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Rooster
Written by Beth Nixon Weaver
Booklist,
2/1/2002
TOP TEN FIRST NOVEL FOR YOUTH
Voice of Youth Advocates,
2/1/2002
"In 1969 rural Florida, fifteen-year-old Kady is working with her struggling family to make a profit from their run-down orange grove. She dreams of a better life—away from her migrant past, bargain clothes, and strict mothers—symbolized by the new housing developments nearby and a boy named Jon, whom she encounters on the lake. Among the factors grounding her to her family is Rooster, the brain-damaged son of their Cuban refugee neighbors. Rooster calls Kady his Madrina (godmother), and she is the one he turns to for comfort and pride in his small accomplishments. . . . Kady suffers the very real emotional mess of a first relationship, and many teenagers will recognize the rift with her family. Rooster serves as both a symbol of and a catalyst for her growth. The sixties timeframe is woven in throughout, and all of the characters, even the adults, are drawn with depth and stories of their own in this unusual, high quality novel."
The Book Report,
9/10/2001
"Fifteen-year-old Kady hates being forever poor and living on her family's struggling citrus farm in Florida. And she hates having Rooster, her mentally disabled neighbor, always depending on her. When Jon, one of the rich, popular crowd at school, makes Kady his girlfriend, she's thrilled. . . . Only when an accident injures Rooster does Kady realize what she truly values. Peopled with well-developed characters, this book will appeal to students who have been on the outside looking in as they identify with Kady and understand some of the choices she makes."
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