Waiting for Unicorns

October 20, 2014
Ever since her mother died of cancer, 12-year-old Talia has been lost in grief. Her father’s whale research takes the two of them to the small coastal town in Manitoba, where they will live with his old friend, an Inuit woman named Sura. Talia hopes to find a unicorn whale (a narwhal), which she believes can make her most important wish come true: the chance to say one last goodbye to her mother. With help from Sura, new friends, and her own father Talia discovers that while some wishes go unanswered, others come true in their own ways. Debut author Hautala weaves Inuit stories and tradition, as well as the fairy tales Talia’s mother told, into this affecting exploration of grief and the hope that can come through the love of good friends. With spellbinding descriptions of Talia’s icy new surroundings (“the new snow looked like it was lit from beneath. It was almost as if the sun had somehow broken itself apart and burrowed under the arctic landscape”), this story will stay with readers. Ages 10–up. Agent: Danielle Chiotti, Upstart Crow Literary.

October 15, 2014
During a summer spent in the Artic, 12-year-old Talia McQuinn experiences the healing power of place and of stories. Awash in loneliness and grief following her mother's death, Talia is uprooted to Churchill, Manitoba, for three months while her father does whale research. Already feeling a brokenness and a "Mom-sized space" between her father and herself, she stays with an Inuit woman while her father is gone for weeks awaiting the ice-out and the belugas' arrival. Talia's memories center on the stories her mother loved and shared; they help her feel whole. She keeps a jar of wishes scrawled on paper. The first is, "I wish there was no more cancer." Slowly, with the help of a few new friends, a budding romance and the gift of stories, Talia emerges from her despair to a realization that while big wishes may not come true, small wishes are happening all around her. She finds forgiveness and rediscovers hope. Debut author Hautala's writing in this first-person narrative is lyrical and evocative; her descriptions of the landscape are vivid. Talia, who knows much about being left and leaving, describes it thus: "[w]atching things slip away from you until your insides ache and everything feels backwards." Written by an author to watch, this quiet story of loss and healing will appeal to thoughtful readers. (Fiction. 10-14)

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October 1, 2014

Gr 4-7-It's been a terrible year for almost-13-year-old Talia. It's only been a few months since her beloved mother died from cancer, and now Dad, a whale researcher, has dragged them from their home in Woods Hole, Massachussetts, to Churchill, Manitoba (Canada) so that he can study beluga whales out on the ice. Talia used to remain at home with her mother during Dad's annual trips, but now she will live with Sura, a local Inuit woman, whom she's never met before. Clinging desperately to her special "jar of secret wishes," Talia feels like she herself is frozen and she is terrified of losing her father-a very real possibility given his dangerous profession. During the long months when Dad is away, Talia begins to explore the area (carefully, given the roaming polar bears), meets a new friend, and discovers a way to relate to Sura through her traditional storytelling, which was her deceased mother's work focus as well. Although the novel can be a bit overly earnest in parts, the deliberate wording also draws in readers and elicits an emotional response. This poignant story demonstrates that opening up to new experiences, places, and people can enrich life even in the aftermath of tragedy.-Susan Riley, Mamaroneck Public Library, NY

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2014
Grades 5-8 Twelve-year-old Tal is still grieving the death of her mother when she is forced to accompany her father on his research trip to the arctic. Uprooted and lost, Tal has resigned herself to the notion that she and her father have between them an unbridgeable gap in the shape of her mother, and that she will be stuck living in the home of a stranger, an Inuit woman named Sula, while her father is out searching for a pod of beluga whales. Although she makes friends with Simon, the guitar-playing grandson of another researcher, Tal's main sources of solace are collecting wishes in a glass jar she keeps hidden under her bed and rereading the stories she and her mother studied together. Contemplative writing and the interspersion of traditional Inuit stories within the plot soften the edges of the painful process of reconnection between Tal and her father, making Hautala's debut a thoughtful examination of loss and hope.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2015
After her mother dies of cancer, twelve-year-old Talia accompanies her whale-researcher father to Canada. As she grapples with the "Mom-sized space" separating her and her father, Talia finds comfort in her jar of wishes, a narwhal ("sea unicorn") folktale, and new friendships. It's a touching novel, with a strong sense of place and well-developed themes of loss and grief, hope and healing.

(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)