The Kid Table

September 1, 2010

Ingrid Bell, one of six mostly teenage cousins in a charmingly dysfunctional family, is a psychopath, according to oldest cousin Brianne. Or perhaps it's just part of the jockeying for position that happens around the Kid Table. Ingrid's psychopathy (or calculated charm and a few dead pets?) provides the thread through a particularly tumultuous year as the family unravels. Ingrid's first-person narration, especially in those moments when her calm makes the reader wonder if she is a psychopath, is fantastic, and the trials and tribulations manage to be both funny and sad (adult cousin Tish drinks too much, teen cousin Cricket has anorexia, Ingrid's mother busily collects memories for her scrapbook but forgets to live and Ingrid's in love with Brianne's boyfriend). The episodic structure (a handful of chapters at major events throughout the year from not-Jewish Uncle Kurt's post-adultery Bar Mitzvah to a wedding) serves as a metaphor for the family: a whole made of several disparate parts with some unanswered questions. Weirdly whimsical, adult author Seigel's (Like the Red Panda, 2004) YA debut delights. (Fiction. 14 & up)

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November 1, 2010

Gr 9 Up- The Kid Table chronicles the lives of 16-year-old Ingrid Bell, her five teenage cousins and kid-table companions, and their family. First, Ingrid's cousin Brianne, a sophomore psychology major at Pepperdine, knocks Ingrid out of her spot as "most charming" by making a convincing argument that Ingrid is a psychopath. Then, at her Uncle Kurt's bar mitzvah, Brianne successfully graduates from the kid table, leaving the five remaining cousins to ponder her new status while dealing with being left behind. While Ingrid rationalizes her nonemotional responses, Seigel does not do much to deter readers from questioning Brianne's diagnosis. Ingrid's lack of empathy and morality are showcased especially when she laughs at Uncle Kurt's heartfelt bar-mitzvah speech, steals Aunt Brit's cell phone, gets sober Aunt Tish drunk and off the wagon, and makes out with Brianne's boyfriend, Trevor. Her desire to be liked and her feelings for Trevor take precedence over her cousins' problems, which include Cricket's eating disorder, Dom's strong desire to have someone else out him to the family, and Micah's identity crisis. In spite of Ingrid's psychopathic tendencies, her voice is bold, biting, and incredibly insightful. Seigel lightens some dramatic events with well-played humor, and the plot evolves over the course of five family events. This first YA novel is worth purchasing.-Adrienne L. Strock, Maricopa County Library District, AZ

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