Semiprecious

By D. Anne Love
Era: early 1960's Texas/Oklahoma
Rating: 3 3/4 stars
Reviewed by Noelle

Garnet and Opal are sisters living in small town Texas in the beginning of the 1960's. One day during the summer, the girls' mother decides to chase her dream of becoming a country singer in Nashville and packs the girls up and drops them off with their aunt in Oklahoma. With their father out of reach working in the Gulf of Mexico, the sisters find themselves stuck in an even smaller town with no phone, no tv, no parents, and are faced with being poor for the first time. Opal, at 14, is furious with her mother. Garnet, turning 13, is devastated at the abandonment and homesick for her old life. But as they are forced to adjust to a new school and town, Garnet learns that a part of growing up is letting go and allowing people to be who they are--not who you want them to be. This is an involving story about coming of age, and while it isn't full of action, it is full of meaning. Readers will find themselves easily engaged in the tale, and pulling for a happy ending.