• Age: 9 to 12
• Grade: 4 to 6

Mélie doesn’t know how to relate to her father, a political prisoner in another country whom she has never met, when he is released and immigrates to join her family in Montreal.

“Where I come from, you have to say the same things as everyone else or keep quiet,” Mélie’s mother tells her. “And your father is not someone who knows how to keep quiet. Or say the same thing as everyone else. So that got him in trouble.”

However, ever since he came into Mélie’s life, keeping quiet is the only thing her father has done. Partly because Sami doesn’t speak the same language as his daughter, and partly because he doesn’t know how to live as a free man anymore. Mélie has to tame him, like the kitten that she just found, and like Mr. Xavier and his partner seem to be doing with Mei-Li, the little girl they recently adopted. Things that are worthwhile aren’t always easy.

Key Text Features

chapters;dialogue

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6

Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3

Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.4

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone

MYLÈNE GOUPIL lives in Sherbrooke, Quebec, where she works as an editor, proofreader and translator of technical communications. She is the author of the French books Le détonateur, Mélie sous sa bonne étoile and Mélie quelque part au milieu, published in English as Taming Papa. Mylène fell into reading when she was little and hasn’t stopped since — so it was only natural that she would end up writing some books of her own!

Mylène Goupil's profile page

SHELLEY TANAKA is an award-winning author, translator and editor. She has written more than twenty books for children and young adults, winning the Orbis Pictus Award, the Mr. Christie’s Book Award, the Science in Society Book Award and the Information Book Award, and she has twice been nominated for the Deutsche Jugendliteraturpreis. Other honors include Texas Blue Bonnet runner-up, School Library Journal Best Books, ALA Notables and IRA Young Adults’ Choice. Her translation of Michel Noel’s Good for Nothing won the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People and was on the IBBY Honor List (Commended). Shelley teaches at Vermont College of Fine Arts, in the MFA Program in Writing for Children and Young Adults. She lives in Kingston, Ontario.

Shelley Tanaka's profile page

• Commended, New York Public Library Best Books for Kids

A satisfying and ultimately triumphant reminder that families come in all configurations.

CM: Canadian Review of Materials

A poignant story of trauma, healing, and familial love. STARRED REVIEW

Kirkus

A quick and gentle read that lightly touches on family challenges.

Booklist

A stunning novel.

Globe and Mail

A thoughtful, realistic story ... Beautifully written.

Winnipeg Free Press

This compact novel excels in its portrayal of a young girl's complicated feelings toward her father, as best portrayed in a series of moving vignettes that expertly shows, rather than tells, the reader what trauma does to a family system.

Horn Book

This book helps young readers to accept that there are all different kinds of families.

Children's Literature Comprehensive Database