A deeply atfecting novel... Hale's evocative, sure prose brings alive the setting and the family's survival challenges with cinematic detail reminiscent of the Little House books.

Hale has created a character with a strong, lyrical voice. Sparrows is a breathof fresh air even when it brings tears to your eyes.

I turned twelve on July 18, I933, the day we left Missouri. Mama said there'd be no cake this year. She said I was getting a whole new life for my birthday instead.

Sadie doesn't want her strange new life in Texas even if there is more work to be found. The people are rude to her disabled father, her parents seem content to live in a tar-paper shack, and even children clean shrimp at the cannery to make ends meet. Sadie feels numb. Alone. A scrap of what she used to be. She misses her best friend, Wilma, and she's not sure she can open up to the redheaded chatterbox of a girl who lives next door.But when trouble comes, the kindness of her new neighbors helps the family through. And Sadie realizes that her mama is right--God never sends a trial without a blessing. And the true meaning of home has nothing to do with walls and a floor.