All The Blues In the Sky by Renee Watson

Thirteen-year-old Sage didn't know best friends could die. But one month ago, on her birthday, her best friend died. "And a good day, turned into a bad day, turned into the worst day."

Sage lives with her dad in Harlem, but visits her mom every other weekend. She's been doing this since sixth grade when her parents divorced. Her brother Spencer, lives on campus at Howard University, and spends his summers studying abroad, so he's never really home.

Sage wasn't with her friend when she was hit by a speeding car as she was walking to Sage's house. They were going to spend the day together. Initially her friend wanted to spend time 

Sage attends a grief group that includes Ebony whose dad died from a heart attack, Zay who lost her grandmother, Ana whose twin sister died from leukemia and DD whose brother was murdered by police during a traffic stop. Sage struggles in the grief group because she feels Ana and Zay don't understand what she feels: they got to say good-bye while she did not. She feels lonely, sad and guilty. Ms. Carver, who runs the group has given everyone in the group a journal to write down any questions they have so their mind can be free to think about other things.

On Saturday, Sage's Aunt Ini visits from Brooklyn. Sage and her best friend often spent time with her aunt. She forces Sage to get out of bed and takes her to Harlem Meer, where they go to Chelsea Market to look at jewelry and taste samples. Aunt Ini tells Sage she will miss her friend every day of her life but that these memories will comfort her.

Sage continues to go to school and attend grief group,  joining the Fly Girl program. Along the way, she finds comfort, acceptance, and an understanding of the tragedy that has touched her life.

Discussion

All The Blues in the Sky is a novel, written in free verse, that explores the guilt that loved ones sometimes experience with the death of a family member or friend as well as grief and the pain of loss. The novel is narrated by thirteen-year-old Sage, whose best friend, unnamed until the end of the novel, was killed by a drunk driver while walking to Sage's home for her birthday party.

To help her deal with what has happened Sage attends a grief group at her school that is led by Ms. Carver. However, initially Sage isn't very keen on the group because she believes that some of the girls attending do not understand the grief and guilt she is feeling and so she holds back.  Ms. Carver explains how grief can bring about guilt "...guilty for surviving, for still being here, enjoying life after your loved one is gone. Guilt about laughing and having good days..."

After the others in the grief group admit to what makes them have feelings of guilt, Sage expresses why she has feelings of guilt: she believes she is responsible for her friend's death. Her best friend wanted to go to a skate party on Sage's birthday but Sage was insistent they spend the entire day together, turning down her friend's offer to attend the skate party with her.  And so this led her friend to be in the street, on her way to Sage's house, when she was hit by the drunk driver.  "And if I had said something different, something not Birthday Girl selfish, she wouldn't have been walking from her house to my house at 11:15a.m....She wouldn't have been crossing the street when a drunk driver sped through the streets of Harlem..." Not only that but when her friend didn't show up, Sage assumed the worst of her friend, that she had lied to her, and gone to the skate party. And so she sent her angry texts. 

In reflecting on what happened Sage admits to herself that the reason she didn't want to attend the skate party was because she was afraid her friend was beginning to like her coding friends better and that she was afraid of both of them making new friends. The fact that Sage can finally admit this to herself is a first big step towards her beginning to process what happened and heal. 

Sage's feelings about how she behaved lead her to question whether she was a good friend. She wonders if "...her doing more for me and less for her made me feel guilty, like maybe I was not a good friend." She has other questions too. Ms. Carver tells the group that "questions are a part of grief". "Is killing someone just as devastating as losing someone? Does the driver of the hit and run have nightmares too?" Sage wants to know what her friend's parents will do with their daughter's belongings. She wants to know why "out of all the blocks to walk down and corners to cross and red lights to run...why did that car crash into at the time it did?"  Sage has questions about grief too. "Well, I want to know how long I'll be sad, and I want to know if I'll ever feel normal again. And what am I supposed to do on her birthday or on the anniversary of the accident? And what if I forget the sound of her voice?"  And later on Sage wonders, "Did she know how much I loved her?....Was our friendship enough?"  Even in her aviation class, Sage questions, "Why, when so many people keep living, did my best friend die?"

These are all timeless questions that most people experience following the death of a loved one. They are difficult questions sometimes without a definitive answer. For Sage, some understanding comes from the grief group, from her friends, and from her beloved Aunt Ini. Her mathematics class and her aviation class also offer Sage a different perspective on what has happened.

Watson uses mathematics as a metaphor for relationships, using it to portray how Sage finally comes to understand what her Aunt Ini has told her about losing someone. Sage loves mathematics because she feels in control, where there are answers and solutions. Sage's teacher, Mr. Dixon tells the class, "It's important to understand that transversal lines develop angle relationships....Understanding angle relationships in math will help you understand your personal, real-life relationships." He tells the class, "Not every person that comes into your life has a parallel to yours. We can't all be mirrors of each other. There are people -- like transversal lines-- that cross paths with yours, only for a moment. In that short moment, you connect, have something in common, but still you have your own unique experience." At this point, Sage doesn't realize how this relates to her and her view of the other girls in the grief group. 

Sage believes that two of the girls in the grief group, Ana and Zay simply do not understand what she, Ebony and DD are going through because they got to say good-bye to the people they loved, and they saw death coming. She believes that their experience of death was different because they had a warning that death was imminent. Sage carries this judgement throughout many of the meetings and she admits to tuning out Ana and Zay, believing they have nothing to offer her. Eventually, Sage expresses this sentiment. "I understand that someone they loved died, but it isn't the same. They talk about months, weeks of goodbyes and quality time. I didn't have that. Neither did DD or Ebony. And I'm tired of talking about it like it's the same. ,, But to say you know how I feel, to say we are the same...no. You knew death was coming. You got to say good-bye."  This results in Sage being  out of the group until she apologizes.  

 In a class weeks later, Mr. Dixon tells the students, "when parallel lines are cut by a transversal line, four types of angles are formed. Those angles have a relationship. While some of them are congruent, the others are supplementary." Sage realizes this relates to everyone in the grief group.

"A transversal thing happened to me, to Ebony, to DD, 

to Ana, to Zay.

And that one thing that touched us

was the same thing and wasn't the same thing.

And it brought us together, made us relate to each other.

Similar, not the same. Connected forever."

Sage now understands that her life was intersected by the transversal lines of Ebony, DD, Ana and Zay because of death . For some, the "angles" or experiences of death were congruent or similar to what Sage, Ebony and DD experienced, but for others it was like that of Ana and Zay. She comes to understand that death brought them together, but their experiences were all quite different. Sage now understands what her Aunt Ini was trying to tell her, "Just because everybody's pain looks different, don't mean it hurts less." 

Another metaphor used by Watson in the novel is that of flying. After her friend's death, Sage isn't interested in attending the Fly Girl program. To Sage, being in her aviation class was similar to math class, "...There will be answers and reasons and formulas to help me make sense of the unknown." Sage is hoping that the Fly Girl program will give her the answers she's seeking. Ebony tells her that if she thinks about what Ms. Carver tells them during the grief group she will find those answers but for Sage, who enjoys the logic and finiteness of mathematics, that's just not the case at this time.

The Fly Girl classes help Sage process her grief in a more positive way. The Fly Girl instructor, Ms. Barbara tells the class that the mathematics of how a plane flies are incomplete, that we don't fully understand how a plane is able to fly. This makes Sage realize that science doesn't have all the answers and that maybe she does need to return to the grief group. In a discussion about turbulence encountered while flying, Ms. Barbara states that planes are designed to handle the phenomena, that it is "uncomfortable but normal" and that "...life's turbulence is the same way.", unsettling, unexpected but something we are often able to pass through.

Thinking about flying and being in sky, leads Sage to think about the various blues pilots see in the sky: light blue, white blue, blue violet and even midnight blue. 

"And sometimes life is blue too.

Blue is the empty chair at the desk in the classroom

where my best friend used to sit.

Blue is the ache in my heart when I pick up the phone

to call her and remember she's gone...

Blue is all the calm, all the heartbreak, all the  hope,

all the tears, all the laughter."

Sage wonders if maybe blue is the colour of love, because "For all the blues in the sky, there are as many blues in the heart." 

Eventually, Sage begins to experience healing. She has some of her doubts and guilt alleviated when her friend's sister, Brielle brings her a letter that was found at the scene of the accident. The letter written to Sage, tells why her friend loves her so much and it offers Sage relief and peace. When she visits her friend's home, Sage finds a box filled with mementos of their friendship. This confirms to Sage that she was loved by her friend. 

"Not only because of her letter to me

but because of all that's here, saved in this box.

She kept me, kept our friendship. sacred."

This in turn helps her to process the news that her beloved Aunt Ini has terminal cancer and as with her friend's death, more questions. By now Sage knows that life can be full of loss but that if she has children she will tell them despite this "to love without regret" and that it is okay to feel all the love, sadness and anger that loss can bring.

Once again, Renee Watson has written a profoundly beautiful and engaging story, this time focusing on  the pain of loss and the grief people feel following the death of a beloved friend. All The Blues In The Sky tackles the questions about death and grief that many children have, and that often parents and other adults never address. What's interesting in this novel, is that the main character, Sage never really has a serious discussion with either her mother or father about what's happened. Her beloved Aunt Ini however, does seem to understand that Sage is struggling over the death of her friend and in her quiet way, offers Sage some wisdom that helps her towards healing. In Sage, Renee Watson has crafted a likeable, believable character. Her voice and her experience of raw grief and sadness will resonate with those young teens who have suffered a similar loss. Highly recommended.

Book Details:

All The Blues In The Sky by Renee Watson

New York: Bloomsbury Children's Books

182 pp.

The Line Tender by Kate Allen

Twelve-year-old Lucy Everhart's lives in the town of Rockport, Massachusetts with her father Tom who is a detective and who also serves on the Salem Police dive team. Her mother, a marine biologist who studied sharks, passed away five years ago, after suffering an aneurysm while on a research boat. Lucy was seven years old at the time. Her best friend, thirteen-year-old Fred Kelly lives across the street from her house. Fred and Lucy share a unique relationship; they do almost everything together but they each have their own interests. While Fred is brilliant and science focused, Lucy loves to draw.

One summer morning, while Lucy and Fred are in the Country Store buying candy, when they hear that a local fisherman has brought in a shark. They race down to the wharf where they find a crowd looking at a huge great white shark hanging from a hoist. Fred suggests that they enter this into their field guide, "an extra-credit project for science class that is due in September." Fred had suggested they work on the field guide over the summer; he would do the writing and Lucy would do the illustrations. To date they have a black-capped chickadee from Pigeon Cove and a spotted salamander from a pond in the woods.

Sookie,  a fourth-generation Rockport fisherman who caught the shark, tells Lucy that it was caught in their net while they were fishing for cod. Lucy's father is also at the wharf taking pictures. Lucy questions her father as to why the great white was so far north; he tells her that they follow their food especially seals which are beginning to return to the island in the area.

That night Lucy and Fred watch coverage of Sookie's shark on the news and see old footage of Lucy's mother talking about sharks. Watching her mother on television upsets Lucy because it feels like her mother is alive and will be home for dinner soon. She and Fred decide to head down to the wharf to work on their field guide. Lucy checks in with her neighbour, Mr. Patterson an elderly widower who enjoys listening to the radio and the police scanner. He tells Lucy that the police are keeping watch over the shark. Sure enough they find Officer Parrelli in his car at the wharf. Lucy works on her sketch of the shark and when it begins to rain, Officer Parrelli drives them home.

The next morning, Mr. Patterson tells Lucy that the big storm brought down trees, caused power outages and the shark is missing. At the wharf they meet Sookie with his father Paulie and Officer Parrelli. Fred believes that something happened to the shark during the storm. The next day they go to Folly Cove, a place Fred often goes to collect specimens for his aquarium. At the cove they find a "freakishly large" moon snail. Fred is amazed at how Lucy can recreate the snail on paper, making it look three-dimensional. She tells him she's not a "science person", that "...if you could tell science like a story, I'd pay attention." Fred eagerly obliges by telling Lucy several stories about the moon snail and shells which she finds interesting.

In the evening Lucy's father explains that they now know what happened to Sookie's shark; the storm broke it off the hoist and carried it out to sea. While Fred and Lucy are working on their science guide in Lucy's mother's library, Fred discovers file boxes and uncovers an proposal titled "Proposal for Cape Code White Shark and Gray Seal Study",  which Lucy's mother wrote in May 1991, a month before her death. Stunned and completely taken by surprise, Lucy reluctantly lets Fred take home the proposal, which he promises to return.

On Saturday night, Fred's sisters, Fiona and Bridget are preparing to go out when Lucy arrives at their house. Fiona does Lucy's makeup much to Fred's puzzlement. Fiona and Bridget tell their mother that they are simply "going over to Lauren's house to watch a movie...". Suspecting that they are meeting up with Bridget's new boyfriend, Dominick Maffeo, their mother insists that they take along Lucy and Fred. It turns out that they are going to swim at the Cape Ann quarries along with Lester, Sookie's deckhand and Simon Cabot. Soon bottles of cheap liquor are being passed around with Lucy and Fred also drinking. Impulsively, Fred jumps into the quarry and reluctantly Lucy follows him and the others. Suddenly Fred is no where to be found....

With Fred's death, Lucy's world is turned upside down. Can Lucy look beyond what she's lost and forward to what might be in the future? Her mother's past research proposal unexpectedly leads Lucy to find her way forward while grieving the loss of her best friend and her mother.

Discussion

The Line Tender is the debut novel for Kate Allen. The title is taken from the term "the line tender" used when divers are searching for a missing person in the water. "The line tender holds the line above the surface. The primary diver descends through the dark and cold until he hits bottom....It is so dark that even with a searchlight nothing would be visible....The line tender holds the line and directs the diver in an arch search, the primary diver moving in a three-foot circle around himself, feeling for the child." The line tender is someone who is essentially the life line for the diver who during a difficult search is completely dependent upon him.

This imagery is carried on throughout the novel after the death of Lucy's friend, Fred Kelly. Immediately after his disappearance, during the search, while Lucy is waiting in the ambulance, she imagines the line connecting her to Fred. "In the back of the ambulance, with Fiona, I had tried to imagine a string that wrapped around my hand. It had threaded out the door of the truck. It had crossed the dirt path and avoided the feet of those watching the rescue efforts, draping over the cliff. It had dropped into the water, the end of the string moving toward Fred like there was a gravitational pull. And when it found him the string curled around Fred's wrist. I held the line." Lucy saw herself at that moment as the line tender, Fred's last hope.

Lucy spent all her time with Fred. Their relationship was moving from a childhood friendship into something more just before his death. Their first kiss happened during the evening at the quarry. Lucy must now deal with this second loss, only five years after the death of her mother. Without Fred, she must now come to terms with his death and find a path forward. That path turns out to be a rediscovered connection with her mother.

Lucy retrieves her mother's study proposal from Fred's room along with his backpack. When Fred had discovered the proposal in her mother's library, it brought back to Lucy a part of her mother that she never really knew much about because she was so young, only seven years old.  "The 1991 box was like the kite on a snapped string, a loose piece of her that Fred had caught. It was her words, recorded at the point when she was as old as she was ever going to get....He had found a treasure." Little does Lucy know at this time just how important this lost treasure will be to her. 

The proposal which now has Fred's notes along the margins, turns out to be a lifeline - a line tender. It leads her to Vernon Devine, a shark expert and Lucy's mother's mentor, now long retired and suffering from dementia. Despite this, Lucy is able to learn more about her mother and her proposal from someone who was close to her and worked with her. Lucy is encouraged by Professor Devine who tells her the seals will return and along with them the great white sharks. In a moment of confusion, thinking she is Lucy's mother Helen, he tells her to do the census. A news report on television leads her to meet Dr. Robin Walker, another colleague of her mother. Dr. Walker tells Lucy that her mother's proposal is now being implemented and when a shark washes up in Chatham, she invites Lucy to the necropsy. While Lucy does sketches of the shark as it is being dissected, her father takes photographs. Later, when her father develops the film, he tells her that his favourite photo is one where she is intensely drawing. Her focus and attention to detail lead her father to remark that she would make a good line tender.
"...The line tender sees everything. Reads the divers' signals, the terrain, the equipment. Uses all the resources to stay connected to the other end of the line."

By following the leads from her mother's proposal, following the clues and holding onto the line that led back to her mother, Lucy has been able to rediscover her life and begin healing from the deaths of both Fred and her mother. The thread once lost between herself and her mother, has been recovered and reestablished.

Allen's idea to write this story came from her own experiences in 1996 in her hometown of Beverly, Massachusetts, when a fisherman caught a great white shark. Many people visited Beverly Harbor to see the shark and the necropsy. Years later, in a writing class, she remembered this incident and wrote it up with the characters of Lucy and Fred, as the opening for a novel.

Overall, The Line Tender is a well-written debut, with a well developed setting and lots of facts about marine life. Xingye Jin's beautiful pencil sketches of different types of of sharks can be found throughout the novel. The relationship between Lucy and Fred is perhaps the most appealing aspect of this novel, and the death of Fred so soon in the novel is both tragic and unsettling. Readers may find themselves disappointed at this plot twist because Allen has crafted such a realistic and innocent relationship between the two friends. They accept each other as they are, their differences, quirks and strengths. And Allen portrays their friendship with a touch of humour. While Fred's death allows Allen to take the story in a direction most young readers might not be expecting, it's still disappointing because readers are already invested in the two main characters. Allen's last tribute to Fred Kelly is "Lucy's" drawing of Fred's arm hold the large moon snail: a fitting tribute to a character the reader grew to love in the story.

A great debut novel and readers should look forward to more from this gifted writer.

Book Details:

The Line Tender by Kate Allen
New York: Dutton Children's Books   2019
371 pp.

The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck

The Big Wave is a novella written by the late American  Pulitzer Prize winning author, Pearl S. Buck about a young Japanese boy who survives a tsunami and learns much about life.

The story is set in a small fishing village in Japan, located on a beach by the ocean. Kino lives on his family's farm, set high up on the mountain overlooking the fishing village. His ancestors have farmed the mountain for generations, terracing the land. Kino's best friend is Jiya the son of a fisherman. Jiya lives in the village on the beach with his parents and his brother. Like all the other homes in the village, Jiya's home has no window facing the sea.

While Jiya fears the ocean, telling his friend "The sea is our enemy",  Kino believes it is beautiful. On hot summer days after work, Kino swims in the clear water of the sea. He and Jiya often swim out to an island owned by an old man, whom everyone calls the Old Gentleman.

Whenever they are on the island, Jiya always watches the sea carefully. This puzzles Kino who questions him about why the sea gets angry. Jiya doesn't have an answer for this. However, Kino gets a sense of the sea's danger when he dives deep and feels its "cold grasp." When Kino asks his father why Jiya and his father fear the ocean his father explains that there is much they do not understand about the sea. His father also reminds him that there is the volcano to be concerned about too on land.

Then one day the volcano which is far from Kino's home, begins to spew out smoke and steam. Kino's father stays awake all night just as do the other fathers in the fishing village on the beach. At noon the next day a red flag is seen at the Old Gentleman's castle on a knoll halfway down the mountain. Kino's father tells him this is a sign for the people to be ready. Soon a bell begins to toll, encouraging the people to shelter within the castle. But few come. Only the children begin to stream out of the fishing village and up the path towards the castle. At Kino's suggestion, he and his father wave a white handkerchief to draw the attention of his friend Jiya. Shortly after Jiya arrives at Kino's home, they look out towards the sea and watch a huge wave race towards the shore. Terrified, Jiya wants to rush down to the village to tell his father but Kino's father holds him fast. The wave, crashes ashore, destroying everything in its path. Jiya and Kino's lives are forever changed.

Discussion

The Big Wave is a story for children about a tsunami that devastates a village and changes forever the life of two boys. Although the story is one of tragedy and loss, of a horrific natural disaster, it is told in a gentle, direct manner. Written in a simple style, the novella's overarching theme is about overcoming tragedy in life.

At the beginning of the story, Kino attempts to understand the world around him. His friend Jiya fears the sea as he is aware of its great power. Kino who is the son of a farmer, is puzzled by his friend's fear because the sea looks so beautiful. But he comes to understand his friend's fear during a deep dive in the ocean. When he tells his father that he feels safe on land, his father reminds him that even the land holds danger that they must be watchful for, in this case the distant volcano. Kino questions his father, "Must we always be afraid of something?" and he is told the he must "learn to live with danger." Kino's father tells him he must accept that danger exists and learn to live with it, knowing that death comes to everyone. However, this is something  that Kino as a young boy, does not want to consider.

A tsunami wipes out the fishing village, orphaning many of the children who were saved by seeking refuge in the Old Gentleman's castle. Jiya who joins Kino's family on their farm, witnesses the destruction of the village and collapses in utter distress. Yet Kino's father is both patient and kind, telling Kino that they must wait for Jiya to grieve. Jiya's body heals first from the shock and gradually his mind and soul do too, as a result of the careful kindness of Kino's family. He chooses to stay with Kino's family rather than live in the wealthy Old Gentleman's home.

The tragedy of the wave changes Jiya forever. Although his life is divided into two separate periods by the tsunami, he "learns to live with his parents and his brother dead..."and to find happiness in life in spite of tragedy. He learns to love everything this is good and to avoid cruelty. Ultimately, Jiya learns the lesson that Kino's father was trying to explain to his own son Kino, years before, that one must accept the dangers in life and learn how to live with them. This is exemplified by his conversation with the Old Gentleman who scolds the grown survivors of the tsunami for rebuilding homes on the beach. Jiya tells the old man that life is filled with dangers, which they must learn to live with especially since their island of Japan has volcanoes and the sea. Even the Old Gentleman's castle is not safe if the earth shakes hard enough.  Jiya builds himself a home on the same beach where his parents died, this time with a window that faces the sea. He tells Kino's father, "If ever the big wave comes back, I shall be ready. I face it. I am not afraid."

The Big Wave is a thoughtful, beautifully written short story that should appeal to many young readers. Pearl S. Buck won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932 for her novel, The Good Earth and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1938

Book Details:

The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck
New York:  HarperTrophy 
57 pp.

Matylda, Bright and Tender by Holly McGhee

Ten-year-old Susquenhanna Indiana (Sussy) Reed's special friendship with Guy Hose began in kindergarten. Like Sussy, Guy chose the Potato Heads during free play time, instead of the costume closet. It was Guy's idea to connect the Potato Heads together using the ear pieces. Each day thereafter Sussy and Guy built a never-ending potato.

By the end of first grade, Sussy and Guy "were good friends, but not together-all-the-time friends." Sussy's dad called them spaghetti and meatballs because they were always together. One day in the spring of fourth grade, Sussy and Guy invite Sussy's father to play a game of Monopoly with them. During that game, Sussy tells her father that Guy's mother believes that "Everything you need to know about life can be learned from Monopoly." But Sussy believes it doesn't fully teach people about life because "There's no love in this game."  Sussy points out that neither she nor Guy have siblings and that what they need is a pet. Guy suggests they get a leopard gecko, a pet Sussy's mom just might approve of. Guy tells them they are "good beginner reptiles" that can be kept in a tank and Sussy offers to keep the tank in her room.

Convinced, Sussy's father takes them to Total Pets where Guy chooses the largest gecko whose been in the pet store for some time. Guy suggests they name her Matylda, "with a 'y' so it's all her own." They also purchase a fifteen gallon tank and many accessories for the gecko and set it up in Sussy's bedroom. Matylda immediately takes to Guy, walking onto his hand, then up his arm and curling behind his neck. But she won't climb onto Sussy's hand.

With the help of Sussy's father who devises a way to catch live crickets in their backyard, Sussy and Guy are able to feed Matylda. Sussy doesn't like feeding Matylda live crickets and she finds watching her stalk and eat the crickets unsettling. Guy realizes this and tries to make his friend feel better about it.

Sussy and Guy visit Mike at Total Pets to ask where Matylda came from but he doesn't know. Instead he suggests they make up their own story for Matylda. So Guy creates a fantastic narrative about Matylda being a great lizard warrior whose master, the heir to a kingdom, forces her to fight other lizards.Each fight she wins sees her get another black spot on her back. The king promises Matylda if she defeats her fiftieth opponent he will set her free and grant her a wish. Matylda wins the fight, is set free and wishes to be loved. This lands her in the tank at Total Pets and into Sussy's home.

Guy and Sussy go to school together almost every day and have been doing so since third grade. Near the end of fourth grade their class has a project called Make Yourself Known, in which they have to "find a way to show the class something unique about ourselves". Their teacher, Mrs. Bueler agrees to let them bring Matylda, as long as no one touches the gecko. Sussy's father comes to class to help out with Matylda who turns out to be a big hit. Guy feeds Matylda a large cricket, but Sussy still feels upset at seeing the cricket being eaten alive.

One Saturday, Sussy and Guy decide to make a trip to Total Pets for some D3, a trace element that will help Matylda absorb calcium. Sussy suggests that they go by the reservation to see the flowers, so with their helmets on they ride their bikes. However on the corner of Witchett and Elm, an Airedale races out of a house and attacks Sussy on her bike. Guy, as usual, comes to Sussy's rescue, charging the dog. Suddenly a car coming over the hill on Witchett hits Guy who is in the middle of the road, killing him. Ten-year-old Sussy is taken to hospital and learns that her best friend, the boy she loves, it dead.Somehow Sussy must find a way to go on. Believing that caring for Matylda is the only way she can hold on to Guy, Sussy struggles with her pain until finally some poor choices catch up with her but help her to realize losing Guy will always be a part of her. 

Discussion

Matylda, Bright and Tender is a heartbreaking novel about a young girl trying to find her way through the loss of her best friend. Holly McGhee has written several children's books under a pen name, but Matylda Bright and Tender is her debut novel under her own name. McGhee drew on her own experience of being in a horrific car accident when she was a teenager to write Sussy and Guy's story. She wrote this children's novel as a way to express some of the pain she has carried with her for decades and to turn that pain into something positive.

The novel is primarily a journey about struggling to cope with a terrible loss and to move on. The story is told in first person by ten-year-old Sussy Reed. McGhee immediately establishes that a special friendship exists between Sussy and Guy by having Sussy remember how she came to love Guy in grade one when she was six years old. Guy, concerned that Sussy had left her jacket at home on a cool fall day, races to her house to retrieve it before the bus arrives. From that point on Sussy loved Guy. This act foreshadows both their blossoming friendship and the accident. It is Guy's care of Sussy that will create the bond of friendship but his concern for Sussy that marks their friendship will also be deadly.

When Guy dies in a car accident Sussy is emotionally shattered. She struggles to accept what has happened, that a car "...killed the one person in the world who meant more to me than anybody else." From the beginning there are signs that Sussy is not coping well with her friend's death. Once home from the hospital, Sussy demands to have the clothes she was wearing at the time of the accident; a sunflower shirt which Sussy calls "The Dying Day" shirt and a fire-engine-red pair of capris which have been repaired by her mother. Sussy wears this outfit for weeks, refusing to let her wash them. Eventually her mother, concerned about Sussy, buys her new clothing. Sussy only changes because some of the new clothing remind her of Guy.

Sussy understandably remains focused on Guy in the days following his death. "...and I lay in my bed and I wanted to go to the boy I loved. I wanted to go to Guy, to follow the path of my friend." At his funeral service though, Sussy believes she hears and sees Guy speak to her from his coffin. She believes she sees Guy, in his orange polo shirt and familiar jeans asking her  to promise to love Matylda enough for both of them. Sussy promises because "I had to love Matylda like he did. Enough for us both. She was all I had left of him. I had to do everything right. If I did everything right, I could hold on to Guy."

Sadly this puts so much pressure on Sussy that she begins to make choices that are not good. She struggles to figure out how she can love Matylda the way Guy did. When Matylda appears to stop eating, Sussy creates a project to find the most delicious crickets for her. They decide to try different fruits in the cricket traps. While her father gets the other items on their list, Sussy shops for the cricket bait in the produce section. However, she quickly  begins acting out, screaming the names of the fruits and kicking the cart around. Shoppers stare at her while inside Sussy feels tremendous anger towards Guy; "I was furious at Guy then, furious that he'd asked me to love the lizard like he did when I didn't know how...Furious that Matylda didn't love me, that she wouldn't even come to my hand, wouldn't eat my crickets...Furious I loved him so much."

Determined to make Matylda love her, Sussy decides to go to Total Pets to get some D3 powder. Mike suggests Sussy try feeding her lizard worms, but when he gets busy with a customer, Sussy's decides to steal tubs of worms. "And I heard, Sure you can --it's okay. Show her your love: bring her worms. Guy would want you to. He'd want her to have the worms." Sussy knows stealing is wrong because she hides the tubs in her closet and she tells Matylda it will be their secret. However, Sussy doesn't stop there and a week later steals a tree for Matylda's vivarium. "And as I watched her , looking glorious there under the tree I stole for her, I felt I was keeping my promise to Guy, loving her as much as he did. Doing just that. Sussy the Promise Keeper." 

When the time comes to return to school, it is one of many firsts that Sussy will do without Guy. Over the summer there has the first summer without Guy, and the first trip to Long Beach without him too. Sussy finally admits to her mother, "I don't know how to go without him...I miss him so much." But Sussy gets through her first walk to school without Guy, her first lunch and her first day without him. However, in her excitement over the first day of school, Sussy forgets about Matylda. Horrified and believing that this demonstrates she doesn't love Matylda enough, Sussy steals again from Total Pets but this time Mike tells her he knows what she's doing. Sussy flees the store and in a rage of anger against Guy for demanding she love Matylda the way he did, Sussy almost kills Matylda.

In this crisis she realizes two things; first that what happened to Guy will always be a part of her. "I got it--I was always going to be on Witchett somehow, was always gonna hear that crash--loud or quiet I'd hear it. I was supposed to hear it; it was part of me. Okay, dying day, you can stay." Secondly, she realizes that she does love Matylda in her own way. Matylda, who lost her tail when Sussy became enraged, has lost a part of herself just as Sussy lost a part of herself when Guy died. Sussy believes that Matlyda "...understood that I had to almost lose her to know how much I loved her" in the same way that Sussy realized how much she loved Guy only after he was killed in the accident.

Matylda, Bright and Tender is a poignant story about loss, forgiveness and acceptance, about healing from the deepest of hurts. Guy's death is heartbreaking, more so because McGhee really establishes the deep friendship that exists between Guy and Sussy at the beginning of the novel and because Guy is so full of concern for Sussy. Mature readers will wonder at the "what could have been..." for these two young people. Thankfully the novel's ending is both hopeful and satisfying. My only criticism is that it would be very likely today that a young girl like Sussy would be encouraged to receive some sort of counselling to help her process the death of her dearest friend, yet there is no mention of this ever being considered by Sussy's parents.

McGhee's family owns several leopard geckos and the traps she writes about in Matylda, Bright and Tender were actually designed by her husband.

Matylda, Bright and Tender is a short, but excellent novel, well written, with a simple but engaging cover that will appeal to young readers, teachers and book clubs. I look forward to reading more of McGhee's work.

Book Details:

Matylda, Bright and Tender by Holly McGhee
Berryville, VA: Candlewick Press              2017
210 pp.

The Things You Kiss Goodbye by Leslie Connor

The Things You Kiss Goodbye is a bittersweet novel about relationships, first love and struggling through terrible loss. It also tackles the sensitive subject of abuse in teen relationships.

Bettina Vasilia who lives with her Momma, Bampas (father) and her two younger brothers, ten year old Favian and seven year old Avel is Greek and very different from most of her classmates. She wears combat boots, has a long thick braid of hair, a wide smile and is covered in henna tattoos.

Bettina first met Brady Cullen at the end of their sophomore year when she was just fifteen. At that time Brady was sweet and shy which Bettina found endearing. Bettina's Bampas is very strict; she's not allowed to date, she has to be picked up from school and is expected home at night for family dinner. After waiting numerous times with her outside the school, Brady meets Bampas who gives his permission for Brady to date Bettina. So Brady becomes Bettina's way of getting around her Bampas's strict rules which leave her feeling like she's "kind of grounded as a way of life."

At first Brady is a good boyfriend; he is kind, friendly, thoughtful and caring. Before school breaks for summer Brady convinces Bettina to try out for cheerleading which she does because she realizes it will allow her another excuse to be out at night. They continue to be friends thorough the summer but the beginning of school in September sees a change in Brady's behaviour towards Bettina. Brady has a group of people he hangs out with and he seems friendly with everyone at school. "Brady Cullen wasn't a shy, skinny guy bouncing a ball just beneath everyone's radar anymore. He was a nodding, fist-bumping, 'jock machine,' working the hallway like it was his job."

When Bettina meets an old friend, Tony Colletti, Brady acts jealous. The first week of school, Brady takes Bettina back to his house where he forces her to be intimate, completely unaware that she does not consent. From this point on Brady begins to hurt Bettina. The physical abuse begins with stabbing her with the toothpick-end of a clay figure she had made for Brady and a few days later crushing her hand causing severe bruising and swelling from her new school ring. After the latter injury, Bettina flees the school and crosses over to Hammer Hill Industrial Park where she encounters a handsome young man who looks like a cowboy or a motorhead. This young man who appears to be much older than Bettina, around twenty five or so, takes her to Unit 37, tenderly ministers to her injured hand and puts her ring onto a shoelace so she can still wear it. Bettina nicknames him Cowboy and discovers her runs an auto shop.

Bettina makes excuses for Brady because he always seems genuinely sorry. The situation with Brady makes Bettina recall the advice her Bampas always gives her: fili antio or "kiss it goodbye". Whenever she was denied something by her Bampas, he had her kiss his cheek and then told her to bury her disappointment and not to cry. To let it go. Bettina decides she will apply Bampas's fili antio philosophy to her relationship with Brady.

Bettina agrees to visit Tony Colletti's nonna, Regina Colletti, who is sick with cancer. Bettina once lived in the same neighbourhood as Tony, so they have many memories of his nonna who ruled as both queen bee and rebel. As the days pass, Bettina is drawn to Cowboy. She begins taking him coffee early in the morning as she visits his shop before school. Cowboy asks her if the boy he saw her with is the one who hurts her. Bettina brushes this off refusing to acknowledge what Cowboy has quickly recognized.When the cops show up at his shop, Cowboy tells Bettina that his family is messed up adn that there were problems at his ma's home during the night.

Brady's physical and emotional abuse of Bettina continues to escalate.  Bettina meets Regina again and wants to tell her the truth about Brady, about how at first he was a nice boyfriend but how he changed. Instead, she reasons that she "just had to steer him around so he'd be funny and tender." and that she is the problem. To that end she commits herself "to making things better with Brady." She tries everything to diffuse situations that look like they might cause him to behave badly. One day in October she brings baklava for the cheerleaders. Bettina tries her fili antio philosophy but Brady smashes the locker door hard enough that it knocks the pastries out of her hands onto the floor. Afterwards as she is rushing to cheerleading practice, Brady drills a basketball into her knee severely injuring her. Later Brady brings ice for her knee, leading the cheerleaders to think he is such a caring boyfriend. At this point Bettina tries to tell Brady that when he's mad he needs to tell her. This seems to work for a time as Brady is on his best behaviour.

Meanwhile during another visit with Tony's nonna, Regina tells Bettina about a boy she fell in love with when she was fourteen and how her father beat her badly when he found out about them. Regina says never forgot that first love and that her father was wrong to do what he did. Bettina says Regina's story "stitched itself to my heart".

Cowboy is concerned about Bettina's leg injury but once again she deflects his questions. They continue to meet during mornings and sometimes after school always avoiding the subject of Brady. During this time Cowboy encourages Bettina with her idea about opening a coffee shop with one of her father's properties and reveals to Bettina that her father is very wealthy, something she did not know. Their relationship begins to shift gradually as Bettina and Cowboy often go for milkshakes and she helps out in the shop. One afternoon Cowboy takes her to the hill on the water company property and Bettina tells him how she feels. When he tells her she can't come to his auto shop anymore Bettina begs him to let her continue to visit.During one of Bettina's visits, Cowboy reveals his true name, Silas Wolcott Shepherd.

In November, as Brady's basketball season approaches, he becomes increasingly stressed and the abuse returns. He becomes furiously jealous when another boy asks her to dance at a party and during a fight Bettina falls seriously injuring her cheek. Bettina's injury prompts Cowboy to tell her about the scars she saw on his back a few weeks earlier - that his ma beat him and that his dad and brothers left. But Cowboy stayed with his ma and this leads Bettina to question his reasons for staying.  When Cowboy comes to see her at her home, sneaking in the back way, Bettina acknowledges that she is doing the same thing with Brady - that she is really putting up with the abuse because she's using Brady as a means of getting around her father's restrictive rules and getting out of the house.

One day Brady violently assaults Bettina by yanking her braid, injuring her neck and smashing her locker door into her side. It is the assault and Cowboy's recent altercation with his mother that leaves him bruised that makes Bettina realize she is being abused in the same way that Cowboy has been and that she needs to stop it. However, when Bettina finally concedes that Brady Cullen is hurting her, and realizes she needs to leave him, she feels trapped. Bettina feels there is no way she can leave Brady without there being some kind of fallout. She knows that if she tells people at school he is abusive, he will be given the benefit of the doubt. She can't quit the cheerleading squad because she's made a commitment for the year. If she told her Bampas, although upset that she is being hurt, Bettina feels he would likely see the situation as a proof that he was right all along about her having a boyfriend - that she was too immature and he would claim that she didn't do enough to support Brady through his difficult season.

Bettina and Brady go through the motions of being boyfriend/girlfriend with Bettina gradually finding excuses to not spend time with him.  As Brady continues to have an awesome season, Bettina is there to support him, hoping that when the season ends, they will end too.

As her relationship with Brady begins to unwind her friendship with Cowboy grows deeper. He takes her to his dad's farm and on New Years Day he sneaks her out of her bedroom and takes her to the hill on the water property. In February, Cowboy shows up at her home via the River Road and shows her the reconditioned '57 Chevy. Bettina is stunned to see Cowboy with a large welt across his face. Cowboy tells her that this was from his mother and that he has finally left. He thought his mother was finished with the abuse;  "'I didn't see this one coming. But you know what? There's always another one coming.' He looked at me dead-on. 'You have to get completely out of the way.' " Cowboy tells Bettina that her situation is the same as his with his mother and that Brady is hurting her. Cowboy and Bettina finally admit that they are in love and that they need to try to be together.

When Bettina returns home during the early morning hours her mother is waiting for her, calling her out on her lies. Bettina finally admits to her momma what has been going on and that she loves this much older man. The next morning however, Bettina's world is crushed when she must confront the tragedy that has occurred overnight. Her world changed forever, Bettina filled with a deep sense of loss,  gradually takes steps to take control over her own destiny and how the men in her life treat her.

Discussion

The Things You Kiss Goodbye is definitely a novel for adults due to the mature themes that are explored: numerous references to sexual encounters, a much older man involved with a young teenager and an abusive teenage relationship. 

The strength of this novel is Connor's ability to realistically portray the abusive behaviour in Brady and Bettina's relationship and Bettina's inability to move out of this situation. As is often the case, the abuse begins to escalate, Bettina behaviour is typical of many victims of abuse, making excuses for the perpetrator. Bettina like many women, believe they can change their man only to learn that this is not possible. Bettina lives by her father's mantra, fili antio to kiss goodbye the things she is told she can't have or are beyond her control to change. While this philosophy might work for a parent and young child, it cannot be applied readily to adulthood, as Bettina begins to discover. It is this learned behaviour that enables her to stay in the relationship with Brady for so long despite the fact that she knows he is hurting her. She also believes, as do many abused women, that his behaviour is her fault.

Another interesting aspect that Connor portrays is how Brady hides his abusive nature beneath a veneer of public kindness. This is common in abusive relationships. After he drills the basketball into Bettina's knee, he shows up at her gym with ice, causing the cheerleaders to swoon over how sweet he is.  The author also portrays another aspect of an abusive relationship, forced intimacy with the girlfriend feeling pressured - something many teenage girls face and is not often acknowledged.

Bettina's relationship with Brady is a complete contrast to her relationship with Cowboy. Cowboy treats her with respect and because of their age difference is hands off. They develop a strong bond of friendship that includes mutual respect, something completely lacking in her relationship with Brady. They support each other in contrast to the self-centered Brady who seems unable to recognize the emotional needs Bettina might have and has no interest in encouraging her. In fact, he does just the opposite when Bettina shows him her project which garnered an A+ from the teacher, he blows her off, ridiculing her idea.

But it's not just Bettina's relationship with Brady that is disordered either. Her relationship with Bampas is one of control, lacking in compassion and the realization that Bettina is growing into adulthood. Bampas repeatedly informs Bettina how her afterschool activities are disrupting their family life and making things difficult for the family. He isn't supportive of her, doesn't seem to recognize that she is growing into adulthood, has many rules and when she tries to discuss her needs, Bampas shuts her down with a brusque "siopi" or silence. Eventually Bettina does confront her father on his philosophy after the loss of Cowboy telling him not to tell her to "kiss it goodbye".  She tells her father that her loss is real and needs to be acknowledged; "He is dead. I'll never get over it. This is not a thing I can just kiss goodbye, Bampas. I won't get off that easy. I have to feel the whole thing. So don't say that to me."

Overall, Connor does a great job of fashioning realistic characters, excellent dialogue and creating situations that are believable. While the events are tragic, The Things You Kiss Goodbye ends on a hopeful note. Bettina acknowledges the hurt and loss she still feels in September of another year her heart open to the good that came from loving him. Because of the mature themes this novel explores, it is recommended for adults and possibly older teens who are dealing with these issues.

Book Details:
The Things You Kiss Goodbye by Leslie Connor
New York: Katherine Tegen Books an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers     2014
358 pp.

Push Girl by Chelsie Hill and Jessica Love

push girl\noun

1. A fierce, fearless woman who doesn't let life's challenges get in the way of what she wants.
2. Anyone who overcomes adversity with a never say die attitude and sense of humor.

Senior Kara Moore is a dancer who loves to perform. She's been dating the captain of the water polo team, Curt Mitchell for the past eight months. Kara's upcoming senior year is going to be amazing; she has a new set of friends thanks to Curt and among other things, Curt's water polo club has nominated her for Home Coming Queen. Although Kara finds Curt very handsome she doesn't feel like she can be open with him about the difficult things in her life. One of those difficult things is her home life; her parents are constantly fighting.

After Curt picks her up from the dance studio they plan to meet later on in the evening at Rob Chang's home for a party. Being part of Curt's life has meant that Kara now gets invited to parties she otherwise would not ever attend. When Kara arrives home she tells her mother that she is going to a movie with her best friend Amanda, because she knows her mother would never allow her to go to Chang's party. Although Kara tries to take a nap, she overhears her parents having a terrific argument. After her father leaves the house, her mother tells Kara that they are going to get divorced.

Angry and very upset, Kara leaves for the party. When she arrives, she discovers that Curt is more interested in a drinking game than spending time with her. Wishing to talk to him about what's going on with her parents, she waits for Curt to meet her outside. When he doesn't show after twenty minutes of waiting, Kara returns to the house to find him with another girl in his lap and very drunk. At this point Karla decides to leave and drive to Taco Bell to have something to eat. But she never makes it to the restaurant; her car is struck by a drunk driver who runs a red light.

Kara awakes two weeks later in hospital to discover she has a broken back and is paralyzed from the waist down. Most of Kara's friends from high school do not visit her in the hospital. Conspicuously absent is boyfriend Curt. However Amanda and Kara's ex-boyfriend, Jack Matthews, do visit. They offer her support and continue that support and friendship when she returns home and when she begins school again.

When Kara returns to school she has to confront the attitudes of staff and students as well as physical obstacles. Kara finds students view her with a mixture of shock and pity and she finds a school unprepared to integrate a student with a disability into the classroom. Even more difficult, Kara decides to confront Curt Mitchell over his treatment of her after the accident. She finds Curt to be heartless and insistent that he has broken up with her because of how she reacted at the party. Speechless at his betrayal, Kara is devastated.

However, Kara soon finds that she has lots of support from the two people she was drifting away from prior to her accident; Amanda her best friend and Jack her ex-boyfriend. Jack drives her to school every day and Amanda is always ready to help Kara and support her in any way she can.

Kara struggles to come to terms with being a paraplegic and the loss of her identity as a dancer. She hates the way people look at her with pity, ignore her paralyzed legs like they aren't there.  A careless remark by her English teacher, Mr. David infuriates and depresses Kara even more and she decides to withdraw from the Homecoming Queen competition.  As the reality of her situation begins to sink in, Kara first strikes out in anger at those closest to her - Amanda and Jack.

As Kara continues to act out at school she finally realizes she needs help to deal with her situation and a change in medications. Despite her outburst to Jack and Amanda, they stick by her.  And Jack comes up with a plan that just might help Kara work through some of her feelings and give her the motivation to get her life on track again.

Discussion

Push Girl is an inspiring novel that deals with the sensitive subject of disability and coming to terms with a life-altering event. Kara's struggles to find meaning in her life are realistically portrayed.

Kara realizes that she is mourning the loss of the person she was - Kara Moore - dancer. Her identity was very much caught up in being a dancer. But what is she if she can't dance anymore?  "But how could I be fulfilled in my life without dancing? It was tied in to the core of who I was, and who I'd been for as long as I could remember knowing myself. Is this how people felt when they lost a loved one? My grandma died when I was younger but she was sick for a long time before that. Ihad time to get used to her passing. This was different. This was the sudden and absolute murder of the one thing that made me who I was. Kara Moore was a dancer..... Until I wasn't anymore." 

Her anger is a normal part of the grieving process in any loss. Eventually, as she moves through this process, Kara begins to see positive aspects to her life, even though she can no longer dance. Her journey through the sadness and anger lead to her gradually accepting her life and finding more and more moments were she can truly be happy. 

A larger part of her successful transition to her new life is her boyfriend Jack, who is a complete opposite of the self-absorbed Curt. Although the reader learns later on in the novel Curt's reasons for his terrible treatment of Kara, they merely reinforce his poor character and immaturity. It's no surprise that Curt's new girlfriend, Jenny Roy, is just like him - shallow and mean. In this respect the characters are somewhat cliched and overly typical, but Hill and Love use them to emphasize the difficulty Kara has in fitting back into life in high school.

Push Girl mirrors the experiences of co-author Chelsie Hill. Hill was seventeen years old when she became a T-10 paraplegic as a result of a drunk driving accident. Chelsie had been a competitive dancer before the accident and her world was changed forever. Undaunted by the loss of the use of her legs, Chelsie began speaking around America about what happened to her and how the choices we make can impact those around us. The Walk and Roll Foundation was started by Chelsie and her father to educate teens on distracted driving which now kills more people than drunk driving. Chelsie is also a cast member of the Sundance Channel's reality show, Push Girls and a member of a wheel chair dance team. You can learn more about her amazing journey to recapture her life at chelsiehill.com

Push Girl is a quick read that will appeal to fans of the Push Girl series and also those who would enjoy a quick read. It's well written and doesn't become bogged down in sentimentality. Kara is a likeable heroine, a strong young woman who doesn't believe she is "inspirational" because she is simply doing what she has to do now that her life has changed. Push Girl offers a positive portrayal of life after a life-alternating event, highlighting determination, grit and attitude.

Book Details:
Push Girl by Chelsie Hill and Jessica Love
New York: Thomas Dunne Books      2014
227 pp.

Anthem For Jackson Dawes by Celia Bryce

Anthem For Jackson Dawes is a deeply touching novel about two teens who experience the first stirrings of love while facing down treatment for cancer.

Thirteen year old Megan has a brain tumour. Three rounds of chemotherapy and surgery are in her future. On her first day in the oncology ward, Megan is shocked to see that there are mostly children. Except for Jackson Dawes, a tall sixteen year old who is a force of nature in the ward. He is known to all the younger children and is famous with the staff for going on walks throughout the hospital.

" 'That boy,' Mum said, 'is just beautiful. He's like an ebony statue. And that smile...it just never stops. Isn't he lovely...' "

As Megan goes through her first treatment Jackson is there to comfort and encourage her with his positive attitude. Jackson has a cancer that is so rare, the doctors do not have a name for it. This tidbit of information foreshadows what will happen in the story.

At first Megan doesn't want to have anything to do with Jackson, since he seems to be a person who knows "everything about anything." Jackson tells her that her friends won't bother coming around or calling because they won't understand and they will be afraid of catching her illness. Megan defends them at first but soon realizes that Jackson is right. Gradually their friendship grows as Jackson helps Megan adjust to chemo and life in the hospital. They share a kiss and the beginnings of a blossoming love.

When Jackson and Megan meet up again during Megan's third chemo treatment, Megan notices that something is off about Jackson, he seems withdrawn, tired and thin. However, he does help her when side effects of the chemo begin to appear. It is only after Megan's operation and her struggle to recover that the pieces begin to fit together.

Discussion

Anthem For Jackson Dawes is a very moving novel, that captured the tragedy and suffering of young people who have cancer and also the toll it takes on those who love and support them. Author Celia Bryce manages this in a way that is not overwhelming to her readers, but gradually unfolds as the story does. Megan's perspective is somewhat subdued but the reader will soon realize that Megan is having a difficult time accepting her situation, "It didn't feel like anything to boast about, having cancer." or what is happening to the others on the cancer ward.

Anthem For Jackson Dawes has some wonderful characters who develop believable relationships with one another. While the relationship between Jackson and Megan is the prominent one, it is the relationship that Megan has with her father that illuminates this novel. Although he is mostly absent due to his work overseas, and Megan tells him not to come home when she has her chemo and her surgery, it's obvious that her relationship with her father is very special. It is ultimately her father who helps her cope with Jackson's situation and he helps her to gain some perspective on what has happened. In fact the conversation between Megan and her father is the highlight of this novel, poignant and tender, a father trying to help his daughter learn to live again in the face of incomprehensible tragedy.

Other important relationships in the novel include the one between Megan and a young girl named Kipper who has cancer and also that between Megan and her grandfather who is ninety-five years old. Kipper helps draw Megan out of her own world of uncertainty, while Granddad tries to cheer her up.

Written in third person, Anthem For Jackson Dawes is a good novel for those aged 9 to 12 who are interested in realistic fiction and is good precursor to reading something like John Green's The Fault In Our Stars. Anthem For Jackson Dawes is Celia Bryce's debut novel. This promising writer from the United Kingdom, teaches creative writing and writes for radio and stage.

Book Details:
Anthem For Jackson Dawes by Celia Bryce
New York: Bloomsbury 2013
230 pp.

Double by Jenny Valentine

Chap is a sixteen year old boy living on the streets of London. After being thrown into a storage room for fighting at a shelter, he is confronted by two workers, Ginny and Gordon, who believe he is a missing boy, Cassiel Roadnight. Cassiel vanished two years ago from his home and has never been seen again.


When Chap sees the photograph of Cassiel he can hardly believe it - the fourteen year old boy in the picture looks just like he did at fourteen, except that he's smiling and at fourteen Chap didn't have much to smile about. Chap decides to play along, assume Cassiel's identity, and become a part of Cassiel's family. This family includes a mother who's dependent upon prescription drugs, an older sister, Edie, and an older brother, Frank. Frank is a banker and is well off.

Chap must always be on his guard because he doesn't know anything about Cassiel's life. He's afraid that he will say the wrong thing or act wrongly and that will give him away.

"What are you afraid of," she said. "Daylight?"
No. I'm afraid of you. I'm afraid of myself, of whatever it is I'm going to do or say to make it all go wrong. I'm desperately trying to avoid that moment and walking straight toward it, all at the same time.

But if Chap has a secret, he soon discovers that the Roadnights have their own secrets too. There is a mystery surrounding Cassiel's disappearance that no one will talk about. It's only when Chap unexpectedly meets one Cassiel's acquaintances, Floyd, and Helen reveals a family secret, do the pieces start to come together, and Chap learns who he really is and what may have happened to Cassiel. Is he willing to expose his identity and solve the mystery of Cassiel's disappearance?

Told in the believable voice of Chap, Double alternates between Chap's past and his present life. Chap is a well drawn, sympathetic character mainly because of the difficult life he's had. He knows assuming Cassiel's identity is wrong on many levels, but his desire to have a family, an identity, and a life are simply too overwhelming. Through Chap's narration we get a definite sense of his fear of discovery, which at times is overwhelming, and his conflicting emotions about taking on Cassiel's identity.

They spoke at the same time, almost. They were nothing but questions. I couldn't answer them. My disguise was paper-thin. I didn't know who Cassiel Roadnight was or what he'd say. If I spoke, I'd eat away at it, I'd just show myself lurking underneath, the rotten core.

The novel is well paced with author, Jenny Valentine, gradually weaving both stories together, connecting the characters and the events, tying up the loose ends quickly and neatly in what is a complex storyline.

Double which was originally published as The Double Life of Cassiel Roadnight in Great Britain in 2010, touches on themes of identity, loss, abandonment, and love.

Book Details:
Double by Jenny Valentine
New York: Hyperion 2012
246pp.

While He Was Away by Karen Schreck

 "One year -- he'll be going for one year and then we'll be together again and everything will be back to the way it should be."

 Penelope (Penna) Weaver and David O'Dell are sweethearts living in Killdeer, Oklahoma. The two met last year, when David was a senior and Penna a junior and new to the local high school. Now David is off to Iraq while Penna finishes high school. 

While He Was Away tells the story of how Penna copes with her boyfriend going off to war for a year. Layered throughout this main storyline is the story of Penna struggling to unearth her family's hidden past. 

Penna and her mother Linda moved back to Killdeer, where her mother took over The Red Earth, the family restaurant left to her by her estranged father when he died. She also inherited the family home. When Penna and her mother go into the attic to rescue a stray killdeer, they find an envelope containing a black and white photograph and a letter. The photograph is of her grandmother, Justine Blue, when she was eighteen-years-old. The letter is from Justine's husband, Owen Delmore, who was serving overseas in 1945. He never returned from World War II. The photograph elicits strong emotions from Penna's mother, but her anger and stonewalling only make Penna more determined to find out about this mysterious woman from her family's past and why her mother hates her so much.

Gradually, the story of Justine's life and why her daughter, Linda wants nothing to do with her and will not forgive her is revealed. Linda's life has been hard because of the choices her parents have made and the choices she's made too.  Despite Linda's pain, Penna becomes determined to find her grandmother and through a series of quirky coincidences soon learns that she has returned to Killdeer. Her grandmother, now elderly, is frail and suffering from Alzheimer's. Penna meets Justine, against her mother's wishes, in order to learn more about her family's roots. She feels a bond with her grandmother because like her grandmother at age eighteen, they both had to wait for a man they love to come home from war. From this meeting Penna decides that she needs to bring Justine and Linda together, in an attempt to heal the rift between them before it's too late.

Meanwhile for Penna and David things are changing. Neither of them is the same person they were when David went to war just a few short months ago. Penna is becoming more mature and responsible by working at the restaurant, saving for college and learning to deal with David's absence.

David changes too, but not in a positive way. Penna sees that he has lost weight and that he is deeply affected by the plight of the children in the orphanage in Iraq. He is also upset at how the war is affecting those connected to the soldiers. He becomes fearful of loving as he sees how the war destroys relationships of other soldiers in his unit. While Penna hoped he could hold on, the realities of war push them apart and David is no longer able to cope with the ever present possibility of losing someone you care deeply for. He acts to protect himself, doing the very thing he is afraid of.

For Penna this loss is similar to the loss Justine experienced almost 60 years ago. Life must go on and she must learn to cope until David comes back, if he comes back. To that end her friends and her newly connected family help her.

Discussion

In the novel, While He Was Away, author Karen Schreck tackles the effect of war on the families of those who serve. This is accomplished through the intergenerational story of Justine and Penna, both of whom had similar experiences when they were eighteen. Like her grandmother Justine, Penna loves her soldier-boyfriend very much. However, often the circumstances are beyond our control; often war comes between two people in one way or another. Schreck effectively shows that couples separated by war today experience the same difficulties as those in previous wars. Penna struggles to rebuild her life after David, just as Justine struggled to cope and rebuild her life after losing her first love.

Justine and Owen's story mirrors that of the author's mother whose first husband, Orville, went to war in 1944-45 and who died a hero. Her mother was so heartbroken, she spent months writing letters to him after his death and playing Chopin. Eventually her mother left to study music in Chicago where she met the author's father and eventually remarried. Seventeen years passed between her first husband's death and the birth of the author, Karen. But while Schreck's mother was able to use her loss as a catalyst for living again, Penna's grandmother was unable to. She was unable to accept the loss of her first love, and eventually abandoned her second marriage and her young daughter, a decision she deeply regrets.

While He Was Away will probably pleasantly surprise most readers who expect just a love story, but this novel is much more. It is a nuanced recounting of love, loyalty, loss, forgiveness and healing across three generations. It is a poignant reminder of the far reaching effects of war, on those who serve and those who love them - effects which often even time can't heal.  The only weakness in the novel is that at times, it was difficult to piece together Penna's family history because it is told in parts throughout the novel and because there are many minor storylines too. But Schreck eventually weaves together the narrative in a satisfying manner. The author has included a section on tips on how to be an army girlfriend.

Hopefully Karen Schreck will consider writing a sequel to this novel, letting readers know what happens to Penna and David when he returns from the war in Iraq. Readers will be rooting for Penna and David.

Book Details:
While He Was Away by Karen Schreck
Naperville, Ill. : Sourcebooks Fire        2012
249 pp.

Waiting by Carol Lynch Williams

No one talks to me.
They don't even look my way.
There's a death bubble around me and I know it. It's
a thin film, one that only I can see through, and I have
proof no one can see me, because they never look in
my direction
and I refuse to look in theirs.

London Castle's family is trying to cope with the tragic death of her older brother Zach. Her mother won't speak to her and spends her time in her bedroom alone, on her knees weeping. But even worse, London's mother won't speak to her and blames her for what happened to Zach. Her father is seemingly oblivious as to what is going on between the mother and daughter. He is always absent, working too much. London states that "At home, all life has stopped, even though it's been awhile." It seems London has been left to cope on her own with her feelings of guilt and loss.

Through Williams evocative combination of prose and poetry,  the awful circumstances behind Zach's death are revealed. Having gotten his girlfriend Rachel pregnant, the two were planning to marry. But both sets of parents step in and the young couple are separated. Rachel is taken miles away by her parents and pressured to get an abortion. During a fight with his mother, Zach learns that Rachel will be aborting his baby. Devastated and without hope, Zach hangs himself in his bedroom. London hears Zach dying and she and her mother race against time to save him. At the end of the book we learn what really happens with Rachel, and this makes his death all the more tragic.

Seventeen year old Taylor Curtis was London's boyfriend before he broke up with her and started a short-lived relationship with another girl. He was also Zach's best friend. He begins to renew his friendship with London. However, London finds it difficult to restart their relationship because so many memories of Zach are tied to Taylor. But Taylor offers London the support and caring she so desperately needs and she grasps at it.

Meanwhile despite London's numbness and difficulty in dealing with her brother's death, she does notice a new boy in class, Jesse Fulton, who turns out to be the brother of her classmate, Lili whose been trying to befriend her. Lili and Jesse become an important part of London's life and she forms a strong friendship with both of them and they too help her come to terms with Zach's death.

As London struggles to deal with her mother's silence and anger, she uses her relationships with both Taylor and Jesse to help her feel alive and to find the strength to confront her mother. London finally confronts her guilt and realizes that she did the best she could. She is not responsible for Zach's death. The living must go on living.

Discussion

Waiting tells the intense, tragic story of a family broken apart by the stigma of teenage pregnancy, the aftermather of a forced abortion that results in needless death of a young man. The suspense of not knowing the circumstances behind Zach's death and learning halfway through the book that he might have been a suicide, effectively draws the reader in. The end of the book, although somewhat predictable because the author does drop a hint,  leaves the reader sad but hopeful.

Waiting succeeds because it evokes powerful emotions; empathy for London who is being punished by her shattered mother for something she had no part in and because her mother is crushed by guilt for provoking Zach; sympathy for the young couple who are betrayed by the very people who had a duty to help them in such a crisis but who instead were more concerned about saving face; pity and anger for a mother so wracked by guilt over provoking her son that she can no longer love anyone; sadness for Zach who saw no hope in his future and who made a terrible mistake.

Maybe nothing could have saved Zach.
Maybe things were too messed up before he ever met
Rachel. Maybe he was too sad since we were little.
Maybe he had faith in everyone but himself.
Or...
Or maybe he just made a mistake and realized moments too late.

It also touches albeit obliquely, on the abortion issue and how it relates to men. Zach's suicide is directly related to the belief that Rachel will abort his baby. This leaves Zach in despair and the terrible fight with his mother provokes him into making a terrible choice. Fathers are often forgotten in the abortion debate. However they do suffer from unacknowledged loss, betrayal and guilt.
 
Waiting also explores the role of faith in personal tragedy. London's father, who is a missionary, has told her that "God answers our prayers through Jesus Christ". But, long before Zach's death though, London was beginning to doubt.

Daddy doesn't know. Mom doesn't know. But on those
trips, I think I started wondering about a god that would 
let all this bad stuff happen. All of it is so awful. I was
changing. Stretching from my old religious skin. Feeling
itchy with the worrying and the cracking free.

London is in so much pain that she wants to die but she knows she cannot do this because she will cause her parents even more grief. She also feels that if she were to try something now, Jesus would not stop her. She's the daughter of a missionary, and "a missionary's kid can't kill herself". London feels God has abandoned her and her family. However, near the end of the book, London comes to the realization that she cannot live without God.

Waiting is a superb novel with lessons that many parents, especially Christian parents need to learn. Some parents will face a crisis with a daughter or son and parents need to be there for them and with them. Parents need to use their wisdom and life experience to help their children through the difficult times. Young people will make mistakes, sometimes mistakes that cannot be easily undone and they will need guidance, forgiveness and love.

This is a novel that touches on many themes: redemption, loss, guilt, friendship, faith and family.

A brilliant book, highly recommended, especially to reluctant readers, and those who have experienced a loss through suicide.

Book Details:

Waiting by Carol Lynch Williams

New York: Simon & Schuster Children's  2012

335 pp.

Between by Jessica Warman

Between is a story about two ghosts/spirits who spend time "between" Earth and the afterlife solving the mystery of how they died, so they can find eternal peace.

It is the eve of Elizabeth Valchar's 18th birthday and she's spending it on her family's boat with friends, drinking and doing recreational drugs. Elizabeth is attractive and popular, part of the "in" crowd in her high school. She has it all; beauty, a cute boyfriend, a flashy car, and plenty of money. Early in the morning, Liz is awakened by an annoying, persistent, thumping noise outside the boat. When she goes to investigate she makes the shocking discovery that it is her body, face down in the water. Liz soon discovers that while she can see and hear the living, she cannot touch or interact with them in any way.

However, Liz is not alone for long. Her spirit is soon found by another spirit, that of Alex Berg, a boy from her school who was killed a year ago by a hit and run driver. His death was never solved with the identity of the driver unknown. Alex can see and touch Liz and communicate with her. Because Alex lived in another part of town, wasn't wealthy or popular, Liz and her posse ignored Alex. Now in death, Alex can barely contain his contempt for her.

Liz finds that she has no memory of what happened on the night she died, nor of many other details of her life. But she learns that she can slip back into memories, which begin to help her piece together the final months leading up to her death. Together Alex and Liz begin through a series of flashbacks to uncover the truth about what happened on the eve of Liz's eighteenth birthday.

Jessica Warman does a good job of retaining the reader's interest throughout the novel with a well paced narrative that paints a picture of a group of selfish, spoiled teens concerned only with looking good and being popular. There are several mysteries to be solved, and these serve as the hook drawing the reader in. A few examples will suffice. What is the connection between Liz and Alex? Was Liz's death an accident or the result of something more sinister? Some readers may solve these mysteries sooner than others but as the story begins to come together it's not hard to piece together what happened.

As the narrative progresses, we see Liz undergo a process of self-discovery that transforms her from a self-absorbed, spoiled teenager, concerned only about money, looks and status, to a more caring person who is sorry for some of the things she did when she was alive. So the book opens with most of the characters being being genuinely unlikable, including Liz. That changes by the end with Liz having redeemed herself as much as is possible for a ghost.

Between is a book with themes of redemption, loss, love and forgiveness. The premise of the book is what caught my attention and I wasn't disappointed. Some readers might be put off by the length of the book (slightly over 450 pages) but the story is well told in Liz's voice, which is authentic, full of angst and regret at some of her poor choices.

Book Details
Between by Jessica Warman
New York: Walker & Company 2011
454 pp.

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

Alzheimer's disease was an entirely different kind of beast. There were no weapons that could slay it. Taking Aricept and Namenda felt like aiming a couple of leaky squirt guns in the face of a blazing fire....Right now, everyone with Alzheimer's faced the same outcome, whether they were eighty-two or fifty, resident of the Mount Auburn Manor or full professor of psychology at Harvard University. The blazing fire consumed all. No one got out alive.

Dr. Alice Howland is a thoroughly modern, middle-aged professional woman. A brilliant, psycholinguist, she is the William James Professor of Psychology at Harvard University where she studies the mechanism of languages.But something isn't just right.

For Alice it begins with forgotten words during lectures, a moment in Harvard Square where she has no idea where she is nor how to get home, a forgotten trip to the airport to catch a plane to a conference she'd spent the day preparing for, and names on to-do lists that mean nothing to her.  Suspecting that something is seriously wrong, and without the knowledge of her husband John, Alice goes to see her doctor who refers her to a neurologist. After testing, Alice receives the stunning diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's. It is both numbing and terrifying for her. She is fifty-years-old.

Alice struggles to tell John, who is a cancer cell biologist, because telling him will make it all "real". When she does, his reaction is almost cerebral and clinical. At first reluctant to believe her, John offers Alice no comfort. Instead he tells her he needs to find out more about Alzheimer's.

They decide to have Alice undergo genetic testing, which if positive, would support the clinical diagnosis, but if negative, would not necessarily rule it out. When genetic testing confirms her diagnosis, Alice and John must now come to terms with her disease, what this will mean to them as a couple and individually, and the implications for their three adult children who are at risk. After John and Alice tell their children, two decide to undergo genetic testing.

As part of coming to terms with her illness, Alice must decide what it is that she wants most in the time remaining to her. Alice feels at this point, that her career at Harvard is far down the list and that she would also like to spend more time with her husband and family. She also feels that "...when the burden of her disease exceeded the pleasure of that ice cream, she wanted to die." And so Alice develops a plan to deal with that point in her life.

Discussion

Told in Alice's voice, Still Alice follows one woman's journey into the world of progressive neurodegenerative disease that is Alzheimer's. It is a journey that at times evokes strong visceral reactions especially when it is evident how painful Alice's loss of memory is to her family. These moments are present enough that they give readers a realistic view into the world of Alzheimer's. The heartache of seeing Alice, at times so blissfully unaware of her loss, is countered by the loving response of her family in these moments. Readers also experience Alice's confusion and anger when her symptoms flare. Alzheimer's is a disease that won't wait.

Genova incorporates a significant amount of information about Alzheimer's disease into the novel. Information is sprinkled throughout the story as Alice's family confronts her diagnosis and deals with the many issues that result from her disease - for example, medications and home care. There is much information on current treatments and drug regimens (current to 2008/2009 when the book was written and published). Some readers might find this tiresome,  but this contributes to the novel's overall storytelling.

Since the two main characters, Alice and John are brilliant scientists and two of their  children are also in the field of medicine, the discussions are naturally cerebral and scientific. These characters allow the author the liberty of doing inserting a great deal of medical information. When Alice goes in for genetic testing we learn that there are three gene mutations that a person can be tested for - APP, PS1 and PS2. Without going into too much detail, the reader is given some essence of the ramifications of genetic testing for Alice and her husband, and their children. The reader is allowed to formulate their own ideas on the usefulness of genetic testing and what having those results might mean for family members.

One of the main issues explored in Still Alice, is that of quality of life in terminally ill persons. Still Alice is a novel that presents the lives of those with Alzheimer's as being worthy and having meaning - even when their world narrows and especially when in the present they can't foresee such meaning in the future. In a culture in which preconceived notions of "quality of life" are benchmarks for assisted suicide and euthanasia, Still Alice offers the idea that we can't know what life will be like and how we will feel until we get to that point. This is theme is explored in the novel through the actions of Alice both before her disease has progressed and when a crisis occurs.

Not long after Alice has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, she decides that when her disease develops to a certain point, she no longer wants to live. She programs into her Blackberry, five very basic questions which she will answer every morning. She decides that when she can no longer answer these questions she will follow the instructions in a file named "Butterfly" on her computer. The instructions are to take an overdose without telling anyone. Alice has a preconceived notion of what her life will be like, of what her "quality of life" will be like at this future point in time. It is something though that she really can't know until she arrives at that moment in her life.

Interestingly, it is other circumstances that propel her to try to commit suicide before she reaches her preconceived end time. John is offered a job at the University of New York, which he decides to take, despite Alice's worsening health. This will mean moving Alice from everything that is familiar to a strange and new city. When his family challenges him on this, he refuses to back down. Alice realizes that she has made many sacrifices for John and she has made it easy for him to love her,  but when it is time for his love to become sacrificial he is not interested. She decides she must make the "sacrifice". Fortunately, she does not succeed.

Instead, with the help of her daughters, Alice stands up to John, remains in Boston and her youngest daughter, Lydia stays with her. When John, who must know about the "butterfly" file which was on her Blackberry and on her personal computer, asks her if she still wants to go on living, she says yes. As Still Alice demonstrates, when Alice is long past her predetermined "criteria" for a happy and worthy life, she is still happy and feels intense love! She can still find things to live for - her daughters, her grandchildren. "She didn't need to go anywhere. She felt lucky  about this. She and the woman she sat with listened to the girl with very long hair play her music and sing. The girl had a lovely voice and big, happy teeth and a lot of skirt with flowers all over it that Alice admired.

Alice hummed along to the music. She liked the sound of her hum blended with the voice of the singing girl."

Genova's use of the butterfly motif both in the naming of the suicide file and in the image of the butterfly on the cover and the butterfly motif on each page of the book is significant to the story and the issue of quality of life. Alice wears a beautiful blue art nouveau butterfly necklace that her mother gave her. When Alice was a small child she cried over the fact that the butterfly, although very beautiful, had such a short lifespan. Her mother however, felt that a short life did not mean a tragic one. The life of the butterfly was still beautiful as it moves from flower to flower. In Alice's mind, she will be like the butterfly - she will have a short life but it will beautiful.

Neither Alice nor John are likeable characters. Alice is cerebral, a modern woman whose life work was her passion.  John seemed distant and never seemed to show Alice much comfort. However, as the novel moved forward, Alice's disease made them more human and more compassionate. Lisa Genova adeptly portrayed the inner conflict John experienced when offered an exciting new position at a different university.He was torn between his new opportunity and his responsibilities to Alice as a caregiver and husband. Nevertheless it seemed that he largely abandoned his wife to the care of their daughter Lydia. The part of marriage about "in sickness" didn't seem to be important to him. Perhaps he was willing to give up too soon on Alice, rather than helping her live out what was left of her life.  It was Lydia, Alice and John's youngest child and the one who had a difficult relationship with her mother, who had great compassion and care for her mother. Alice's disease brought their relationship back on track.

Still Alice is fantastic book for book clubs, teens interested in reading adult books dealing with specific issues and for those interested in realistic fiction. There are so many issues, especially identity and loss, that can provide the impetus for discussion and debate.  
Book Details:
Still Alice by Lisa Genova
Toronto: Gallery Books 2011
327 pp.