BEYOND THE MANGO TREE.

New York:: Greenwillow Books,, (1998). First edition -. Fine in glossy illustrated wrappers in a very near fine dust wrapper.. Advance Reading Copy (trade paperback format. ) The author's first novel, a story for older children, based on her memories of her years spent in Liberia as a child in the 1980s, a book which "reveals the schism between two classes and cultures while evoking the loneliness of a white American girl living abroad. Sarina's mother, who suffers from diabetes and grows weaker and more erratic every day, has tied her to a mango tree in the corner of her family's gated grounds to keep her from straying. Boima, whose 'bones protrude in places where on my own body I must press down on flesh to feel them,' frees Sarina both literally and figuratively. He tells her to meet him at the market where he sells his hand-woven baskets, 'I can show you all kind a something-o.' She finds a way to rejoin him, and he introduces her to the world 'beyond the mango tree' through ancient legends and walking journeys. When Boima invites Sarina into his home, she witnesses a level of poverty she has never seen before. Through a series of small awakenings, Sarina begins to see that no mere gate separates her world from Boima's, but rather a gulf.. . Zemser's poetic, wrenching narrative transports readers to a foreign land, but the truths they uncover will surely hit home." (Publishers Weekly). 166 pp.