Esteban

Sheree Haughian is an elementary-school teacher-librarian in
Orangeville, Ontario.

Eight-year-old Esteban lives in a small Mexican city with his mother, an
American expatriate who belongs to an artists’ colony. When his mother
doesn’t come home to sleep one night, the small boy searches the
streets for her, accompanied by the little wooden horse she once gave
him. His innocent confidence in her return is a faith the reader cannot
share. The child’s monologue to his toy companion, with its memories
of the past and plans for the future, provides the narrative of this
unique novel.

Esteban is an elegantly crafted, refined piece of writing, not the
standard reading fare of 8-year-olds—or their older brothers and
sisters. Like many childhood classics, its appeal is to an older, more
schooled audience. While adults may empathize with the young boy’s
deep sense of loss or ponder the dilemma of a parentless Latin American
child, less-experienced readers would require a great deal of
instruction and guidance to understand and appreciate this fine novel.
Like the novels of Jane Austen, Esteban yearns for a certain maturity in
its readership. Recommended with reservations.