Teen Fiction - Girls & Young Women, Teen Fiction - Family & Relationships

Somebody

Name: Somebody
Author: Nancy Springer
ISBN: 9780823420995

by Nancy Springer

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Overview

Award-winning author Nancy Springer has written a multi-layered, thought-provoking novel that's sure to appeal to even the most reluctant teen reader. It combines mystery, suspense, danger, and drama with an emotionally satisfying story of a young victim's clever and courageous path to freedom.

At the age of fifteen, a girl who has spent most of her life moving around the country with her father and brother-changing names and hair color with every move-suddenly remembers her real name, Sherica. Soon Sherica experiences other snatches of memory and begins to question her unusual upbringing and the troubling inconsistencies in her father's accounts of her early childhood. Tentative at first, but with growing determination, Sherica investigates and uncovers the shocking truth about her past.

Synopsis

Children's Literature

Just who are Debbie, Suzy, Louanne, Rose, Patty, Marsha, June, Nancy, Ginny, and Dot? The answer is one confused 15-year-old (give or take a year) girl who has been on the move with her father and brother ever since she can remember. "It's not like I'm a criminal. I never murdered anybody or raped anybody...I never even hit anybody." So why is her dad on the run? When she was little, she figured moving to a new place once or twice a year was normal, but now she is starting to ask questions, like why her dad's hobby seems to be faking identification papers or why she has no mother. Something is not right. There is that creepy feeling that she is being had, especially when she notices inconsistencies in her dad's stories about her mom. "It felt worse than weird. It felt kind of sickening to realize that my dad's stories were just that. Stories." Helped by Mason, a nerdy guy who has a secret of his own, Sherica (that's her real name, the one she was not to say or think about—ever) now has to decide just what is best for her. Frightened but determined, struggling against an emotionally controlling father, Sherica sets out to discover just who she is. "We moved a lot of places...and I had a lot of different names. It feels awesome to be Sherica again." Sherica is also thrilled to come safely home. This is a book that will have even reluctant readers turning the pages to find out what happens next. Reviewer: Anita Barnes Lowen

About the Author, Nancy Springer

Nancy Springer is a two time Edgar-winning author. Her mysteries include The Case of the Missing Marquess and other Enola Holmes mysteries. Her thriller, Blood Trail, was named an International Reading Association (IRA) Young Adults' Choice Book, A VOYA Top Shelf Fiction Book, and an ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers. She lives in Florida. Visit her online at nancyspringer.net.

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Editorials

Children's Literature - Anita Barnes Lowen

School Library Journal

Gr 6–9—Suspicious of her family's secretive lifestyle, 15-year-old Sherica finally decides to investigate her past. Just why do she, her older brother, and their father move so frequently, always assuming new names and changing their hair color? Why do Daddy's stories about her mother keep changing? Why don't they have family photos, cell phones, or Internet access? She summons up the courage to apply for her first library card so she can use the computer to search online. When she discovers a picture of herself at age five accompanied by the message, "Help this girl's desperate mother find her," she runs from the building in shock. With the help of a geeky teenage library employee, who learns her secret when he assists the next computer user, Sherica gradually decides to contact her mother while attempting to avoid getting her father into trouble with the law. The plot of this book is ridiculously unbelievable and the characters are flat and undeveloped. Because the topic of child abduction is of great interest and the author is known for other, far superior works, many youngsters will be drawn to this novel only to be disappointed. Those looking for a worthwhile read on this subject should stick with Caroline Cooney's perennially popular The Face on the Milk Carton (Delacorte, 1990).—Ginny Gustin, Sonoma County Library System, Santa Rosa, CA

Kirkus Reviews

After years of strange moves and new names, 13-year-old Sherica finally Googles her real name, a name she hasn't heard since she was little, and learns she wasn't abandoned by her mom: Her dad abducted her, and they've been on the run ever since. Readers will be riveted by this disturbing, believable plot and by the emotional abuse "Daddy" doles out, manipulating Sherica and her brother instead of hitting them. Daddy constantly belittles Sherica and encourages her to gorge on unhealthy foods; he plays best bud with older brother Brian, pushing him to beef up, rendering both unrecognizable to the outside world and to themselves. Springer's first-person narration faithfully delivers the voice of a fearful young victim reluctant to leave the life she knows or to betray her father, her only caregiver. Sherica speaks in awkward and clunky sentences, authentic language for a befuddled, insecure, overweight young woman. Like the classic The Face on the Milk Carton, this gripping short novel snags reluctant readers early on and keeps them emotionally invested until the final pages. (Thriller. 12-16)