WHAT ERIKA WANTS
by Bruce Clements
Clements serves up a touching, realistic portrait of a shy high-school girl trapped between dueling parents. Erika insists she wants to live with her mother, instead of her too-busy father who loves her but seems to neglect her. Yet Erika’s mother could care less about her daughter, wanting her only for housework. No one but Erika’s court-appointed lawyer seems to care that Erika is struggling to succeed in school and with the intense demands of the leading role in a play. Clements trusts his readers to discern Erika’s true situation, simply by presenting the characters in her life through short scenes. He sometimes shifts the point of view to Jean, the lawyer, for a mature overview of the situation. The result shines through as the portrait of a real girl emerging from a life controlled by others into the beginnings of a life of her own. (Fiction. 12-14)