Short for Chameleon

Written by Vicki Grant
HarperTrophy Canada
978-1-44344-898-7
242 pp.
Ages 12+
April 2017

Hold onto that funny bone because it will be sprained from overuse if you read Vicki Grant's newest young adult novel Short for Chameleon in one sitting.  Take your time to savour the delicious humour that saturates her writing because, like a great meal, it's over far too quickly.

Cam is short for Cameron and he works with his dad, former sitcom actor William Redden, playing the roles of family members for anyone who'll pay the Almost Family Surrogate Agency.  Apparently the renting of family is not uncommon in some countries like Japan where Dad had tried to revive his failing career.  Now he and Cam and others in their employ shape and dress themselves into whatever the client needs: grieving son and grandson at a funeral; family visitors to prison; eye-candy for a high school reunion; whatever.  But getting recognized would not be good for business.  After all, you can't be remembered as a repeat grieving father and son at multiple grandmothers' funerals.

So when the wheelchair-bound Albertina Legge approaches them at one funeral, identifying them at scammers, Dad is pretty nervous, "sweating like a high-wire walker in a typhoon." (pg. 4) Unbeknownst to Dad, Albertina engages Cam to assist her in some scam-busting, all the while threatening him with revealing their lack of certification for a variety of government health regulations.  At fifteen and a half, Cam is none the wiser to her shenanigans, and goes along with her demands to assist her in investigations of scams upon seniors.  But things become more enticing for Cam when teen Raylene shows up hoping to hire a brother and gets involved as another sidekick of Albertina's.

Albertina's marks include the pharmacist she cons into refilling prescriptions, and the healer and medium Dr. Blaine T. Morley (to whom countless elderly streamed "like a scene from some zombie apocalypse movie, except with fewer missing body parts and more elastic-waist pants"; pg. 51) whose scamming she reveals to a crowd of devotees.  But she's got her sights set on two big scores: one against  a restaurateur named Lorenzo Martinelli whom she recognizes as the former investment cheat Wade Schmidt, and also looking into a young woman named Janie Aikens running the Time of Our Lives Adult Daycare. All the while, Cam is trying to get closer to Raylene, learn about her family and maybe get her interested in him like he is in her.

But like a British farce in which you can't tell who's telling the truth, Short for Chameleon is rife with scammers.  From Cam whose full name seems better suited to Chameleon rather than Cameron, and Raylene who keeps ditching him whenever he gets too close to learning the truth about her, to Albertina who has more than one agenda and doesn't care how she achieves what she wants, because going gently into the night is not an option for her.

"... she seemed a tad too alive–fuchsia lips, hair like Marge Simpson's only in a tasteful shade of tangerine, not to mention a good fifteen inches of wrinkly cleavage that made me think of the mighty Amazon snaking its way down the relief map I made in Mr. Jackman's geography class." (pg. 2)

Like life which is truly bittersweet for most of us, Short for Chameleon highlights the humour and the sadness of reality.  Doesn't matter whether you're a kid, a teen, an adult or an elderly person on the cusp of the end, life is not easy, there always being moments of grief and brightness.  All you can do is hope that sometimes there's someone there with you to share life's load.  (And if there isn't, there's always a rent-a-family agency around the corner to fill the need.  At least there is in Vicki Grant's Short for Chameleon.)

The Death of Us

Written by Alice Kuipers

HarperTrophy Canada

978-1-44342-410-3

216 pp.

Ages 13+

2014

Be prepared for heartbreak. 

Before you’ve finished two full pages, a girl will be showing Kurt and his friends a social media image of Ivy’s car being pulled out from the river below the broken rail of the bridge.  And he knows that Callie would have been in that car.

Rewind two weeks, and Ivy Foulds and her alcoholic mom are returning after 3 years away to live next door to Callie Carraway and her family again, now that Mom has reunited with former boyfriend, Kevin.  But there’s something suspicious about the way that they left and about some secret between Callie and Ivy that cools their reunion.  However, with Callie’s best friends away for the summer and her preachy and inattentive mom distracted with new baby Cosmo, Callie is drawn to reconnect with Ivy who is determined to give "shiny-penny Callie in the bank account of my life" (pg. 5) a great summer.  But when Ivy is introduced to Kurt Hartnett, the school zine editor, on whom Callie is secretly crushing, she decides that, "He's so going to help me get over everything." (pg. 35)

So that great summer is off to an odd start and there are so many obstacles to it: Ivy’s flirtatious ways, secrets being held back and lies being told.  Sadly the book’s opening foreshadows a friendship that will be the death of them somehow.

Alternating between the voices of Ivy and Callie in the weeks prior to the accident and Kurt at the time of the accident, The Death of Us  examines the friendship between the two girls, both from the past and in the current summer, as they navigate their family issues and own explorations with love.  Their story told from the pen of Alice Kuipers is never predictable.  Not. Ever.

The girls are complex, juggling what they know, what they need and whom they trust, within each’s precarious family dynamics.  Most of all, Callie and Ivy are trying to figure out who they are and put forward those personas.  But try as they might, they still don't have a handle on the people they are growing into.  Ivy likes to rely on self-help podcasts ("the best way to grow as a person is to step outside your comfort zone"; pg. 122) to navigate this learning while Callie tends to look externally to others, including books, to direct her ideas about self.  But Callie and Ivy are the products of their families–as is Kurt, in a different way–and they are so affected by their mothers, that I weep for mother-daughter relationships that can be so disheartening, even destructive.  But I cheer for those like Kurt and his friend Xander and Callie’s Granny who provide real and unconditional support and affection, even if only discreetly.

Even without the twists and turns of highly-plotted stories, there’s no way the reader will see the ending coming, just as author Alice Kuipers did in her book 40 Things I Want to Tell You  from HarperTrophy Canada, 2012.  You see, there is no need for Alice Kuipers to embellish truths and reality when the drama of real life is so captivating and she can write it so well.  The Death of Us will take you into that reality and walk you along that cliff edge, back and forth, wondering when the jump or the fall is coming, because you know it will. That's life.  And it will be The Death of Us, one way or another, predictably or not.

Descendant: Book Launch (Toronto)

Join

author Lesley Livingston

for the launch of the sequel
to Starling

HarperTrophy Canada

978-1-44340-764-9

341 pp.

Ages 12+

2012 

Reviewed here



DESCENDANT 

 HarperTeen
978-0-062063106
336 pp.
Ages 13+

on

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

at

7:00 p.m.

The Dominion on Queen

500 Queen St. E.

Toronto

Time to learn the fate of Mason Starling and the Fennrys Wolf.  Or is it time for Ragnarok?

We'll only know once we're reading Descendant.

                   

Starling

by Lesley Livingston

HarperTrophy Canada

978-1-44340-764-9

341 pp.

Ages 12+

2012 

Lesley Livingston takes the fantasy reader back to the New York City of her Wondrous Strange series  but veers off in another direction, now focusing on the Fennrys Wolf, the Janus Guard who'd made an extreme sacrifice at the conclusion of Tempestuous.

The Starling of the title is Mason Starling, a student and avid fencer at the venerable Gosforth Academy.  Well-protected (or over-protected?) by her very wealthy father, Gunnar Starling, and eldest brother Rothgar, Mason suffers from debilitating claustrophobia, courtesy of a childhood prank played on her by her other brother, Rory, during a game of hide-and-seek in which she was locked in a shed for days.  Rory is hardly the caring older brother that Roth is to Mason.  And, sadly, Mason does not have the comfort of a mother, her own dying giving birth.

When Mason, Rory, and their fencing teammates at Gosforth Academy are attacked by horrible, mutable creatures during a violent storm that knocks out all power, a beautiful, naked blond man, who identifies himself as the Fennrys Wolf, comes to their aid.  Beyond using his sword to fight off the creatures he calls draugr,  saving the life of Calum Aristarchos, who is in love with Mason, and reassuring the claustrophobic Mason (when the group shelters itself in a cellar), the Fennrys Wolf has little to offer about himself.  He knows a lot about the draugr and such, but he doesn't know how he knows it.

After Fennrys gathers some clothes from the group he's sedated with magick, he goes off in search of some answers.  He is attacked by centaurs, crosses the East River over a bridge called Hell Gate to Dead Ground, and reconnects with Mason whose dark blue eyes continue to haunt and mesmerize him.  Mason is similarly drawn to Fennrys.  Together they piece together bits of Fennrys' memories, including finding his warehouse apartment and a cache of weapons, and practise fencing, with Mason using a sword which Fennrys gifts to her.  Of course, there seem to be a lot of strange entities coming after them - draugr, fireballs, nixxies - but Fennrys is determined to keep Mason safe.

Meanwhile, through Rory who has secretly availed himself of his father's old diary, the reader learns that the Starlings had dedicated their lives to the service of the Norse gods, by vowing to help bring about Ragnarok, the catastrophic end of the world, and thus the return of the gods to the mortal realm.  There are other clans, however, in service to the gods of Greek and Celtic worlds, for example, who are just as happy to leave the mortal world as is.  But, the appearance of the Fennrys Wolf, who has walked between the mortal world and the Dead, is seen by some as a harbinger of the end or the means by which Ragnarok may begin.  Sadly, unbeknownst to all, Rory who has learned to do magick is determined to follow the Starlings'  destiny.

So, while Fennrys and Mason fall in love, he learns more of his tragic story and the plots to manipulate him, and she questions her choices and tries to resolve discrepancies between what she feels and what she is told.  Ultimately, both Mason and Fennrys become pawns in a larger-than-life plot that could lead to the end of the world.

That synopsis doesn't even come close to the depth and layering of plots and characterizations in Starling.  There's a sharp learning curve about mythological concepts from various civilizations that Lesley Livingston obviously is well versed in.  When they all come together, both in conflict and in harmony, the result is a multi-layered story in which it's almost impossible to know in whom to trust.  That would explain Mason's own confusion: a father who seems to love her; contemptuous and contemptible Rory but her brother just the same; Roth who the readers learn has a few secrets of his own, including an alliance with the servants of the Greek gods; Calum who wants to share with her his fears of the mer-people but blames her for his injuries; and Fennrys, to whom she is drawn and who seems to adore her but whose arrival has resulted in such mayhem.

I'm delighted that Lesley Livingston has chosen to re-introduce the Fennrys Wolf by way of his own series, especially after his heart-breaking ending in Tempestuous.  And her innovative and rich melding of the Faery world with the realms of classic mythology is inspired.  After all, many belief systems, including today's religions, have similar or identical premises upon which they are founded.  With the addition of Mason and Fennrys' romance, sibling rivalries, peer relationships, and a classic good-versus-evil theme, Starling is that first burst of explosion at the onset of Ragnarok - it's startling, it's overwhelming, and it's just the beginning.

*     *     *     *     *     *

The book trailer of Starling from HarperTeen is available for viewing on CanLit for LittleCanadians Book Trailers page.

An additional video of Lesley Livingston recording the audio version of Starling at the CBC studios in Toronto demonstrates why listening to Lesley Livingston read her story is as much of a treat as reading it.

Lesley Livingston Recording Starling at CBC

Published on Aug 20, 2012 by LesleyLivingston on YouTube.

40 Things I Want To Tell You

Written by Alice Kuipers

HarperTrophy Canada

978-1-44340-587-4

283 pp.

Ages 13+

2012

When I read a book that touches me, really touches me, I always finish it, close the cover, lay my hand over it, and just sit.  Sometimes I just re-immerse myself in the story, sometimes I weep, sometimes I wonder how the characters managed, sometimes I ponder the title and the cover.  With 40 Things I Want To Tell You by Alice Kuipers, I did it all.

Amy, a.k.a. Bird to her family and best friends, is the queen of lists and the princess of planning.  She knows that she and her good friend, now boyfriend, Griffin, will have sex for the first time on her seventeenth birthday.  She knows what she needs to do and how hard to work to get to Oxford when she finishes school.  Bird is so in control that she sets herself up as "Miss Take-Control-of-Your-Life" on a website offering advice to teens.

Unfortunately, there's a lot of stuff she needs to tell others but she doesn't.  She doesn't tell her best friend, Cleo, about the website until it's been up for months.  She doesn't tell Griffin that she is anxious about their first time, and then when she can't "do it" the night of her birthday, she doesn't tell him why.  She doesn't tell anyone that she's attracted to a new boy at school, Pete Loewen, not even him when he approaches her.  Cleo asks Pete out and he declines, and still Bird tells her nothing about her encounters with Pete which now include mind-blowing kisses.

Of course, Bird isn't the only one who needs to share things.  Since the death of Griffin's dad several years ago, his mom's mental health has been rocky and getting worse.  Offers of help are declined and her condition minimized when he speaks to Bird.  Then, there's Bird's mom who denies anything is wrong, though her mood is off and her organizational expertise (passed down to Bird) is showing weakness.  But, when Bird's dad, an entrepreneur currently focusing on solar bricks, goes to the bank, unbeknownst to this wife, to get a mortgage on the house, which Bird's grandmother left her mom, Bird just can't face the fighting.  Bird just runs away from it, going to the park where she often sits.  A chance meeting with Pete leads Amy (as he calls her) to pitch her self-control and have sex with him.

So, although she continues to offer free advice online, even listing "Top Tips" (e.g., Top Tip 18: When you make a decision, say it out loud; pg. 156), Bird has even more that she should be telling: to Griffin, to Cleo, to Pete, to her parents, and even to herself.  Self-denial is a big issue for Bird.  And, in her not-telling, all their interconnected lives are shattered and transformed.  She would have been wise to heed her own advice, as her own Top Tips continue to reflect the circumstances of her own life.

I wish I could reveal the moving conclusion to Alice Kuipers' story of Bird, but I fear that I will spoil it for the reader.  Suffice it to say that Bird's reactions and resignations and decisions are poignant, heartbreaking and honest, as well as justifiable to her, whether you agree with them or not.  Alice Kuipers' skill at weaving an emotionally engaging story with remarkable characters, likeable or not, like those in our own lives, will disarm you effortlessly until you realize you have been invariably touched forever.

Here are 5 things I want to tell you:

1. If you're a teen, female or male, read 40 Things I Want To Tell You.

2. If you're a parent of a teen, read 40 Things I Want To Tell You.

3. If you are a teacher or counsellor, read 40 Things I Want To Tell You.

4. If you appreciate great literature, read 40 Things I Want To Tell You.

5. Read 40 Things I Want To Tell You. 

Switch

by Tish Cohen

HarperTrophy Canada

978-1-55468-801-2

251 pp.

Ages 12-15

2011

Although the title and the front cover are fairly explicit about the book's general plot, specific elements and Tish Cohen's skill at effectively providing her teen characters with convincing voices take Switch from just another Freaky Friday (Mary Rodgers, 1972) wannabe to an unnerving tale corroborating the "be-careful-what-you-wish-for" truism.

The two teen girls involved in the Switch are Andrea Birch and Joules Adams who attend the same high school in Orange County, California.  Except for a passing acquaintance with each other, the girls' lives don't really cross until the day Andrea is forced by Joules to help rescue her when she's been fooling around with a boy other than her boyfriend, Will.  The simple physical switch of changing shirts and seats in Andrea's mother's new car gets Andrea into a lot of trouble, including from her mom whose focus is the foster kids who are staying with them.  Currently, between 14-year-old Brayden (who is always annoying her), two twelve-year-old girls (who always take stuff from her room), a set of adorable infant twins, and another young girl, Michaela, whose parents were critically injured in a hit-and-run, Andrea is feeling neglected.  As such, Joules' unbelievable life as a rock star's daughter is especially alluring to Andrea.  When overwhelmed by her Mom's perceived lack of interest and high expectations coupled with her long-time crush on Will, Andrea offhandedly wishes (while wearing a pair of funky dishwashing gloves from an African psychic) that she had Joules' life and, ta-da, she does.

Andrea as Joules isn't keen on Joules' wardrobe and body, but learns pretty quickly how cool it is to have Will as a boyfriend (even if he had been planning to break-up) and that rocker Nigel Adams adores his daughter, sometimes making poor choices to win her love.  Joules as Andrea, on the other hand, spends much of her time chagrined by the innumerable chores expected of her, furious with Andrea for getting closer to Will, and making choices to discredit real Andrea.  Several subplots, including one regarding Michaela's parents' hit-and-run, continue to fuel Andrea's determination to return to her old self, while saving her own reputation, enjoying Will's affections, and enlightening Joules about Nigel.

As the narrator, Andrea shares the girls' experiences as she perceives them, reacting and responding as a responsible young woman looking towards her future might.  She even berates herself for being too selfish not to see her parents as those who help make things right for children.  However, I felt that Andrea didn't give herself enough credit, often focusing on how exceptional her mom, Lise, is, without recognizing her own caring, compassion and sense of responsibility. But, I don't think Andrea realizes that abuse can take many forms, not just those in evidence in the homes from which some foster children come.  In reading Switch, I was cognizant of the emotional abuse that Andrea suffers from her mother's emphasis on the needs of her foster children above those of Andrea.  She uses guilt regularly to ensure Andrea's compliance: with sharing her room, with persevering taunts, with accepting her mother's inattention.  Andrea would have every right to shout, "It isn't fair."  I wonder how well Lise would have fared if the switch had been between mother and daughter.  I suspect that she'd be far less successful as Andrea than Andrea would be as her mom, and perhaps she'd be a little more sympathetic to the heavy responsibilities and lack of teen life faced by her daughter.  (Hey, wait.  Isn't that the switch in Freaky Friday or even in Vice Versa (Anstey, 1882), its precursor?)

Still, Tish Cohen capably gets into the heads of two very different young women with very different lives whose needs are not very different at all.  Any switch would certainly be a worthwhile opportunity for most of us, especially with a person we admire.  There's a reason there are so many sayings, about walking a mile in my shoes, the grass being greener on the other side and not reading a book by its cover, that suggest how ignorant we are about the lives of others.  Luckily (or not), Andrea and Joules had a remarkable learning opportunity and both were able to benefit from it. Guess Andrea should have listened to her mom when she was told, "Your life looks pretty good from where I'm standing" (pg. 25).  Do I sense a sequel?

Betsy Wickwire's Dirty Secret

Written by Vicki Grant
HarperTrophy Canada
978-1-55468-182-2
324 pp.
Ages 12-16
2011

Everyone has secrets.  Sometimes we know they're secrets and try to keep them hidden, in closets and in diaries.  Sometimes we don't even know we have secrets, because they're in our repressed memories or not fully realized yet.  Betsy Wickwire, seventeen, has had a betrayal kept secret from her and, upon its revelation, she hides herself away in her Halifax home.  But, to really hide herself away, she needs money.  Everything comes together one day when: 1) she learns of the need for cleaning ladies, who are paid relatively well; 2) she goes to an obscure cafe to avoid people she knows; and 3) meets a former classmate, Meghan, now called Dolores, a green-haired, audacious girl who loves the idea of setting up a cleaning business.  With indifference, Becky goes along with headstrong Dolores' enterprise, Lapins de Poussière (Dust Bunnies) Cleaning Service, and finds herself getting more out of the job than just the money.

While still tormented daily by the loss of her boyfriend and best friend and trying to work out how to deal with it, Becky is discovering a new life for herself, with Dolores and Murdoch, a client's son who Becky met in an intimate bathroom tussle.  She also discovers that the prevalence of secrets amongst their clients (e.g., the need for anti-depressants, hidden alcohol, marital affairs, trashy reading, etc.) make it easier for her to clean their homes.  But the realization that everyone has secrets, even Dolores, ultimately helps Betsy to understand herself, which makes her capable of being a better friend.

Vicki Grant has always successfully merged humour while looking at human behaviour.   In Betsy Wickwire's Dirty Secret, the focus is on how secrets make us human but can impede understanding.  From Lapins de Poussière's pink, fluffy branding, to Dolores' clever repartée with Betsy, Murdoch and their elderly client, Frank, to the shopping trips to Giant Tiger and Value Village,  Grant makes Betsy's new circumstances seem fuller, almost larger than life or, at least, larger than her former life as a popular girl.  The old Betsy, though perhaps considered better dressed, more popular and in with the in-crowd, was an insubstantial version of her true self, and it was fulfilling to share in the transformation with her.

If you're interested in enjoying more of Vicki Grant's wit and well-plotted stories, my recommendations would include these titles:

• The Puppet Wrangler (Orca, 2004)
• Quid Pro Quo (Orca, 2005) Winner of Arthur Ellis Award for Best Juvenile Crime Novel
• Pigboy (Orca, 2006)
• Not Suitable for Family Viewing (HarperTrophy Canada, 2009) Winner of the 2011 Red Maple Fiction Award

The Fifth Rule

by Don Aker

HarperTrophy Canada

978-1-55468-863-0

260 pp.

Ages13-17

2011

As Don Aker reveals in his Author's Note in The Fifth Rule, he felt obliged (reluctantly) to write a sequel to The First Stone (HarperTrophy Canada, 2003) by the many readers anxious to learn the fates of characters Reef and Leeza. Having just completed The First Stone, I can only imagine their anticipation after eight years of waiting; my impatience was assuaged expediently in just a few hours.

Two years have passed since Reef, the young offender from The First Stone, was judged guilty in the tragic accident that almost killed a young woman in Halifax.  Having completed the terms of his sentence (living in the North Hills Group Home run by Frank Colville, volunteering at a rehabilitation centre, and making school presentations about his actions and their consequences), Reef is living in Calgary, working in construction and helping out with street youth.  He's also respecting the restraining order keeping him away from Leeza (an order secured by her mother), although she continues to pervade his thoughts daily.

In Halifax, Leeza has completed her rehabilitation, walking with minimal pain, although her scars keep the memories of her devastating accident and her time with Reef.  And, if the scars weren't enough, she has her controlling mother forever reminding her about Reef's criminality and her naiveté. Luckily, she is busy attending the University of Dalhousie, and still keeping in touch with her old rehab roomie, Brett, and nurse Casey, although not busy enough to keep Reef and his perceived deception from her thoughts.

When Frank Colville is killed by a young offender gone joyriding, Reef returns, delivering an emotional eulogy to Frank.  Reef reveals the nature of his relationship with Frank (previously confidential as Reef was a minor) and the positive impact Frank had on his life and on all those fortunate to be sent to North Hills Group Home.  Disastrously, a politically ambitious Roland Decker twists Reef's story and words to support his hardline platform against young offenders.

Through a series of missed opportunities, bad timing and misunderstandings, Reef verges on undoing all the good Frank had helped him achieve, convinced he has no hope with Leeza and that he has brought about the ruin of Frank's legacy, North Hills.  Presented with her own share of confounding and erroneous information, Leeza is attempting to sort out her feelings for Reef and for her biological father who reappears surreptitiously after many years.

By juxtaposing Reef's story (which seems to be spiraling into despair) with Leeza's (which is based on misconceptions and presumptions), Don Aker entices the reader along, anticipating the circumstances by which the two will meet up again and the nature of that reunion.  The convergence of their story lines and their lives provides a captivating and convincing answer to the question: what happened to Reef and Leeza? 

The First Stone

Written by Don Aker

HarperTrophy Canada

978-0-00639-286-6

289 pp.

Ages 14+

2003

Note Bene: Published before I was even a teacher-librarian (just a teacher), The First Stone won both the 2004 OLA's White Pine Award and the Ann Connor Brimer Award.  I'm reviewing it here as it is the prequel to Don Aker's The Fifth Rule, a current White Pine nominee.  I will post my review of The Fifth Rule tomorrow.

Reef, 17, and friends, Jinks and Bigger, are not the most likeable fellows in Halifax, unless you like guys who spew profanities as easily as breathing, who think nothing of vandalizing property, and who think little beyond themselves.  Reef, a foster child since his grandmother died eight years earlier of cancer (his abusive drunkard of a grandfather died earlier), goes by his gut instincts.  Unfortunately, he makes a lot of poor choices, one which causes a horrific crash and leaves a teen broken and in a coma.

Sentenced to the North Hills Group Home, a set-up created by ex-con Frank Colville, to volunteer hours at a rehab centre, and ultimately to present talks to schools about his experiences, Reef isn't pleased; neither are many citizens, including the victim's mother, Diane Morrison, who are convinced he got away with almost murdering her daughter.  Playing the tough-guy, Reef begrudgingly does what is required of him, including following Frank Colville's rules and repairing a greenhouse on his own, but Reef continues to share very little of himself.  That is, until he begins his volunteering at the Halifax Rehabilitation Centre, where his usefulness is appreciated by staff and patients on the muscoloskeletal floor. 

He especially makes a connection with Leeza , a young woman dealing with multiple fractures and injuries which have her in constant pain.  Through their commonality in dealing with the death of a loved one, Reef and Leeza become closer, each having a positive impact on the other: Leeza making more of an effort in her rehab, and Reef finding it easier to respect himself and do the right thing.  

Frank Coville's rules (respect yourself; respect others; honor your commitments; be accountable; and do the right thing) become mantras that poke their way into Reef's consciousness, steering him to ensure he doesn't interact with his victim, to help direct Jinks and Bigger into making better choices, and to recognizing his own worth.  Meanwhile, Leeza is learning to deal with her anger, fear and pain, while accepting the attraction she feels for Reef.

Regardless of how unappealing Reef and his friends are, courtesy of Don Aker's expressive writing, the reader is compelled to read to the end, sure that Reef is one of those characters that can and will redeem himself, somehow.   Leeza can be a less sympathetic character, primarily because of her interactions with her controlling mom, but Leeza demonstrates her resiliency, grabbing the support of her readers.  Even the ending prepares the reader to accept that time is needed for characters and circumstances to resolve themselves before their story truly ends. And so, now comes Don Aker's reluctant sequel, The Fifth Rule.