When Rachel’s mother runs away from home, Rachel and her dad can barely cope. In a series of bland verses, Rachel breaks up the time since her mother’s flight into sections labeled, The First Day, The First Week, The First Month, The First Year. As she and her father get to know one another, they cope with grief, guilt and their newly-forming affection for each other. Rachel’s initial shock and fury are tempered as she learns how her seemingly distant father always wanted a child and so convinced his pregnant, bipolar girlfriend to stay with him and raise their baby. Rachel’s growing comprehension of her mother’s mental illness is heartbreaking, despite the story’s troubling judgmental perspective of a severely ill woman whose issues with unplanned motherhood are presented as indifference. Despite weaknesses, a poignant tale of father-daughter love and friendship. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2006
ISBN: 1-58246-180-5
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Tricycle
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
Peter, an 11-year-old traffic fatality, finds himself looking down on his funeral as a voice offers him a do-over. He...
Another ingenious but leaky story from Sleator (The Boxes, 1998, etc.), likely to leave readers more puzzled than intrigued.
Peter, an 11-year-old traffic fatality, finds himself looking down on his funeral as a voice offers him a do-over. He eagerly accepts, only to discover that the past has a stubborn momentum; he’s killed again, gets another chance, and blows that one, too. Convinced that the key to survival lies in winning the appreciation of his clueless, cold-hearted parents, Peter displays consideration by waiting hand and foot on his pregnant mother, creativity by putting on an elaborate puppet show to explain his feelings, and cleverness by predicting local events that haven’t yet happened, then contriving to shift the resulting public furor onto a bullying classmate. Apparently, all of this makes him a more thoughtful person, so his fatal attraction to passing automobiles ceases. The premise, with its echoes of many books and movies, will only be new to very inexperienced readers, but the cheerlessness of Peter’s home life gives the whole story a drab cast, and the internal logic seems more convenient than consistent. Sleator has a following, but he won’t win any new fans with this one. (Fiction. 10-12)Pub Date: July 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-525-46130-2
Page Count: 122
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1999
In an age of missing children, Kehret (The Blizzard Disaster, 1998, etc.) spins an exciting tale about a deranged mother and the child—not hers’she stalks. Ginger has long had the feeling that somebody is watching her; during her 13th birthday party in a restaurant, she sees a strange woman staring at her, who also appears to write down the license plate number when Ginger’s family drives away. Questions nag at Ginger but she brushes them off, facing other, more ordinary problems. A meddlesome parent, Mrs. Vaughn, is trying to get Mr. Wren, Ginger’s basketball coach, fired; wanting more playing time for her own daughter, Mrs. Vaughn has concocted a list of complaints, claiming that Mr. Wren doesn’t teach basic skills. Ginger, an aspiring sports announcer, has videotaped many of the practices and has the evidence to prove Mrs. Vaughn wrong, but is afraid—as is most of the community—of getting on the woman’s wrong side. The stalking of Ginger, her near-kidnapping, and her attempt to live honorably by coming forward to save Mr. Wren converge in a dramatic climax. While the story reads like a thriller, the character development and moral dilemmas add depth and substance. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-525-46153-1
Page Count: 154
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1999
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