Season of Ice

April 1, 2008
Gr 7 Up-Genesis Sommer, 17, lives with her father, stepmother, and twin half brothers in a town on Moosehead Lake in northern Maine. Her world turns upside down on a stormy November day when her father ventures out on the lake to repair a dock and doesn't return. The rescue team finds his boat, but soon the reality sets in that the mission has become a retrieval operation. Then the lake freezes and a period of terrible waiting begins. Genesis quits school and goes to work in order to help support the family, and life takes on an almost surreal aspect. The one thing that holds meaning for her is ice-car racing, an activity she shared with her father. When she wins her first major competition, she goes in search of information about her dad and begins to accept his death, allowing herself to feel the emotions that she had been denying over several weeks. Genesis comes to realize that she really did not know her father, and the same can be said for her stepmother, brothers, and best friend. Her slow climb back to the world of the living begins with the answers to many questions and with self-discovery. This well-written, thought-provoking novel will ring true even for those who have not lost someone close. It is a soul-searching quest that makes readers think about what is important and the steps needed to take charge of one's life. A worthwhile purchase for most collections."Donna Rosenblum, Floral Park Memorial High School, NY"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2008
The wild winter setting of northern Maine is the excitingbackdrop for this story of Genesis, 17, who is encouraged by her beloved dad to become a champion ice-car racer. Then Dad disappears in a storm; his boat isempty, and until the ice melts in the spring, theres no way to find his body. That meansthe family cant collect hislife insurance, so Gen drops out of school to wait tables and help her distant stepmom and her stepbrothers.Along with her raging sorrow, Gen must deal witha disturbing small-town rumor: Dad has run off somewhere with another woman. Les Becquets exploration of the stages of grief goes on too long; theres toomuch detail aboutanger and denial beforeGen finds acomforting romance. But some of the action is thrilling, especially when Gen speeds through the ice and fog in a snowmobile and drives a truck uplonely dangerous hills, searching for closure and for a sense of her own true self.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)