Oyeyemi, Helen. The Icarus girl.

OYEYEMI, Helen. The Icarus girl. Random House, Anchor. 337p. c2005. 1-4000-7875-X. $13.95. SA

Beautifully constructed and restrained prose is the vehicle by which Oyeyemi realizes for readers a young girl's frightening struggle with cultural clashes and mental health. Jess, the eight-year-old daughter of a Nigerian mother and British father, has grown up in a middle class and intellectual home in England. Her mother is a well educated, apparently wholly assimilated author; and her father is a quiet and patient man. Jess herself is what might once have been termed high-strung: usually quiet and unassuming, she's also given to screaming fits at school--where she's a year ahead of her age peers--and has difficulty eating in front of people she doesn't know well. In an effort to try to connect Jess to some adequate roots, her parents take her to visit her mother's family in Nigeria. That family is large and welcoming and the only upsetting distraction for Jess during this visit is her acquaintance with a local girl, seemingly a bit older than she, who insists upon taking Jess on various mischievous adventures. Jess feels conflicted about this girl Tilly Tilly, who, on the one hand, seems to be the best friend Jess has never had, and on the other, seems frighteningly disrespectful of basic social rules. When the family returns to England after several weeks, Jess is surprised to find that Tilly Tilly has moved to her neighborhood. Only at this half-way point in the novel does the reader begin to question whether Tilly exists beyond Jess's own imagination or persona.

Oyeyemi, who was under 20 herself when she wrote this novel, is an astute social observer as well as psychologist: she draws Jess's confusions, her parents' reactions, the influences of vying cultures, the extended family and Jess's British acquaintances with great balance and realism. An excellent choice for book discussion, both by literary teens and adults. Francisca Goldsmith, Libn., Berkeley PL, Berkeley, CA

S--Recommended for senior high school students.

A--Recommended for advanced students and adults. This code will help librarians and teachers working in high schools where there are honors and advanced placement students. This also will extend KLIATT's usefulness in public libraries.