About this item
Fishkill Carmel fends for herself, with her fists if need be - until a thwarted lunch theft introduces her to strange, sunny Duck-Duck and a chance for a new start.Born in the backseat of a moving car, Carmel Fishkill was unceremoniously pushed into a world that refuses to offer her security, stability, love. At age thirteen, she begins to fight back. Carmel Fishkill becomes Fishkill Carmel, who deflects her tormenters with a strong left hook and conceals her secrets from teachers and social workers. But Fishkill's fierce defenses falter when she meets eccentric optimist Duck-Duck Farina, and soon they, along with Duck-Duck's mother, Molly, form a tentative family, even as Fishkill struggles to understand her place in it. This fragile new beginning is threatened by the reappearance of Fishkill's unstable mother - and by unfathomable tragedy. Poet Ruth Lehrer's young adult debut is a stunning, revelatory look at what defines and sustains "family." And, just as it does for Fishkill, meeting Duck-Duck Farina and her mother will leave readers forever changed.
About the Author
Ruth Lehrer is a writer and sign language interpreter living in western Massachusetts. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in journals such as Jubilat, Lilith, and Trivia: Voices of Feminism. She is the author of the poetry chapbook, TIGER LAUGHS WHEN YOU PUSH. Her young adult novel, BEING FISHKILL, is available from Candlewick Press. She can be found at ruthlehrer.com
