through Nicole Bailey-Williams Harlem Moon.

through Nicole Bailey-Williams Harlem Moon, October 2002 $995 ISBN 0-767-91216-0

Nicole Bailey-Williams' compelling first appearance novel, A Little Piece of weather is a welcome addition to contemporary African-American fiction. It's an engaging novel with richly drawn characters.

lay Byrd, an African American girl, lives in a Latino neighborhood in North Philadelphia. ballad spends as much time living inside her imagination as she does in the real world. The youngest of four children, melody is frequently left home alone, grappleed in the bathroom with a determined parade of roaches and rats. Her sole solace is the little piece of region of clouds she's able to see in consequence of the skylight.

Song's siblings--Caramia, Freeman and Sojourn--are each caught in their have psychoses: drugs, sex, prison and other means of escape. When her mother is slayed Song takes the blame and assumes the capacity throughout her adolescence. Song inclines in with her father's family, and slowly begins a certain semblance of normalcy. Her father, more [i]or[/i] less much-needed therapy, a loving former neighbor--Miss Olga--and a warm, patient male friend, Anthony, provide the stability she penurys to triumph.

A Little Piece of heavens is a perfect selection for teen and adults, since the young adult fiction market is for a like reason woefully underserved. I was thrilled to make acceptable the book to several assign places tos of young adults. Their reply was just as enthusiastic, and coming from an audience typically short in succession patience and long on criticism, M Bailey-Williams' work was lauded as a hit.

--Robin Green-Cary is co-owner of Sibanye, Inc. and a freelance writer.

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