TUCKER

Tucker's comfortable routine is upset when the younger sister he hasn't seen in years comes to stay with him and his father. When Olivia bounds into Tucker's life with a wide grin, constant chatter, and a plan to reunite their parents, Tucker--a silent 11-year-old--sullenly withdraws to his secret woods retreat, where he fancies himself a member of ""The Tribe"" and prepares to kill a deer as a test of manhood. Olivia charms everyone, even beginning to draw Tucker from his shell until he intercepts a letter and learns that Olivia has been lying: their parents are still far apart. After a furious confrontation, Tucker grabs his homemade bow, stalks off, and shoots a deer. Its painful, bloody death shocks him out of fantasy and youth, allowing him to accept both sister and family situation. On the whole, Birdseye handles Tucker's coming-of-age well. The characters themselves are less believable: the children sometimes speak and act beyond their years, and their well-intentioned (and well-educated) father is so shiftless that it's a question where money for a home and two cars comes from. In sum: an introspective, rather rough-hewn story of a boy's belated adjustment to his parents' divorce.