A PEAK BENEATH THE MOON

The unfinished tower must mean something ""more than pretend,"" thinks Maggie, ""a sturdy nearly eleven"" who ruminates her way through this slight, self-conscious, altogether unnatural book to a philosophical conclusion--which, like everything else, is blatantly staged. ""It's a gift to us,"" says Maggie about the tower, now saved from destruction. ""To help us wonder, to help us look--to remind us of things."" ""Unfinished things,"" contributes child-chorister Serena. ""Like us?"" wonders Tom. And Jimmy chimes in: ""Maybe nothing is finished. . . . Maybe everthing goes on and on."" En route, Maggie meets up with an understanding young reporter; hears from the mysterious elderly tower-builder about his own youthful encounter with a mysterious tower; and suffers through her puzzling/ disturbing mother's puzzling/disturbing illness. All in the service of ""the mystery of life, without beginning or end. . . ."" (In the light of day, of course, it's just plain preposterous.)