Counting Backwards

September 24, 2012
Lascarso, in her debut novel, shows a keen understanding of residential treatment facilities and the mindsets of the teenagers admitted to them. After stealing a car and running away from home, Taylor (whose family has Seminole origins) lands in Sunny Meadows, a "therapeutic boarding school." From day one, her focus is on getting out. Her refusal to participate in the program, heated outbursts, and failed escapes earn her notoriety among her peers, who begin to keep their distance. Only two residentsâMargo, Taylor's assigned mentor; and mature, soft-spoken AJâexpress a desire to understand who she really is. Finally, Taylor accepts that her best bet for dismissal from the facility comes through cooperation rather than defiance, and she opens up about her alcoholic mother and domineering father. Although some plot details (like the ease with which Taylor obtains forbidden keys) are improbable, and the protagonist's healing process follows a predictable arc, Taylor is a layered character. Readers initially put off by her stubbornness and dishonesty will soften as details of her painful childhood and resulting vulnerabilities come to light. Ages 14âup. Agent: Caryn Wiseman, Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

July 1, 2012
A troubled teen responds to therapy despite herself. When she first arrives at Sunny Meadows, a "therapeutic boarding school" her controlling, distant father has found for her, all Taylor wants to do is escape. She is on probation for stealing a car, an impulsive act carried out to escape from life with her dysfunctional, alcoholic mother. She quickly draws the unwanted attention of a group of mean girls and the friendship of the effervescent Margo, a former child actress. She also "meets" a boy who talks to her through an air duct (that apparently connects their two rooms and no others) and arranges platonic midnight meetings thanks to his bunch of illicitly reproduced keys. She is truculent in therapy, focusing only on her plan to get out. The air-duct conversations are ludicrously unbelievable, carried out as they are with her door open, and her success at creating a mold for a key is equally incredible. Despite this, readers are likely to sympathize enough with Taylor to read past these flaws and root for her as she reluctantly embraces rehabilitation. Taylor's character arc will surprise nobody, least of all Dr. Deb, her therapist. That process--in which grudging compliance becomes acceptance--is, if a little textbook, satisfyingly believable. Despite a few bumps in the road, a hopeful model for growth through therapy. (Fiction. 14 & up)

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September 1, 2012

Gr 9 Up-After she steals a car to run away from her alcoholic mother and because she doesn't want to live with her emotionally distant father, Taylor Truwell lands at a maximum-security boarding school in Georgia. Intent on escaping from Sunny Meadows, she has a student, A.J., copy a car key she molded during her automotive shop class. Taylor uses and lies to her closest friends in order to plot her break out. Her plans are foiled when A.J. informs the school "safeties," and she realizes that she must pretend to be working toward rehabilitation in order to be released. The resilient teen has to deal with strict rules, a group of bullies, and her parents. Eventually, she listens to her friends' and father's advice and decides to "Play their game." Her therapist places her in a gardening therapy program with A.J. where she is forced to resolve her conflicts with him. Taylor works on repairing herself and her relationships with friends and her father and is released from Sunny Meadows. Readers may find Lascarso's debut to be a little underwhelming and predictable; however, libraries with insatiable problem-novel readers will want to add this title to their collection. Martha Brooks's True Confessions of a Heartless Girl (Farrar, 2003) is a good alternative for those looking for a novel starring a female car thief who tries to escape reality.-Adrienne L. Strock, Maricopa County Library District, AZ

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