Griffin (Sons of Liberty, 1997, etc.) peeks into the lives of two sisters, eighth-grader Holland and sixth-grader Geneva Shepard, who live in the shadow of three older siblings killed 18 years ago—before Holland and Geneva were born. The girls are haunted by these siblings through their parents’ emotionally crippled behavior and the legendary status of the tragedy in their New York City community. Holland and obsessive-compulsive Geneva literally confront these ghosts when Annie appears in their lives; wearier every time the girls see her, she is ostensibly a muralist and guardian angel of sorts, guiding the girls to find their paths apart from the family tragedy. Annie’s identity and the direction of the plot are obvious; the premise is haunting and poetic, but is squandered in Holland’s fairly conventional blossoming relationship with a boy and Geneva’s neuroses. The awkwardness of Holland’s narration is compelling at first; she and Geneva act more like tenants in their parents’ lives than beloved members of a family. Then a more pretentious tone emerges: “They will continue to meet in the twilight kingdom of their dining room, and their grief is a feast of pain I can not touch.” A brighter fate for the girls is promised, but whether this devastated family has a real happy ending isn’t answered in these pages. (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-7868-0423-8
Page Count: 218
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1998
When Clara Luna, 14, visits rural Mexico for the summer to visit the paternal grandparents she has never met, she cannot know her trip will involve an emotional and spiritual journey into her family’s past and a deep connection to a rich heritage of which she was barely aware. Long estranged from his parents, Clara’s father had entered the U.S. illegally years before, subsequently becoming a successful business owner who never spoke about what he left behind. Clara’s journey into her grandmother’s history (told in alternating chapters with Clara’s own first-person narrative) and her discovery that she, like her grandmother and ancestors, has a gift for healing, awakens her to the simple, mystical joys of a rural lifestyle she comes to love and wholly embrace. Painfully aware of not fitting into suburban teen life in her native Maryland, Clara awakens to feeling alive in Mexico and realizes a sweet first love with Pedro, a charming goat herder. Beautifully written, this is filled with evocative language that is rich in imagery and nuance and speaks to the connections that bind us all. Add a thrilling adventure and all the makings of an entrancing read are here. (glossaries) (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2006
ISBN: 0-385-73343-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2006
The format of this taut and moving drama forcefully regulates the pacing; breathless, edge-of-the-seat courtroom scenes...
In a riveting novel from Myers (At Her Majesty’s Request, 1999, etc.), a teenager who dreams of being a filmmaker writes the story of his trial for felony murder in the form of a movie script, with journal entries after each day’s action.
Steve is accused of being an accomplice in the robbery and murder of a drug store owner. As he goes through his trial, returning each night to a prison where most nights he can hear other inmates being beaten and raped, he reviews the events leading to this point in his life. Although Steve is eventually acquitted, Myers leaves it up to readers to decide for themselves on his protagonist’s guilt or innocence.
The format of this taut and moving drama forcefully regulates the pacing; breathless, edge-of-the-seat courtroom scenes written entirely in dialogue alternate with thoughtful, introspective journal entries that offer a sense of Steve’s terror and confusion, and that deftly demonstrate Myers’s point: the road from innocence to trouble is comprised of small, almost invisible steps, each involving an experience in which a “positive moral decision” was not made. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: May 31, 1999
ISBN: 0-06-028077-8
Page Count: 280
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1999
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