Amazon.com Amazon.com's Best of 2001 (ISBN 0385327617, Hardcover)

Reminiscent of Robertson Davies's Deptford Trilogy, Susanna Vance's Sights is awash in magic realism, humor, and the familiar challenges of adolescence. Baby Girl, a human, was birthed by a vet after more than 11 months in the womb. She also remembers the whole thing, as she is blessed/cursed with the Sight, a stronger blend of the fortune-telling powers her Latvian great-great-Aunt Lubmilla used to have. Baby Girl's loving bond with her blonde bombshell mother is powerful and downright heartwarming. Her father, on the other hand, wants her dead. After he tries to drown his 13-year-old daughter in the creek, her mom rescues her, whispering, "It's not your fault, Baby Girl, your dad just don't like you and now I got to choose." They drive off in his '45 Chevy to make a new life and never look back.

Despite the fact that Baby Girl's father lurks "like deadly tadpoles in the dark watery moments before sleep," this fine, funny novel soars and swoops as joyfully as its heroine. Baby Girl overcomes her newfound status as the unpopular new kid on the block with the help of new friends, her devoted mom, her waveringly robust self-confidence, and an accordion. Sights is about finding your voice, coming of age, first kisses, love, making friends--and about the past and the future and how it all ties together. All in all, a wonderful, smart, folksy, even charming novel that will no doubt appeal to teens and adults alike. (Ages 13 and older) --Karin Snelson