Teen Fiction - Girls & Young Women, Teen Fiction - School, Teen Fiction - Religion & Alternative Beliefs

Sun Signs

Name: Sun Signs
Author: Shelley Hrdlitschka
ISBN: 9781551433387

by Shelley Hrdlitschka

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Overview

Unable to attend school while she battles cancer, fifteen-year-old Kaleigh Wyse tries to complete her classes online by correspondence. Developing a science project on astrology, Kaleigh enlists other online learners as study participants. What starts as a collaborative and supportive project based on the scientific method, slowly becomes unwieldy and then flawed when it is apparent that all the project participants are hiding vital clues about their identities. As Kaleigh struggles with the effects of chemotherapy and radiation, she is forced to examine the assumptions she has made about others and the manner in which she presents herself to the world. Sun Signs is a compelling story that examines the danger of blind faith in an electronic age and the ease with which our identities, in the absence of traditional clues, can shift and change.

About the Author, Shelley Hrdlitschka

Shelley Hrdlitschka discovered her love for children's literature while teaching school. She decided to try writing her own books, and is now the award-winning author of nine novels for teens, all published by Orca Book Publishers.

Shelley offers school and library presentations on the value of perseverance. She describes the pitfalls she encountered on her path to becoming a published author and discusses where ideas come from using examples from her books. She touches on numerous literary devices, tailored to the age of the audience. Shelley also reads from some of her many rejection letters-the part of the presentation that students seem to like most. She is also available for writing workshops.

Shelley lives in North Vancouver, British Columbia, with her three daughters and an assortment of animals. When she's not writing, she can be found hiking, snowshoeing, practicing yoga or hidden away with a book and some good music. More information can be found at www.members.shaw.ca/shelley.hrdlitschka.

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Editorials

Kirkus Reviews

This accessible epistolary (e-mail) novel chronicles a project for a long-distance learning class. Homebound with cancer, 15-year-old Kaleigh begins a science report about astrology. Three "distant study buddies" whom she's never met agree to be her Leo subjects and report whether their horoscope from Kaleigh's favorite Web site is accurate each day. Only one tells Kaleigh the complete truth about personal details and horoscope; in turn, she doesn't mention her cancer. Isolation and the unreliability of online communication are Hrdlitschka's blatant themes, but other themes subtly join in. Kaleigh's enthusiasm wanes in the face of exhaustion from radiation treatment. Because her actual prognosis doesn't change, this addresses not only the effects of a life-threatening illness but also the effects of simply feeling sick. E-mails to her teacher and letters to her (immortal) Gemini twin are honest and eventually the other relationships are hashed out. The AOL-speak and a few ending details ring false, but Kaleigh's emotionally genuine all the way. (Fiction. YA)