Mosquitoland

Mosquitoland

Juvenile fiction
When families fall apart the children are often the collateral
damage. This certainly seems to be the case for Mim, protagonist of
David Arnold's Mosquitoland. Her parents are divorced. Her father
has married a waitress, Kathy, who served him in Denny's. They and
Mim have moved hundreds of miles away to a Southern town she calls
Mosquitoland.
Mim is on Abilitol, an antipsychotic medication. Her aunt on
her father's side had that diagnosis. Her dad seems to think she has
all the red flags. (He is a poster adult for the dangers of
advertising medications to lay people wanting ten milligram miracles).
One day when Mim is in school she is summoned (by loudspeaker)
to the principal's office. Just outside the door she overhears a
conversation between her principal and father and stepmother. Kathy
says Eve (Mim's birth mother) will beat the bisease because she's a
fighter.
It's been three weeks since Mim got a letter from her mom or
talked to her on the phone. Mim decides she has to go help her.
Instead of going into the offices she returns home long enough to
pack, grab some money, and head out for a nearly 1,000 mile trip via
Greyhound.
The trip is far from the ordinary journey she expects. Just
hours in, the bus is in an accident, killing her seatmate and
necessitating a motel overnight stay. That is just the beginning.
On a personal note, Orono Public Library had a lovely children's
Christmas party. There was gingerbread house making with all kinds of
candy for decorating. Julie of Julie and the Bug Boys fame provided
music. Santa was there to listen to wishes. The community room was
set up for hot cocoa with candy canes and marshmellows. It was a
fabulous success. I played the role of paparazzi so the library would
have pictures of the event.
A great big shout out goes out to all who worked to bring the event to
life.
Julia Emily Hathaway



Sent from my iPod