FBI Girl: How I Learned to Crack My Father's Code

By Maura Conlon-McIvor

Book Overview

Young Maura Conlon's dad is a secret agent. And she knows what that means: chasing cars, jumping over buildings, handcuffing bad guys, just like on "The FBI," her favorite TV show. No matter how many times she asks her father about his work, he never says anything. So Maura decides to become an FBI girl-in-training. A heartwarming tale of a father/daughter relationship, this is about family bonds, the trials that test them, and the triumphs that make them stronger.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446533106
• ISBN13: 9780446533102
• Release Date: August 2004
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 1.3" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Growing up fifties-style in the seventies

FBI father, Catholic school nuns, big family, sixties-seventies, Downs-syndrome child...I expected yet another story of growing up stifled in the suburbs, with some illicit sex and scandal. In fact, Conlon-McIver describes a remarkably functional family, bound together by an amazing generosity of spirit. Fascinated by her father's career and her Nancy Drew books, she remembers keeping a log that includes every neighbor's license plate. She wants her father to bring home stories of exciting crimes he solved. Reviewers have focused Maura's father, Joe, who refused to talk about his work and in fact didn't talk much at all. However, linguist Deborah Tannen has written about the differences in male and female communication styles and John Gray reminds us that men are from Mars. Men just don't want to talk about "my day at work." Like Joe Conlon, they communicate through action. Reading between the lines, Joe was trained as a lawyer. Although he carried a gun and badge, he probably worked in offices, pushing paper rather than chasing bad guys. He might have been assigned to white collar crime. Here's a clue: he came home regularly for supper nearly every day. So there probably weren't a whole lot of exciting stories to tell. And we should note that he didn't brush off Maura's questions with ridicule: he just changed the subject. Once he even shared a "trick" of looking out the rear view mirror, probably acquired from another agent who was more active in actual criminal pursuit. Joe took his kids out to play baseball on Saturday afternoons (another clue: bad guys don't work nine to five weekdays). He even built a ball field. He did chores around the house, apparently without complaint, everything from changing diapers to folding laundry and mowing lawns. Most significantly, he didn't withdraw when his last child, Joey, was born with Down's syndrome. Joe not only remained a caring father, but also raised significant funds for a group home for other developmentally disabled children. Maura's mother, a former beauty queen, never seems too tired or impatient to spend time with her five children. She's creative and playful, sensitive to Maura's need to attend public school rather than continue to an all-girls Catholic high school. However, the mother's ideas seem more progressive than her cooking. The family dinner table seems more fifties than sixties. I have to admit I admired the way they managed to stay slim and healthy while eating endless servings of processed, high-carbohydrate food. And the children seem remarkably unselfish, as they pitch in to care for Joey resisting stares and embarrassment. This family learned the joy of living with a developmentally disabled child in a time, place and social environment where those attitudes were hardly commonplace. Even the nuns are remarkably benevolent; one fussy teacher who complains about Maura's E's in handwriting class, but she melts as she learns more about Maura. Because the book

I read it in one gulp

"His high cheekbones freeze, and for the first time, I see it -- the wild animal in his eyes boring through, something wrecked, in pain all over. The animal is like a ghost caught in a well for centuries, its cry a soundless wail clenched so deep that it shakes you to the bone." (p. 238) Just one example of the FBI girl's incredible gift of language. I read this book in a gulp, barely coming up for air from beginning to end. I lived with Maura and her family through seven years of their lives in the span of a few hours and I am grateful to have done so. Read this book. They are a family worth knowing.

FBI Girl

A wonderfully poignant, yet very amusing and entertaining acount of Ms. Conlon-McIver's life growing up in middle America. She has a gift of rhetoric. The vivid descriptions--I can still see and smell the trunk of her father's FBI car, and was transported back to my own childhood memories attending my first school dance. I laughed and cried with the joys and anguish of this girl and her family. I truly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more works by this talented author.

Wonderful...a must for anyone that was once a little girl

FBI Girl is a love story-a young girl's love for her family, portrayed primarily by her interactions with her father, mother, and younger brother Joey, who has Down's syndrome. Maura is an Irish Catholic pre-teen, living in Los Angeles because of her father's job with the FBI. Her father is reserved and uncommunicative, but shows his love for his family through his actions. The descriptions of him checking and double-checking that all the windows and doors are closed and locked are enough to make even the reader feel more secure! Convinced that her father actually speaks in code, Maura does her best to emulate him, admiring J. Edgar Hoover, reading crime books in the library, and observing him closely. The birth of Maura's youngest brother Joey, who has Down's syndrome, changes the family dynamic as her both of her parents focus on doing all they can on helping Joey have a full life. Her parent's family also plays a role in the story, with a grandmother who is not quite comfortable with Joey, while a beloved uncle that is a priest shows Joey unquestioning love and acceptance. Maura's story is set in the 1960's, with a backdrop of Catholic grammar school, religion, assertiveness training for her mother, and even a marriage encounter weekend. The setting gives context to the story line and perfectly stages the family and their home for the reader. The book is as joyful as only a story with threads of sorrow can be, and I would recommend it highly.

FBI Girl a must for your Most Wanted list

FBI Girl: How I Learned to Crack My Father's Code is an upbeat, funny and engaging read; it took me all of two days to finish it, which is no small feat for a mother of two young children, one with special needs. I immediately felt a bond with the author, Maura Conlon-McIvor, because her story hit home for me in so many ways. I related to her hysterical accounts of attending Catholic elementary school in the '60s and '70s, loved the eloquence with which she described the awkwardness of growing up, and admired her for not giving up on her father. Her relationship with her brother Joey opened my eyes to what it meant to have a sibling with special needs in an era before the Americans with Disabilities Act. Her story is a testament to unconditional love and her parents' determination to turn their initial heartbreak into hope and joy, despite the ignorance and insensitivity of others. I suspect that FBI Girl will be a hot seller and will make it to the big screen in the near future. I recommend putting it on your Most Wanted list of books to read.