Memory--Juvenile fiction; Identity (Psychology)--Juvenile fiction; Street children--Juvenile fiction
From the outset of this riveting story, fifteen-year-old Tom is on the run, a kid on the streets out on his own, living by his wits. Tom also gets involved in a quest to find another lost teenager whose First Nations father is desperate for news of his son. In the process, Tom learns to survive and begins to get a sense of his inner strengths.
Tom knows that somewhere in his former life Mozart's The Magic Flute has been crucially important to him. Though he doesn't know when or how, when he finally gets to the opera's performance, the past explodes his consciousness. Who, now, will he be? The Tom of the past? Or the new Tom, the person he has built out of his street experiences and emerging convictions?
· Benjamin Franklin Award for Young Adult Literature (United States)
· Mr. Christie Award for Young Adult Literature (Canada)
· Top 50 International Best Books for Young Adults
Nominations· ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year (United States)
· R. Ross Annett Award for Children's Literature (Alberta)
· The Canadian Library Association Book of the Year (Canada)
· White Pine Award (Ontario Library Association)