by Jeanette Ingold ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1998
An innovative novel from Ingold (The Window, 1996, etc.), in some ways reminiscent of Patricia MacLachlan’s Journey (1991), where photography serves as the metaphor for a clarifying of many kinds of vision. In 1918 in Dust Crossing, Texas, Asia is a high-school junior. As the story opens someone has set fire to her family’s chicken house and Asia has lost a pet jackrabbit in the blaze. The experience starts her thinking about loss and change, and the precarious balance of life. With WWI raging, there’s plenty to think about; boys Asia’s age, 17, are going off to fight. There are changes at home, too: Asia’s grandmother, a strong woman who has always been a bulwark, is having memory problems and lapses of strange behavior. Romance begins to blossom between Asia and Nick, a boy who’s always been her best friend; Nick’s cousin, Boy Blackwell, who is rabidly anti-German, likes Asia, too, and she finds herself in the middle of an uncomfortable rivalry. At first Asia wants to take pictures to capture and preserve the present. But as she becomes more involved with the photographic process (buying a camera and apprenticing at a local studio), she acquires a different view of the world. Ingold makes vivid the last days of WWI, March to November, relayed in a first-person present tense that gives Asia’s growing-up a very contemporary texture. This perceptive novel has believable characters and complex, evolving relationships. The element of mystery about the fire, gratifyingly played out, leads to a satisfying, fully-rounded conclusion. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-15-201809-3
Page Count: 155
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1998
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by Peg Kehret ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1999
In an age of missing children, Kehret (The Blizzard Disaster, 1998, etc.) spins an exciting tale about a deranged mother and the child—not hers’she stalks. Ginger has long had the feeling that somebody is watching her; during her 13th birthday party in a restaurant, she sees a strange woman staring at her, who also appears to write down the license plate number when Ginger’s family drives away. Questions nag at Ginger but she brushes them off, facing other, more ordinary problems. A meddlesome parent, Mrs. Vaughn, is trying to get Mr. Wren, Ginger’s basketball coach, fired; wanting more playing time for her own daughter, Mrs. Vaughn has concocted a list of complaints, claiming that Mr. Wren doesn’t teach basic skills. Ginger, an aspiring sports announcer, has videotaped many of the practices and has the evidence to prove Mrs. Vaughn wrong, but is afraid—as is most of the community—of getting on the woman’s wrong side. The stalking of Ginger, her near-kidnapping, and her attempt to live honorably by coming forward to save Mr. Wren converge in a dramatic climax. While the story reads like a thriller, the character development and moral dilemmas add depth and substance. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-525-46153-1
Page Count: 154
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1999
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by Lynne Rae Perkins ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1999
In a quiet, introspective novel, Debbie, 13, faces one of the worst things that can happen to the young; she’s lost a best friend, Maureen, to a boring, rather unpleasant classmate, Glenna. With carefully observed details and moments, picture-book creator Perkins (Clouds for Dinner, 1997, etc.) shows why Debbie can believe that she’ll never have a happy day again. Of course, there are others around, such as her new neighbor, the worldly Maria, and girls from school, but none of them is as wonderful as Maureen. Debbie finds herself hating Glenna, but a kindly teacher helps her realize that Glenna didn’t “take” Maureen—Maureen left. It all adds up to a just examination of one of the small but piercing sorrows of growing up, with a cast of arresting characters, freckles of humor, and black-and-white drawings that enhance the muted tale; Perkins gives the significance of friendship its due, and then some. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-688-16881-7
Page Count: 132
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1999
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