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Patty Campbell
5 Reviews
(2)
YA
This story takes place over twenty-four hours in the lives of five vividly depicted people, each of whom has an urgent and immediate need for a large sum of money. Events fit together like the mechanism of a fine watch as the day hurtles toward its conclusion. Cadnum's writing is rich with literary devices including doubling, irony, and metaphor.
Reviewer: Patty Campbell
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
July, 2010
(2)
YA
Kidnapped and raped when she was ten years old, Alice, now fifteen and still held captive, is forced to lure a child to be her successor. Alice's flat, curt voice reflects her emptiness and despair. Lurid details of abuse are suggested obliquely in a horrifyingly matter-of-fact style. Scott's novel is repellent in exact proportion to the brilliance of its execution.
Reviewer: Patty Campbell
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
November, 2008
(2)
YA
A battle between proponents of creationism and a stalwart biology teacher centers on Christian teen Mena Reece. What saves this from becoming an old-fashioned problem novel is Mena's own conflict, and a surprising twist makes room for God in what seems to be a rigid standoff. Teens struggling with making decisions in the face of conflicting pressures may find this story relevant.
Reviewer: Patty Campbell
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
September, 2007
(2)
YA
In this retake on the Adam and Eve story, the snake is the good guy. God educates young Adam in a remote part of the Garden, and the Serpent, a wise and gentle teacher, has been given the responsibility of raising the curious and daring Eve. This complex novel is for older young adults who are theologically conversant enough to read it as provocative literary satire.
Reviewer: Patty Campbell
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
July, 2004
(2)
YA
Themes, symbols, people, and places will all be familiar to Cormier fans, yet the effect is fresh and newly intense in this story, told in blank verse, of a summer in which a young boy comes to understand his silent and withdrawn father. Warm and poignant, the story is also a dark and ambivalent drama as the boy finds proof (perhaps) of something he must never reveal about his beloved uncle.
Reviewer: Patty Campbell
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
September, 1999
5 reviews
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