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Product Description
Who is my father? That's the difficult question faced by Harley Columba, the feisty 14-year-old narrator of Cat Bauer's debut novel. Harley lives in a suburb less than an hour from New York City, but it might as well be "four zillion light years away." She's sure she's adopted, since there's no way those "two psychos" - as she calls her abusive father and bitter mother - could be her parents. Harley tabulates the differences: her eyes blue, their eyes brown; her interest in poetry and painting, their dog-eared stacks of romance novels and Popular Mechanics. Harley's life changes radically after she finds a note signed "Papa loves you forever and a day." As things deteriorate at home, Harley's grades slide and she starts hanging with a wild crowd. As life closes in on her, Harley's search for her "real father" takes her to New York City and the truth at last. Tough, funny, and refreshingly honest, Harley (like a person) is a compelling story of mothers, fathers, daughters, and the healing power of living authentically.
Amazon.com Review
"'What was your name again?'
'Harley... Harley Columba.'
'Harley. Like the motorcycle, eh?'
'No, Harley, like a person.'"
Fourteen-year-old Harley is dead sure that "drunken dragon and his fire-breathing wife" she shares a house with cannot be her real parents. And when she finds a doll with a 12-year-old note signed "Papa loves you forever and a day"--not in her father's handwriting--she knows she's on to something. Her academic and social life begins to spiral down as she pursues her genetic mystery and rebels against her restrictive parents. Soon she's alienated her best friend, hooked up with a drug-dealing crowd, and is watching her grades plummet. Only her remarkable talent as an artist (and the recognition of this ability by a few adults) keeps her from spinning completely out of control. But this Harley won't stop until she's reached her destination--or runs out of fuel trying. Cat Bauer's powerful first novel of a defiant adolescent girl's search for identity, both creative and personal, will ring true for teenagers everywhere. She hits on all the hot topics: identity, family relationships, drug and alcohol abuse, school achievement, domestic and emotional violence, friendship, sex, and love. (Ages 12 and older) --Emilie Coulter
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