DIZZY

Dizzy hears from her mother only once a year—on her birthday. On her 12th birthday, Storm suddenly appears and whisks Dizzy away to live the life of a New Age hippie. Several aspects of this new life are disturbing, but teenaged Finn becomes her friend, mentor, and partner as they care for Mouse, the troubled young son of Storm’s boyfriend. Assured that her father has given permission for the summer experience, Dizzy nonetheless is concerned when he does not answer the postcards she has entrusted to her mother to mail. Then Storm takes off for India, leaving Dizzy and Mouse in the care of Finn’s mother. Dizzy longs for a loving relationship with her mother, but she slowly realizes that Storm is a manipulator who can only be a shadowy figure in her life. Although Cassidy’s melodramatic plot twists are over-the-top, she succeeds in making her characters believable and sympathetic. Not the stuff of which classics are made, but a good read nonetheless. (Fiction. 10-12)