Weatherly, L.A. Watcher.

Weatherly, L.A.  Watcher.               Stoke Books (Lerner)    51p         $17.00   978-1-78112-107-8         2012  ms               VG-BN      Realistic fiction                                 

This very brief novel is about Sarah, a teen-aged girl who does not understand why her mother left and seems to want no contact with her.  While hacking into her father’s e-mail, Sarah learns that her mother has moved to the next town, and yet she has made no attempt to contact Sarah.   One Saturday Sarah travels to the town and spots her mother’s old car.  Sarah is very angry about her mother.  As she remembers little incidents from her childhood, she visualizes her mother loving her and some great times they shared, but also recalls that her mother would sometimes suddenly become angry, and at those times she was afraid of her mother.  With these very conflicting memories, she confronts her mother with the goal of punishing her, but she finds out that her mother had been in a mental hospital for five years, and had left to prevent herself from hurting Sarah.  Not yet fully understanding all the implications, Sarah and her mother agree to meet occasionally.

A second story line concerns Sarah making a friend.  She has always been a loner and rebuffs the friendly advances of another loner.  The story ends with Sarah transcending her anger at her mother and accepting the possibility of friendship.

This brief text will be satisfying for reluctant readers.

Mental illness-Fiction, Friendship-Fiction                                                                                              --Joan Theal