Teen Fiction

Ice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor — book cover

Ice

Name: Ice
Author: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
ISBN: 9780689818721

by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

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Overview

Can the truth thaw Chrissa's frozen heart?

It's been three years since Chrissa's father walked out of her life. Too angry even to speak to her mother, Chrissa is obsessed with finding the answers to her questions: Why did her father leave? Why does she never hear from him? And is it somehow her fault, for not being the daughter he wanted her to be?

Now, unable to deal with Chrissa's silence, her mother has sent her away from New York City home to spend a year in the country with her grandmother. Perhaps in Gram's house, in the rural community which her father grew up, Chrissa will discover the secret of his disappearance.

Instead, Chrissa finds more secrets and suspicions. And, surprisingly, she finds strength she never knew she had. Strength she will need when she must confront the most devastating secret of all.

When thirteen-year-old Chrissa is sent to her paternal grandmother's farm, she learns more about her absent father and some of the reasons for her distant relationship with her mother.

Synopsis

Can the truth thaw Chrissa's frozen heart?

Instead, Chrissa finds more secrets and suspicions. And, surprisingly, she finds strength she never knew she had. Strength she will need when she must confront the most devastating secret of all.

Publishers Weekly

Newbery Medalist Naylor offers the story of a teenage girl with a frozen heart; mourning her father's disappearance, she goes to live with her grandmother in the country, only to discover her own strength and her father's secret. Ages 12-up. (Feb.)

About the Author, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor includes many of her own growing-up experiences in the Alice books. She writes for both children and adults and is the author of more than one hundred and twenty-five books, including the Alice series, which Entertainment Weekly has called "tender" and "wonderful." In 1992 her novel Shiloh won the Newbery Medal. She lives with her husband, Rex, in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and is the mother of two sons, both grown and married. Visit Phyllis online at alicemckinley.wordpress.com

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Children's Literature - Alexandria LaFaye

In this well-crafted novel, Naylor tells the absorbing story of Chrissa, a young girl trapped in near silence by the memories of a father who left her. Sent to live with her grandmother because things weren't "working out" with her mother, Chrissa hopes to discover the reason her father left. Constantly recalling times when she and her father were "together," Chrissa has difficulty finding anything satisfying in her current surroundings. As her attempts to find her father lead to dead ends, Chrissa starts to realize that perhaps having her father back and receiving his approval isn't as important as she originally thought. Instead, Chrissa gains self-confidence by building a strong friendship with a local family, giving loving support to the children she baby-sits, developing a connection with nature, and strengthening her relationships with her mother and grandmother.

Children's Literature - Jan Lieberman

Naylor's latest book is a multi-layered story about Chrissa, 13, whose heart feels encased in "ice" since her father's departure 3 years earlier. Her mother, unable to cope with her, sends her to live with her paternal grandmother for a year. It is here that she learns more about her father, finally discovering the truth. She becomes protective of her Gram when the old woman is about to be conned out of her land by an unscrupulous duo representing the Whole Body Church. Chrissa learns a tough lesson about honesty and self-reliance.

Children's Literature - Kristin Harris

Chrissa's father disappeared three years ago, and it was a devastating event for Chrissa. One exacerbated by her mother's refusal to discuss what happened, or where her father was. As Chrissa remembered being with her father, she remembered his disapproval, which only made matters worse. The emotional turmoil renders Chrissa unable to communicate with her mother, who in frustration sends her from their home in New York City to Chrissa's paternal grandmother's home in rural New York. Stunned at first, Chrissa sees it as an opportunity to find out more about her dad. Her grandmother's down-to-earth style, and her new responsibilities and friends set the stage for a coming of age adventure. It was a little difficult to relate to Chrissa's obsession until the truth about her dad was revealed at the end, but then it all made a lot more sense. Adventuresome, strong willed, levelheaded Chrissa will be an inspiration.

School Library Journal

Gr 6-9-An alienated teen heals herself in this well-written story of emotional survival. Chrissa's life with her mother is a cold, lonely place of unanswered questions about her father, who has vanished. She is sent to live with her grandmother in the country for a year, where she hopes to unlock the secrets of his disappearance. As she explores her father's boyhood home and surroundings for clues, her city eyes open to the beauty and diversity of nature. She develops friendships at school and with Thad, the boy next door, along with a protective loyalty toward her grandmother, whose small savings and forest land attract the interest of an unscrupulous preacher. In the rhythms of daily life, Chrissa releases herself from the past's disappointments and begins to rely on strong inner resources. As the winter landscape frees itself from a spectacularly beautiful, yet crippling ice storm, Chrissa, too, thaws and is able to face the truth that her father is in jail and that she is free to be herself. Taut prose is interspersed with italicized memories. Characterizations of the girl, her grandmother, and the neighbors are adept. Setting plays an important role in the story. In her New York City home, Chrissa is a nonentity, a faceless, hopeless teen; in the country, her presence contributes to the natural order, and she positively affects the lives of others. Empowered by her own sense of fitness, she faces her demons, the parents who have failed her, and forgives.-Alice Casey Smith, Monmouth County Library Headquarters, Manalapan, NJ