First-time British novelist Bloor balances a darkly sinister plot with humorous touches. Imprisoned by her steel-trap memory ("once something had been caught there, it could never escape"), 15-year-old chronic overeater and "towering mountain of a girl" Maddie refuses to leave her house. She has not set foot outside for 13 years, ever since her granddad took her to visit the Pinebridge Tower Library and disappeared forever. For insight into the outside world, Maddie relies on her 12-year-old brother Kevin (and constantly refers to him as "her poor old Eyes and Ears," which quickly grows tiresome). Kevin's selection as apprentice at the Tower Library thrusts him into the genesis of her fear. But before long, Maddie makes the connection between their dotty mother's aversion to cupboards and drawers ("She used the stairs, the landing, and the floor space of all the rooms downstairs for storage") and their grandfather's disappearance, plus the web of secrets surrounding the library. The tale relies on stereotypes such as the bullies who menace Kevin, the feeble grandfather and the machinations of evil head librarian Lexeter. Still, some readers will enjoy the twists and turns of a plot resulting from the distortion of memory and a community run at the whim of one powerful villain. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Gr 5-7-Maddie sits at home paralyzed by a memory she can't quite recollect. Day by day, year after year, she peers out her window, gathering bits and pieces of information as she gains weight. Cocooned in her hushed memory and folds of flesh, the 15-year-old dodges mean taunts tossed up to her window from the neighborhood hoodlum, Park. Thirteen years ago, Maddie's Grandad Lemon disappeared while they were on a library outing. From that day on, the Tower Library has been open only to a privileged few. Through academic achievement, Maddie's little brother, Keith, "her eyes and ears," has been selected as Library Apprentice, an honor he accepts reluctantly. Maddie then works toward a final solution to the mystery. The siblings are pitted against power-hungry adults and survive fantastically dire scenes. Maddie and Keith carry on despite the addle-brained adults they're saddled with. Their mother is a befuddled character whose bizarre behavior is gratingly annoying; her idiosyncrasies never achieve a humorous edge. Characters are introduced and disposed of without any strong ties to one another or to the plot. Park, whose threatening behavior serves to oust Maddie from the house, is dropped from the story, while Grandad Lemon, barely a whisper from the past, suddenly becomes the central figure that carries it through to the end. Maddie's determination to rescue him and their town from the clutches of the scheming Mr. Lexeter results in adventurous moments, but a slow plot and sloppy character development tip the reaction scale toward gloomy and dull.
Alison Follos, North Country School, Lake Placid, NY
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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