THE PRESENT TENSE OF PRINNY MURPHY

In this beautifully engaging book, Prinny, about 12, has much to deal with. Her emotionally distant, alcoholic mother is usually drunk, her father—though he loves her—won’t offer affection, a new girl in her northern Newfoundland village has drawn her only friend, Travis, away from her, she barely stumbles through remedial reading and “the Shrikes,” three relentless female bullies, are blackmailing her. Things improve a bit when a teacher introduces her to Virginia Euwer Wolff’s Make Lemonade, and Prinny learns her own power from that book’s strong protagonist, LaVaughn. Each fully realized character furthers Prinny’s coming of age, and just as LaVaughn “jumps off the page” for Prinny, MacLean’s characters will inhabit the reader’s world. The exotic northern setting is carefully depicted and plays a major role in both mood and plot. As Prinny learns effective ways to deal with the truly evil, completely believable Shrikes with too little adult support, readers may pick up a point or two. Although this is a sequel (The Nine Lives of Travis Keating, 2009) it out-stands alone perfectly. (Fiction. 10-14)