THE KEY TO THE GOLDEN FIREBIRD

This affecting story, of three teenaged sisters coping with their father’s sudden death, centers around May, the middle, brainy one. Older sister Brooks and younger sister Palmer are both outstanding softball players who had been chummy with their baseball-loving Dad, but May feels she had been left out of his affections. She also feels left out of any chance or romance, especially with Pete, the boy who has been like an irritating brother to her. As Brooks falls in with the wrong crowd while Palmer keeps her own intense grief to herself, May struggles with work and study, with learning to drive, and with her long-suppressed romance with Pete. Johnson writes with a literate, sophisticated style, and her expert character development taps into the real emotions of three fully realized adolescents. The story’s realism lends credibility to the emotional struggles of a courageous family that should touch many young readers. (Fiction. YA)