CHOICES

by Elaine Scott ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 24, 1989

A bitter, frustrating novel in which a teen-age vandal becomes the scapegoat for the mistakes of an entrenched school administration. Football is big in Fort Preston, and--with a crucial game between archrivals Millington and Woodrow Wilson High looming--spirits have been whipped to a frenzy. When Millingtons mascot (a carved cougar) disappears, a vengeful mob descends on Woodrow Wilson in the night and trashes the place. Almost everyone escapes, but Beth O'Connor--a popular, law-abiding senior and very reluctant participant--is caught by police and singled out to be an example. After a night in jail (where she is not read her rights nor allowed a phone call), she discovers that, without even a hearing, she's been suspended from school and assigned to the town's prisonlike Incorrigible Student Center for six weeks. Beth and her horrified, humiliated parents appeal to both principal and school superindentent and even bring suit, but are dismissed out of hand. So Beth serves her sentence and, irremediably far behind in her schoolwork, has to settle for a marginal college after graduation. The author does dish up some sour just deserts; but, overall, due process, student rights, even simple justice drop by the wayside here, leaving the reader with a taste of ashes; other fictional confrontations with authority, such as Dallin Mahngren's recent The Ninth Issue (p. 50/C-6), offer a more hopeful message.

Pub Date: May 24, 1989

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 192

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1989

Categories: CHILDREN'S