THE WINDOW

After the car accident that leaves her blind and kills her mother, Mandy, 15, goes to live with her elderly great-aunt and uncles in Texas. Coping with her grief, blindness, a new school in a new town, and relatives she didn't know existed makes Mandy resentful and angry. Enter Hannah, a classmate assigned to guide Mandy around the building for the first few days, who refuses to tolerate Mandy's self-pity and draws her into normal school and social activities. Mandy also meets Ted, who is deaf, in one of the special classes she takes, and he becomes a friend and more. In addition to settling in at school, Mandy has found that, through her bedroom window, she can ``see'' her family's unhappy past, gaining an understanding of her guardians, her beloved mother, and the father she never knew. This is a sensitive and well-told story, inhabited by appealing and believable characters, and given a twist by the unexpected element of the supernatural. That element, however, doesn't steal the story's credibility; the scenes outside the window are carried to a wistful, grieving Mandy like whispers on the wind. (Fiction. 12+)