Separate Sisters

Grades 5-7--Donni and Trisha's parents have recently divorced, and the sisters react differently. Outspoken and rebellious, Donni, 13, is suspended several times for angry and profane outbursts at the vice-principal. Trisha, 14, quiet and studious, confides her loneliness to her computerized journal. The story focuses on the younger girl, who lives with her father, and her behavior in school and her strained relationship with her mother and her sister, who live together. "Mom is what she calls assertive and I call bossy. She is what she calls well-organized and I call neurotic.-Naturally Mom likes Trisha the Perfect a whole lot better than she does me." With her strong voice and personality, Donni is a multidimensional character. She is simultaneously confused, angry, and surprisingly likable. There is much internal action that reaches a crescendo when Donni deletes her sister's journal. A tidy ending is offered when the troubled girl goes to her mother, who suspects that her daughter may have a chemical imbalance and needs help. Unfortunately, this glimpse into the mind of a teen with an emotional problem reads like an extended prologue and character study, and it never takes off as a novel.

Laura Glaser, Euless Junior High School, TX

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


Genre: Children's Fiction