Mélie and her mother, Sofia, came to Canada when Mélie was an infant. Mélie has always thought of the apartment the two of them share as safe, comforting, and familiar. But that changes when her Papa arrives after being released from prison in the country where she was born. He’d been locked up because he refused to be quiet in a country where speaking out was dangerous. Once he arrives, however, Papa is a silent stranger. He doesn’t speak Mélie’s language, and she does not speak his. He is afraid to leave their apartment. During the day, he just watches TV. At night, he has bad dreams. Frustrated and angry by Papa’s seeming disinterest in getting to know her and being her Papa, Mélie gets a summer job with her former teacher; he and his husband are overwhelmed with a new baby and family illness. At home, Mélie tries to connect with Papa by helping him learn to speak her language, but isn’t sure he cares. When Mélie finds a cat, it becomes a bridge for her and Papa. But their apartment doesn’t allow pets, and Sofia says they can’t keep it. Writing remarkable for its sensitivity to both Mélie and the adults around her grounds a story offering an accessible, hopeful look at a child living with an adult with PTSD. Once Mélie and Papa begin to communicate, it becomes clear to Mélie that he has been trying all along, and clearly loves her.

Mélie doesn’t know how to relate to her father, a political prisoner in another country whom she has never met, when he is released and immigrates to join her family in Montreal.

“Where I come from, you have to say the same things as everyone else or keep quiet,” Mélie’s mother tells her. “And your father is not someone who knows how to keep quiet. Or say the same thing as everyone else. So that got him in trouble.”

However, ever since he came into Mélie’s life, keeping quiet is the only thing her father has done. Partly because Sami doesn’t speak the same language as his daughter, and partly because he doesn’t know how to live as a free man anymore. Mélie has to tame him, like the kitten that she just found, and like Mr. Xavier and his partner seem to be doing with Mei-Li, the little girl they recently adopted. Things that are worthwhile aren’t always easy.

Key Text Features

chapters;dialogue

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6

Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3

Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.4

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone