THE MIDNIGHT DIARY OF ZOYA BLUME
by Laura Shaine Cunningham
Laura Geringer Books/HarperCollins
ISBN: 0060722592
Ages 8-12
176 pages

• Read an Excerpt

Zoya's mom is going away, but she leaves with the soul-felt promise to return in seven days time. Yet 12-year-old Zoya feels terribly uneasy that she will never see her mom again. Her fears stem from being abandoned at the age of four in a Russian orphanage. But ever since Zoya's adoption, her new mom has filled Zoya's life with an unconditional love and a colorful laughter that have far overshadowed the nightmares from her sad beginnings. Until now.

Zoya's mom asks an old friend by the name of Leon to stay with Zoya while she's away. This doesn't help Zoya's uneasiness any. She doesn't know him, and she doesn't want him trying to take her mother's place. But he moves right in, sleeping in her mother's bed, attempting to make breakfast and walking her to school whether Zoya likes it or not. Zoya just wants her mom back.

Before she leaves, Zoya's mom gives her a diary to help ease their time apart. The diary also may help Zoya recall her past in order to start healing from her fears of abandonment. She doesn't remember a lot from before the adoption, just flashes mostly. And she recalls a plaid suitcase, the same plaid suitcase that is stored on the top shelf of the closet, and could possibly contain information about her past. But is Zoya ready to remember?

The seven days until the promised return pass painfully slowly, and Zoya fills the darkest, loneliest hours of the night by filling the pages of her diary with her darkest, loneliest fears. Zoya plows through the rest of the time by stumbling upon little adventures, like discovering who's been crying down in the apartment building's basement, and learning to assist the not-so-terrible-after-all Leon with his magic act.

This sensitive tale gently pulls the reader through its pages, tugging on every emotion the entire way. Laura Shaine Cunningham does a superb job conveying Zoya's pains and fears to where readers will feel each crack in Zoya's heart and every tear slip down her cheek. This excellent book will be enjoyed by people of all ages!

   --- Reviewed by Chris Shanley-Dillman, author

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