Depth of Field: A Pippa Greene Novel

by Chantel Guertin

ECW Press

978-1-77041-183-8

208 pp.

Ages 13+

For release August, 2014

Reviewed from Advance Reading Copy

Sixteen-year-old Pippa Greene, introduced in Chantel Guertin's The Rule of Thirds (ECW Press, 2013), is off to New York City to attend the two-week Tisch photography camp, along with Ben Baxter, the guy at school whose deplorable actions almost cost her that opportunity.  And, though she's upset to be leaving her new boyfriend, Dylan, and agreeing to refrain from communicating with him by text, email or phone (apparently to make their reunion all the sweeter), Pippa is determined to take all she can from this learning experience.

Pippa becomes fast friends with her roommate, Ramona Haverland, which is helpful for assignment work since Pippa is very unfamiliar with NYC.  Unfortunately, she and Ramona find that working with Ben Baxter, whom Pippa has relegated to "Dead to Me" status, occasionally is helpful. And as awkward as their occasional encounters are, Pippa is beginning to understand his motivation for what he did to her, and even suggest ways to help him resolve his own father issues.

Pippa's own father issue stems from the amazing bond she had with her dad when he was alive and now following in his photographic footsteps.  Fortunately she has the opportunity to work with  famous photographer David Westerly, who was also her father's best friend in college.  With David as a mentor and a valuable source of information, Pippa decides the theme for her first week's assignment will be her father: what he liked to do in New York City; where he liked to go; how her dad and mom met; etc.  Surprisingly, Pippa's mom is less than enthusiastic about Pippa working with David, as is her Aunt Emmy who lives in Pippa's dad's old apartment.

While David can be a self-absorbed jerk, he does present Pippa with a host of opportunities to develop her photographic skills and creativity, as well as learn more about her dad and ultimately herself.

Chantel Guertin throws a number of twists into Depth of Field that readers couldn't possible predict, which is as it should be.  If everything was obvious and laid out in front for the reader, it would surely be a dull read.  Just like Pippa who seems to be observant enough to be a good photographer, the reader must look a little deeper, question a little more and not take everything as it is presented.  It's amazing what you can see when you look a little deeper.  The big revelations may not be climactic–after all, they've been there all along–but their effects may well be.  And yet Chantel Guertin still manages to keep the text light-hearted and hopeful, never wallowing in family issues.

I had no idea that Pippa Greene would be coming back for another adventure after The Rule of Thirds, but I am delighted by Depth of Field in its furthering of Pippa's story and look forward to Book 3.  Here is my plea to Chantel Guertin: "There must be a next book!  How else will we know how Pippa's latest choices play out?  And you know which specific one I'm talking about, right?"  Happily, readers, you'll need to find out for yourselves.

The Rule of Thirds

by Chantel Guertin
ECW Press
978-1-77041-159-3
192 pp.
Ages 13+
October 2013
Reviewed from Advance Reading Copy 

Most photographers will know The Rule of Thirds, the premise by which a frame is divided into thirds to help determine a photo's composition by placement.  This basic rule can make the difference between a photo that works and one that is solely documentation. Sixteen-year-old Philadelphia Greene, a.k.a. Pippa, photo editor of the school newspaper, president of the photo club, and daughter of a pro photographer, knows the rule of thirds.  And she can tell when there's something off about the composition of the parts.  But the photos that the new kid, handsome Ben Baxter, shows her to get in the photo club definitely work, thereby allowing him the opportunity to enter the Vantage Point photo competition.  Vantage Point, the temporal focus of all the chapter headings, drives everything Pippa does and wants, offering the opportunity to attend the Tisch School for the Arts camp at NYC.

"The photography competition–less than three weeks away, and whether I win or lose will alter the course of my life." (pg. 3)

But Ben's interest in her and confidence in connecting with her has Pippa perplexed, though somewhat intrigued. It's especially confusing when she gets a placement at St. Christopher's Hospital, the same hospital at which her father had died from pancreatic cancer just three months earlier. Here she reconnects with Dylan McCutter, an 18-year-old on whom she's been crushing for years.  Between dealing with panic attacks brought on by being around the hospital and other places associated with her father, and trying to get Dylan interested in her, even though he seems close to another girl who works at the hospital, Pippa continues to fulfil her placement obligations, visit her psychologist for grief counselling and keep photographing for Vantage Point.

Perhaps because of her grief, Pippa seems to be oblivious to a lot of goings-on around her, including how others see her.  So, when Ben continues to come on to Pippa, acting proprietary over her, and her best friend Dace starts running hot and cold, and there is a spate of technology thefts plaguing the school and the community, Pippa may notice but she doesn't take it in until it comes disastrously close to ruining everything she's been working towards.   

While Chanel Guertin does leave the reader satisfied that things will work out alright for Pippa in The Rule of Thirds, she doesn't distort circumstances to produce a blithe ending where the bad guy gets caught, the protagonist wins the competition, and boy and girl finally get together.  But things can and do still work themselves out, just as they often do in reality, though maybe not perfectly but credibly.  It's like that perfect photograph:  it might have all the right components but it's up to the photographer to see the art within and rearrange them to resonate for both the artist and the audience.  Chantel Guertin has accomplished that for the young adult reader, balancing fears, grief, romance, friendship, angst, ambitions and common sense, in different proportions to produce a picture that works.