Taming Papa
by Mylène Goupil; trans. from French by Shelley Tanaka
Intermediate    Groundwood    160 pp.
3/24    9781773067230    $16.99
e-book ed.  9781773067247    $14.99

Mélie lives alone with her mother, Sofia, until one day they receive a phone call informing them that Sami (Mélie’s father) will be released from prison. This is the first Mélie has ever heard about her father (she assumed she didn’t have one). While it’s never revealed where the family is from, it’s clear Sami was a political prisoner; he was imprisoned for not keeping quiet. Mélie’s excitement about her father is crushed once she realizes he doesn’t speak her language and is a frail, odd man who seems uninterested in her. It also becomes evident that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder: he has frequent nightmares and refuses to leave the apartment. “He’s come out of prison, but the prison has not come out of him.” When Mélie takes in a stray kitten, it has a soothing effect on her father’s jangled nerves and acts as a bridge between them. Mélie tries to teach him her language, while using the kitten to “tame” her papa into being a more engaged parent. This compact novel excels in its portrayal of a young girl’s complicated feelings toward her father, as best portrayed in a series of moving vignettes that expertly shows, rather than tells, the reader what trauma does to a family system.

From the May/June 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.