In The Secret to Belonging, poet and middle-grade author Megan E. Freeman (Alone; Away) delivers an introspective, cathartic YA novel-in-verse about a neglected teen coming-of-age as an exchange student in Norway.
The novel's unnamed narrator, a high school junior in 1980s California, is "the invisible child" in her family--her parents have devoted themselves to managing her older brother's cocaine addiction and criminal behavior. The protagonist fantasizes about going to college to escape her harrowing home life, but her parents use her tuition fund to pay for her brother's latest rehabilitation program. With college no longer an option, the narrator's best friend encourages her to apply for a Rotary Club scholarship to study abroad during her senior year. The narrator receives the scholarship and travels to Norway, where the support of her picture-perfect host family and new friends forces her to confront her fear of getting close to anyone.
Freeman's artful use of the second-person perspective is unusual in poetry and allows for a rousing story with a satisfying catharsis. The protagonist's time in Norway is healing, but her growth while abroad is grounded in realistic highs and lows: first love is exhilarating yet heartbreaking; learning a new language and way of life is rewarding and intimidating. Cultural details, such as the narrator's job at a California video store and the consistent use of Norwegian when she is studying abroad, cultivate a strong sense of time and place. Recurring poetic motifs, such as the image of a bruised, locked-away heart, offer poignant insights into the narrator's inner world. --Cristina Iannarino, children's book buyer, Books on the Square, Providence, R.I.