Raspberry House Blues

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

The central developmental task of adolescence is self-definition, and
for Vancouver’s Poppy, 16, who was adopted at birth, an essential
piece of that defining puzzle is identifying her “real” mother.
Since her adoptive parents’ divorce when she was five, Poppy has been
raised by her mother, Denise. The “normal” teen–parent quarrels
are exacerbated, however, by Poppy’s fantasies about her “perfect”
biological mother—fantasies that find expression in Poppy’s M
(mother) scrapbook, which contains pictures of tall, red-headed
actresses and models. When Denise elects to holiday with her boyfriend,
Poppy interprets this act as further evidence of Denise’s lack of
maternal love and precipitously flies to Winnipeg, her natal city and
the home of her divorced father, Eric.

Egocentrically, Poppy has planned no further than the idea of locating
her birth mother, and she discovers that her age precludes any formal
search. Consequently, she is stuck living in her blues-playing
father’s raspberry-colored house with his pregnant, earth-mother wife,
Calypso, and their two-year-old son, Sandeep. A chance meeting brings
Poppy into contact with Becca Jell, a tall, red-headed former actress.
Through a string of circumstances, Poppy convinces herself that this
woman, who admits to having given up an infant daughter, is really her
mother.

Linda Holeman populates her well-crafted novel with a wonderfully rich
cast of characters, who provide teen readers with numerous images of the
varied faces of parenting. Moments of genuine humor lift what could have
been a heavy read. Libraries should consider a second copy for the adult
collection. Highly recommended.