Holly Starcross - Hardcover

Grade 7 Up-The two-time winner of Britain's prestigious Carnegie Medal has written another first-person narrative that touches on themes of unstable families and emotional abandonment. Holly Starcross has known two lives. For the first six years of her life, she lived with her parents and lots of animals in the country. Then her mother abruptly left her father, taking her daughter with her. Holly, now 14, lives with her mother, her stepfather, and their three children. A stranger who begins following her turns out to be her father, whom she hasn't seen or heard from in eight years. She agrees to run off with him, spending five days learning about him and revisiting her family home and paternal grandparents, while the media carries her story as a kidnapping. Eventually Holly returns home, although she wants to keep in contact with her father, too. Her mother then demands that Holly choose between them. Many elements seem improbable in this contemporary novel. Holly's mother leaves without so much as a forwarding address; Holly's father takes eight years to find his daughter, even though his ex-wife is a television personality; and Holly's e-mail pal turns out to be her paternal grandmother. The teen seems more adult in her behavior than either one of her parents, as she learns that it is all right to love them both, and her stepfather as well. Readers will have fun with the British phrases, and Holly's genuine love for her Down syndrome half-sister is a nice touch. However, while the characters are interesting and well drawn, some of their actions lack credibility.
Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME
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