Keeping Christina

Grade 7-10-- When Annie Gerhardt is inexplicably moved to help a new girl by inviting her home after school play rehearsals, events start to spiral out of control. She is at first drawn to Christina, who is not affluent and seems somehow different from the other kids at Whitney High, but the friendship begins to turn unexpected corners. Christina insinuates herself into Annie's family, relationships with best friend Jill and long-time boyfriend Peter, and subtly influences the course of school events, throwing Annie's predictable, stable world into disequilibrium. Christina's family history and personal life are hard to pin down. Talented and attractive, vulnerable yet dangerous, the girl remains an enigma throughout, which may be disconcerting to some readers. Is she trying to seduce Greg, Annie's older brother? Has she involved younger sister Martha in shoplifting? She becomes a catalyst for unwanted changes that Annie cannot seem to control and is not comfortable with. Rehearsals for the school production of "Taming of the Shrew," an English class debate over the authorship of Shakespeare's plays, and flying Peter's hawk on the weekends provide additional context. A near tragedy finally throws things back into focus for Annie. This story is in part an examination of the nature of friendship and loyalty, as well as the responsibility and danger inherent in choosing relationships. It is also a complex portrait of a disaffected, unstable teenager unable to deal with reality, and trying desperately to create her own. --Corinne Camarata, Port Washington Public Library, NY
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Here's an unsettling morality tale about how not to conduct a friendship. Annie has everything going for her--including enough generosity to take pity on Christina, a lonely new girl in school. First Annie arranges for Christina to come home with her after rehearsals for the school play, then Annie insists that Christina join her circle of intimates--even finding her a date for a dance. Pretty soon, Christina is right in the thick of Annie's life, from baking cookies with Annie's mother (Christina calls her Mom, too), to buddying around with Annie's kid sister, Martha, to planning a cast party with Annie's best friend, Jill. Only older brother Greg and boyfriend Peter remain immune to Christina's charms, but Annie's eyes slowly open to her protegee's chameleon character and cavalier attitude toward the truth. It takes a near-tragedy for Christina's false nature to become apparent to all; in a realistic touch, she is steadfastly unrepentent. Bridgers ( All Together Now ) gets the bouncy milieu of Annie's North Carolina high school down pat, and she describes the twisted dynamics of the girls' relationship in chilling detail. Given that Annie, like her mother, never comes to terms with her compulsion to "fix" everyone else's life, however, the author fumbles a little in pinning almost all the blame for the skewed friendship on Christina. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.