From School Library Journal
Grade 6 UpAStephen Fair, 15, is having nightmaresAstrange, confusing nightmares about a baby crying in a treetop. He wants to know what they meanAand so does his motherAso she hires a psychic practitioner (Stephen calls her a witch). Her special potions are supposed to heal his "energy blockage." His short life has been an eventful oneAhis father left years ago, and his brother Marcus left, too. Now Stephen needs to unravel the secrets and disturbances of his life and he thinks his dreams and patchy memories hold the key. Then he discovers a letter his mother is hiding from him and sees a puzzling photograph from the past. Could his mother be keeping a secret that involves him? Following his memories and checking out his hunches, the teen unlocks his nightmares and discovers a startling family secret. Stephen is a complex character with colorful friends, including Virginia Elizabeth Dulcima Skye, who helps him learn about family and self. The book may take a while to grab readersAthis is an unusual family (they live in an ark-shaped house and used to live in a treehouse) with an unusual history. But once readers learn where the boy's memories may lead him, they'll be hooked. The conclusion of Stephen's journey is a satisfying surprise as well.ASharon Korbeck, Waupaca Area Public Library,
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Kirkus Reviews
Recurrent nightmares and a strong feeling that his mother is hiding something haunt a teenager in this ethereal novel from Wynne-Jones (The Maestro, 1996, etc.). At 15, Stephen has disturbing dreams of a tree, a fire, and a baby cryingdreams he seems to have ``inherited'' from his older brother, Marcus, who left home four years ago. He can't keep them from his loving, hovering mother Brenda, but he can refuse the psychotherapy and other treatments that didn't work for Marcus. While his social life moves in a promising direction, toward friendship with beautiful, brilliant Virginia Skye, his inner turmoil, driven by lack of sleep and his lingering guilt over the departure of his father, Doug, gives rise to tensions at home. Wynne-Jones seldom flatly describes a character's feelings or state of mind; instead, he conveys them through quick, telling details and comments, or heavily symbolic background events. Stephen is surrounded by an unusual, distinctive supporting cast, and compelled by a series of artfully revealed hints that lead at last to truth: Doug and Brenda stole him away from his neglectful birth parents when Stephen was only a baby. Brenda's lies, Doug's departure, even the nightmareslinked to suppressed memoriesall arise from that act, but Stephen is strong enough to weather the storm, and wise enough to offer Brenda an olive branch at the end. An intense study in friendship and troubled family relations, in which the steadiest characters are the teenagers. (Fiction. 12-15) --
Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
