THE FINCH FAMILY did not know that five refugees landed from Africa on the day they went to the airport to welcome the family sponsored by their ch...
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Dec 20, 2011
Jennifer
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Reviewed by Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com
I've been a fan of Caroline B. Cooney ever since reading THE FACE ON THE MILK CARTON years ago. That being said, I was thrilled when I saw she has a new book, DIAMONDS IN THE SHADOW.
True to her contemporary style, Cooney brings in a current events issue - the unexplainable violence taking place in some areas of Africa today. This new book focuses on a group of African refugees coming to the United More...
I've been a fan of Caroline B. Cooney ever since reading THE FACE ON THE MILK CARTON years ago. That being said, I was thrilled when I saw she has a new book, DIAMONDS IN THE SHADOW.
True to her contemporary style, Cooney brings in a current events issue - the unexplainable violence taking place in some areas of Africa today. This new book focuses on a group of African refugees coming to the United More...
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Jan 12, 2010
Cal
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Diamonds in the Shadow is about an American family, the Finches, taking in an African family the Amabos. The Finches are made up of Kara, the wife/mother, Drew, the husband/father, Mopsy/Martha a playful sixth grader and Jared their unenthusiastic teenage son. The Amabos include a mother/wife named Celestine, a father/husband named Andre who got his hands chopped off in Africa, a speechless daughter named Alake and an eager teenage boy named Mattu who has incredible English. I think the na
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Oct 22, 2011
Rianne
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When I started this book, I thought it would be really boring. But as i read further and further into it; it got better and better. I also thought that they would end up living with the Finches because i thought that they would become dependant on them and that didn't happen at all.
My favorite part of the book was the part where Alake talked and saved Mopsy, because it wasn't expetcted and nobody thought she would become so lively. My favorite character is Alake because she is she mysterio More...
My favorite part of the book was the part where Alake talked and saved Mopsy, because it wasn't expetcted and nobody thought she would become so lively. My favorite character is Alake because she is she mysterio More...
Jun 05, 2011
Karen
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Jared Finch's family has agreed to house a refugee family from Africa. The Amabo family is being sponsored by Jared's church, and they will need a place to stay and get acquainted with American culture and how things work. When Jared learns that the Amabo's son Mattu has never heard of the Holocaust, he is amazed and explains. Mattu replies, "We have those in Africa. I have been in one." Jared notices problems immediately and becomes suspicious that perhaps this "family"
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Apr 11, 2010
Delia
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An American family of four. An African family of four ... plus one shadow figure with a murderous agenda.
Jared Finch is less than pleased when his parents agree to host the Amabos - an African refugee family - in their home until an affordable apartment can be found for them. It means, among other things, that he will be forced to share his private space with a teenage boy, who shows up carrying the ashes of his dead grandparents in boxes. How weird can things get?
Jared More...
Jared Finch is less than pleased when his parents agree to host the Amabos - an African refugee family - in their home until an affordable apartment can be found for them. It means, among other things, that he will be forced to share his private space with a teenage boy, who shows up carrying the ashes of his dead grandparents in boxes. How weird can things get?
Jared More...
Oct 04, 2009
Mary
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Like many of Caroline B. Cooney's books, this one is suspenseful, but unlike some, the suspense works for an adult reader as well as I'm sure it will for middle and high school students. Additionally, this book has some very strong characterization. From the moment the Finch family first meets the family of four refugees from Africa that they have agreed to help, they realize that things are not as they expected. They speak English fluently - although Celestine and Andre, the parents, have stron
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Nov 06, 2010
Fritzi
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The book I read is called DIAMONDS IN THE SHADOW written by Caroline B. Cooney. After reading this book, I placed it in the genre of an adventure/mystery type of book.
I have to say this book was really interesting to read; in some parts it left me in suspense to find out what would happen next. At times I would stop and think about how the characters felt during the experience that they were going through. This reminded me of foreign exchange students when they come into a country, More...
I have to say this book was really interesting to read; in some parts it left me in suspense to find out what would happen next. At times I would stop and think about how the characters felt during the experience that they were going through. This reminded me of foreign exchange students when they come into a country, More...
Jan 09, 2011
Inoli
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Diamonds in the Shadow was very different in the context of the writing. It was harder for me to rate and harder to classify than other books. It's good and I liked it a lot. It had just as much to say about the American characters as it did about the African characters and things going on in Africa. It was imaginative in that respect. The characters were developed in an interesting way in that they each seemed to point out something that the author wanted to say. They weren't caricatures but th
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Oct 12, 2009
Emma
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Diamonds in the Shadow by Caroline B. Cooney is a book about refugees coming to America.I never really knew how hard or what it was like to be or house a refugee ,but after this book I learned how hard it really was. The refugees are Mattu,Alake,Their dad Andre,and Celestine their mom. The people who housed them were Mopsy,Jared,their mom Kara,and their dad Drew. The book is a mystery. When the refugee family comes to America they come with nothing but two boxes with supposedly their grandparent
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Oct 04, 2009
Mason
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Diamonds in the Shadow by Caroline B. Cooney
Review by Mason Frey
Diamonds in the Shadow takes place in current day Connecticut. The Finches are a family made up of Kara, a wife and mother of two children, Drew, the husband and father, Mopsy, the playful and crazy sixth grade daughter, and Jared, the unenthusiastic teenage son. And the refugees are Celestine, the mother of two children a boy and a girl, Andre, the handless husband and father, Alake, the teenage girl who doesn’t s More...
Review by Mason Frey
Diamonds in the Shadow takes place in current day Connecticut. The Finches are a family made up of Kara, a wife and mother of two children, Drew, the husband and father, Mopsy, the playful and crazy sixth grade daughter, and Jared, the unenthusiastic teenage son. And the refugees are Celestine, the mother of two children a boy and a girl, Andre, the handless husband and father, Alake, the teenage girl who doesn’t s More...
Sep 26, 2009
Marisa
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Jan 05, 2011
Andy
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Aug 27, 2009
Jean
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Jon has provided us with the experience of having his African friends over at Christmas...and once we attended an African fireside with him that was entirely in French (a language that I do not speak). However, this book takes the hospitality a step further by following the lives of an American family who opens their home to African refugees. Gratitude is too weak a word for what we should feel as Americans who are so blessed with the amazing extent of prosperity and peace we have compared to a
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Apr 12, 2011
Patricia
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Response: I was looking forward to reading this book and I was not disappointed. It was a great mystery that I believe any young boy would love to read as well as girls. There are a lot of facts imbedded in the book about refugees that I learned a lot from. This was definitely another page turner by Cooney!
Teaching implication: The central plot of this book involves African Refugees. The author writes several facts about real African refugees at the end of the book. This gave me the More...
Teaching implication: The central plot of this book involves African Refugees. The author writes several facts about real African refugees at the end of the book. This gave me the More...
Nov 24, 2008
bjneary
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The Finch family takes in an African refugee family, which is really not a related family at all. Jared Finch does not like having to share his room with someone else but his sister Mopsey is overjoyed to have a friend. The African family seems to be settling in with the Finches but there is trouble with a 5th refugee (who was shipped to another state and is deteminedly making his way back)who has murder on his mind. Lots of suspense and mayhem ensue, a really great psychological thriller that
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Feb 11, 2011
Michelle
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Super interesting tale, I have always enjoyed Caroline B Cooney's work. She has a way with her stories that makes it interesting. This is a unique story however, I would recommend it in a heartbeat.
The Amabo family immigrates from an African refuge camp. The Finch family opens their home to them, and tries to help them settle into their new life. The Finch family children realize that something is amiss but the parents both manage to miss it somehow. When Jared (the son) starts to rea More...
The Amabo family immigrates from an African refuge camp. The Finch family opens their home to them, and tries to help them settle into their new life. The Finch family children realize that something is amiss but the parents both manage to miss it somehow. When Jared (the son) starts to rea More...
Jun 06, 2010
Sherrie
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This is another of the Florida SSYRA (Sunshine State Young Reader Award) books for next year's 6th to 8th graders. This book is a little heavy, featuring elements of African civil war, blood diamonds, religious doubt, embezzlement and a murderous refugee forcing other Africans to take on false identities as they seek asylum in the USA. The last quarter of the book is full of tension and suspence, which makes up for a slow beginning. Struggling readers may be put off by the pace of the boo More...
Aug 13, 2011
Lana
rated it:
In Mrs. Tessler's Room: Culture Shock
Surprisingly irritating to start - the main character is an obnoxious little twerp for the first few chapters and I found him, even for a teenager, surprisingly obnoxious and uncaring. After that, however, this book absolutely devoured me due to the plight of the African family that moves in with Jared's family. The characters are interesting and realistic with a great deal of pathos. The puzzles slowly come together through the book, silhouetted on More...
Surprisingly irritating to start - the main character is an obnoxious little twerp for the first few chapters and I found him, even for a teenager, surprisingly obnoxious and uncaring. After that, however, this book absolutely devoured me due to the plight of the African family that moves in with Jared's family. The characters are interesting and realistic with a great deal of pathos. The puzzles slowly come together through the book, silhouetted on More...
Aug 09, 2009
Tina
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Jared Finch is informed by his parents that he must share his home and room with refugees from Africa. Jared can't believe this is happening to him - the church needs to figure out something else! After meeting the refugees, Jared wonders if they are really the family they are suppose to be - they don't seem to act like any family Jared knows. Mattu has come to America carrying 2 shoeboxes - he tells the family that they contain the ashes of his grandparents, but Jared quickly figures out tha
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Jul 03, 2010
Christy
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"Jared's family ends up taking in an African refugee family, but all is not as it seems. Jared starts to realize that the people who are now living in his house do not even act like a family. They are so different than his family and they are hiding a huge secret. How does the fifth refugee who came to New York on the plane with them factor into all of the gut feelings that Jared has that something is just now right with this whole situation. Danger have now invaded Jared's safe suburba
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Jul 25, 2010
Kellee
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As Americans most of us do not know the fear and horrors that Africans know. Most of us, in general, do not understand or know about the horrors going on in Africa. In this book, Cooney introduces us to these horrors through an African refuge family that has come to live with an American family in Connecticut.
We begin the book by knowing something is wrong. The family of four have arrived in America, but a fifth refuge has arrived as well. The family is terrified of other refug More...
We begin the book by knowing something is wrong. The family of four have arrived in America, but a fifth refuge has arrived as well. The family is terrified of other refug More...
Mar 02, 2010
Kristi (Books and Needlepoint)
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When the apartment that the Amabo family was to stay in falls through - Jared is forced to share his bedroom with Mattu - their teenage son. He is not very happy about this -not happy at all. Mopsy, Jared's younger sister, is overjoyed at the fact that their teenage daughter Alake will be bunking with her.
The Amabo family are refugees from Africa. They have received passage to the states and are being sponsered by Jared's church. They will help to give them training and find jobs - b More...
The Amabo family are refugees from Africa. They have received passage to the states and are being sponsered by Jared's church. They will help to give them training and find jobs - b More...
May 13, 2008
Kit
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This is a hard-hitting, thoughtful, insightful book about an American family and the family of refugees from Africa who comes to live with them. The Finches and the members of their congregation run the gamut of motives - from the pastor who hopes to make people forget the financial scandal in his congregation to Mrs. Finch, who's never met a project she can't manage. But its Jared and Mopsy, the Finch children, who notice the inconsistencies and missing details in the refugees' stories. At the
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Dec 26, 2008
Jill
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Review by Jill Williamson
Jared is annoyed. He gets that people like to be do-gooders in the world, but why his family? And why dangerous African refugees? As he understands it, there are no good guys in a civil war, so how was he supposed to get excited about sharing his bedroom with a teenage soldier who may or may not have killed?
Yet his parents sign up to house a family of four African refugees. The dad has no hands, the daughter is a mute, and none of them have ever u More...
Jared is annoyed. He gets that people like to be do-gooders in the world, but why his family? And why dangerous African refugees? As he understands it, there are no good guys in a civil war, so how was he supposed to get excited about sharing his bedroom with a teenage soldier who may or may not have killed?
Yet his parents sign up to house a family of four African refugees. The dad has no hands, the daughter is a mute, and none of them have ever u More...
Jun 18, 2010
Lana
rated it:
Surprisingly irritating to start - the main character is an obnoxious little twerp for the first few chapters and I found him, even for a teenager, surprisingly obnoxious and uncaring. After that, however, this book absolutely devoured me due to the plight of the African family that moves in with Jared's family. The characters are interesting and realistic with a great deal of pathos. The puzzles slowly come together through the book, silhouetted on a backdrop of social issue and human sufferi
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May 26, 2010
Mr. Z
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I appreciate this book because I like when authors write stories that are grounded in a higher purpose and with "Diamonds in the Shadow" Caroline Cooney does help to bring attention to incredible hardships refugees face in third-world regions and countries such as Darfur and Chad in Africa. I also think that, since this book is geared toward younger readers, it might help them gain a deeper appreciation for the abundance of freedoms so many American citizens carelessly take for granted
May 25, 2009
Megan
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The story follows a refugee family from Africa (or are they?) and the American family who took them in. In typical Cooney fashion, there is plenty of mystery and suspense. Some Cooney books are fabulous and others are just so-so; I would say this one is somewhere between very good and great. Highly recommended for American teens who don't fully grasp how blessed (spoiled?) they are from a worldview perspective. An added benefit: it's an easy and entertaining read.
Nov 02, 2009
Claudia
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Suspense and mystery. Danger and intrigue. THese are unusual elements for most YAL -- Cooney has raised our awareness of the genocide in Africa, and the horrible violence done in the name of providing us with the diamonds we love to wear.
There's something scary about the refugee family who will be living with Jared Finch and his family...they seem to have no affection for, or connection with, each other. Everyone comes to America with horrible scars, some we can see and some that are More...
There's something scary about the refugee family who will be living with Jared Finch and his family...they seem to have no affection for, or connection with, each other. Everyone comes to America with horrible scars, some we can see and some that are More...
Jun 08, 2010
Elaine
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Diamonds in the Shadow is about a family of white Americans taking in a so-called "family" of black African refugees. Unfortunately, to get to America, this "family" had to do a favor for an evil man named Victor... they have to smuggle blood diamonds.
This book is a tale of love, friendship, confusion, and action. You learn a lot about things I bet you never knew. I give this book 5/5 stars. Caroline B. Cooney is a GENIUS!
This book is a tale of love, friendship, confusion, and action. You learn a lot about things I bet you never knew. I give this book 5/5 stars. Caroline B. Cooney is a GENIUS!
Dec 08, 2008
Meadow
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WOW! I just have to say WOW. this book is thrilling, scary, and just plain weird. It is definatly one of the best books I've read in a awile. Jared just found out that his family is going to take in a family of four african refugies. but their are not really the same family. the previously family was shot. the father lost his hands in the war and his wife and him lost their daughter to the dreadful bloodthirsty solder, Victor, the also held a yound girl , Alake, hostage well killing her family h
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