Gifted Touch [Library Binding]

Melinda Metz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 30, 2001

Sometimes, when I touch things, words fill my head. Words that feel like thoughts--thoughts that are inside of me...but not mine.

I used to think I was crazy. Used to.

I'm starting to wonder if there's a reason for all the voices that tangle together in my mind. And if I'm right, then it's not my sanity I'm worried about--it's my life.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Despite its fast pace and original premise, the debut novel of the Fingerprints series makes a less than memorable impression. When Rae starts to hear voices in her head, she is convinced that she is slipping into insanity, just as her deceased mother had apparently done. After having what appears to be a breakdown in her high school cafeteria, Rae is temporarily hospitalized for paranoiac delusions. Given the title of both the series and the book, and the circumstances under which Rae hears the "not-her thoughts," their source soon becomes apparent to readers: whenever the teen touches an object, she experiences the thoughts of individuals who have touched it previously. Metz (the Roswell High series) ratchets up the implausibility when a pipe bomb explodes dangerously close to Rae at the hospital where she attends group therapy sessions. Knowing from one of her internal voices that someone has it out for her, she is determined to track down the culprit and exonerate the friend who has been falsely accused of planting the bomb. Readers may find it frustrating that the villain's identity remains a mystery at the end, as do the circumstances of Rae's mother's decline. Presumably these items will be divulged in a subsequent installment, but the audience's willingness to return remains in question. Ages 12-up.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up-This engaging mystery conveys themes of self-discovery and self-acceptance within a classic whodunit framework. Rae Voight can read the minds of others by touching their fingerprints. Throughout the book, readers encounter jagged, boldface words invading her normal thoughts. These interruptions are at first disorienting because they come without explanation, but readers will soon empathize with Rae because they are just as jarring to her. As these foreign thoughts increase, the teen has a breakdown and is hospitalized. Returning home, she finds it difficult to go back to her suburban private-school lifestyle. These troubles are compounded by an attempt on her life. As the hunt for the would-be killer ensues, she develops several relationships and is able to accept her abilities. The true gifted touch, however, is possessed by Metz, who has an uncanny ability to capture the rhythm and inherent self-consciousness of teenage thought. A good title for fans of Metz's "Roswell High" series (Pulse).-Louie Lahana, New York City Public SchoolsMOORE, Ishbel. Dolina's Decision. 128p. (Dolina Series). CIP. Roussan, dist. by Orca. 2001. pap. $6.95. ISBN 1-896184-74-X. LC C00-900203-0. Gr 7-10-In this third book in the series, Dolina comes to terms with finally meeting her father and with her crush on Spencer, the ruggedly handsome farm boy with whom she happens to be sharing a house. She is impulsive, immature, a bit on the wild side, and slightly annoying. Her feelings for Spencer cause her to act unreasonably, and her insistent search for her father becomes obsessive. The story is fast paced and Dolina is interesting, but the novel does not stand alone. Teens who loved Dolina May (1997) and Dolina's Grad (1998, both Roussan) will want to know the young woman's decision, but others will find the book unsatisfying.

Angela J. Reynolds, Washington County Cooperative Library Services, Aloha, OR

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Library Binding
• Publisher: Bt Bound (April 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0613714539
• ISBN-13: 978-0613714532
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Melinda Metz grew up in San Jose, California. People sometimes ask if she knows the way there. She kinda does, but she has an off-kilter sense of direction, so to be confident of arriving, it's better to consult some kind of navigational device.

Her mother tried to teach her to read in kindergarten, but Melinda had no interest. She also had no interest in learning to write her name. (FYI, when Melinda was in kindergarten it was all about finger-painting, play time, and naps.) Eventually, she mastered both and even majored in English at San Jose State University.

After college, Melinda moved to Manhattan to seek her fortune, which involved learning to identify fruits and vegetables while working at a grocery store,
making $2.73 working backstage for an off-off Broadway play (her part of the box-office profits), and editing books.

Melinda and the lovely and talented Laura J. Burns pretty much became unofficial writing partners when they were editors at the same company. They teamed up to brainstorm story ideas, and at some point their brains fused in some key places. Later they worked on the Roswell High book series, Laura developing and editing the series, Melinda writing.

That series led to Melinda and Laura, now an official writing team, writing two TV pilots, moving to L.A. to work on the Roswell TV show, and briefly living in Toronto while on the writing staff of 1-800-Missing. They both continue to write books, together and separately.

Melinda has never regretted learning to read and write her name.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Should be an awesome read., December 13, 2000

By 

Rachel Hanson (Salt Lake City, Utah USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gifted Touch (Fingerprints, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

The "Fingerprints" series is about a girl named Rae who can touch a fingerprint and know what the perons who left the print was thinking at the time they left it. At first she thinks she is going crazy. (Since her mother died in a mental institution, she has extra good reason to be worried.) Then she, with the help of a guy named Anthony, figures out that she has a psi power. But Rae still has something big to be afraid of.She touch a fingerprint that told her someone wants to kill her. She just doesn't know who. Or why.

Melinda Metz also wrote the Roswell High series, which is my absolute favorite series of all time. She does a great job mixing sci-fi and romance, and I'm really looking forward to reading these books when they come out. The first two are coming out in April, and then one every month after that. So far there's six in the contract.

--Rachel

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new orginal series!, June 6, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Gifted Touch (Fingerprints, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

Rae can't help it but sometimes she hears thoughts in her head. Thoughts that aren't her own. She dosen't understand why and she sometimes thinks she crazy. After having a mental breakdown in the middle of the cafeteria at the end of her sophmore year she spent her summer in hospitals and is still going to group therapy. SHe's nervous of what people will think about her when she comes back to school. She wonders if they'll be afraid of her. In her group therapy meetings she meets Anthony who's tough bravado seems to cover up deep problems. But when something terrible happens to Rea she's forced to face her secret and use her strange powers. But will that be enough to save Anthony?

I really enjoyed this book. The concept was orginal and the charecters were complex and different than others that you usually see in books. If you liked series like Fearless and the Sweep series this book is for you. I hope I get to read the second book in the Series. It's called Haunted.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fingerprint Reader, May 10, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Gifted Touch (Fingerprints, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

Gifted Touch is about a girl named Rae Voight who starts hearing voices in her head. Her first impulse is that she's going crazy like her mother. Then Rae starts going to group therapy but all she wants to do is be a normal girl and go to school and parties. On her way to group therapy a bomb explodes in the girls bathroom that she is in and hears a voice in her head that sounds like she wants to kill Rae for something and wants to frame Anthony for it. Anthony is this boy in Rae's group therapy who is a slow reader and who helps Rae realize that she is gifted. Whenever she touches a fingerprint she can read your thoughts at the time you left the mark. Now Rae has to help prove that Anthony is innocent and find whoever wants her dead. This was a great book and I would recommend it to anyone.