Language: PG-13 (10 swears, 0 ‘f'); Mature Content: PG-13 (Description of a young girl beginning her period); Violence: PG-13 (A secondhand account of an alleged rape)
BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS - OPTIONAL
APPEALS TO: SOME
16yo Lucille lives in the countryside of Haiti with her father and aunt, as her mother died in childbirth. She communicates with trees and, like her father, is a talented wood carver. Her closest friend, Fefina, is abducted by the Station Chief and made to be his outside wife. After Fefina disappears, Lucille begins a quest to find her and creates a stir when she confronts the community and her disappearance. Her father sends her to Port-au-Prince to be a servant in a wealthy household. When the family’s son returns from Europe, he and Lucille begin a friendship which develops into something more. The head household servant doesn’t like their friendship and coaxes the wealthy employer to send Lucille away. Lucille again sent away and employed as a servant to Zora Neale Hurston, author of Their Eyes Were Watching God. Lucille helps Zora acclimate and navigate Haitian culture.
When the Mapou Sings is especially notable for its exploration of the journey through a young womanhood experience. Pinede gives voice felt by those living between different classes and, skillfully portrays the longing for home and the search for belonging. Her language is poetic and vivid, joining landscapes and inner worlds with equal intensity. Pinede’s work is both a tribute and a reminder that the past is never truly past, and that the roots we carry shape our thinking. Written in three parts, the story construction is at times loose and episodic. When the Mapou Sings is not for everyone and the reader will have to have a strong desire to read and finish.
Bryant Baird, Librarian
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