In a fascinating departure from her usual folksy Southern fiction, award-winning author Kimberly Willis Holt transports her readers to the island of present-day Guam, where thirteen-year-old Isabel’s family is broken by her mother’s suicide. Numbed by her mother‘s death, Isabel grimly plods through each day, while scribbling in her ever-present notebook. But existence on the colorful, richly cultured island hasn’t ended, and life keeps interrupting Isabel’s sorrow. Her best friend Terecita needs help in becoming the best female cock-fighter on Guam, her father’s fishing assistant, Roman, appears to be flirting with her, and Auntie Bernadette, the local healer, keeps trying to school her in the art of herbs. Meanwhile, Isabel is disturbed by the fact that her father has practically stopped speaking, and her brother Frank is beginning to cut himself when he thinks no one is looking. But Isabel sees, and her heart is hardened: "I may look like my mother, but I’m not like her...I’m not like my mother at all. I am here." Isabel’s challenge will be to learn how to heal, and with the help of her vibrant community, she will. Holt is a masterful plotter--each strand of Isabel’s story comes together beautifully. But that doesn’t mean Holt sacrifices description or character for storyline. Every nuance of the Guam landscape and culture is seen and heard, from the quirky native "eyebrow language," to the illegal thrill of cock fighting. An original and intriguing novel that will send students searching for Guam in the nearest atlas. (Ages 12 to 18) --Jennifer Hubert


From School Library Journal
Grade 5-8-Since her mother's suicide, 13-year-old Isabel Moreno cleans up after her 7-year-old sister and watches and worries about her 12-year-old brother, who spends his nights carving "I hate you" on his bedroom wall. Their fisherman father spends long hours on his boat and has no time for his family. Now, Isabel feels as if she can't remember her mother. No one at her Catholic school or in her small Guam village mentions her name except her Aunt Bernadette, who tries to interest her niece in entering the fiesta-queen contest that her mother won two years in a row. Her brother's collapse, on the day of the fiesta, finally drives the family to get the help they need to work their way out of their grief. Isabel, an aspiring writer, tells her story in short chapters, as if they were entries in a journal. She comes through as a thoroughly believable eighth grader, still in need of support from friends and family, but becoming aware of her distinctive interests and talents as well. A broad range of friends and family is equally believable and sympathetically portrayed. Readers are drawn into Isabel's world and her determination to keep on going in the face of her overwhelming loss and responsibilities. They will welcome the way the adults in her world finally intervene, allowing her to return to middle-school concerns. A beautifully written description of sorrow and recovery that should appeal to a wide audience.Kathleen Isaacs, Edmund Burke School, Washington, DCCopyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
Thirteen-year-old Isabel has become the emotional centerpiece of her family after her mother's suicide. Vivian McLaughlin's exquisite presentation allows the reader to experience, not only Isabel's sorrow but also her slow healing. The novel's format of short vignettes also brings to life the people around Isabel and their responses to the tragedy. McLaughlin shines when the other characters reflect realistic responses to the suicide, including grief, anger, and guilt. McLaughlin's smooth narration is completely believable as that of a teenager. Bringing the listener vividly to the island of Guam, Holt's text incorporates the occasional Chamorro word. This beautifully plotted story of sorrow and recovery will appeal to a wide audience of teenagers. E.J.F. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
Gr. 6-10. On the first page 13-year-old Isabel finds her mother dead. She committed suicide. What follows is the story of the family's grief, anger, and guilt, told in Isabel's voice in short, sharp vignettes (most a page or less) that capture moments in her life on the island of Guam. There are sudden sharp memories of Mom; compulsive lists Isabel makes to try to get control; fun and rivalry with her friends at school; anger at her cold, distant Tata (he asks her about school but doesn't stop to hear her answer); and always, her anguished feeling of responsibility for her younger siblings. As a child Holt spent several "magical" years on Guam with her father, who was in the military, and the place and culture are an integral part of the story. Occasionally, the local color overwhelms the plot, and the family survivor therapy is purposive. But Holt, who won the National Book Award for When Zachary Beaver Came to Town (1999), is never reverential. Her exquisite, plain, concrete prose never plays down the loss ("At dinner her chair is empty") or the dark, painful struggle to heal. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
An ALA "2004 Best Book for Young Adults"
An ALA "2004 Notable Children's Book"
A "Kirkus 2003 Editor's Choice"
An Amazon.com "Editor's Pick" title
A Parents' Choice 2003 Gold Award Winner
A School Library Journal "Best Book"


"Evocative" --Publishers Weekly, starred

"Beautifully written" --School Library Journal, starred

"Stunningly beautiful" --Kirkus Reviews, starred

"[H]eart-rending. . . . Kimberly Willis Holt...has created an endearing, complicated narrator in Isabel; she manages to sound both lyrical and like the eighth grader she is." --New York Times Book Review

"Holt's plain, direct prose belies the deep pain the narrator feels as she tries to understand her mother's life and death." --Bookpage

"Beautifully written, this tale reaches into the heart of Guam and touches gold." --Seattle Times

"[E]xtended families, unhurried lives, the wisdom of elders, the individual quirks and eccentricities and the deep love holding up the surface of everyday life will all be familiar to readers of Holt's previous work." --Times Picayune

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Kimberly Willis Holt, author of the National Book Award–winning When Zachary Beaver Came to Town, crafts a moving story of one girl's struggle to cope with her mother's suicide.

Told in short chapters through the narrator's words, Holt's tale takes us to modern-day Guam, where we see how Isabela and her family try to get on with their normal lives despite the tension that surrounds them. At first, Isabela is the "dutiful daughter," tending to her anguished family, but she slowly begins acting out herself, particularly when Mary Kelly -- a non-native from a wealthier family -- moves to the area and a potential romantic interest of Isabela's gravitates toward Mary instead. But when things slowly come to a head and Isabela's brother, Frank, winds up in the hospital after cutting himself, the family begins healing communication.

Holt weaves together a beautiful, sophisticated story that won't disappoint her loyal fans. As usual, the author is keenly attuned to people and their relationships, always remembering to keep young Isabela feeling the pain of difficult family situations but distant enough to focus on her own friendships and problems. Different from Holt's previous work -- especially with the atypical setting of Guam -- this tour de force is a novel not to miss. Shana Taylor

ANNOTATION

On the island of Guam, thirteen-year-old Isabel and her family try to cope with the suicide of Isabel's mother.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Isabel, a thirteen-year-old girl living on the island of Guam, and her family try to cope with the death of Isabel's mother who committed suicide.

FROM THE CRITICS

The New York Times

Given the subject matter, Keeper of the Night could easily have been a treacly coming-of-age novel. But Kimberly Willis Holt, who won a National Book Award for When Zachary Beaver Came to Town, has created an endearing, complicated narrator in Isabel; she manages to sound both lyrical and like the eighth grader she is. — Nora Krug

Publishers Weekly

Holt's (My Louisiana Sky; When Zachery Came to Town) evocative novel set in Guam traces the difficult months following the suicide of native girl Isabel's mother. Brief (half- to three-page) chapters capture the heroine's moods and memories as she takes on added responsibilities at home and struggles to reclaim a sense of normalcy. Isabel's narrative poetically conveys her observations about the changes in each of her family members since the tragedy. Her younger sister, Olivia, now has nightmares and wets the bed; her father, always a man of few words, becomes even more silent and distant than before ("He's the magic man, reinventing the disappearing act"). Isabel is most deeply affected by the alterations in her brother's behavior. Frank, who once "knew every knock-knock joke by heart," becomes "a stranger in the house," as he grows increasingly removed and self-destructive. Holt smoothly juxtaposes here-and-now segments with haunting recollections of Isabel's "sad and beautiful" mother, whose image starts to fade in the narrator's mind over time. The author works magic, recreating the sights, sounds and smells of Guam and encapsulating the essence of her characters through very few words. Readers drawn into Isabel's sadness will also share her surge of hope as she and family members begin the process of healing. Ages 12-up. (May) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Children's Literature - Leah Hanson

Isabel appears to be like every other teenager in her small town on the island of Guam. She has a pesky younger brother and sister, meddlesome aunts and a father who works all the time. But this story is about how she is very different from any other teenager￯﾿ﾽher life has been turned upside down by her mother's suicide. Suddenly thrown into the position of caring for her younger siblings and trying to understand what has happened for herself, Isabel shares with readers her struggles and journey to accepting her circumstances. Told in snapshot-like chapters, Isabel reveals her story piece by piece. We see her interact with her tomboy best friend, grow to see her best guy friend in a new light, deal with the changes of adolescence, worry about her younger brother's reclusiveness and reach out to her grieving father. With the help of a caring psychologist and numerous family members and friends, Isabel comes to understand not only her mother, but also herself. Holt weaves a captivating growing-up tale together with the Polynesian culture in a way that will provide teen readers with both a window to another culture and a mirror of the challenges of adolescence. 2003, Henry Holt and Company,

VOYA - Sherry York

Thirteen-year-old Isabel, younger brother Frank, and little sister Olivia are all affected by their mother's suicide. First, their father makes them stay with Aunt Minerva on another part of Guam. For months the siblings try to carry on. Olivia wets the bed, and Isabel covers for her to avoid the wrath of their very religious aunt. When they return home, nothing seems the same. Their father sleeps on the floor where his wife died, refuses to let anyone sit in his wife's chair, and avoids his children. Isabel makes lists, worries, and tries to take care of everyone. Olivia keeps wetting the bed. Frank starts carving "I hate you" on the walls of his room. Their Auntie Bernadette, a healer and midwife, tries to help. Isabel is angry with her friend Roman and puzzled when her friend Teresita decides to run for fiesta queen. Isabel and her friends are starting to mature, and Isabel resents her mother for not being there. Frank progresses to carving on his body and eventually uses a razor blade, carving "I hat-" into his arm before losing consciousness. After Frank is hospitalized, the children begin seeing a counselor. Their father refuses counseling, but he and Isabel begin to communicate, and the family starts to heal. Holt, author of the award-winning My Louisiana Sky (Henry Holt, 1998/VOYA August 1998) and When Zachary Beaver Came to Town (1999/VOYA December 1999), integrates the exotic setting and realistic characters into an easily read yet complex story of a girl growing up, family problems, and suicide. VOYA Codes: 5Q 4P M J S (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; SeniorHigh, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2003, Henry Holt, 308p,

Alan Review