The Year I Flew Away

by Marie Arnold (Author)

Reading Level: 4th − 5th Grade

In this magical middle-grade novel, ten-year-old Gabrielle finds out that America isn't the perfect place she imagined when she moves from Haiti to Brooklyn. With the help of a clever witch, Gabrielle becomes the perfect American -- but will she lose herself in the process? 

It's 1985 and ten-year-old Gabrielle is excited to be moving from Haiti to America. Unfortunately, her parents won't be able to join her yet and she'll be living in a place called Brooklyn, New York, with relatives she has never met. She promises her parents that she will behave, but life proves to be difficult in the United States, from learning the language to always feeling like she doesn't fit in to being bullied. So when a witch offers her a chance to speak English perfectly and be "American," she makes the deal. But soon she realizes how much she has given up by trying to fit in and, along with her two new friends (one of them a talking rat), takes on the witch in an epic battle to try to reverse the spell. Gabrielle is a funny and engaging heroine you won't soon forget in this sweet and lyrical novel.

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ALA/Booklist

Starred Review
This book will shift the notion of what exactly it means to be Black, to be an immigrant, and to fit in and be accepted.

Kirkus

Starred Review
Pratchett-like worldbuilding centers immigrant kids in a story filled with culture, humor, and heart.

Publishers Weekly

Balancing realistic and fantastical elements, Arnold's astute debut asks hard questions about what it means to be an American and who is considered one. Ten-year-old Gabrielle is facing the biggest challenge of her life as she moves from her small, close-knit Haitian village to New York City. When her parents' papers don't come through, she's sent alone to stay with an overworked aunt and uncle she's never met, a standoffish teen cousin, and young twins. Though Gabrielle is determined to do her best, fitting in turns out to be harder than she thought. She doesn't know English very well, and a mean girl bullies her relentlessly at school. Then a red door appears in her apartment building's lobby at midnight; behind it, a seemingly benign witch offers to grant her wish of fitting in--for a small price. Arnold depicts experiences of racism that people of color frequently face in the U.S. ("In America, your color walks in the door before you do. Always") while maintaining Gabrielle's sense of her own strength and writing an inclusive, sometimes fanciful supporting cast, including Rocky, a rat that wants to be a rabbit. Ages 8-12. (Feb.)

Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes



Marie Arnold
Marie Arnold was born in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti and came to America at the age of seven. She grew up in Brooklyn, New York alongside her extended family. Marie enjoys creating stories full of adventure, and wonder, which center on girls of color. When she's not writing, she's adding to her insanely long Netflix queue and trying not to order pizza. THE YEAR I FLEW AWAY is her debut middle grade novel. She lives in Los Angeles, CA.

Instagram: @mariarnoldbook
Twitter: MarieArnoldBook
Facebook: Marie Arnold - Children's Author
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780358272755
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Versify
Publication date
February 02, 2021
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV039090 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | New Experience
JUV037000 - Juvenile Fiction | Fantasy & Magic
JUV039140 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance
JUV011010 - Juvenile Fiction | People & Places | United States - African-American
JUV013000 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | General
JUV039250 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Emigration & Immigration
JUV039020 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Adolescence
JUV014000 - Juvenile Fiction | Girls & Women
JUV016000 - Juvenile Fiction | Historical | General
JUV030040 - Juvenile Fiction | People & Places | Caribbean & Latin America
JUV074000 - Juvenile Fiction | Diversity & Multicultural
Library of Congress categories
Friendship
Immigrants
Moving, Household
Witchcraft
Haitian Americans
School Library Connection, 10/01/20

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