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Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Lyons Public Library | YA RANDLE | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
After moving to the East Coast, Ginny enters her senior year of high school and uncovers the secret behind a new friend's refusal to speak.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 8 UpGinny feels like an outsider when her family moves from their native California to a new home on the east coast, but once she starts attending the local high school she finds someone even more alien than herself. Smitty Tibbs is an honor student who never speaks, makes eye contact, or allows anyone to touch him. Ginny feels oddly drawn to the strange boy, and learns that his long-time defender, Caulder Pretiger, is not only a fellow student but also her next-door neighbor. They form a solid friendship, often joined by Ginny's two brothers and Caulder's sisters in a comfortable sixsome. When Caulder decides that he and Ginny will crack Smitty's silent armor and bring him back into the world for his own good, their awkward attempts at communication and real friendship cause serious problems. The facade of glib YA fictionclever banter, easy relationships, convenient social opportunitiesis occasionally suffused here with the brilliance and intensity of Joanne Greenberg's I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (Holt, 1964). As Smitty is pulled reluctantly from his protective silence, his bizarre and painful past is revealed and the novel becomes utterly compelling. In the end, things fall into place a little too easily and neatly for such a difficult beginning, providing a conclusion that may not stand up to hard, clinical analysis, but it is totally satisfying. A fast-moving, unusual contemporary romance that should have great appeal.Susan L. Rogers, Chestnut Hill Academy, PA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
New student Ginny is intrigued by the handsome alien in her homeroomno, this is not a science fiction novel. Smittyreal name Michaelis known to his schoolmates as "The Alien" because of his affectless appearance and complete silence. Soon, Ginny and Smitty's longtime protector, Caulder, team up to try and crack his shell. They get much more than they bargain for when they drag him along on old-movie outings; as a none-too-subtle plot device, the first turns out to be The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, the second, East of Eden. Smitty walks out of both, for it turns out that he was almost fatally abused by his older brother, who also convinced him that he would die if he spoke to anyone. With the help of Ginny, Caulder and a wise and sympathetic therapist, Smitty emerges from this psychological curse, and he and Ginny even begin a tentative romantic relationship. Randle (Why Did Grandma Have to Die?) unfortunately builds her otherwise well-crafted novel around an uncharacteristic response to abuse. Under his pain, Smitty is totally honest and caringa very romantic figure, but not one likely to be found in the real world. Ages 12-up. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
After moving to a new community for her senior year in high school, Ginny befriends a fellow student who has not spoken since an accident when he was two. Her relationship with him pushes him to confront the reality of his accident, and he is admitted to a mental health clinic. However, the scenes in the hospital are totally unrealistic, detracting from a novel with potentially interesting characters. From HORN BOOK 1995, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
The thick wall an abused teenager builds between himself and the world is penetrated at last by an extraordinary pair of friends. Though a brilliant student, Smitty Tibbs never speaks, never responds, never even makes eye contact. When Caulder, Smitty's loyal defender since childhood, persuades new neighbor and classmate Ginny to meet him, she is at once disturbed and fascinated by his strangeness. After she gains a small but definite reaction from him, Caulder excitedly throws them together, hoping to break the ice at last. Ginny is only partially willing to go along, knowing that she and Caulder might be biting off more than they can chew. Drawing Smitty out becomes painful for all concerned--especially after he finds the will to seek professional help and confesses that his older brother Russell subjected him to years of clever persecution, invisible to all but the two brothers. Smitty's slow, agonizing recovery is convincingly handled (Russell's final unmasking, less so), but the real strength of this book lies in the complex, sensitively drawn relationships; when Ginny marvels at the intricate, seemingly effortless way she and her family (and a rare and marvelous family it is, too) and friends interact, readers will certainly marvel with her--and will be left with a better appreciation for the richness of their own social and emotional landscapes. A strong book with healing at the end, memorable for its spirited friendships and unpreachy soul-searching. (Fiction. 12+)
Booklist Review
Gr. 8-12. Ginny Christianson had been a happy person: "happy, cheerful, easygoing, reasonably popular even." When her family suddenly relocates and a beloved older brother leaves for college at the same time--well, let's just say Ginny is a "displaced person." As life manages to go on, and fun, caring new friends begin to fill the gap, a strange boy at school captures Ginny's attention. Smitty Tibbs is a brilliant, handsome boy who never speaks. He is known as the Alien and lives in total isolation from emotion and communication--tolerated by the other students but pretty much left alone. Meanwhile, Ginny's new friend Caulder has long been fascinated with Smitty and is determined to break through to him. Together Caulder and Ginny take Smitty in and begin to probe at the barriers he has thrown up, the abuse he has suffered, and the resulting silence into which he's retreated. Ginny's deft and engaging narration reveals a delightful and totally believable teen. The otherwise strongly drawn characters sometimes delve into dialogue that sounds like social-work parlance, but we can forgive because the overall impact of this psychological novel is so powerful. ~--Anne O'Malley