Green Willow

From the author of The House on the Hill (1987, ALA Notable), a well-crafted ghost story. When they move into Maddimoss, an uncomfortable old house full of Japanese artifacts in rural Scotland, Kit and her adoptive mother are still deeply depressed by the aftershocks of Kit's sister Juliet's accidental death a year ago. Her father, who favored his ``real'' sickly older daughter, is in Australia, apparently for good; Kit, who concealed her jealousy of Juliet, feels unloved and estranged from both parents, and guilty because her distress is misread as grief. When she discovers a Japanese garden on the property--and sees the evanescent image of its gardener in an old photo--her interest is awakened. ``Kojima's'' story, it is gradually revealed, was intertwined with that of old Miss Sorley, their upstairs landlady, and that of Daniel, a 16-year-old rebel staying with them while he sorts out his need to be an artist and his father's conflicting demands. There's a great deal going on here--prejudice between servant and master, the compelling role of art in an artist's life, issues of adoption and belonging, etc.--but Dunlop knits it all cleverly together with nary a loose end, reuniting families, making peace, getting careers on track, settling the ghost. Too neat, perhaps, but it makes an entertaining yarn, with convincing characters and plenty of mystery and suspenseful incidents along the way. (Fiction. 10-14) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Grade 5-7-This book keeps biting off story bits and forgetting to chew. Kit, an adopted child, struggles with the guilt she feels after the death of her sister, their parents' birth child, whom she greatly resented. Her father has since abandoned the family, and Kit is virtually on her own as her mother fails to deal with anything. Stirred through this layer is a mystery that hinges on the past of their landlady, elderly Miss Sorley; her adopted parents; and the ghost of a Japanese gardener. Readers should wonder why Kit's mother invites a teenage boy who appears at their door one rainy night to be a houseguest for an unlimited period, with unlimited privileges. His personal problems form yet another subplot. Every possible loose end is tied up before the last page with a neatness that will strain the most gullible reader's patience. It's possible that fans of Scottish novels will enjoy this one, but the book doesn't develop all that it sets up and the mod Brit slang could be hard to take.
Sally Margolis, Deerfield Public Library, IL
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.