Dizzy

Product Description
What would it be like to walk into your living room and see acomplete stranger who says she’s your mother? Dizzy hasn’t seen Storm since she walked out on her and her dad eight years ago, but here she is, a hippie-crunchy earth mother, come to celebrate Dizzy’s twelfth birthday and to convince Dizzy’s dad to let her come away for the summer. A dream is coming true right before Dizzy’s eyes and as the memories start flooding back, Dizzy knows she wants to spend as much time with her mum as she can. So the two steal off before dawn into the wild world of communes, hippies, out-door festivals, dirty fingernails and fun!

As the weeks pass, Dizzy starts to feel things she’s never felt before. She meets Finn, who gives her her first kiss-and Mouse, who’s like the little brother she never had. This life is so different from the one back at home. Which life is the right one for Dizzy? Not since Sharon Creech has such a warm, fresh, wonderful voice emerged for this age group. Viking is proud to welcome the talented voice of Cathy Cassidy.

Publishers Weekly
First-time author Cassidy introduces Dizzy on her 12th birthday, when her mother, a New Age gypsy who calls herself Storm, reappears after an eight-year absence. Convinced that her father has given his permission, Dizzy takes off with Storm to tour some outdoor festivals and get to know her mom better. But while Dizzy gets glimpses of what makes her mother special, Storm mostly ignores her. And although the girl makes some friends, bonding with Finn and troubled Mouse, she hates the way the townspeople judge them for being ‘crusty kids.’ Mostly, she misses her dad and starts thinking he’s having fun without her (Storm had told her they were going to meet up with him at a festival, so Dizzy is confused when he doesn’t show up). Readers will get a clear picture of Dizzy’s life on the road; she sleeps in a tepee and dances at an all-night party next to a giant bonfire (to make money, Storm reads tarot cards and her boyfriend does crystal healings). Some of the narration seems too mature for a 12-year-old (‘For the first time since I came here, I begin to understand. He’s like me, Mouse. He never had a family, not a proper one’), but it’s easy to empathize with the heroine’s complicated emotions (and with those of Mouse, who’s more alone than she). Overall, readers will appreciate this unique world that Dizzy has discovered, even as they hope she finds her way back. Ages 10-up. (Sept.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Heidi Hauser Green – Children’s Literature
Once-a-year birthday surprises are all the communication that Dizzy has had from her mother, Storm, since the age of four. For eight years she has only known her mother through a series of exotic postcards or cherished gifts. This year, as Dizzy turns twelve, things are different. There is not another postcard in her mailbox on her birthday. No, there is a mother in her house! Storm has arrived, and she has brought a bit of chaos as well as a chance for Dizzy to finally get to know her mysterious, wandering, hippie mother. When Storm suggests that her daughter come along to the festivals for a few weeks, it sounds like a good idea to Dizzy. Soon the pair are bumping over rural roads in a rusty, painted van and hooking up with an assortment of characters at out-of-the-way campsites. Dizzy is reconnecting with folks who remember her from her early childhood, like the caregiver Tess and teen boy Finn. She is also meeting some new folks, including her mother’s volatile boyfriend Zak and his young son, Mouse. Through it all, she is learning a bit about family, some about love, much about her mother, and, most of all, a lot about herself. Cathy Cassidy’s first teen novel is a compelling look at family dynamics and one girl’s struggle to figure out where she fits into the scheme of things. Cassidy has a keen sense of teen feelings, and Dizzy’s narrative voice rings true. 2004, Viking, Ages 10 to 1