SPEAKING TERMS
by Mary Wesley
From acclaimed novelist Mary Wesley (Haphazard House, 1993) comes this smug, obnoxious YA novel set in the contemporary English countryside. Kate is given a bullfinch by her big sister Angela; one day, Kate learns that the pet—called Mr. Bull—and all the other animals she comes in contact with are actually able to talk. But rather than maximizing the marvelous juxtaposition between the well-observed realism with which Kate's life is described and the magical possibilities offered by a world in which all the animals, domesticated and feral, speak a perfectly comprehensible and even witty English, Wesley just glosses over this marvel to present a plodding, quasi-morality play about animal rights. The plot—which involves getting all the animals to warn other species about upcoming hunts and so forth—is muddled to the point of utter tedium. Eventually Kate and Angela's parents and various adult members of the community are drawn into the struggle, as are a pair of neighboring children, Andrew and James. But none of the characters comes to life; most interesting is Mr. Bull, who is unfortunately confined to saying and doing very little. Despite its delicious premise, Speaking Terms is a crashing bore. Readers will turn away long before the end, which is confusing and wholly without dramatic import. (Fiction. 12+)