The Head of the Saint

Gr 7 Up—When 14-year-old Samuel walks for 16 days to the small, destitute Brazilian town where his grandmother supposedly lives, he hopes only to find his father and fulfill his mother's last wishes. Rejected by his grandmother, he crawls into the head of an enormous statue to rest and heal. Inside the head, Samuel hears the villagers' prayers to St. Anthony and one beautiful voice singing twice each day. Hoping to silence the voices so that he can locate the singer, he helps one of the supplicants marry the man of her prayers. Soon, news of this "miracle" spreads, and Samuel is besieged by the lovelorn and the needy, flocking to the head for miracles. With his fame comes new life for the town, and Samuel and a few villagers soon profit greatly from his ability to "channel" the voice of St. Anthony. Not everyone is happy to see the town prosper, though; stories of how it fell into such desolate poverty and why the statue was never completed are unveiled, and Samuel finds himself in grave danger. The novel begins and ends on a bleak note, and although many story lines conveniently converge, Samuel's fate and that of the town is left in question. The text has a lilting rhythm, and vivid descriptions offer a glimpse of Brazilian culture.