Quaking - Softcover

Kathryn Erskine spent many years as a lawyer before realizing that she’d rather write things that people might actually enjoy reading. She grew up mostly overseas and attended eight different schools, her favorite being the Hogwarts-type castle in Scotland. The faculty, of course, did not consist of wizards, although . . . how did the headmistress know that it was “the wee redhead” who led the campaign to free the mice from the biology lab? Erskine draws on her childhood—and her second childhood through her children—for her stories. She still loves to travel but nowadays most trips tend to be local, such as basketball and tennis courts, occasional emergency room visits, and the natural food store for very healthy organic chocolate with “life saving” flavonoids.

Fourteen-year-old Matt (short for Matilda) arrives at her latest foster home and discovers that her new guardians have personalities--and convictions--as strong as her own. Unwillingly at first, Matt eventually accompanies foster parent Sam to Quaker Friends' meetings. She also learns to cope with a new school, where she likes most of the classes but fears a bully and her world civ. teacher. A series of attacks on area houses of worship--presumably by locals angered by antiwar sentiments espoused by the Quaker congregation members--builds to a heavily foreshadowed climax. In spite of Matt's rather quick adjustment to family life after years of fear and emotional deadening, this is a compelling story, which enfolds the political issues into a deeper focus on the characters' personal stories. Idealistic teens will be interested in Matt's growing acceptance of her new family, of Quaker values, and of her need to take action, rather than simply observe. Francisca Goldsmith
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved