| Booktalk
#1
It's all falling apart.
Life had been pretty good for Jes. She had a mom and dad. She
even had a beautiful baby sister. Then it started going wrong.
Jes feels she is dealing with a shifting universe. The baby died.
Dad moved out but was still very much in the picture. Mom spent lots
of time with Jes and life wasn't so bad in spite of the problems.
Now, things are getting worse. Mom has met a man and plans to get
married. How could she do this to Jes. Cal isn't that bad but
it's just going to change things forever. To make life even more
unbearable, Cal's perfect daughter has moved in and plans to stay.
Angela seems to be everything that Jes is not. Even Jes's friends
start hanging out with Angela. Could things get any worse?
Booktalk #2
Jen’s little sister got sick
and died and when all was said and done her parents lost their marriage.
Everything was broken in Jen’s life for a while, but time passes and she
lives with her mom and visits often with her wonderful dad, and she still
has her 2 best friends and life is moving on. Now her mom wants to marry
again. Jen has always blamed her mom for pushing her dad away and she struggles
with this evidence that things will never be the same, and with her dad’s
help is coming to terms with it. Her soon to be step father is a nice man,
he just better not try to be her father. As the story progresses,
Jen learns that her step father comes with a step sister, Angela, whois
suddenly moving in with them. Jen watches as Angela warms right up to Jen’s
mom and is way too enthusiastic about helping plan the upcoming wedding
and seems in so many ways to be the girl Jen’s mom always wanted. Then
Angela moves in on Jen’s best friends. Things come to a head and it becomes
apparent that Angela has a lot of issues herself and is far, far from perfect.
And this reality, provides Jen with the needed opportunity to make space
for and balance the changes in her life. (New Hampshire Isinglass
nominee, 2010) |
