Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham

Shark Girl is novel about a teenager who survives a shark attack and her struggle to reclaim her life.

The novel opens with fifteen-year-old Jane Arrowood experiencing phantom sensations of her missing right hand. She remembers that "on that day" her mother and her brother Michael headed to the beach with Jane having packed her sketch book in her beachbag.

In a news report it is reveals that on June 22, Jane was attacked at Point Dume State Beach in shallow water by a shark. Her brother saved her life by tying a tourquinet on her arm. She was rushed to UCLA hospital where her right arm was amputated. Dr. Andrew Kim tells reporters that she is lucky to be alive and is in a coma due to blood loss.

When Jane awakens from the coma after ten days, she learns that her right arm has been amputated above the elbow. Michael tells her that the attack was video taped by some guy on the beach and that it has been repeatedly played on television.

Jane's life revolves around her art and she wonders what happens now. Her mother, who teacher English at USC is with her and her grandparents are arriving soon. When her friends begin calling to see if they can visit, Jane's mother suggests they wait a few more days. Meanwhile, Jane receives not only letters, but many flowers and plenty of teddy bears, which she calls "pity bears". While Jane doesn't want any of this her mother encourages her to try to appreciate people's efforts. 

Jane misses her father who died when she was three-years-old of cancer. For twelve years she hasn't had a dad but right now she wishes she had a hug from him. Jane is assigned a therapist named Mel who tells her that it is fine to grieve the loss of her right arm. Although Jane's mother seems very optimistic, Jane does not feel that way. When her best friend Rachel visits, Jane tells her that she's tired of telling them "it's okay".  Jane tells Dr. Kim about the dreams she has of her arm being snapped off by an alligator or a dog and he explains that it is the brain attempting to reason out the phantom pain she is experiencing.

In the hosptial Jane has a team of specialists: a doctor, occupational therapist, rehab coordinator, psychologist, and physiotherapist. Each day is filled with a struggle: her friends visiting but the feeling of belonging to their group is missing, wondering what her life will be like, wishing she had died. She is tired of people telling her how strong and brave she is and wishes people would just say "Jane, you are a mess."

Eventually though, the time comes for Jane to go home from the  hospital. Not only is she now physically and mentally changed, but her life is forever altered. What does this mean for her? for her future? 

Discussion

Shark Girl is a realistic fiction novel that focuses on the inner journey a young teen girl undertakes after she suffers a life-altering injury. Fifteen-year-old Jane Arrowood was attacked by a shark and has had her right arm amputated. The attack is recounted in both newspaper articles which are written in prose and flashbacks by Jane in free verse, as well as letters written to her by people concerned for her or having suffered amputation. The novel is divided into three parts.

Author Kelly Bingham traces Jane's inner journey as she works her way through grieving the loss of her arm and her changed life. The newspaper articles portray the reporting of the accident and reveal that Jane is a prize-winning artist who attends Mountain Ridge High School. She has won state art competitions and won the top prize at the West Coast Wings Competition. They tell the reader what Jane has lost - the ability to do art, which up to this point in her life, has defined her. The free verse offers Jane's thoughts as she struggles to heal psychologically from her injury and deal with the changes in her life, while the letters offer examples of how others view these tragedies from the outside. 

In the hospital Jane receives much help in the form of occupational, physical and mental therapy. It's unfortunate that the occupational therapy was never focused on, because when Jane returns home it seems that she is unable to do anything. Having lost her dominant hand, she would need extensive and ongoing occupational therapy, something that doesn't appear to be happening. The same can be said of her mental therapy which appears to end once she leaves the hospital. 

While in the hospital, Jane struggles with what has happened. Her therapist Mel tells her to consider the "big picture", that 

"You could have died.

Instead, you are here. You have time to find out why.

You have your whole life to discover

and rebuild."

On days that feel like "canyon days" where she wishes she had died, Mel tells her to look at the smaller picture, sometimes one day, or one hour, or one minute.

As expected, once she returns home Jane's struggles only intensify as she faces the reality of her life. She blames herself  "If you had helped that lady. The one with the tray of  hot dogs..." she would have missed the shark. Later on she feels anger at Michael for saving her. Jane refers to herself as "Shark Girl".  At home Jane struggles: although she can dress herself, she doesn't cook,  doesn't help with chores around the house, refuses an invitation to meet her friends, and won't attend a support group. Ashamed of her missing limb, Jane wears a heavy sweater in the heat while walking Mabel. She refuses to enter the grocery store and instead attempts to stay in the hot car while her mother shops. However, the extreme heat forces Jane into the store where she feels everyone is staring at her. For Jane,

"Missing an arm is like wearing a coat,

a really big, hot, ugly coat

that I can't take off.

Ever.

it's all people see."

Folding laundry, taking out the garbage, are a struggle, but when Michael forces her to mow the lawn, Jane feels relief and grateful that he's treated her like "...old plain Jane". But it takes months for Jane to recover her desire to live life as she once did. When Jane returns to school in September she struggles with how others view her and the comments she overhears about her accident and her body. During this time, Jane returns to working on her art, attempting to teach her left hand to do what her right could do so well. She doesn't tell anyone except Justin about this.

"This thing is private,

very private, 

and no one needs to stand witness

with a stopwatch or a progress chart.

No one needs to say the wrong thing."

It isn't until the following March during a rainstorm that Jane, who used to cook most her family's meals, struggles to make scrambled eggs and toast.
"The eggs are overcooked.

The toast is a buttered murder victim.

But I'm proud, really proud,

like I just had a baby or something..."
Jane announces her accomplishment to their dog Mabel, noting,

"And the next time will be easier, I think.

And the next time, and the next time."

This point marks a significant change in how Jane thinks about her life. When she forgets to wash the dishes afterwards and her mother offers, Jane begins to realize that her mother will not always be there to help, in college or any other time. She volunteers at the hospital where she was taken after the shark bite, orders special items to help her with meal preparation and even more importantly Jane begins to see possibilites in her future. While talking with Max Shannon, Jane tells him that nursing and other options look "interesting" and she is shocked at this change in her thinking.

"So much looks interesting?

Wow.

Just a few months ago,

my radar was EMPTY.

So it's true, then?

Time makes a difference?"

But during this time, Jane still struggles with the "what if?": if she hadn't been swimming that day, if the shark had been somewhere else that day, if she had stayed home that day.... In this way, Bingham demonstrates that Jane's healing isn't a linear process, but one that occurs in steps with much struggle, regression and progress, making the portrayal feel realistic.

It takes time but eventually Jane does reclaim her life, offering readers a positive conclusion and an important reminder that the past cannot be changed but that the future is what we make of it, regardless of what has happened.  She bakes her specialty lemon bars for her mother, finds her stump that was "once alien, is returning to be a part of me." makes up with Angie, and gives Justin her first drawing - that of his beloved dog, Spot. 

Sharing Jane's journey is Justin,  a ten-year-old boy who lost his leg and was in the hospital during the same time period. Justin's innocence and forthright way of dealing with loss gradually open Jane to the possibilites open to her. When he learns that she is an artist and asks her to draw him a picture, Jane refuses telling him she can't use her other arm because it isn't her "good one". 

"Justin looks down. "Both my legs were good.

But now I only have one, so it's the good one.

Isn't that the way with your arm?"

Later on Justin asks Jane if she "hated everybody" because she looks like she does. He reminds her she just has to love her family including him! When Justin calls, Jane realizes that he isn't focused on his artificial limb because he's too busy living his life. In contrast, Jane hates her artificial arm which she has christened "Chuck".  She has "playdates" with Justin, who encourages her to work at her drawing and who models what recovery from a life-altering accident looks like: he plays baseball, wants to play soccer and doesn't see the limitations that Janes sees.  Eventually, as Jane reclaims her life and begins to heal, she lets Justin go, to live his own life, just as she must live hers.

Bingham has crafted realistic characters in Jane's mother and Janes friends: they are not perfect and like Jane are struggling to deal with what has happened and how to help Jane. They don't always do the right thing but their intentions are well meaning. The best example of this is Jane's friend Angie, who has her own issues with her body, but attempts to help Jane in ways that seem pushy and misguided.

There is a reference to Bethany Hamilton (not specifically named) who lost her left arm while surfing in Hawai'i to a shark in 2003. Twenty-six days after her ordeal, Hamilton was back out surfing - a remarkable feat to be sure, but one that most people would not be up to. Like Bethany Hamilton, the fictitious Jane Arrowood demonstrates resiliency, grit and determination.

Despite the heavy topic, Kelly Bingham has succeeded in crafting a novel that doesn't overwhelm but offers readers a chance to consider how they might help friends or family who suffer life-altering injuries.

Book Details:

Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham
Candlewick Press       2007
276pp

Stolen by Lucy Christopher

You saw me before I saw you.

You stole me.

While waiting in the airport at Bangkok with her parents to board a flight to Vietnam, 16 year old Gemma Toombs meets Ty. He seems strangely familiar, though Gemma can’t quite place where she might have seen him. After he buys her a coffee, Gemma begins to feel strange and soon she finds herself in a drugged haze. When she wakes days later, Gemma is alone with Ty, in a wooden house in the middle of a desert.


“How long will you keep me?” I asked.

“Forever,” you said.

Gemma tries to escape but soon realizes that she has no way out. Surrounded by miles of burning, red desert, and totally dependent upon Ty, she continues to resist his attempts to win her confidence and her love. As the days pass, Gemma learns about her captor’s past and his intentions for the future. She learns just how much planning went into her capture. Throughout most of her ordeal she continues to resist until finally Ty strikes a bargain with Gemma. But just as she’s beginning to see Ty differently, fate intervenes.
Discussion

Stolen is a remarkable book written as a letter from a victim to her captor. Through most of the book, Gemma struggles to understand her captor and his motives. Her character is realistically drawn – she’s not perfect and has her typical issues with her parents and peers. Ty, although creepy is not sinister. He seems more like a misguided soul, struggling to find a place for himself.

Lucy Christopher manages to hold the reader’s attention throughout with a series of events that create suspense and leave the reader wondering how the situation will be resolved. Will Gemma eventually escape, will she grow to love Ty or will something sinister happen?

The book also offers the reader a chance to explore Stockholm syndrome – the paradoxical condition where victims of intense emotional trauma see their perpetrators in a positive way. This part of the book was probably the most interesting to me.

I highly recommend this book. Stolen offers a unique storyline among a series of books that have recently touched on a similar theme and it has a more positive ending than Living Dead Girl.


Book Details:


Stolen by Lucy Christopher
Chicken House Ltd.  2009
304 pp.

A mountain of crumbs

A mountain of crumbs details life in Soviet Russia in the 1960's to 1980 when the author left her homeland for America. I truly enjoyed this memoir mainly because I felt that Elena was able to reach across language and cultural differences and convey the character of her family and friends and of Soviet life, with startling clarity.
Since I grew up during the same time period as Elena, I think the West's understanding of what life was like in the Soviet Union was accurate in a general way. However, it was the culture of vranyo - pretending, which maybe caught me by surprise. I enjoyed Gorokhova's wit in conveying the sometimes remarkable culture of pretend that extended throughout Soviet life.
"All this Communist delirium about paradise on Earth and equal labor. They pretend they pay us, and we pretend we work."

There are remarkable descriptions of life in the summer at the family dacha, of her father's fishing trips in the Gulf of Finland and a memorable time mushroom hunting. But there are also haunting descriptions of life under communist rule: her father dying alone and at a relatively young age in a hospital, the school doors locked forcing children to attend Young Pioneer meetings, the long lines to obtain simple necessities of life, apartments shared by several families.
As Elena works her way through the Soviet system and as she becomes more disillusioned, she realizes that the only way to have a life on her terms is to leave Russia. But no one gets out of Soviet Russia easily in 1979. And the final decision is fraught with doubts and concerns.
Eventually, Elena with the help of an American is able to leave Russia by the way of a contrived marriage.
I wish the book had continued on to tell us of her initial impressions of the West. Perhaps another book?

I highly recommend this memoir and I hope to read more of Elena in the future.
Elena Gorokhova currently authors a blog as part of her website. The website hosts interviews and photos of Elena. It is wonderful to hear her voice and see more recent pictures of her and her family. The video below is one which can be found on Elena's website:

Every Little Thing in the World by Nina de Gramont

Nina de Gramont's book, Every Little Thing in the World, is about a teenage girl dealing with her unexpected pregnancy.

Sixteen-year-old Sydney Biggs and her friend Natalia Miksa drive from Natalia's home in Linden Hill to a keg-party at Overpeck to try to find Sydney's friend Tommy. They've broken their promise to Natalia's parents to not leave the house as they've been grounded for the past two weeks. Sydney and Natalia had gone to the keg party last year, Sydney with her then boyfriend, Greg and Natalia had met her current boyfriend Steve. 

Not involved anymore with Greg, Sydney had met Tommy at a pizza parlour only a month earlier. After sneaking out one night with Natalia so they could meet up with Steve and Tommy, Sydney is intimate with Tommy. 

Sydney has missed her period and a pregnancy test was positive. She doesn't believe she's pregnant because she has no symptoms, although she continually feels nauseous. 

Sydney doesn't want to tell Tommy she's pregnant but Natalia insists. At the keg party they find Tommy drunk and she runs away. Sydney doesn't understand how Tommy can help her. The two girls are escorted back to Natalia's home after their cell phones and the missing cadillac are discovered by her parents and they contact the police. When Sydney's mother picks her up and takes her home, she lectures Sydney about many things. Sydney realizes that her mother would be even more furious if she knew she was pregnant. Her mother has made it clear that she has made many sacrifices so that Sydney could attend a private school. She tells Sydney she will be spending time with her father on her farm because she can no longer deal with her.Sydney's parents broke up when she was eight-years-old. While her mother has never remarried, her father has a new life that includes his wife Kerry,  three-year-old twins Ezra and Aaron, and eight-month old Rebecca.  That night Sydney learns that Natalia is being sent to boarding school in Switzerland.

Her father lives in a refurbished barn that belongs to one of the farmers, Bob Pearson. Watching her stepmother feed Rebecca, Sydney wonders if Kerry would take her baby if she gave birth. When her father returns home he tells Sydney that Bob Pearson has a friend who runs a camp on a lake in Ontario, Canada, called Camp Belle. In the camp, kids spend time canoeing on the lake and camping on the islands in the lake. No internet or devices. 

A letter from her mother states that Sydney will not be returning home for the summer and that she has cancelled her job at the pool. She calls her mother to complain but her mother will not relent. At this point, neither of Sydney's parents know of her pregnancy. At this point Sydney becomes desperate and decides to look through an old phone book for information on getting an abortion. With nothing local she is frustrated because she has no money,  no car and no license. Now determined to have an abortion and to do that she needs to get back home. 

But when her father gets home that evening, Sydney learns that she is to spend the month of July at Campbell's Camp Belle canoeing in Ontario and then she will return in August to work on Campbell's farm to repay him for the month at the camp. She will live at her father's house and work selling produce for Campbell at his roadside stand. This "adventure" is unexpected to Sydney and she thanks her father.

Sydney struggles to find someone to confide in but eventually she does reach out to her mother who helps Sydney with her fateful choice.

Discussion

Every Little Thing In the World is realistic fiction novel of a girl struggling to deal with an unplanned pregnancy. At the heart of her struggle is whether she should continue the pregnancy or have an abortion. The novel tackles invites young readers to explore many issues, divorce, teen drinking and partying, unplanned pregnancy, and abortion. 

Sydney and Natalia are best friends who as many teens do, are engaging in risky behaviour. Despite knowing that this behaviour can result in pregnancy, Sydney has a brief relationship with Tommy. In typical teen fashion, Sydney cannot believe she is pregnant despite taking three pregnancy tests the day she is due for her menstrual period. "It didn't seem possible that something so huge, so catastrophic and monumental could be going on inside my body."  In this respect, the novel at least portrays the reality of engaging in sexual activity - the risk of pregnancy is real despite what the media often leads people to believe. It's rare that movies and television shows portray this real consequence. Sex makes babies and if you are not ready for a baby, do not engage in sexual activity. The novel also realistically portrays the difficulty young teens have in telling parents that they are pregnant. This struggle means delaying obtaining medical help and support as a young pregnant teen. 

It is important that novels which explore real problems teens face today such as abortion, teen sex, pregnancy, and substance abuse do so with honesty, presenting both sides of an issue in a truthful, unbiased manner. In the case of Every Little Thing In The World, this is not so. Although it may appear that de Gramont explores both sides of the abortion issue, she really doesn't. De Gramont's treatment of the issue is biased towards abortion rights and filled with incidents and dialogue that perpetuate misinformation about abortion, abortion providers and the prolife movement. The book is mainly a parroting of misquoted prolife phrases that never quite meet the mark nor make the case for Sydney having her baby, all the while portraying prolife people as self-righteous and pushy. And maybe that's because de Gramont doesn't know nor understand the prolife position or maybe because she supports abortion rights.

It is often the situation that women who seek abortions feel they have no options and receive little support to choose continuing their pregnancy. Abortion presents itself as a quick and easy option, but many women reveal that what seemed to be a simple straightforward "procedure" becomes a life-time of regret or worse. We are reminded of this pain and regret by the many famous women who eventually express this publicly, sometimes years later.

Social media portrays having a child is as a very life-ruining event. It's true that for a sixteen-year-old girl it is far more life-altering than for someone in their twenties or thirties. But it doesn't have to be this way: there is the option of adoption, a difficult and sacrificial choice to be sure. The novel also portrays families with children as eccentric and a bit off, reminiscent of what was portrayed in the movie Brokeback Mountain in 2005.

Sydney is staying at her father's home. Her father is portrayed as fully into health food, sustainable living, raw milk and organic foods. This sets him and Kerry up as eccentric and to Sydney as a bit weird.. Kerry is mother to twins and an eight-month-old. Sydney notes that Kerry is twenty-nine-years-old and "since the twins and Rebecca, she had gained over a hundred pounds." To Sydney, she considers her stepmother's pregnancies as making her once slim stepmother, fat and ugly. This section of the novel is rife with derogatory descriptions of Kerry.  "Kerry was a big believer in breast-feeding, and the only thing that ever calmed her babies down was one of her giant boobs.....I sang a little, but without much feeling, knowing nothing I did would make a difference until Kerry returned and peeled off her shirt." The message is clear: having a baby ruins a woman's body. Babies mean a woman's body is not her own.  Breastfeeding, a very natural part of being a mother, is presented in an almost degrading way, with women losing their freedom and control over their bodies. How many young teens reading this will believe that breastfeeding is disgusting and unnatural.

De Gramont has Sydney seeking out information about fetal development and babies in her stepmother's baby book. She states "Across the country politicians and Christians fought over whether life began at conception." What isn't presented in this novel is that every embryology text used in medical schools worldwide define conception as the beginning of  a new human life and that obstetricians, the medical professionals who care for women during pregnancy have always considered that they have two patients - the mother and her unborn baby. It is politicans and abortion rights advocates who have campaigned for the change in the medical definition of when life begins so as to market drugs such as RU-486 and Plan B as contraceptives rather than abortifacients.

When Sydney decides to search through the telephone book for abortion providers. she is shocked that abortion is first in the yellow pages but upon closer inspection she realizes that in fact, "abortion alternatives" are listed first. Oh the deception! Sydney finds "...Birthright of Northern New Jersey, and New Jersey Citizens for Life. I knew that if I called any of them, I would get a lecture on the evils of abortion. They'd call it murder. Being against sex education themselves, they probably wouldn't have taken it.....Probably they would drop the name Jesus Christ.....and tell me that fetuses screamed during D & C's....." This entire section is filled with misinformation designed to foster the view that real efforts to help girls in a pregnancy crisis receive proper medical care and support. Organizations like Birthright, founded by Louise Summerhill, are volunteer organizations whose mission is to help women of all faiths. It connects women with the resources they need to give birth. A woman contacts Birthright is provided with the resources she needs to have her baby, but it is her choice. A woman wanting to abort her baby would have to seek that help elsewhere. Did de Gramont do any research on her own for this novel or did she rely on biased media reports. Did she ever contact any prolife group to determine exactly what they tell women or where they refer women who call them. Did de Gramont contact any pregnancy support group to determine what they do?
 
Sydney's cynicism towards prolife groups reflects the projection of adult bias onto a teen character in the novel. Sydney thinks,  "At any rate, The New Jersey Citizens for Life would pretend to care about me, but their real goal would be nine months down the road, a nice white baby for a nice white - and Christian - family."  Sadly what this passage demonstrates is the author's bias and cynicism shown through the character of Sydney. Does Sydney contact any pregnancy support center to find out what they offer?  Ironically it is Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the United States and  whose origins are based in the white supremacist and eugenics movement founded by Margaret Sanger, who is racist. Not the prolife pregnancy centers. This is another example of misinformation designed to indoctrinate young teen readers into believing that organizations like Birthright are harmful and racist.

It's interesting that despite having health classes beginning in seventh grade Sydney still got pregnant. De Gramont's portrayal of Sydney's use of "protection" with her previous boyfriend Greg demonstrates behaviour that is atypical of teenagers. Most teenagers do not use contraception and certainly not two forms of contraception, despite intense indoctrination and "education". And in fact, countries with mandatory sex ed classes/programs such as the United Kingdom, show burgeoning teen pregnancy rates. 
 
Moving along with the storyline, we learn that Sydney is to be packed off to a summer camp in northern Ontario to learn about responsibility and rediscover herself. Her best friend Natalia Miksa, also grounded for bad behaviour ends up at the same summer camp. Prior to arriving at camp, Natalia discovers that her much older sister is in fact her mother who had her at age sixteen or so. Natalia, originally in favor of abortion, is now prolife.

Natalia states, "...I keep thinking about your plans, and then I feel sort of grateful. If Margit had had an abortion, I woudn't be here." Sydney counters with, "You wouldn't be here if Margit had stayed a virgin till she was twenty-two," I said. "You wouldn't be here if your parents, your grandparents, had never met, or if they'd stayed in Hungary...."
While this is all true, the fact is that Sydney's baby is real and already now exists. The fact that Sydney cannot feel her baby yet doesn't make that baby any less real. The choice to not have a baby is made before engaging in sexual intercourse. Sydney made a choice. She chose to have sex at a time when she was not ready to have a baby. She is now pregnant with a human baby. The argument she presents is diversionary and irrelevant.

Throughout their time canoeing through northern Ontario, Natalia offers to help Sydney. She eventually offers to take her baby and to make things right for her. However, Sydney remains ambivalent and undecided until finally she takes Natalia up on her offer. Near the end of camp, all the campers in Natalia and Sydney's group come down with food poisoning. While Sydney herself doesn't become sick, she does paddle to the nearest outpost for help. When everyone is taken to hospital Sydney makes the impulsive decision to have an abortion. When she learns that as an American citizen she cannot have an abortion in and Ontario hospital unless someone pays for the "procedure", she finally reaches out in desperation and calls her mother.

Sydney's mom who was so in favour of tough love at the beginning of the book, now caves in when she learns her daughter is pregnant. Instead of supporting her daughter who is pregnant with her grandchild, helping her to take responsibility for her actions, Sydney's mother pays for her abortion. There's no discussion about the other possibilities such as having the baby and adoption. There's no discussion of the risks involved in having an abortion. Abortion is presented as a quick, easy solution to an unwanted, life-changing situation.

When Sydney tells Natalia that "there's no more baby", Sydney states "...I wasn't sorry. I couldn't be. In the end I had chosen hope when hope presented itself. I had chosen me, and a life beyond that fleeting craziness two months before. I had chosen this new wisdom and resignation over months and years of uncertainty and trouble."  Abortion as hope?  A baby is nature's way of saying that life goes on, that there is a future. How is killing a baby an act of hope? It is an act of cowardice.

Sadly, this novel portrayed abortion as a responsible, self-liberating act of hope. Abortion is anything but this. One needs to only consider the growing "I regret my abortion" movement in the United States to see that for many, many women abortion is a traumatic life experience in which they remain forever regretful and forever the mother of a dead baby. Despite abortion advocates attempts to portray abortion as a affirming experience, it remains one of deep shame and deep internal conflict for many women.
 
It is disappointing but not surprising that de Gramont did not present a stronger case for a teen girl having her baby and considering other options than single parenthood or abortion. It is irresponsible to portray abortion as an easy way out without offering any discussion of the physical, emotional and psychological risks of abortion.

Every Little Thing In The World is a disappointing and dishonest treatment of teen pregnancy, abortion and motherhood. The only possible use for this novel is as a discussion as to how abortion, sex education, adoption, teen pregnancy and teen sexuality are presented in young adult literature. Parents and prospective readers should be aware that the topic is graphic in nature and that the novel does share information about sex and pregnancy, but nothing about the reality of abortion.  Not recommended.

Book Details:

Every Little Thing In The World by Nina De Gramont
New York: Atheneum Books    2010

288 pp.

Finding Cassidy by Laura Langston

Finding Cassidy deals with the unusual issue of donor children. Cassidy MacLaughlin is a typical 16 year old, concerned with her boyfriend,friends and school. Then one day her dad has a fall and tests at the hospital confirm he has Huntington's Chorea, an inherited, genetic brain disorder. This fact causes Cassidy a great deal of stress because she now worries that she may have inherited this disease from her father. She wants to get tested - immediately. When Cassidy presses for testing she learns that she doesn't have to worry because in fact, her father is not her biological father. She was conceived by artificial insemination with donor sperm. Cassidy is hurt and devastated by this disclosure by her parents.

It was all done in a laboratory. His sperm was...you know...inserted inside...when I was fertile." She waved her hands in the air to cover her discomfort. "It was all very clean and scientific. Business-like. There was nothing nasty about it."
Clean and scientific. Business-like.

Cassidy struggles to understand. She feels betrayed and unmoored. Cassidy also feels that she can no longer trust her parents who have lied to her all these years. Her parents however, believe that her manner of conception isn't important. Only the result, the baby that is Cassidy, is important.

The threat of Huntington's seemed almost bearable compared to this...this strange black hole of not having Dad be my dad.

"A business arrangement. I started life because of a business arrangement. Right then, my bones felt so hollow I half expected to float up from the table and fly away without even trying."

We also learn that the idea to conceive a child came from Cassidy's mother's father, something that her father (who was the parent with the infertility problem) expressed with bitterness.

Cassidy continues to pressure her parents to provide her with information regarding her biological father. At first her parents are reluctant to do so but it is her father who eventually encourages Cassidy to fight for the information that she feels she has a right to know.

I felt that Laura Langston portrayed Cassidy's struggles in a realistic and sympathetic manner. At first Cassidy does not cope well. She starts calling her father by his first name, Frank. And she impulsively decides to sleep with her boyfriend, Jason, who doesn't understand her internal conflicts. She also becomes obsessed with who her father might be, even wondering if total strangers might be her father. But eventually, through her friend Quinn and her father, she begins to organize herself to fight for the information she wants. In the end, she also acknowledges that Frank IS her dad but that somewhere she has a biological father too.

It was interesting to explore the various issues of trust, betrayal, the donor child's right to full disclosure - that is, to know their genetic and biological history and the right to develop some kind of connection with their biological parent. Langston also presents the shortsightedness of medical doctors who did AI years ago without thinking through the ethical dilemmas parents and donor children might experience in the future and planning for these problems.

Well written and thoughtful.

Book Details:
Finding Cassidy by Laura Langston
HarperTrophy Canada 2006
237 pp.

Day of Tears. A novel in dialogue. By Julius Lester

This heartwrenching novel tells the story of the slave auction held by Pierce Butler, who needed to sell his "assets" in order to pay off his gambling debts. This auction which was held over the span of three days was the largest slave auction ever held in the United States. History records that Butler owned an estimated 900 slaves. He was married to Fanny Kemble, a British actress who had no idea Butler owned slaves at the time of her marriage.
Butler attempted to dissuade Fanny from coming to Butler Island but eventually she would no longer be put off and was horrified when she saw the conditions of the slaves.
She attempted to intercede for them without success. Unable to reconcile herself to the practice of slavery, Fanny eventually left Pierce and they were divorced. He was able to gain custody of their two daughters.
Lester's novel tells the story of slaves, Mattie and Will, their only child, Emma. There are also several other characters who are part of the story including Rebecca and George who are runaway slaves, Joe who likes Emma, Charles and his wife Winnie and father Sampson.  Other characters include several slave owners and businessmen. These are all fictional characters who are used by Lester to bring out the story of the Weeping Time from the various viewpoints of the characters. This is well done, giving the reader a truly realistic perspective on what happened. Lester includes details such as the names and prices real slaves were sold for.

Mattie has been promised by Pierce Butler that he will not sell Emma. However, Emma is dearly beloved by Butler's oldest girl Sarah who has the abolitionist views of her mother and Frances who is more like her father. This bothers Pierce and he eventually breaks his promise with devastating results to himself. The novel presents an exciting and rewarding conclusion following the closing of the auction.
This book is historical fiction at it's finest. Highly recommended.


For further research on this event see

The Weeping Time from the African American Registry

For extensive information on the Weeping time and the Butler plantation:

Weeping Time

Wrecked by E. R Frank

Anna Lawson doesn't like parties and she usually doesn't drink. But this time it would be different. Instead, Anna decided that she would drink and try to mingle more. When she sobers up, Anna drives her intoxicated friend Ellen Gerson home. Except they don't make it home. Instead, they are involved in a serious car accident that leaves Anna with minor injuries, critically injures Ellen and kills Cameron Polk the driver of the other car. Frank describes in detail, Anna's experience immediately after the car crash. These details are important because they help us to understand what Anna experienced and how they affect her later on.

And I keep hearing that screaming and screaming and screaming and screaming, and then I hear the screaming stop, and instantly I vomit all over myself and all over Ellen's head.

But Anna's injuries are much deeper than anyone, including herself ever expected. Anna struggles to cope with her grief over the death of Cameron, who was her brother Jack's first girlfriend. She knows it was Cameron she heard screaming. She killed Cameron. She is bad, very bad. Will her brother ever forgive her?

There was screaming. Screaming and screaming and screaming. It wasn't Ellen, and it wasn't me. "Hoooow looong, hooow loooong..." And then the screaming stopped. It stopped because the life stopped. Somehow I knew it then. I know it now. I don't need anybody to tell me. I heard the life stop.

Anna experiences flashbacks, nightmares, cold sweats and shaking spells. She struggles daily with feelings of shame, guilt and fear.

Like, I killed somebody. How do you make the fact of something like that go away? How do you make the fact of something like that not nag and poke at you, like somekind of virus that's stuck in your blood, stuck in your cells, stuck in who you are and who you will be forever?

Eventually, after several very public panic attacks, it is Ellen's mother who realize that Anna is "shell shocked" from the accident. When a vacation fails to help, Anna seeks the help of a therapist who uses EMDR (Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) to help with PTSD. These sessions help Anna resolve her guilt and shame from the accident and help her to come to terms with other problems in her life, especially those involving her father.

An excellent book about the issues of drunk driving, underage drinking, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, anger, and family dysfunction. I found the information on EMDR very interesting.
Anna was a sympathetic and real character. It was also interesting to see that Ellen, while telling Anna that she is "messed up" doesn't recognize her own drinking problem.

Book Details:
Wrecked by E.R. Frank
Atheneum Books 2005
247 pp

Would You by Marthe Jocelyn

You are a young teen, Natalie Johnston with your entire life before you. Life consists of boyfriends, pool parties, school, life guarding, riding your bike and shopping. You have an older sister, Claire whom you love. She's the one who goes before you, showing you the way, leading you. The two of you share a room and a life. She knows things about you that no one else knows.
And then, in a blink of a eye, life changes. In a terrible way.
Your sister is seriously injured in a pedestrian car accident. She lies in hospital, comatose. Her EEG shows no brain activity. Your parents must make the painful decision of life and death.
Marthe Jocelyn tells the Johnston story through the voice of younger sister Natalie. It is a story of pain and horror that is part of any sudden family tragedy. This short but well written book explores the issues of fear and loss, forgiveness and mortality.
Would You doesn't have chapters. Instead the book has subtitles throughout;Who Was Driving? Invasion of the Well-Meaning, and Did You Ever See Dad Cry?
I liked the short subtitles because the helped keep the story focused.
There is only one flaw with this book and that is with the science at the very end. Claire and Natalie's parents decide to donate her organs for transplantation. The description is as follows:

They said it won't take long, they said just a few minutes. As soon as the ventilator stops sending in oxygen, the rest of the system shuts down.
I keep my eyes shut and try not to listen to anything except the beating of her heart. The doctor comes in and there's some murmuring and I know they've turned off the machine because the beep stops.
There's rustling around me, and sniffling, but mostly there's just this distant drum inside Claire.
But then it's fainter and then hardly there. And then, it's not there at all. I guess I'm the first one to know, becuase I'm listening to nothing.
Another minute goes by. There's movement around me. Someone lifts Claire's hand. I'm more aware of being uncomfortable, but I don't want to get up yet. I sure don't want to open my eyes.
And then the doctor's voice. "The patient has died. Time of death is 12:16pm"

If only this were how things were done. But it is not. In organ transplantation, the donor patient is kept alive until the organs are removed. The family is certainly NOT present at this time. The heart must continue to beat because the minute death occurs, chemical processes begin directly and immediately upon death, which make vital organs unusable for transplantation.
It was for this reason that brain death criteria were developed. A way was needed to declare death without the donor patient actually biologically dying. But in fact, the donor patient is in the process of dying and is not yet dead. Therefore, doctors keep donor patients on life support, heavily sedated and paralyzed while the organs are removed.
Such a realistic portrayal in a young adult book would not bode well for either the teens reading the book nor for the organ transplantation lobby. Sad but true.
Secondly, EEG is not a reliable measure of "brain death". In fact, there is no international standard used by doctors to determine brain death.
If you don't believe me, read up on it from these links:

Vital Organ Transplantation and Brain Death

EEG Alone Cannot Diagnose Brain Death

Book Details
Would You by Marthe Jocelyn
Tundra Books 2008
165 pp

The Mango Season

Mango Season is a novel which explores the culture clash a young India born woman experiences when she returns home for a visit after living for seven years in the United States. Priya Rao is a database programmer who comes back to her home town of Hyderabad to visit her family and relatives. She dreads the visit because she knows that at age 27, her family will, sooner or later, attempt in earnest to marry her off.

"I had escaped arranged marriage by coming to the United States to do a master's in Computer Sciences at Texas A&M, by conveniently finding a job in Silicon Valley, and then by inventing several excuses to not go to India."

As it turns out, Priya's concerns are well founded. The culture shock Priya endures makes it increasingly difficult to relate to her family, particularly her mother. She is now viewing her family through the lens of a Westerner. She learns that her family's focus has been on finding her cousin Sowmya a husband. Sowmya, unattractive and uneducated, has endured 64 "bride-seeing ceremonies". She finds her family insensitive and bigoted towards Westerners, whom she was cautioned to never get involved with. Her family's attitudes towards Westerners, and their intent on finding her an Indian husband begin to cause her great distress. Especially since Priya's family doesn't know she is engaged to a Westerner, Nick Collins!

Priya can't bring herself to tell her family because she fears her family will no longer love her and will disown her. At the same time she also feels that if she doesn't tell her family the truth before she returns to America, her fiance, Nick, will stop loving her. These paralyzing fears and her resulting procrastination bring about a family crisis of epic proportions when she is set up to meet a prospective husband.

I found myself irritated with Priya, the educated, liberated woman, who was seemingly unable to deal with her parents, especially her mother. It is Sowmya, who seeing her chance at happiness slipping away, takes charge of her life and in doing so, helps Priya to find the courage to tell her secret.

I enjoy reading about the cultural aspects of India and the role of women in traditional Indian society. Often I find fiction set in India full of rich descriptions of life, often focusing on tastes and smells, rituals and traditions. This book gave me sweet doses of all of these. The end was satisfyingly predictable but nonetheless, enjoyable.

Well recommended.

Book Details:
The Season of Mangoes by Amulya Malladi
New York: Ballantine Books 2003
229pp

Sister Wife by Shelley Hrdlitschka

Sister Wife is a novel that explores the issue of polygamy and more specifically the practice of grooming very young girls to be a plural wife in religious sects.

Celeste is a young girl living in Unity, a religious sect that practices polygamy. She is on the threshold of becoming a plural wife - that is being assigned to a much older man as a sister wife. Except Celeste is full of impure thoughts - she likes a young man, her own age named Jon. Celeste also wants to continue on in school and work, something the young women of Unity are not allowed to do after the age of 15. In these ways she is very different from her younger sister Nanette who at 13 feels ready to marry. She has her sights set on Mr.Nielsson who is old enough to be her father.

When Nanette discovers Celeste has become friends with Jon Nielsson she sets in motion a chain of events that are catastrophic for Celeste and Jon. In the end, Celeste must ultimately choose between living a life of subservience in the cult or facing an unknown future free to make her own choices. Unfortunately, her conflict between hurting her family and doing what she believes is right for herself result in tragic consequences for her life. It is only with time and maturity that Celeste is able to free herself and make her own choices.

Sister Wife portrays the life of a polygamous cult in an unbiased manner, making no judgments on the practices or views each of the characters have. However, based on the actions and descriptions, it's hard to like the older men in the cult. They are bullying and controlling. The older men exercise complete control over the women, who have no choices, education or rights but all of the responsibilities of adulthood. I found the aspect of marrying very young girls, who are evidently "groomed" to be brides for older men, especially revolting. Hrdlischka's character Nanette is used to portray the woman who loves life in the cult, fully prepared to marry old men and have many children. Celeste and her mother however, portray the suffering many of these women undergo at the hands of older men in the cult.
The book touches briefly on the phenomena of the "lost boys" of these cults but doesn't go into any real depth about what it's like for them. Most are sent away since they are competitors for the older men. We see some of this in the character, Jon Nielsson, who under normal circumstances would most likely have dated or married Celeste. 
No doubt this book was inspired by the events in recent years at a polygamous sect in Bountiful, British Columbia.
Well recommended for older teens.

Sister Wife by Shelley Hrdlitschka
Orca Book Publishers 2008
269 ppp

jumping off swings by Jo Knowles

jumping off swings is a story about a young girl desperately looking for love by having sex with boys...until the inevitable happens.
The story is told in four voices: those of Ellie, the young girl who gets pregnant; Josh, the troubled father of her baby; Corinne, Ellie's best friend; and Caleb a boy who likes Ellie but ends up falling for Corinne.
We see how each character copes with Ellie's difficult situation and with the reaction of parents and students alike.
Even though Ellie has a poor view of herself, she takes her first steps towards understanding what she did and why, and begins to change.Ellie finally decides to turn things around by saying "no" in a life-changing decision. Her situation also serves as lesson to Corinne and Caleb.
Knowles characters are believable and I liked how she presented Ellie as making another "choice" when pregnant! Jumping off swings touches on many interesting issues in this book including those involving sex, love, teen pregnancy, teens and families.

Book Details:

jumping off swings by Jo Knowles
Massachusetts: Candlewick Press 2009
230pp.

Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

Princess of the Midnight Ball is a retelling of the fairy tale, The Twelve Dancing Princesses. In this story, Princess Rose is the eldest of twelve sisters who have been cursed to dance each night for King Under Stone in his dark realm. Princess Rose's father, King Gregor, ruler of Analousia, suspects something is wrong because his daughters dancing slippers are worn to tatters every third night. As part of the curse, Rose and her sisters cannot even provide the slightest details as to what is happening to them.
In an attempt to learn what is happening with his daughters, King Gregor offers the choice of his daughters to the prince who is able to discover the secret behind the worn out slippers. After numerous young men fail in their attempt, Galen Orm, the nephew of the king's gardener decides to give it a shot. But Galen has a few tricks up his sleeve and a stout heart on his side.
This novel is well written, fast paced and exciting to the very end. We all know the ending, so it's no surprise, but George's book is entertaining nonetheless.


Book Details:

Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George
New York: Bloomsbury 2009
276pp