Children's Fiction Diseases, Illnesses & Injuries
View From a Kite
- Publisher
- Nimbus Publishing
- Initial publish date
- Sep 2006
- Category
- Diseases, Illnesses & Injuries, Adolescence
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9781551095912
- Publish Date
- Sep 2006
- List Price
- $15.95
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Where to buy it
Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels
- Grade: 8
Description
I must admit that when I first started losing weight I was pleased. I dropped from a pudgy hundred and twenty-five down to one-eighteen in a month, and kept on going. One hundred and five, and my breasts disappeared. By the time they hauled me off to the Sanatorium, a feverish, weepy, ninety-pound weakling, I was out of love with elegant bones and scared that I was coming out through my skin.
A teenager in the 1970s, Gwen is stuck in a tuberculosis sanatorium with only her journal and the occasional illicit cigarette to keep her sane. Her twisted sense of humour helps her deal with invasive medical procedures, oversensitive friends, and dictatorial nurses, but nothing can spring her from prison.
Not that life outside would be much better. Gwen is haunted by the dark and violent turn her life took just before she got sick. Her family has been shattered, and Gwen is fighting hard—with all the stubbornness and humour she can muster—not to be shattered too.
About the author
Biography: Maureen Hull was born and raised on Cape Breton Island. She studied at nscad, Dalhousie University and the Pictou Fisheries School. She has worked at the costume department of Neptune Theatre and as a lobster fisher. She lives on Pictou Island in the Northumberland Strait. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, most recently Christmas Family Treasures. Her short story collection, Righteous Living, was short-listed for the Danuta Gleed Award, and several of her stories have been read on CBC Radio.
Awards
- Short-listed, Shortlisted for CLA Young Adult Book Award
- Short-listed, Shortlisted for Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction
- Commended, Our Choice Selection
- Winner, Moonbeam Award - Young Adult
Librarian Reviews
H The View from a Kite
A teenager in the 1970s, Gwen is stuck in a tuberculosis sanatorium with only her journal and the occasional cigarette to keep her sane. Can she survive the dark stain from her recent past?Source: The Canadian Children’s Book Centre. Canadian Children’s Book News. 2007.
