Day: July 19, 2010

Scars

| Tasha

Scars by Cheryl Rainfield

Kendra has started to remember her abuse as a child, but she is unable to see her abuser’s face in her memories.  She believes she is being followed by her abuser, so she lives in fear that even as she works to remember, he is stalking her.  To cope with the pressure of the memories, Kendra cuts her arm, releasing all of her stress, anguish and pain and making it something she can handle.  Kendra also does amazing art work that reveals the pain of her abuse and the emotional toll it is taking on her.  Her mother, a professional artist, has been critical of the raw emotion of Kendra’s work, so Kendra hides her work from her.  Her father has become emotionally distant after Kendra told her parents about the abuse, so Kendra turns to her therapist, her art teacher, and her new girlfriend for support.  As Kendra’s memories build, readers will be unable to put the book down until all is revealed.

Rainfield, herself a survivor of abuse and cutting, has captured the situation with such power and ferocity that it can be painful to read.  Readers will find themselves in a vise of tension and menace that mirrors Kendra’s.  Rainfield has written a powerhouse of a book that is astoundingly honest and burningly real.  The character of Kendra is written with empathy and skill.  She never reads as a victim but as a heroine, seeking the truth about what happened to her.  The use of her art in the book to connect her to other people, speak when she cannot say the words, and scream for her pain is hauntingly real.

Get this into the hands of readers who enjoy tense, realistic reads.  The cover is beautifully done, capturing the cutting and the tension in a single image.  A brilliant book written in nervy honesty.  Appropriate for ages 14-18.

Reviewed from library copy.

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Scumble

| Tasha

Scumble by Ingrid Law

Released August 24, 2010.

This companion book to Savvy features another member of their extended family who has a savvy of his own to try to deal with.  Ledger Kale just turned 13.  He had been dreaming of getting a savvy that would enable him to run faster than anyone, because his father was a runner.  But instead he gets a rather alarming savvy: he is able to demolish things with a thought.  Small items like watches stand no chance, nor does the motorcycle he busts into bits.  Unfortunately, a nosy would-be reporter Sarah Jane saw him destroy the cycle, so now Ledger has to worry about his entire family being exposed.   When Sarah Jane threatens him, people have to really watch out as his savvy grows bigger and bigger until he manages to flatten an entire barn.  Now Ledger is stuck at his uncle’s ranch because it would be too dangerous for him to travel by car and it’s much safer for him to practice control in open spaces.  In a story filled with great characters and plenty of action, this book extends the world of Savvy in a delightful way.

The cast of characters features those from the previous book as well as new characters for readers to enjoy.  It is an adroit melding of new and old together into a cohesive and interesting story.  Ledger, the main character, learns so much about himself in the novel.  His growth is believable and steady throughout the book, learning that his father’s dreams and his own may not be the same.   The character of Rocket was another of my favorites in the book, a young man who is unable to leave the ranch much at all because of his electrical savvy and lack of control.  He is the ideal character to pair with Ledger, a warning of what could happen, yet also a vibrant and fascinating character himself.

The setting on the ranch is richly drawn, with the marriage glade, the second barn just for insects, and Rocket’s small home where Ledger is sent to stay to minimize his damage.  The ranch almost becomes a character itself as it is so pivotal to the story and such a part of everything. 

It is nearly impossible to meet the expectations following such a successful first book as Savvy.  Law does it with grace, style and a lot of savvy.  Appropriate for ages 9-13.

Reviewed from ARC received from Dial Books.

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