No Laughter Here

by Rita Williams-Garcia

Overview

In this groundbreaking novel, Coretta Scott King Award winner Rita Williams-Garcia uses her vividly realistic voice to highlight an often taboo practice that affects millions of girls around the world every year, and to explore a perspective not often depicted in YA fiction.

Even though they were born in different countries, Akilah and Victoria are true best friends. But Victoria has been acting strange ever since she returned from her summer in Nigeria, where she had a special coming-of-age ceremony. Why does proud Victoria, named for a queen, slouch at her desk and answer the teacher's questions in a whisper? And why won't she laugh with Akilah anymore?

Akilah's name means "intelligent," and she is determined to find out what's wrong. But when she learns the terrible secret Victoria is hiding, she suddenly has even more questions. The only problem is, they might not be the kind that have answers.

Previously available only as an ebook, this remarkable novel is now back in print!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063079298
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/25/2021
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	1,104,499
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.60(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Rita Williams-Garcia's Newbery Honor Book, One Crazy Summer, was a winner of the Coretta Scott King Author Award, a National Book Award finalist, the recipient of the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, and a New York Times bestseller. The two sequels, P.S. Be Eleven and Gone Crazy in Alabama, were both Coretta Scott King Author Award winners and ALA Notable Children’s Books. Her novel Clayton Byrd Goes Underground was a National Book Award finalist and winner of the NAACP Image Award for Youth/Teen Literature. Rita is also the author of five other distinguished novels for young adults: Jumped, a National Book Award finalist; No Laughter Here, Every Time a Rainbow Dies (a Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book), Fast Talk on a Slow Track (all ALA Best Books for Young Adults); and Blue Tights. Rita Williams-Garcia lives in Jamaica, New York, with her husband and has two adult daughters. You can visit her online at ritawg.com.

Editorial Reviews

In this disturbing and poignant coming-of-age novel, Williams-Garcia (Fast Talk on a Slow Track; Like Sisters on the Homefront) explores how two girls experience very different initiations into adolescence. Ten-year-old Akilah (whose name means "intelligence" in Swahili) feels ambivalent about being an "early bloomer." Instead of brooding about the changes in her body, she would rather be playing with her Nigerian friend Victoria, who is spending the summer in Africa with her family. Akilah looks forward to Victoria's return to America, but when Victoria finally does come home, she is different, acting quiet and withdrawn and treating Akilah like a stranger. Worst of all, Victoria "won't laugh." The author plants subtle clues as to Victoria's dramatic change (e.g., Victoria overreacts to the word "operation," in math class). But most readers will be as baffled as Akilah wondering what happened to Victoria in Nigeria to make her so sad. Then the shocking truth comes out during a heart-breaking confessional: While back in their homeland, Victoria's parents forced her to have an operation, and Victoria no longer feels whole. This contemporary tale about the ancient rite of female circumcision will no doubt leave an indelible mark on preteens. The author attempts to remain objective, showing how and why the ritual is still practiced in some cultures. Nonetheless, what readers will remember most about this honest novel is Victoria's physical and emotional pain and how her trauma dramatically affects Akilah's perception of Victoria's parents and her own pride in her heritage. Ages 12-up. (Jan.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 5-8-The friendship between two fifth-grade girls is at the center of this powerful novel, which also deals with the issue of female genital mutilation (FMG). Akilah, a 10-year-old African-American girl from Queens, can't wait for her best friend, Victoria, to come home from a visit to her grandmother in Nigeria. The Victoria who returns home, however, seems like a very different girl-quiet, reserved, and unhappy. Akilah spends the first half of the novel trying to figure out what happened to her friend. Victoria finally spills the truth: her family allowed a doctor to remove her clitoris so she would be a "clean and proper" Nigerian girl. Akilah is outraged, but keeps her friend's secret until her mother finds out by accident. Akilah's mother, also angered, screams at Victoria's mother and causes a rift between the two families. Williams-Garcia provides age-appropriate details without using anatomical terms and addresses some cultural issues and contradictions without overwhelming readers. Mostly the story focuses on the relationship between the two girls and Akilah's sometimes troubled bond with her mother. Because the story is told entirely from Akilah's point of view, the emotional impact of FMG is somewhat muted. However, readers with an interest in human rights and world issues may find the novel compelling, and it can also be appreciated as a story about friendship.-Miranda Doyle, San Francisco Public Library Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

This exquisitely written short novel tackles an enormous and sensitive subject. Ten-year-old Akilah waits for her friend Victoria to return to Queens from a summer trip to Victoria's birthplace, Nigeria. But when Victoria returns, she's different. She won't leave her house or even say hello. Eventually she returns to school but gives only one-word answers; she seems wilted and stunned. Where is her laughter, her sharp wit, her academic sparkle? Akilah stays confused until Victoria finally talks: in complete ignorance, she was taken by her family to Nigeria specifically to undergo female genital mutilation. As Akilah, sickened, begins to comprehend, so does the reader. Williams-Garcia pulls no punches: the operation's consequences are clearly explained, not gratuitously but for truth. Eye-opening and grounded solidly in the present, this piece has absolutely non-generic characters and allows a shocking subject various points of view (all black) without sacrificing a moral compass. Unapologetic, fresh, and painful. (author's note) (Fiction. 10-16)

Kirkus Reviews

This exquisitely written short novel tackles an enormous and sensitive subject… Unapologetic, fresh and painful.” — Kirkus Reviews (Starred review)

“Combines a richly layered story with accurate, culturally specific information ..... [a] skillfully told, powerful story.” — ALA Booklist (Starred review)

From the Publisher

Combines a richly layered story with accurate, culturally specific information ..... [a] skillfully told, powerful story.

ALA Booklist (Starred review)

"Combines a richly layered story with accurate, culturally specific information ..... [a] skillfully told, powerful story."

(Starred review) - ALA Booklist