Sea Pines, a.k.a. Sick Minds, treats teenaged girls with food- and substance-abuse issues, and Callie, whose issue is self-mutilation. She will not talk about her dysfunctional family, her guilt toward her brother Sam’s severe asthma, or why she cuts herself. She will not talk—period. Cut is Callie’s interior monologue that alternates between her interactions with her therapist and her interactions with the other residents, the staff, and her family. Her thought process reveals a girl who seems to have given up on life until one cut scares the life back into her. The ability to talk then becomes a metaphor for Callie’s ability to understand herself and to begin the healing process. Readers are also treated to the downfalls and triumphs of Callie’s peers, including a new resident who shares Callie’s affliction. First-timer McCormick tackles a side of mental illness that is rarely seen in young-adult literature in a believable and sensitive manner. Unlike other authors of this genre, she avoids stereotypes and blends gentle humor with this serious topic. McCormick ultimately portrays Callie as a normal teenager who yearns for a stable family structure and friends, and who also has a psychological problem. A thoughtful look at teenage mental illness and recovery. (Fiction. 13-15)
Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2000
ISBN: 1-886910-61-8
Page Count: 168
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2000
The course of true love hits the rapids again in this steamy, brilliant, girl-meets-girl romance from New Zealander Boock. The first time Louie makes eye contact with Willa, back in the kitchen of Dunedin’s Burger Giant, she feels as if she’s been struck by lightning. So does Willa, but for her the feeling is familiar; she is still on the rebound from a first love affair that came to an abrupt and ugly end. Strong and weak in complementary ways, the two are plainly made for each other, and quickly become inseparable. Then Louie’s mother catches them in bed, and furiously marches Louie off to Bali for three weeks. Louie returns a wreck, borderline anorexic, frozen into feverish immobility by her inner conflicts, while Willa, unwilling to hurt and be hurt again, deliberately distances herself. There is plenty of soul-searching here, and a river of tears, but no glib answers; Boock evokes the intensity of teenage love with tender, sometimes humorous precision. In the end, tolerance and wise counsel come from surprising directions in the supporting cast; fans of melodramatic climaxes will be fully satisfied as the author brings her heroines safely through to both personal and familial reconciliations. Challenging waters, skillfully navigated. (Fiction. 13-15)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-395-97117-9
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
PLB 0-7868-2427-1 The content and concerns of Levy’s latest is at odds with the young reading level and large type size, which may prevent this novel’s natural audience of middle schoolers from finding a fast and funny read. In sixth grade, Rebecca broke her friend Scott’s toe at a dance. Now, in seventh grade, they are partners in a ballroom dance class, and they soon find they dance well together, but that makes Rebecca’s friend Samantha jealous. She gives a party during which spin-the-bottle is played, kissing Scott and then bullying him into being her boyfriend. While Rebecca deals with her mixed feelings about all this, she also has a crush on her dance instructor. Levy (My Life as a Fifth-Grade Comedian, 1997, etc.) has great comedic timing and writes with a depth of feeling to make early adolescent romantic travails engaging; she also comes through on the equally difficult feat of making ballroom dancing appealing to young teens. The obsession with kissing, pre-sexual tension, and sensuality of the dancing will be off-putting or engrossing, depending entirely on readers’ comfort levels with such conversations in real life as well as on the page. Precocious preteens will find that this humorously empathetic take on budding romance is just right. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7868-0498-X
Page Count: 154
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2000
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