South Africa while doing relief work. Her dad has to go to South Africa for business but takes Berry with him so they can go to Laura's memorial service. This trip allows reconciliation between Berry and her dad. While she is there Berry encounters a lot of Black South Africans who have endured a lot of hardships in their lives. Her problems start to disappear when she compares them to the people of South Africa.

A great story of a girl trying to deal with her sisters death and her own rebirth. Strong and powerful ( )

Coman, Carolyn. Many Stones. 2000. Front Street: Asheville, North Carolina.
Genre: Young Adult fiction, drama
Themes: Young adult fiction, death, family relations, South Africa, apartheid, grief, and reconciliation
Reading Level: 13 and older
Awards: National Book Award Finalist and 2001 Printz Award Honor book
Censorship Issues: Berry drinks alcohol one night, but nothing else stood out that would cause censorship issues.
Plot Summary: Berry Morgan’s father wants her to travel with him to South Africa to attend a memorial service for her sister Laura. She hadn’t seen much of her father since he divorced her mother, but since Laura was murdered, he is constantly around even attending her swim meets. She has collected stones, the first one from Laura’s gravesite, which she puts one by one, onto her chest, and compares herself to paper and the stones a paperweight, there to keep her from flying away. She also finds comfort from the way it feels to be in the water, like she can dissolve into nothing. She is very bitter towards her father and the death of her sister and cannot see how the people of South Africa can forgive and move forward. She does not think she could meet her sister’s murderers, listen to their story, and just forgive them. She listens to the incredible stories of forgiveness and reconciliation of the people she meets but seems to get more and more angry towards her father the closer they get to Cape Town. Berry blocks every attempt made by her father to try and repair their relationship, until he admits that he has failed the people who loved him. It isn’t until they are at the memorial service, that she starts to let go of her anger, so that she can again feel the love she had for her sister and speak out her feelings.
Critique: Berry is petulant and sullen towards her father through out the whole trip and her rejection of his attempts towards reconciliation become predictable. She rejects everything about him until the very end, then the story wraps up a little too neatly in one 8-page chapter.
Curriculum Uses: This book would tie in with a lesson on the social injustice of segregation and apartheid or a study of the government of South Africa.