Golden

Publishers Weekly

Fifteen-year-old Felicity Shannon James ("Lissy") is upset with her family's decision to move from her beloved California to a small town in Oklahoma. It seems that the Sight ("an ability to see what others could not") prevents Lissy from having a normal life. All the women in her mother's family have some version of the Sight. Lissy's gift (which she hates) allows her to see auras, the "small moving quantity of colored light" that surrounds a person. On her first day at her new school, things don't go as smoothly as she'd hoped. When Lissy meets wonderful, handsome Mr. Kissler, the math teacher, she becomes physically ill. Mr. Kissler's aura has no color-he's Garn, which means that he has done something horrible, such as committed murder. What has he done? Are the students in danger? A recurring dream and a visitation from the First Seer give Lissy clues that help her unlock Kissler's secret. First-time author Barnes's upbeat yet haunting novel about being the new kid in school will likely grab readers with its clever, original twist. Ages 12-up. (July) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

KLIATT

Barnes wrote Golden when she was 19 years old, a student at Yale. This first novel is an intriguing story combining familiar teenage fiction themes with sinister fantastical elements. The narrator is Lissy James, part of a family in which all the females have Sight. Lissy sees colors around people and as the story goes on, she discovers other powers she possesses and learns to use them to solve a murder. The realistic aspect of the story is that Lissy is a new girl in town, who must adjust to a high school where she knows no one. She has a younger sister, supportive parents, and a grandmother who loves her. Lissy perceives all the new people at the high school by seeing their colors, and the colors give her clues about personalities. One person, her math teacher, has a strange non-color surrounding him; Lissy is so frightened by the evil emanating from this man, she is physically ill at the sight of him. A classmate somehow has the capacity to shield her from the worst, and together they discover why this teacher is in fact evil and defeat him in the final confrontation. Suspense among the familiar scenes of high school life. KLIATT Codes: JS—Recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2006, Random House, Delacorte, 247p., Ages 12 to 18.
—Claire Rosser

KLIATT - Claire Rosser

To quote the review of the hardcover in KLIATT, July 2006: Barnes wrote Golden when she was 19 years old, a student at Yale. This first novel is an intriguing story combining familiar teenage fiction themes with sinister fantastical elements. The narrator is Lissy James, part of a family in which all the females have Sight. Lissy sees colors around people and as the story goes on, she discovers other powers she possesses and learns to use them to solve a murder. The realistic aspect of the story is that Lissy is a new girl in town, who must adjust to a high school where she knows no one. She has a younger sister, supportive parents, and a grandmother who loves her. Lissy perceives all the new people at the high school by seeing their colors, and the colors give her clues about personalities. One person, her math teacher, has a strange non-color surrounding him; Lissy is so frightened by the evil emanating from this man, she is physically ill at the sight of him. A classmate somehow has the capacity to shield her from the worst, and together they discover why this teacher is in fact evil and defeat him in the final confrontation. Suspense abounds in the familiar scenes of high school life.

Children's Literature - Ilene S. Goldman

Moving from Oklahoma to California as she enters tenth grade, Lissy James finds settling into her new school harder than she imagined. She must navigate the hierarchy of the "Goldens" and the "Nons" while inadvertently uncovering some ugly secrets at Emory High. Jennifer Lynn Barnes' debut novel maps the modern-day tensions between the "in" crowd and all others in a high school that is anything but average. Like most women in her family, Lissy has special vision—her gift is the power to see "auras," a color field that surrounds a person, and to understand what the color and its changes say about that person. Her gift allows her to literally follow the strings to unravel an evil mystery and to knit some new ties. At first, the action and mystery do create a bit of a page-turner. But the story begins to drag about halfway through, and the ending is too easily and neatly arrived at. Teenage novelist Barnes hits just the right notes for a made-for-television movie, but the book falls short of a strong finish.

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up-At Oklahoma's Emory High, students belong to one of two social groups: the Goldens-the beautiful, popular, and equally hateful-and the Nons, short for non-Goldens, or generally nonexistent. New-girl-in-town Lissy James struggles not only with this rigid hierarchy, but also with an extrasensory perception that allows her to see various "colors" surrounding other people. As Lissy's "Sight" becomes more acute, she begins to realize that evil lurks in the halls of her school, and, with the help of her sister and two acquaintances, she saves several classmates and family members from certain death. While combining the supernatural and chick-lit/mean-girl genres into one novel makes for an interesting premise, this book is plagued with structural problems. Some of the plot lines are extraneous, and there is so much going on that the story becomes muddled. The actions of several characters are either unconvincingly explained or ignored altogether. Finally, the book is overly long, and the incessant references to auras slow down the action. Teens interested in supernatural fiction are better served by one of Lois Duncan's engaging titles. Those who enjoy reading about popularity struggles should try Jerry Spinelli's Stargirl (Knopf, 2000) or Gail Giles's Shattering Glass (Millbrook, 2002).-Rebecca M. Jones, Fort Myers-Lee County Library, FL Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Although framed around the typical moving-to-a-new-neighborhood story and its related angst, this tale immediately bypasses predictability as protagonist Lissy James reveals her secret ability to see and interpret the color of people's auras. Lissy's ability, which is meticulously and believably explained, provides multi-dimensional views of her new classmates and family, which prove entertaining and insightful, especially on her first day at Emory High, when she's shocked and frightened to sense that someone at school exudes a sinister colorless aura. At first, she assumes the unexplained negative energy flows from the vapid self-proclaimed "Goldens" or the popular crowd that has marked her as an easy target for teasing. However, as Lissy delves deeper into this colorless mystery, she quickly discovers that it transcends popularity and that she's not the only one at Emory High with the secret abilities to uncover and destroy the evil energy source. A well-balanced blend of fast-moving fantasy and light, playful chick-lit. (Fantasy. YA)