Ostrich Eye [Hardcover]

Beth Cooley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 13, 2004

Is the man Ginger meets in the park really her long-lost father . . . or is he her family’s worst nightmare?

The guy is everywhere. On the jogging path. At the video store. In the coffeehouse. He’s beginning to give Ginger the creeps. But maybe he’s not a weirdo. Maybe he’s just a man looking for the daughter he walked out on ten years ago.

Or maybe not.

Beth Cooley’s cautionary tale of family relationships, identity, and the disastrous results of miscommunication is a gripping novel with the unsettling premise that danger lives closer to us than anyone ever wants to think possible.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Gr. 7-10. Ginger is part of a delightful family: a scatter-brained mom; a heart-of-gold stepdad, Tony; and little sister Vivian ("Vivi"), as vivacious and endearing as her name. She even has a funny, bright, down-to-earth boyfriend, Nicholas, and two best friends, Annie and Kim. Yet Ginger can't get the new man in town, a photographer who seems especially taken with Vivi, out of her mind. He calls himself John Arlen, but Ginger is certain that he's really Austin Trantor, her father, who vanished long ago. Cooley has written a winning, if uneasy first novel, peopled with rich, complex characters and an authentic, contemporary family that works. She allows Ginger a typical teen's ups and downs as she gradually, almost imperceptibly, builds tension to a predictable but satisfying crisis. Readers will easily identify with Ginger and look forward to more from Cooley, the recipient of the latest Delacorte Press Prize for a first YA novel. Frances Bradburn
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"You'll love it: This super-suspenseful novel couldn't possibly have any more terrifying twists and turns!"--Twist

"[A] suspenseful debut."--Publishers Weekly

Winner of the Delacorte Press Prize for a First Young Adult Novel

A Girls' Life Top Ten Summer Read


From the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (January 13, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 038573106X
• ISBN-13: 978-0385731065
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.7 x 8.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,709,265 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Important Issue, Intriguing Read, July 2, 2004

By 

Jaydekitten (Detroit, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ostrich Eye (Hardcover)

The copy I read of this book had no indication on either the inside flap or the back cover as to what the book was actually about. So when I first started reading "Ostrich Eye" I had no clue what I was in for. Here's the lowdown: Ginger lives at home with her mother, stepfather and half-sister Vivian. Having never met her real father and always having to witness the way her mother and stepfather dote on Vivian, Ginger begins to feel out of place, slightly overshadowed. So when a mysterious stranger appears in town, she begins making connections between him and her real father. Is this man the long lost father Ginger thinks he is? Or is Ginger blind to the stranger's true intentions?

The characters in "Ostrich Eye" are interesting and well-developed. Cooley manages to give her characters voices that seem honest, seem to ring true. While I found the plot to be slightly predictable, the story is fast-paced and flows smoothly. Overall, I find "Ostrich Eye" to be an enjoyable, quick read that gives its readers a heads up on an serious crisis that affects many families. I will definitely keep an eye out for more works by Beth Cooley in the future.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sort of...., November 2, 2004

By 

Katie "Whatever" (Fort Collins, CO, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ostrich Eye (Hardcover)

This book was your typical young adult girl's book, I thought. The kind of writing was okay, the character was sterotypical, and it seemed kind of cheesy.
But overal, it wasn't too bad.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A powerful debut novel--deserving the Delacorte Prize, January 18, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Ostrich Eye (Hardcover)

Beth Cooley has an amazing voice. Ostrich Eye held me from the first page till the last. I'm eager to see Cooley's next work.