Lane's 16-year-old heroine emerges from a coma to find herself haunted by the ghost of a murdered girl, Julie. Other weaknesses are the imbalance between violence (excessive) and sex (implausibly little) and a happy ending that arrives too abruptly after all the suffering that has gone before.īarbara Ann Lane also explores an unusual setting in Justice for Julie (Jesperson, 154 pages, $10.95 paper). Unfortunately, Bradford's heroine is hard to like, especially when her abrasive personality adds to her many problems. Her novel, about the daughter of an 11th-century apothecary who joins the First Crusade, makes much of its historical setting and succeeds in carrying the reader along for an unusual and exciting ride. Karleen Bradford, who wrote There Will Be Wolves (HarperCollins, 208 pages, $9.95 paper), obviously agrees. If this is what young readers find believable and absorbing today, okay, but count me with those who think the novel has better possibilities to explore than running a counselling service for troubled teens.
Most find themselves in isolated situations, forced to make scary decisions on their own six have "problem parents," four are nearly murdered. Seven of the nine protagonists have lost a parent, sibling, or close friend. With two exceptions, however, nobody in these books has much fun. Inner and outer conflicts abound and each novel has some distinguishing features that make it special. Attention has been paid to the development of reasonably rounded characters.
Doesn't anybody in fiction today get to grow up without walking around under their very own cloud of angst?Īll nine novels are competently written. I was reminded of his plight while sampling this fresh-baked batch of novels for young adults. Everybody else in Dogpatch might be basking in the sunshine, but poor old Joe Btfsplk had to endure endless rainwater running down his neck. JOE BTFSPLK, one of the more inspired creations of the cartoonist Al Capp, walked around under a small dark cloud that rained only on him.
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