Saturday, February 24, 2018

Cyclone by Doreen Cronin - ADVISABLE

Cronin, Doreen Cyclone, 336 pages. Atheneum Books for Young Readers (Simon & Schuster), 2017. $17. Language: PG-13 (20 swear, multiple acronyms for ‘f’); Mature Content; PG; Violence: G.

Nora begs her slightly older, and more glamorous cousin, Riley to go on the Cyclone roller coaster.  Actually, Nora blackmails her cousin to go with her because the Cyclone as a wooden roller coaster that sways and rocks, and terrifies Riley.  When something awful happens, Nora has to come to terms with what kind of person she is.  From here, the coaster becomes a metaphor for the Cyclone aftermath, and the ups and downs of hospital life and outcomes that may or may not be wanted.  Nora and Riley are close cousins that may be undone since both have issues they don’t want to address.  

Pros:  The author uses footnotes to clarify the confusion of hospital acronyms, and anyone who has been in a hospital can relate to this book.  Family dynamics are not easily resolved and tied up in a bow, so it was believable.  Cons:  Sometimes it felt too much like a hospital waiting room, and I wanted it to move faster, but perhaps that is the point of the book.   As Cronin’s first foray into young adult literature, it is a more somber reading experience than I would have thought from the author of Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type.

EL, MS - ADVISABLE.  Michelle in the Middle

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