Circle Within a Circle

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

At 14, Chris has spent the past nine years being shuttled from one foster home to the next, ever since his mother's death from cancer and the car accident that killed his father that same day. After an altercation with a particularly overbearing foster parent, Chris runs away. He hitches a ride with Chopper, a Vietnam veteran, NASA engineer and Chinook Indian en route to a Northwestern beach considered sacred by his tribe. Chopper and other Native Americans join forces to stop businessmen from turning the land into a resort complex, and Chris, too, contributes to the effort. Despite these adventure-story elements, Killingsworth ( Eli's Songs ) squarely focuses on his characters' spirituality and inner growth. The point of view shifts between Chris and Chopper, two lost souls who develop a potent kinship. Chris finds purpose and self-worth; Chopper carries out the mandates of his ``visions.'' Although the prose can be self-conscious--Chopper, for example, sees a heron: ``As big as life. In the city. A sign''--it also achieves a meditative dignity and heft. Ages 12-up. (Mar.)

School Library Journal

Gr 7-9-Killingsworth has good intentions in this novel, but somehow the story falls short of its lofty mark. The premise of an Indian tribe defeating a group of greedy developers against overwhelming odds is intriguing, but readers will be disappointed with the underdeveloped plot and incomplete characterizations. Chris, a 14-year-old orphan fleeing yet another disastrous foster home situation, meets Coyote, a.k.a. Chopper, a Chinook Indian on a mission to stop development of a sacred piece of land. At first it is Chopper who helps Chris by involving him and making him feel a part of something. However, as things progress, Chris finds out more about his new friend and helps him to overcome his difficulties in completing the task at hand. The interjection of Chopper's meditative thoughts lends clarity and direction to the story, but stilted dialogue and a sense that the author is hurriedly trying to wrap things up hinders what could have been a wonderful piece of writing.-Julie Halverstadt, Douglas Public Library District, Castle Rock, CO

Carolyn Phelan

Running away from his foster parents, 14-year-old Chris hitches a ride to northern California with Chopper (or Coyote), a Chinook Indian. When they reach the small town where Chris was born, he visits his parents' graves, then stays with Chopper as the man joins a crusade to save a stretch of land sacred to his tribe from commercial development. Though it focuses on the two almost from the beginning, the novel becomes more Chopper's story than Chris', as Chopper tells the boy about the Chinook lands during his boyhood; overcomes his Vietnam War experiences, which scarred him emotionally as well as physically; argues against the proposed land development; and ultimately uses the forces of nature to engineer its defeat. Since the land conflict is presented in such black-and-white terms and there's little tension between the characters, the novel seems static. Still, it's recommended for libraries seeking novels that show individualized Native American characters involved in present-day concerns.