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| Plot Summary of Shadow Baby |
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"Clara Winter is an intelligent, imaginative 11-year-old girl living in the Adirondack Mountains with her mother Tamar, a Justice of the Peace. Clara has never met her father and knows that she once had a twin sister, but Tamar refuses to reveal any details about their whereabouts.
When she is given a school assignment to interview an elderly person, Clara chooses Georg Kominsky. Georg lives in a trailer park and Clara becomes intrigued when she sees him lighting the lanterns that hang outside his home. At first, Georg is reticent, but he eventually warms to Clara and the two become close friends. Finally, Clara tells Georg of the father she has never met and Georg agrees to help Clara find her father. "
E. J. McDonald, Resident Scholar
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"Shadow Baby by Alison McGhee is the story of an eleven year old Cora winter (yes, spelled with a lower case w) and a special friendship that develops with Georg Kominsky, a local elderly immigrant. Coral is not an ordinary eleven year old, she believes that "a girl of eleven is more than the sum of her age". When she decides to question Georg for an oral history project, a surogate grandfather/father relatioship develops. Georg Kominsky is a man of few words and woven throughout the novel, is Clara's imaginative musings about what kind of life he has led. Another storyline that develops is the question of Cora's own history---who are her father and grandfather and what are the circumstances around her infant twin sister's death. Unwilling to fill in those gaps is her mother, Tamar.
9 "
Lori Lovett, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Shadow Baby |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- thoughtful
Time/era of story
- present (2000-2010)
Kids growing up/acting up?
Yes
Family, struggle with
Yes
Struggle with:
- Mother (or standin)
Internal struggle/realization?
Yes
Struggle over
- search for family/history
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Coping with loss of loved one(s)
Yes
Loss of...
- brother/sisters
Age group of kid(s) in story:
- grade school
Something wrong upstairs/downstairs?
- searching for identity/meaning
Parents/lack of parents problem?
- Dada gone
Main Character
Gender
- Female
Profession/status:
- student
Age:
- a kid
- 40's-50's
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Female
Age:
- 20's-30's
Profession/status:
- police/lawman
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- an average amount
- throughout most of the book.
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 3 ()
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
Small town?
Yes
Small town people:
- nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- no torture/death
Amount of dialog
- significantly more dialog than descript
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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