Jars of Glass

December 1, 2008
Gr 8 Up-Chloe, 14, and Shana, 15, live with their dad and four-year-old adopted brother, Micah, above their father's mortuary business in Portland, ME. Their mom, once an up-and-coming artist, has been hospitalized for a year. Shana's involvement in the local Goth scene, which Chloe doesn't understand, provides candid, grim humor and a nasty surprise. Chloe's obsession with their mother's last painting and reluctance to enter her abandoned studio worry Shana, who knows more than she is willing to tell. Dad is getting more and more vague and unreliable, and Micah has fears and needs that his sisters try their best to cope with. Tensions rise as Dad misses a visit from the dreaded social worker and spends more and more time on the roof, chain-smoking and getting drunk. If Mom can't come home and if Dad doesn't get it togethersoonthey might lose Micah. Chloe and Shana share the narration of this shadowy story told in alternating chapters. Initially, the sisters' different personalities are clearly apparent. As they desperately seek a solution for their dissolving family and become enmeshed in their own struggles, their voices become less unique. Girls may enjoy the drama and angst, but the doom and gloom permeate so heavily that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish any real flickers of light at the end of this dark family tunnel."Roxanne Myers Spencer, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2009
With their schizophrenic mother in a mental institution, their father falling apart, and their little brother needing constant care, Shana and Chloe try to find ways to cope. Shana hides her face beneath goth makeup while Chloe finds a niche at Starbucks. Told in the sisters' alternating voices, the narrative flows smoothly, but the relentlessly melancholic tone grows tedious.

(Copyright 2009 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)