When Kambia Elaine Flew in from Neptune
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Description
Shayla lives with her mother and her teenage sister, Tia, in a poor, rough area of Houston. While Tia, to her mother's distress, has taken up with a local boy who is none-to-bright, Shayla becomes friends with Kambia Elaine, the strange girl who has moved in next door.
Kambia Elaine has told Shayla how afraid she is of the Wallpaper Wolves. "They live in the wallpaper... they have five-inch fangs, fiery red eyes, purple horns, long sharp claws, and spiky gray fur... they whisper horrible, nasty things in your ear... then they make you do them." Kambia is Shayla's next door neighbor and friend, but Shayla doesn't have the time to listen to Kambia's fanciful imaginings about Memory Beetles, Lizard People, or even the fearful Wallpaper Wolves. She has her own trouble brewing at home. Between her older sister Tia running away after a heated argument with their mother, and her no-good father, Mr. Anderson Fox, nosing around the neighborhood, Shayla has her hands full. But she's noticed the real bruises and blood on Kambia's legs that come from the fictitious Wallpaper Wolves, and knows that, despite her own problems, she has to get to the bottom of Kambia's dark imagination and find the truth behind her stories. When Kambia begs her not to tell anyone about her injuries, Shayla has to make some hard decisions about the differences between telling the truth and protecting a friend.
First-time author Lori Aurelia Williams has written a novel that eloquently ties together the importance of family, the power of imagination, and the simple strength of innocence. Although Williams takes her time telling this sweetly sad tale, teens will be so caught up in Kambia's creative imagination and Shayla's strong voice that they will quickly move through its 200-plus pages. (Ages 12 to 18) --Jennifer Hubert
