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Overview
Kelly Paddik is locked up. Sent to a secure facility because she is a "danger to herself," Kelly wants only to escape. But her painful past continues to haunt her until she is forced to face up to the most painful memory of all. A searing look at one girl's struggle for self respect.Synopsis
Pushing open the car door, I dug my feet into the ground and took off for the gate. I could hear my social worker yelling, but then a huge roaring filled my ears. At the parking lot entrance, the horror movie gate still stood open, waiting for me. I had to get away - that was all I could think about. The gate grew and grew, and then I was through it and out in the street. Everything in me pulled together and began to run, fast as my heart was beating, faster. Kelly Paddik is locked up. Sent to a secure facility because she is a "danger to herself," Kelly wants only to escape. But her painful past continues to haunt her until she is forced to face up to the most painful memory of all. A searing look at one girl's struggle for self respect. Beth Goobie is the author of three other Soundings novels: Something Girl, Sticks and Stones and Kicked Out. She is also the author of the award-winning teen novels, Before Wings and The Lottery.
Claire Rosser - KLIATT
This is a multi-book review. Orca Soundings novels are short and aimed at the reluctant teenage reader. Goobie's story will grab those YA readers who are moved by the dilemma of angry girls who have been victims of sexual abuse. Who owns you, Kelly? Your father who did this to you? Or do you own your own life? That's how her therapist talks to her. Kelly is a runaway, furious with the mother who allowed the abuse, a street person now incarcerated in a lockup for troubled adolescent girls. It isn't the first time. She knows who to trust and how to stay silent. Goobie is adept at handling this story. Bull Rider is also dramatic, but tells a completely different story. It is set in Calgary and centers on a family close to rodeo life. The father was killed while riding a bull, and so the mother is determined that her son Layne won't follow in his father's path. Layne has different ideas, of course, and he learns to ride bulls without his mother knowing what he is doing. The cover is also dramatic: a bull trampling a cowboy on the ground. A contemporary tale that offers an unusual setting, this will appeal to many YA readers. KLIATT Codes: JS Recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2003, Orca Soundings, 89p.,
Editorials
Quill & Quire
"Even the most resistant of teen readers will be thoroughly absorbed by 15-year-old Kelly and her situation...Goobie's characterization of Kelly and her powerhouse of rolling impulses and emotions is keenly convincing."KLIATT
This is a multi-book review. Orca Soundings novels are short and aimed at the reluctant teenage reader. Goobie's story will grab those YA readers who are moved by the dilemma of angry girls who have been victims of sexual abuse. Who owns you, Kelly? Your father who did this to you? Or do you own your own life? That's how her therapist talks to her. Kelly is a runaway, furious with the mother who allowed the abuse, a street person now incarcerated in a lockup for troubled adolescent girls. It isn't the first time. She knows who to trust and how to stay silent. Goobie is adept at handling this story. Bull Rider is also dramatic, but tells a completely different story. It is set in Calgary and centers on a family close to rodeo life. The father was killed while riding a bull, and so the mother is determined that her son Layne won't follow in his father's path. Layne has different ideas, of course, and he learns to ride bulls without his mother knowing what he is doing. The cover is also dramatic: a bull trampling a cowboy on the ground. A contemporary tale that offers an unusual setting, this will appeal to many YA readers. KLIATT Codes: JS—Recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2003, Orca Soundings, 89p.,— Claire Rosser