Mary Sue Preissner (Children's Literature)
Buhlaire Sims is a struggling adolescent. She has a mother who works out of town most of the time and she lives on the wrong side of town with two aunts, one bossy and the other blind. She looks different, does not make friends easily, is tormented by a boy named Grady, and sorely misses having a father whom she believes was killed in Vietnam. This is a compelling story of growing up, searching for truth, coping with mental illness, and extended families. It received starred reviews from School Library Journal and Publishers Weekly. 1993, Scholastic, $13.95 and $4.50 Ages 11 up.

CCBC (Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices, 1993)
Twelve-year-old Buhlaire is completely mystified about her family's immediate past, a subject her mother, aunts and uncles never discuss. Who was her father, she wonders, and why did he leave them? When Buhlaire finds out that he's living right in the same town as she is, she sets out to find him, certain that he may hold the key that will unlock the mystery of her past. Hamilton's carefully crafted novel about a young biracial girl's search for identity is filled with imagery of frozen landscapes, winter storms and a sudden spring thaw, all of which symbolize Buhlaire's emotional state during her quest for truth. CCBC categories: Fiction For Children; Fiction For Teenagers. 1993, Scholastic, 194 pages, $13.95. Ages 11-14.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, 1993)
At 12, Bulaire has reason to ponder her identity; a bright, prickly loner, she wonders if her looks--changeable blue-green eyes, "golden Rasta twists," pale skin that summer tans "to near-chocolate lightly washed in burnt orange"--are why she's at odds with her darker friends and relatives. Now, in winter, she's angry--with Grady, who teases in class but seems friendly when he follows her on long walks; and--after she hears that her father isn't dead, as she's been told, but in town--with her mother Bluezy, often away singing gigs, and with the aunts and uncle who care for her. On a bitter cold day, Bulaire, dazzled by snow, is rescued by her dad and taken to his cave under the Interstate, Grady following. Though "Junior" is evidently unbalanced, he does seem to care about her; and though he begs for a "stake," he also returns some of her "back time"--family photos and mementoes that had mysteriously vanished. Bulaire almost decides to go with him, as he unrealistically suggests, and does give him money, as (they now tell her) his half-sisters and ex-wife have often done. In some ways, Plain City is the obverse of Cousins': this father, homeless and a con man, is probably unreclaimable, though he, too, helps his daughter at a critical moment. The other adults are believably flawed, but bracingly strong and reliable. In the end (as a January thaw--"not heat, just not freezing"--melts the ice), the truth sets Bulaire free to see her elders as they are and begin to make peace--with them and with herself and her mixed heritage. Subtle, wise, complex--superb. 1993, Scholastic, $13.95. Starred Review. © 1993 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Lisa J. McClure (The ALAN Review, Winter 1994 (Vol. 21, No. 2))
Hamilton is an expert in character study. This time, she examines twelve-year-old Buhlaire-Marie Sims in her search for identity, a process complicated by the fact that her mother is hardly ever at home and her father, she is told, was killed in Vietnam. Left to be raised by relatives who refuse to talk about her past, and disquieted by an obvious lack of acceptance by town residents because of "who she was and what she looked like," Buhlaire battles everyone around her for recognition and acceptance. As she unravels family secrets, she must struggle with accepting herself and her family. Hamilton's storytelling has never been better. Her blending of first-person narrative with Buhlaire's stream-of-consciousness commentary invites the reader to relive Buhlaire's struggles and understand them from the inside out. The only flaw is that, at the end, Hamilton's voice overtakes Buhlaire's and indulges in too much analysis. 1993, Scholastic, 194 pp., $13.95. Ages 12 up.

Betsy Hearne (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, November 1993 (Vol. 47, No. 3))
Buhlaire was a going-on-thirteen image of slim and tall Bluezy Sims, her almost-thirty-year-old mom." From the first page, we get a vivid physical picture of the protagonist, though it's confusing to hear Buhlaire say, a few pages later, "I sure don't look like anybody else, not even my mom"-and to find out that's true. Buhlaire is really the image of her dad, a father who (her family has told her) died in Viet Nam but who (her principal tells her) is really alive and living right there in Plain City; in fact, Buhlaire was born five years after the war was over. Buhlaire's search for her father parallels a growing anger over her mother's constantly leaving home to pursue work as a singer and fan dancer, as well as escalating conflicts with the aunt who takes care of her in her mother's frequent absences. All of this culminates in Buhlaire's wandering into a homeless shelter and then getting lost in a snowstorm from which she is rescued by her father, who is homeless and mentally unstable but nevertheless caring. Although the event itself seems too coincidental, the relationship becomes immediately involving and develops realistically, with Buhlaire loyal to the truth of who he is despite his unchanging limitations. The fact that he is part-white and her mother is black emerges subtly but consistently as an issue in Buhlaire's sorting of the factors that keep her an outsider to family and peers. Buhlaire's connection with a boy who torments her in school and befriends her outside forms a subplot as strong as the dynamic between Buhlaire and the midwestern landscape that cyclically freezes and floods. This is a rich assemblage of characters, not always converging into a clearly delineated or believable plot, but always memorable in their individual scenes of encounter. Ad--Additional book of acceptable quality for collections needing more material in the area. Reviewed from galleys (c) Copyright 1993, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 1993, Blue Sky/Scholastic, 194p, $13.95. Grades 6-8.

Cathryn M. Mercier (The Five Owls, January/February 1994 (Vol. 8, No. 3))
Floyd Cooper's jacket illustration catches Buhlaire-Marie Sims in a characteristic moment: her sharp eyes pierce their subject with confidence even as her lip-biting hints at the fragility of self-doubt running just below her surface; she holds her "fuzzy-gold halo of Rasta hair" with proud defiance even as her slim, whitejumpsuited body twists in question. Just as January gray and shadowy whites background this portrait, so the "twelve going on twenty" Buhlaire risks losing herself to find herself in the overcast of her "back time." In her, Virginia Hamilton creates a complex, introspective character, a loved child who feels forgotten, a forlorn adolescent emerging from the protective cocoon of family. At school, Buhlaire operates within a solitary world. She feels rejected by others because she is a "Water House" child, because more respected families gossip about her mother Bluezy Sims, a night club singer and fan dancer. Yet when others reach out to her, Buhlaire swats them away. In order to maintain the hard-won independence that allows her to walk through the bare winter landscape, she cannot risk establishing the very connection with others for which she yearns. Hamilton conveys this tension in Buhlaire's life by interweaving direct, often lyrical narration of events with Buhlaire's internal monologue, her commentary on herself and her world. As a result, the reader operates both within Buhlaire's immediate perceptions and outside their confines, where some objectivity may be possible. The strain of being inside and outside plagues Buhlaire. Though inside the Sims family and cared for in Bluezy's absence by her uncles Sam and Buford and aunts Babe and Digna, Buhlaire knows the "vanilla" in one parent sets her apart. Originally content to embrace the nurturing environment of this family, Buhlaire begins to question the truths she has been told: Did her father really die in Vietnam? Where is he? Must her mother be gone so much? As Buhlaire's inner quest begins, her journeys outside take on new peril. Hamilton carefully charts these journeys to their surprising, engaging intersection. In finding her father, Buhlaire secures a known place in her family, yet she also witnesses his mental illness and homelessness. In discovering him, she must also acknowledge his inevitable rejection of her and his inability to care for her. Buhlaire slowly gives up romantic notions of her "dad" to know her disappointment in him; yet she also claims her profound ability to love him. This new-found clarity allows her to face honestly her ambivalent feelings toward her frequently absent mother. Her place in her family enables her to accept friendship from a classmate, and his friendship grounds her so she can "let go of the resentment at her mom's leaving."Hamilton imbues Buhlaire's voice with individuality and strength. While a single plot coincidence interrupts the realism achieved in this novel, Plain City offers readers a new look at the evolution of identity. 1993, Blue Sky/Scholastic, 176 pages, $13.95. Ages 8 to 12.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, 1993)
Twelve-year-old Buhlaire Sims discovers that her father, who she has always been told had been missing in action during the Vietnam War, is, in reality, a mentally unstable vagrant. Already living on the margins of society with a mother who is a nightclub singer, she begins to take stock of herself and her heritage in the powerful, tightly constructed novel. Category: Fiction. 1993, Scholastic, 199pp.. Ages 14 to 18. Rating: 2: Superior, well above average.