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DANGER GAME

Tragedy narrowly misses three troubled teenagers as they help one another in a melodramatic tale from the author of Dragon's Pearl (1993). The three meet at a vacation spot on Vancouver Island's southern coast: Beth, feeling betrayed because Diggon, longtime friend and her first boyfriend, has not kept in touch; Diggon, terrorized and full of self-loathing after watching schoolmates beat a passerby, possibly to death; and Chelsea, Beth's cousin, a pyromaniac who has been driven by sexual abuse to fold herself up inside like the origami cranes she creates. The three begin to share their secrets on an outing to a remote cove; caught by changing weather, they barely make it back to Beth's house alive, where Chelsea learns that her abuser and her mother are now married. Only Beth's intervention prevents her fiery suicide. Lawson switches between points of view, so that readers always know more than the characters; it effectively builds tension, although it also gives the story a crowded feel—as if the teenagers must somehow compete for the role of protagonist. The adult cast is a realistic mixture of helpers and villains and the plot's resolution is conventional (Diggon goes home to face the music; Chelsea's would-be stepfather faces trial) but not contrived. Expertly told. (Fiction. 11-15)

Pub Date: April 1, 1996

ISBN: 0-316-51728-3

Page Count: 213

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1996

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DRAWING LESSONS

A teenager suffers through her parents’ separation in this smoothly stylized, if conventional, debut. Aurora’s world comes crashing down when she catches her artist father nuzzling a model. Rory, a talented artist herself, furiously burns her sketchbook; suddenly he’s gone, leaving Rory and her mother wallowing in teary guilt, sending back a letter with lines that infuriate: “one day you’ll understand,” and “someday, when you’re older . . . “ Rory stops all painting and drawing, and curls up around the hurt, stonewalling even her best friend, Nicky. Rory’s almost continual awareness of light and color gives her a convincing artist’s voice, and Mack sets her back on her feet in the end, with the help of time, Nicky’s loyalty, and a startling gift from her father: her charred sketchbook, rescued and repaired both as a sign of his love, and to remind her to believe in herself. Psychological insight here is but skin deep, and the characters play it pretty close to type, but readers may be affected by the story’s overall emotional intensity. (Fiction. 11-13)

Pub Date: March 1, 2000

ISBN: 0-439-11202-8

Page Count: 168

Publisher: Scholastic

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1999

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THE SCHOOL OF POSSIBILITIES

Storm isn’t a bad boy, but he’s “not a good one either.” Graffiti, skateboarding and forbidden train journeys get him forcibly enrolled at the last-ditch School of Possibilities. There, Storm’s life degenerates into increasingly nightmarish, magical-realist twists. His fellow students are excruciatingly obedient, even as they have sports, hobbies and girlfriends assigned as punishments. His parents, a wedding-dress seamstress and a Russian chef, both vanish mysteriously. The only bright spot in Storm’s heavily controlled life (he’s barricaded into his room nightly) is his friendship with the street children India, Mew, Ra and Moon. Squatting in a derelict biscuit factory, the runaways urge Storm to solve the terrible mystery of The School of Possibilities before it’s too late for him—or anyone else. Though brief moments will ring problematically for American readers (“She could have been a Native American chief...[or] a bird or some long-extinct human species”), the dark, richly detailed setting of this Finlandia Junior Prize nominee will capture imaginations. Ikonen’s illustrations accentuate the surrealist horror as the tale spirals into thriller. (Surrealism. 11-13)

Pub Date: June 1, 2010

ISBN: 978-1-4022-1835-4

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2010

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