The Double Life of Zoe Flynn © 2004 Janet Lee Carey
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 0-681-85604-0
The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books. September 2004 issue
Like many others, Zoe’s dad has lost his job at the university. He can’t get work in town that will support his family, and the landlord has decided to sell their house. The family’s only option is to store their furniture with a friend and drive in the van up the coast to Oregon, where Zoe’s dad finds a teaching job, then live out of the van until they can save enough to rent a home. Thought the strain of living for six months in an old van with parents and little brother would make anyone’s life a misery, it’s the loss of her identity, formed through her relationships with friends and places, that Zoe minds the most. In Oregon, she has become the outsider, the weirdo whose mom scrubs the neighbors’ floors. In an ironic twist, her lack of a house threatens her growing friendship with Aliya, a second-generation Pakistani-American, since Zoe refuses to invite her to visit Zoe’s (nonexistent) house, and Aliya views that exclusion as a rejection based on her Muslim religion. Unobtrusive foils are provided by Aliya’s immigrant grandmother and Aliya’s own reminiscences about Julia, a recently deceased local girl; the grandmother’s pining for the land of her nativity mirrors Zoe’s homesickness, and Julia’s death underscores the transitory beauty of life in the here and now. Zoe’s use of her rich imagination and unstoppable internal drive to overcome the pressure generated by the danger and shame of homelessness will entice readers into turning pages long after bedtime, while the author’s startling, provocative imagery galvanizes the text and crafts the description of Zoe’s challenges and growth into an intimate personal experience for the reader.
From School Library Journal
Grade 5-7– At the end of fifth grade, Zoe's parents announce that they will have to pack up the van and leave their small California town so that Dad can look for work. He finally finds a teaching job in Oregon, but they haven't saved enough money for rent, so they're still living in the van when school starts. Zoe is mortified and desperate to keep anyone from suspecting their plight, but it's hard to keep up a good front. She struggles to maintain a friendship with Aliya, who soon wonders why she is never invited to Zoe's house and even intimates that anti-Muslim bigotry might be the reason. Magical thinking–that she can win enough money to buy a house, that the glass doorknob she's pilfered from her old home will someday open the door to a new "dreamroom"–keeps Zoe from utter despair. After she saves enough money from doing odd jobs, she takes the bus back home and discovers that nothing there is the same. A near-tragic event leads to a reunion with her family. By book's end, Zoe has come to terms with living in a mobile trailer park and has reconciled with Aliya. The struggles of this middle-class family to keep their heads above water are realistically and sympathetically presented. As a topic for discussion or a comfort to those in similar situations, Carey's book should be widely appreciated.–Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Public Library, NY
KIRKUS REVIEW JUNE 1ST
2004
Zoe learns to
cope with change, friendship, and homelessness in this poignant tale.
Zoe’s family hasn’t been doing too well since her dad’s bookstore
went under and he was laid off from his teaching job at the local college.
When they lose their apartment’s lease, her parents resolve to leave
Zoe’s beloved town of Tillerman while her father looks for work –
after all, “What good was a Ph.D. in English literature when you
couldn’t make the rent?” Despite Zoe’s protests, the family leaves,
driving north to Oregon and living in the van. In their new town, the
Flynns stay illegally in their van while they try to save up enough money
for the fist and last month’s rent in some apartment. The need to keep
their secret comes between Zoe and her new friend Aliya, and heartbroken
Zoe wonders if she will ever make it home to Tillerman, or be able to keep
a friend in her new town. Thought-provoking ...
