Whisper

May 10, 2010
Like a paranormal version of The Breakfast Club, Kitanidis's first novel is a fairy tale in which the pretty, popular girl is rescued from delusion by the misfits she's been trying to avoid. Joy Stefani has a gift: she can "Hear" the wishes of others. It's a trait shared by her mother and her older sister, Jessica, but that's all the sisters have in common. Jessica (or, as Joy refers to her, "Icka") is destructive and full of rage, whereas Joy moves easily through the world. But everything changes after Joy's 15th birthday, when the wistful, superficial wishes she has heard during childhood suddenly turn deeper, darker, and hurtful. Only Jessica seems to understand what is different—and she's gone missing. Joy's narrative voice is appealing, but this is an unsubtle, schematic fable in which adults and peers alike are revealed to be hypocrites and any form of ambiguity or compromise must be a lie. Joy's mother and sister are archetypes and opposites, and even when their poles are reversed, they remain just as extreme. Ages 12–up.