The spirit of the text's celebration of the power of determination, family, friendship and love is ably captured in Sean Quall's delightful cover art.

Readers will root for this likable heroine as she overcomes obstacles-poverty, family obligations, the catastrophic 2010 earthquake-in her effort to emulate her mentor, Antoinette Solaine, the physician who tried to save Pierre. (Sadly, Granp was taken away long ago by the Tonton Macoutes.) Told in first-person verse appealing to both reluctant and passionate readers, the novel is woven with Haitian history, culture and Creole phrases. How will her family ever do without Serafina's help or afford her school uniform? Burg uses gentle language and graceful imagery to create the characters that make up Serafina's loving family-Papa, Manman and Gogo, her wise grandmother. Now Manman is about to have another baby.

A natural healer, Serafina has already witnessed the loss of baby brother Pierre to disease and hunger, wishing she could have done more to save him. Yet her life outside of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is filled with urgent chores and responsibilities. will make readers want to rush to the end and then return to the beginning again to make connections between past, present, friends and enemies.' - Booklist, starred review *'Using spare free verse, first-time novelist Burg beautifully evokes the emotions of a Vietnamese adoptee as he struggles to come to terms with his past.' - Publishers Weekly, starred review *'The verse form carries highly charged emotions and heavy content with elegiac simplicity.' - Kirkus, starred review, 'Eleven-year-old Serafina has a dream: to go to school and become a doctor. Praise for All the Broken Pieces Jefferson Cup Award Winner IRA Notable Book for a Global Society *' stirring debut novel.

Serafina's Promise by Ann E. Burg