CHILD X

Thirteen-year-old Jules Cheney’s father, Ben, is her devoted chauffeur, cook, and confidante until a fight between him and Jules’s workaholic mother forces him to leave without a trace. Jules discovers—along with the rest of the world—Ben’s anguish when she reads in the newspaper that he is not her biological father, has prompted an unprecedented court case in which he demands monetary restitution for his years of fatherhood, and can no longer bear to see Jules. As a result, Jules becomes Child X to the press, an attempt to protect her identity that only leads to public scrutiny among the media, camera crews documenting her every move, and humiliation at school. As she grapples with blaming her mother, Ben, and even herself, Jules also bravely stands up for her own needs from the media and as a daughter. Throughout this tragedy, Jules, having caught the acting bug like her Uncle Derek, auditions for and takes the part of Lyra in a community production of Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights (American readers know it as The Golden Compass). First-time author Weatherly draws interesting parallels between these two British heroines and leaves many clues about the identity of Father X as well as enormous holes in the logic. The resilient and endearing Jules narrates her own story in an authentic voice, but the overall impression is that of a made-for-TV movie. Melodrama with teen style. (Fiction. 11-15)