Dawn

November 23, 2009
Brooks (Black Rabbit Summer
) delivers a tense psychological thriller narrated by 15-year-old Dawn, traumatized after an event that prompted her father to disappear two years earlier and left her with an alcoholic, pill-popping mother. A loner, Dawn walks her dogs Jesus and Mary, listens to the Jesus and Mary Chain, and plots how she might kill God (who she blames for her father's transgression and absence) even though “He doesn't exist. Which is why it's going to be kind of difficult to kill him.” The “two badass-iest girls from school” insert themselves into Dawn's life and begin to untangle the web of secrets that keep Dawn and her mother in stasis. Dawn's narration, punctuated with lists and song lyrics, proves compelling as the mystery unravels about her father's crimes, what transpired between Dawn and her father, and what her mother knows about it. Brooks presents the story's dark underpinnings—including substance abuse, drug dealing, and sexual abuse—responsibly and with suspense. Though this hard-hitting novel does not deliver happy endings, acceptance of the truth offers the characters a new beginning. Ages 14–up.

March 1, 2010
Gr 9 Up-Fifteen-year old Dawn Bundy wants to kill God. Her home life makes the reasons for her disillusionment clear. Two years ago, her drug-dealer and ex-con father abruptly abandoned the family after falling under the twin sway of religious fanaticism and substance abuse, and Dawn now serves as caregiver for her mother, who has turned to alcohol and prescription pills to cope with her pain. Dawn seems to have mostly numbed herself to the trauma of her father's disappearance and the events that led up to it, spending her time walking her dogs, Jesus and Mary, and obsessively listening to the band The Jesus and Mary Chain. And somehow Dawn and her mother have held on financially, living on cash left behind by her father. When two tough, popular girls unexpectedly befriend her, she finds herself unavoidably swept up in their efforts to make her over into a "cool girl" like them. She knows they're using her somehow, but she has no idea how sinister their motives really are. Despite her outward passivity, Dawn is bright, strong-minded, feisty, and extremely funnythe kind of character that teens are likely to connect with immediately. The story's dark themesincluding religious fanaticism and sexual abuseare also likely to appeal to eager readers of the "problem novel" genre. Some students may be puzzled by the questions Brooks leaves unanswered, including the ambiguous ending, but this is a provocative and compelling read for fans of suspense thrillers and realistic fiction alike."Meredith Robbins, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School, New York City"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2009
Grades 9-12 Shortly after we meet 15-year-old Dawn, she states her agenda: And tomorrow Im going to start killing God. Its not often a young-adult protagonist is so openly hostile to religion, and it gives Brooks story enough edge to steer us through moments of floundering. Thankfully, Dawns ire at Christianity is given a satisfying origin: two years ago, her wayward father moved from drugs and alcohol to religious zealotry, and it was with that fervor that he committed an atrocity. Dawn has mostly blocked it out and now lives alone with her boozy mom and twin dachshunds, Jesus and Mary. Brooks uses a halting, repetitious, and sometimes poetic prose that shifts into self-interrogation when things get too intense: Q. And the gun? Did you keep the gun? A. Yes. Its a simultaneously gruff and anxious approach that wonderfully depicts Dawns confusion when two bad girls begin to ply her with unsolicited vodka and cajole her with makeovers. Though rushed, the climax is undoubtedly dramatic and pulls together puzzle pieces many readers may not have even noticed.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)