Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Being Fishkill
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://ruthlehrer.com/
CITY:
STATE: MA
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
Partner is Amy.
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: no2017152083
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/no2017152083
HEADING: Lehrer, Ruth
000 01241cz a2200253n 450
001 10611445
005 20171229073200.0
008 171120n| azannaabn |a aaa c
010 __ |a no2017152083
035 __ |a (OCoLC)oca11074834
040 __ |a ICrlF |b eng |e rda |c ICrlF |d UOr |d HU
046 __ |f 1963 |2 edtf
100 1_ |a Lehrer, Ruth
370 __ |a New York (N.Y.) |e Worthington Corners (Mass.) |f New Paltz (N.Y.) |f Oberlin (Ohio) |2 naf
372 __ |a Novels |2 lcgft
372 __ |a Sign language |a American Sign Language |a Poetry |a Young adult fiction |2 lcsh
373 __ |a Oberlin College |2 naf
374 __ |a Interpreters for the deaf |a Poets |a Novelists |a Authors |2 lcsh
375 __ |a Females |2 lcdgt
377 __ |a eng
400 1_ |a Lehrer, Ruth, |d 1963-
670 __ |a Lehrer, R. Being Fishkill, 2017: |b title page (Ruth Lehrer) dust jacket (Writer and sign language interpreter; born in New York City; has written poetry; lives in western Mass.)
670 __ |a Ruthlehrer.com, via WWW, 20 November 2017: |b (Ruth Lehrer, attended Oberlin College; is an American Sign Language interpreter; currently lives in the woods of western Massachusetts)
670 __ |a familysearch.com, via WWW, 20 November 2017: |b (Ruth Lehrer, born 02 January 1963, lives in Worthington, Massachusetts)
PERSONAL
Born January 2, 1963, in New York, NY; partner’s name, Amy.
EDUCATION:Attended Oberlin College.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and sign language interpreter.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Ruth Lehrer is the author of the debut coming of age novel Being Fishkill. The story traces the relationship between a couple of pre-teens. “When Fishkill Carmel, born to a family of abuse and neglect, meets the eccentric, fearless optimist, Duck-Duck Farina, her life begins to change,” Lehrer explained to Jonathan Rosen in a Tuesday Writers interview. Fishkill has been living alone in a run-down shack following the death of her abusive grandfather (who may, it is hinted, also be her father) and the disappearance of her drug-addicted mother. Fishkill greatly prefers life alone to living with her grandfather. At the age of twelve, starting the seventh grade, she has adopted a tough persona to cope with the pressures of her life. When Duck-Duck becomes her friend and initiates her into Duck-Duck’s gang, however, she relaxes that persona. “But is it changing too much? Fishkill had forged an impenetrable, don’t-mess-with-me identity to fight off poverty and bullies,” Lehrer told Rosen. “If she lets that down how will she deal with the hard times ahead?”
Fishkill finds herself informally adopted by Duck-Duck and Duck-Duck’s mother, who cheerfully admits Fishkill into her family circle. “A desperately sad story of profound abuse,” stated a Kirkus Reviews contributor, “is softened somewhat by the highly intelligent Duck-Duck and her loving mother.” Slowly, Fishkill begins to let her guard down—until she is surprised by the sudden reappearance of her mother, Keely. “The plot, as well as Duck-Duck and Fishkill’s friendship, twists and turns,” declared a Publishers Weekly reviewer, “as Keely reappears and disappears.” As a result, “this fragile new beginning,” stated Karen Jensen in School Library Journal, “is threatened by the reappearance of Fishkill’s unstable mother — and by unfathomable tragedy.”
Being Fishkill emerged, Lehrer has said, as a character study. “I got the first seed for the book several years ago … [driving] up and down the Taconic Parkway for months, passing the FISHKILL/CARMEL exit sign each time,” Lehrer told Rosen. “‘Doesn’t that sound like girl’s name?’ I said. And so it began.” “I didn’t really build the plot. I was lucky enough to have the characters, Fishkill and Duck-Duck, knock loudly on my creative door,” Lehrer said on the Writer Writer Pants on Fire website. On the other hand, “the plot of Being Fishkill shifted in small ways during the process of writing and editing but my second book … seems to change every time I sit down to write.” “Exploring themes of rebuilding one’s identity,” wrote Etienne Vallee in Voice of Youth Advocates, “… Fishkill and Duck-Duck will continue to haunt the reader long after the end of this emotionally intense book.”
Critics celebrated Lehrer’s debut. “Poet Ruth Lehrer’s young adult debut is a stunning, revelatory look at what defines and sustains ‘family,'” Jensen declared. “And, just as it does for Fishkill, meeting Duck-Duck Farina and her mother will leave readers forever changed.” “Lehrer,” said Booklist contributor Courtney Gilfillian, “pulls at heartstrings in her thought-provoking debut, while leaving some questions unanswered.” “I absolutely loved this novel,” enthused a TeenReads website reviewer. “The achingly beautiful and heartbreaking story pulled me in without even trying. It was almost impossible not to be in enthralled in this book. Most importantly, it offered me a new perspective on a lot of things that I was taking for granted. I now look at my full fridge and pantry with more gratitude, appreciate my warm and Christmas tree-lit house much more, and hug my mom and dad.” Lehrer’s novel “will help readers understand the circumstances of those who are less fortunate than themselves,” concluded Samantha Sheridan in the Children’s Book Review, “as well as show them that it is important to help others who are in need.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, September 15, 2017, Courtney Gilfillian, review of Being Fishkill, p. 50.
Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2017, review of Being Fishkill.
Publishers Weekly, September 18, 2017, review of Being Fishkill, p. 72.
School Library Journal, November 13, 2017, review of Being Fishkill.
Voice of Youth Advocates, October, 2017, Etienne Vallee, review of Being Fishkill, p. 59.
ONLINE
Children’s Book Review, https://www.thechildrensbookreview.com/ (January 22, 2018), Samantha Sheridan, review of Being Fishkill.
Ruth Lehrer Website, http://ruthlehrer.com (March 28, 2018), author profile.
TeenReads, November 30, 2017, review of Being Fishkill.
Tuesday Writers, http://www.tuesdaywriters.com/ (October 10, 2016), Jonathan Rosen, “Interview with Ruth Lehrer, Debut Author of Being Fishkill!“
Writer Writer Pants on Fire, http://writerwriterpantsonfire.blogspot.com/ (January 16, 2018), “Being Fishkill Author Ruth Lehrer on Stumbling into Inspiration.”
Ruth Lehrer was born in New York City. When she was ten, she moved upstate and ever after has had a split city/country personality. She went to Oberlin College in Ohio and then, solely because she had read too many Marge Piercy novels, moved to Boston. She avoided graduate school by working in a bookstore, doing technical writing, and making braille books. After much pain and tribulation, she managed to stuff a second language into her head, pass many tests, and become an American Sign Language interpreter. She has been interpreting for a long time. Longer than she wants you to know. She also has written copious letters, shopping lists, emails, poems, stories and tweets. She now lives in the country again, in the woods of western Massachusetts, with her partner, Amy.
Tuesday Writers
The Tuesdays. 6 writers. 1 dream. Follow our story.
Interview with Ruth Lehrer, Debut Author of Being Fishkill!
4 Comments October 10, 2016 Jonathan Rosen
Hello Tuesdays!
Today, I’m pleased to be joined by my fellow Swanky Seventeens member, Ruth Lehrer, whose debut, Being Fishkill, is scheduled to come out Fall of 2017 from Candlewick Press.
ruth-lehrer
JR: Hi, Ruth and thanks for joining us today! Before we begin, can you tell us a little bit about Being Fishkill and the impetus behind writing it?
RL: The blurb reads: When Fishkill Carmel, born to a family of abuse and neglect, meets the eccentric, fearless optimist, Duck-Duck Farina, her life begins to change. But is it changing too much? Fishkill had forged an impenetrable, don’t-mess-with-me identity to fight off poverty and bullies. If she lets that down how will she deal with the hard times ahead?
I think of it as a story about friendship and what defines and sustains a “family.”
I got the first seed for the book several years ago when my partner and I ended up driving from western Massachusetts to Queens, NY every weekend to see her parents. Up and down the Taconic Parkway for months, passing the FISHKILL/CARMEL exit sign each time. “Doesn’t that sound like girl’s name?” I said. And so it began.
JR: I read on your site, www.ruthlehrer.com that you made books in braille, which I find fascinating. How did you get into that?
RL: Yes, a long time ago I worked as a Library of Congress Certified Braille Transcriber. We transcribed print books into Braille. The field was just starting to computerize transcription so we were partly doing it by hand on a Perkins Braille typewriter, and partly on the computer with a Braille printer. That job helped me understand about the privilege that people who are able to read print have, to pick up any book any time and read it. Since then I’ve been very conscious of the accessibility or lack there of of literature, websites, magazines etc. There’s a lot of talk in the book community about “diversity” but not a lot about accessibility. They should be interconnected.
JR: Can you tell us a little bit about your writing journey getting to this point?
RL: I wrote and started querying another novel before BEING FISHKILL. I learned a lot, both from writing it and researching agents. I stopped querying that book because I knew that Being Fishkill was going to be much much better. I sent Fishkill around for maybe six months before I found my great agent, Victoria Marini. It took a bit of searching but we eventually had two offers, one of which was Candlewick Press. During this period, I also had a poetry chapbook published by Headmistress Press, a small lesbian press in Seattle. The poetry world is much different (and much quicker) than the fiction world. Although it took years to write all of the poems in that collection, it took about six months from sending it around, becoming a semi-finalist in a Headmistresses chapbook contest, to publication.
JR: What’s your writing process like?
RL: It really varies. At times I write every day. At times I only write in groups. At times, I have to fool myself into writing at all, making notes in my phone. Sometimes they are lists or poems, and other times they are little scenes.
writing
JR: What’s your favorite book and who’s your favorite author?
RL: I have to pick one? Not sure I can do that. I’m a great fan of Ann Patchett and Barbara Kingsolver. My most recent love is Kathleen Glasgow’s book GIRL IN PIECES.
girl-in-pieces
JR: Something people would be surprised to learn about you?
RL: I have something between a brown thumb and a green thumb. Plants grow, but not all of them. I try very hard, but only a certain number of flowers bloom.
Today, there are companies that offer to send dead flowers to ex-lovers. The meaning is obvious, but a hundred years ago, the message was much more subtle.
JR: Do you do a lot of research when you write?
RL: It depends on the piece. For BEING FISHKILL I researched a reasonable amount, things like the foster care system, and how many Yodels come in a package. My WIP is incredibly research heavy. I didn’t exactly realize what I was getting myself into.
yodels
Love Yodels, though nothing beats Ring Dings!
JR: Here at the Tuesdays, a big part of our success and the purpose of this site, has been being involved in a critique group. Are you involved in one and if so, how has it helped you?
RL: I’ve been in various writing groups at various times. I think the folks who advanced my writing the most was the group at Flying Object (of blessed memory) in both poetry and fiction. All the writers there were smart dedicated artists and were great role models.
critique 2
JR: What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve received and is there any advice you can give to writers looking to break in?
RL: I think we should all write what we need to/have to/want to write. Don’t worry about the market, don’t worry about what people say will sell or won’t sell.
JR: What are you working on next?
RL: The book I’m working on now is big and complicated and about two sisters who live in a rural town with a CANDY FACTORY.
candy
JR: Is there anything else that you want to share with our readers or perhaps tell them how they can follow you on social media?
RL: I’m on Twitter as @duckduckf and my Facebook author page is https://www.facebook.com/RuthLehrerauthor/ Come say hi! I have a non-existent newsletter that will eventually become existent and you can sign up for that on my website: ruthlehrer.com
Before we go, I always like to ask, who’s your favorite member of The Tuesdays? And I’m begging you, absolutely begging you to please pick me.
Oh come come, I don’t play favorites.
JR: Sigh…okay, never mind. Let’s just delete that comment. At least it wasn’t Faran.
faran
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Tuesday, January 16, 2018
BEING FISHKILL Author Ruth Lehrer On Stumbling Into Inspiration
Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview. Always including in the WHAT is one random question to really dig down into the interviewees mind, and probably supply some illumination into my own as well.
Today's guest for the WHAT is Ruth Lehrer whose debut YA novel, BEING FISHKILL, is set against the stark reality of an impoverished rural landscape, and offers a stunning, revelatory look at what defines and sustains “family.”
Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?
Several years ago my partner’s mother was sick and we were commuting to Queens NY every weekend for months. Up and down the Taconic Highway, several times a week. Both ways you see the exit sign for the towns of FISHKILL/CARMEL. “Wouldn’t that be a funny girl’s name?” I said, “Some deluded mother naming her kid Carmel Fishkill ...” Once she had a name, Fishkill easily stepped out into the world.
Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?
I didn’t really build the plot. I was lucky enough to have the characters, Fishkill and Duck-Duck, knock loudly on my creative door. I wrote the first sentence in the car outside a writing group and then wrote the first couple pages when I went inside. Fishkill and Duck-Duck were fully formed people who walked up and pretty much dictated their story.
Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper?
The plot of Being Fishkill shifted in small ways during the process of writing and editing but my second book, which I am in the process of writing, is a squishy slimy animal and seems to change every time I sit down to write.
Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?
Poems come to me often, mostly whenever I sit down and let them. (They’re not always good poems, but hey ...) Story/novel ideas are harder to come by. I wish I knew where that particular place was where characters like Fishkill are just waiting to latch onto an author. I seem to have stumbled there once. Maybe it will happen again?
How do you choose which story to write next, if you’ve got more than one percolating?
Usually I have one main project I’m working on and various stray poems. I don’t seem to be able to juggle more than one novel. I envy folks who can.
I have 8 cats (seriously, check my Instagram feed) and I usually have at least one or two snuggling with me when I write. Do you have a writing buddy, or do you find it distracting?
No cats, no dogs, no birds, no lizards. Sometimes I write with a human friend, either in person or virtually. I have a drawing of an owl on the wall near my desk.
Posted by Mindy McGinnis at Tuesday, January 16, 2018
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Print Marked Items
Lehrer, Ruth. Being Fishkill
Etienne Vallee
Voice of Youth Advocates.
40.4 (Oct. 2017): p59+.
COPYRIGHT 2017 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC
http://www.voya.com
Full Text:
5Q * 4P * J * S (a)
Lehrer, Ruth. Being Fishkill. Candlewick, November 2017. 320p. $17.99. 978-0-76368442-6.
Born in the back seat of a car, Carmel Fishkill was named for a freeway exit sign. As Carmel, she was
bullied and called Caramel. At the beginning of seventh grade in a new school, it is time for a change. She
becomes the tough Fishkill Carmel. Not able to afford lunch, she steals from kids who can, and she lets her
fists do the talking when necessary. Fishkill lives alone in a run-down property outside of town. Her abusive
grandfather died of a heart attack, and Fishkill watched her unstable mother fall in the river, never to
surface. When she tries to steal food from a small girl named Duck-Duck, her whole life changes. Fishkill
glimpses what life is like for those who do not struggle to survive, and soon she is a regular fixture at DuckDuck's
house, especially when Duck-Duck's mother realizes Fishkill lives alone. Now her mother is back
from the dead, however, and she wants Fishkill to live with her.
Fishkill and Duck-Duck are intricate characters whose unlikely friendship feeds every page. Both girls are
authentic, and their relationships with the world are described in realistic, unvarnished terms. Fishkill's life
is harsh, but she is resilient. Duck-Duck is an optimist and speaks like a lawyer. Physical and sexual abuses
are alluded to from the perspective of a twelve-year-old. The tragic and violent death of one of the main
characters forces the one still alive to cope with grief and figure a way to move on. Exploring themes of
rebuilding one's identity similar to those in Clara Kensie's Aftermath (Simon Pulse, 2016/VOYA December
2016), Fishkill and Duck-Duck will continue to haunt the reader long after the end of this emotionally
intense book.--Etienne Vallee.
A book about an unlikely, heartwarming friendship, Being Fishkill shows that people can find themselves
even in tragedy. It is exciting, filled with mischief and hope. The characters are well fleshed out and
realistic. This book about love, adventure, and danger will keep readers turning the pages until they are
breathless. This title should be in libraries everywhere. 4Q, 5P.--Kobi Dostie, Teen Reviewer.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Vallee, Etienne. "Lehrer, Ruth. Being Fishkill." Voice of Youth Advocates, Oct. 2017, p. 59+. General
OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A511785025/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=cedd08da. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.
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Lehrer, Ruth: BEING FISHKILL
Kirkus Reviews.
(Aug. 15, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Lehrer, Ruth BEING FISHKILL Candlewick (Children's Fiction) $17.99 11, 14 ISBN: 978-0-7636-8442-6
Born in the back seat of a car and named for a road sign, Carmel Fishkill's first 12 years of life are filled
with neglect and abuse. After her grandfather's death and her mother's disappearance, she decides to
refashion her image by switching her name and becoming Fishkill. She begins using violence to intimidate
other students into giving her food. But when she tries her tactics on a new girl who calls herself DuckDuck,
she finds she has met her match and made a new friend. When Duck-Duck's mother, Molly, presses
her for details about her home life, Fishkill reluctantly admits that she has been living alone for months.
Molly tries to help, but the reappearance of Fishkill's mother, Keely, complicates everything. Keely is
erratic, dangerous, and immature, but when Duck-Duck begins shunning Fishkill in favor of the popular
girls, she might be her only option. A desperately sad story of profound abuse is softened somewhat by the
highly intelligent Duck-Duck and her loving mother. But neither love nor grief is linear. Fishkill's guilt,
anger, and abandonment only intensify as the story unfolds, leaving her desperate and unsure where to turn.
The characters seem to be default white, with diversity limited to the sexual orientation of some key
characters. Abuse is eclipsed by love in this moving novel. (Fiction. 14-18)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Lehrer, Ruth: BEING FISHKILL." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Aug. 2017. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A500364784/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=e8efff34.
Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A500364784
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Being Fishkill
Publishers Weekly.
264.38 (Sept. 18, 2017): p72+.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Being Fishkill
Ruth Lehrer. Candlewick, $17.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-7636-8442-6
In Lehrer's engrossing first novel, 12-year-old Carmel Fishkill (named after a highway exit sign her mother,
Keely, glimpsed while giving birth in the back seat of a car) decides that starting seventh grade in a new
school is an opportunity to toughen up her image, now that her abusive grandfather is dead and her drugaddicted
mother has vanished. Starting with a name reversal, Carmel becomes dangerous Fishkill, but her
plan is thrown off course when precocious but equally tough Duck-Duck Farina befriends her. Flashbacks to
the poverty and neglect Fishkill endured with her grandfather (there are strong hints that he is actually
Fishkill's father) and mother sharply contrast with Duck-Duck's affectionate relationship with her nurturing
gay mother and their well-kept home, into which Fishkill is welcomed. The sexual identities of DuckDuck's
mother and Fishkill, who grows attracted to Duck-Duck, are simply an understated part of the story's
backdrop. The plot, as well as Duck-Duck and Fishkill's friendship, twists and turns as Keely reappears and
disappears, until a tragic development changes the entire tone of the book, providing a bittersweet
resolution. Ages 14-up. (Nov.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Being Fishkill." Publishers Weekly, 18 Sept. 2017, p. 72+. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A523623414/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=78c9f14d.
Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A523623414
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Being Fish kill
Courtney Gilfillian
Booklist.
114.2 (Sept. 15, 2017): p50.
COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
Being Fish kill.
By Ruth Lehrer.
Nov. 2017. 320p. Candlewick, $17.99 (9780763684426). Gr. 9-12.
When seventh grade starts, self-christened Fishkill Carmel (Carmel Fishkill doesn't sound as tough) gets
pretty good at taking her classmates' lunches. Then she meets DuckDuck, who initiates Fishkill into her
gang, the Gumbo Rumbles. They hang out at the cemetery after school and paint grafitti on headstones.
Fishkill likes hanging out with Duck-Duck at her house, where there are always second helpings of dinner.
It's not like where Fishkill lives on Birge Hill with her late grandpa's trash shed. Fishkill's mom, Keely, used
to live there, too, but not anymore. When Duck-Duck's mom finds out that Fishkill spent the whole summer
alone after her mom disappeared, Fishkill goes to live with Duck-Duck and might even begin to heal--until
Keely returns and knocks her off-balance. This is a somber tale of surviving abuse--though there's no
explicit violence, there are several implications that Fishkill is a product of incest--and poverty. Lehrer pulls
at heartstrings in her thought-provoking debut, while leaving some questions unanswered. Overall, a
complex and well-plotted work.--Courtney Gilfillian
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Gilfillian, Courtney. "Being Fish kill." Booklist, 15 Sept. 2017, p. 50. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A507359950/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=1427cece.
Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A507359950
Book Review: Being Fishkill by Ruth Lehrer
NOVEMBER 13, 2017 BY KAREN JENSEN, TLT 1 COMMENT
beingfishkillThis book will rip your heart right out of your chest. Several times. Literally.
Publisher’s Book Description:
Fishkill Carmel fends for herself, with her fists if need be — until a thwarted lunch theft introduces her to strange, sunny Duck-Duck and a chance for a new start.
Born in the backseat of a moving car, Carmel Fishkill was unceremoniously pushed into a world that refuses to offer her security, stability, love. At age thirteen, she begins to fight back. Carmel Fishkill becomes Fishkill Carmel, who deflects her tormentors with a strong left hook and conceals her secrets from teachers and social workers. But Fishkill’s fierce defenses falter when she meets eccentric optimist Duck-Duck Farina, and soon they, along with Duck-Duck’s mother, Molly, form a tentative family, even as Fishkill struggles to understand her place in it. This fragile new beginning is threatened by the reappearance of Fishkill’s unstable mother — and by unfathomable tragedy. Poet Ruth Lehrer’s young adult debut is a stunning, revalatory look at what defines and sustains “family.” And, just as it does for Fishkill, meeting Duck-Duck Farina and her mother will leave readers forever changed.
Karen’s Thoughts:
This book was sent to me by Amber Keyser who contacted me and said, “I read the most spot on book about poverty and I think you need to read it.” And she is not wrong, the depiction of poverty in this book is so accurate and is just one of the ways in which this book will rip your heart right out of your chest. Fishkill Carmel lives in abject poverty: she steals food to survive, hordes food for the lean times that will be coming – and they are always coming back, and fights over SNAP cards. This isn’t the we only have $150 in the bank until payday poverty that many people live with (which is real and also horrific), this is the scraping change out of the couch cushions to try and keep the lights on during the cold winter nights poverty. This is hunger pains and naive social workers and empty fridges and clothes and shoes that don’t fit because you HAVE to make do with what you can find at the thrift store poverty that society likes to turn its back to. It’s real and raw and difficult to read, especially if you have been there, but it’s oh so important.
So after barely surviving for most of her life, Fishkill meets Duck-Duck Farina, who has a mom and a pretty pink bedroom and three square meals a day who decides to be Fishkill’s friend. Well, technically she decides to admit Fishill into her “gang”. Duck-Duck is an intelligent young girl who watches way too much procedural TV and wants to be a lawyer when she grows up. Her constant lawyer talk is amusing. Duck-Duck and her mother take Fishill in, both figuratively and later literally when things get complicated.
At the end of the day, this is a book about friendship, and it’s quite a moving one. I loved these girls and their journey, though at times it is truly difficult to read because life is life and no one is spared hardship, least of all Fishkill. Seriously, heart ripped right out. Multiple times. Because that is what life is like for people like Fishkill, glimmers of hope amidst an agonizing parade of hardship, but only if you haven’t built your walls up so thick that you can’t even see the possibility of hope in the future.
This book will move readers. You will sit with it, in both tears of agony and joy. Your heart will swell, get ripped out, swell, repeat. I highly recommend it. Publishes November 14th 2017 by Candlewick Press
TLT: Teens and Poverty in YA Lit
Review
Being Fishkill
by Ruth Lehrer
Buy this book at IndieBound
Buy this book at Amazon
Buy this book at Barnes and Noble
Fishkill Carmel does what she needs to do to survive, whether it would beating up the school bully on the playground or attempting to steal lunch from Duck-Duck Farina, a strange but intriguing girl. After Fishkill’s failed theft on Duck-Duck, they form an unusual friendship, and Fishkill is given a chance at a new beginning. As she grows closer to Duck-Duck and Duck-Duck’s mother, Molly, they begin to form the family that Fishkill never knew she needed. Their fragile new family is soon threatened by the reappearance of Fishkill’s mother and, as a result, an unimaginable tragedy occurs. Through compelling writing and unforgettable characters, first-time author Ruth Lehrer creates a world that will stay with you long after you turn the last page.
Going into BEING FISHKILL, I did not know a lot about the novel. All I knew was it had a fantastic title and absolutely stellar reviews. For me, that is all I needed to know. Looking back, I am glad I did not know much about the plot and characters in advance. Reading this book with a clean slate and letting the characters fill in the blanks for me was an amazing experience that I would not have changed.
"Through compelling writing and unforgettable characters, first-time author Ruth Lehrer creates a world that will stay with you long after you turn the last page."
The characters were what made this story so great for me. Yes, the plot was paced perfectly, the writing was spot-on, and the ending hit me like a punch in the gut, but the characters are the real stars. First off: Fishkill Carmel. Now, Fishkill Carmel has to be one of the best-named characters in any novel in recent memory. Every time I read her name, it reminded me how tough, resourceful and intelligent Fishkill was, spending a whole summer alone in the woods, living off of couch-cushion-coin bought Yodels. She does this all without shedding a single tear, I believe, until the end, of course…but no spoilers!
On to Duck-Duck: while I loved Duck-Duck’s character, she did not feel as real to me as the other characters. That may have been the point, though: she was the blazing comet soaring above everyone else and teaching everyone to be a little more thoughtful and mischievous. While not seeming as real, I did very much enjoy reading about all of her conspiracy theories and crime-solving ideas.
Lastly, Molly. To me, Molly was the best character. Being intelligent, tough and selfless, she was one of the most caring and endearing characters I have ever read. But when she broke, she broke, and did not hold back. People can be tough as nails, but when faced with the unbearable, no one can be blamed for falling apart. Molly and Fishkill were able to connect with each other in ways Duck-Duck and Molly never could. Fishkill was always on the outside because of her upbringing, and Molly, being a lesbian single mother, could surely understand this better than anyone. Duck-Duck, who was the perfect soccer-playing daughter, had never experienced this sort of struggle.
The relationship that blooms between Fishkill and Molly was beautiful and their conversations, mostly at the end, made me cry big ugly tears. They had each other when they needed each other the most, and I believe there is nothing more poetic than that, especially since they had a stronger mother-daughter bond than Fishkill ever did with her mother. Speaking of Fishkill’s mother, I hate to say it, but I felt a little bad for her near the end. When she suggested that she might have been sexually abused by her father, Fishkill’s grandfather, my heart broke. This does not excuse how either of them treated Fishkill, but it gave some more humanity to an exceedingly insensitive and reckless woman.
Overall, I absolutely loved this novel. The achingly beautiful and heartbreaking story pulled me in without even trying. It was almost impossible not to be in enthralled in this book. Most importantly, it offered me a new perspective on a lot of things that I was taking for granted. I now look at my full fridge and pantry with more gratitude, appreciate my warm and Christmas tree-lit house much more, and hug my mom and dad a little bit tighter. You will never get enough time with the people that you love the most, and Fishkill Carmel taught me that. For her and this book, I am grateful.
Highly recommended for fans of LUCKY STRIKES by Louis Bayard.
Reviewed by Bryn D., Teen Board Member on November 30, 2017
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Being Fishkill, By Ruth Lehrer | Book Review
The Children’s Book Review | January 22, 2018
Being FishkillBeing Fishkill
Written by Ruth Lehrer
Age Range: 12-16
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Candlewick (2017)
ISBN: 978-0763684426
What to Expect: Coming of Age, Transitional Times, Poverty, Family
Being Fishkill, which follows the life-changing journey of a 12-year-old girl born into unfortunate circumstances, will leave readers emotionally stunned as she is thrust into a new life after meeting a young girl named Chrissie “Duck Duck” Farina. Duck Duck is able to break through Fishkill’s rough exterior and bring her into a world she never knew existed.
Tweens and teenagers alike will be able to relate to Fishkill’s haunting need for love after being raised in a household where her mother is physically and sexually abused by her grandfather, a place where Fishkill herself is made to feel worthless and unloved all her life. Through Duck Duck’s friendship, Fishkill is introduced to a new life; one where a mother hugs and kisses her daughter every day, where trust is abundant, and where a mother comes home to her daughter every night. After raising herself for six months after her mother, Keeley, falls into a raging river, Fishkill now needs to learn to accept the new love she is shown while living with the Farina family as well as deal with the guilt she feels surrounding her mother’s disappearance.
When Fishkill’s mother returns from the dead, Fishkill must try and understand why her mother acted as she did helping readers see the books main message: every person has a reason for their choices whether they are good or bad, and it is up to us to try and see things from someone else’s perspective before judging them for who they are. This book could help shape understanding and perspective regarding sexuality, puberty, and poverty during a transitional period in their life. Additionally, Being Fishkill will help readers understand the circumstances of those who are less fortunate than themselves as well as show them that it is important to help others who are in need—one act of kindness could change a life. Recommended for readers ages 12-16.
Available Here:
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About The Author
Ruth Lehrer is a poet, author, and American Sign Language interpreter. She lives in the woods of western Massachusetts.
Being Fishkill, by Ruth Lehrer, was reviewed by Samantha Sheridan. Discover more books like Being Fishkill by following along with our reviews and articles tagged with Coming Of Age, Family, Homelessness & Poverty, and Puberty.