cover image The Falcon's Wing

The Falcon's Wing

Dawna Lisa Buchanan. Orchard Books (NY), $15.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-531-05986-9

When Bryn's mother dies, she and her father move to the farm in Ontario to live with relatives Bryn has never seen. Aunt Pearl stoically takes them in, al though struggling with the news of her sister's death and with meeting Bryn. Buchanan subtly follows the process of Bryn's grieving and her eventual ac ceptance of her mother's death--re flected in a series of dreams--and also the girl's increasingly close relation ship with her cousin, who has Down's syndrome. The close-knit, just-get ting-by community accepts the outsid ers, though Bryn must fight a few bat tles, physical and otherwise, to prove herself to her peers. In her compelling debut novel, Buchanan successfully develops difficult themes--mourning, mental retardation, rural poverty-- without sentiment or condescension, making Bryn and her family charac ters to care about. Ages 10-up. (Mar.)