Skin

April 24, 2006
In the riveting opening scene of Vrettos's first novel, narrator Donnie comes home to discover that his 16-year-old sister has "starved herself to death." He then retraces the events that have led up to this point, including his parents' rocky marriage and his own part in driving a wedge between his sister, Karen, and her new friend, Amanda. Trying to get back with what his sister calls his "loser friends," Donnie lets them think that something happened between himself and Amanda while they all spent a vacation in a cabin by the lake. But Karen's self-destructive behavior begins when the gym teacher calls her "curvy," which Karen interprets as "fat." The characterizations are at times uneven. Readers never find out, for instance, why Amanda ultimately forgives Donnie, though his so-called "friends" who quickly tire of the Donnie-Amanda connection comes across as entirely credible. And the author implies the importance of other supporting characters, such as Donnie's Aunt Janice and cousin Bobby, and two twin classmates new to town, without fully developing the relationships between them and the main characters. But Karen's struggle with her disease, and Donnie's own feeling of invisibility come across as piercingly authentic. His vain attempts to secretly put protein powder in Karen's food and water, and to reach out to others are among the book's most powerful scenes. Vrettos is a writer to watch. Ages 12-up.

June 1, 2006
Gr 8 Up -Donnie, 14, has a dysfunctional family. His parents, completely ineffective, constantly rage at one another. His sister, Karen, 16, is anorexic and storms around screaming profanities and lying. Donnie is simply becoming invisible. The outcast at school, he suffers from ear infections and lays low, watching his sister starve herself. He tells of his infatuation with his sister -s best friend and of the humiliation he suffers at school. Readers know from the first page that Donnie finds Karen dead; his recounting of the preceding years is heartbreaking because of his sincere love for the sister who has been his keeper, and because of the anger and betrayal he feels during her physical and emotional descent. Vrettos tends to interject distracting moments of slapstick, and the character development is uneven. The father, in particular, is inexplicably one-dimensional in his failure to communicate with his family other than by manhandling and shouting. The well-meaning mother is simply ineffectual, alternately coddling and lashing out. Their constant arguing becomes background noise that neither moves the plot forward nor illuminates the family -s problems. In an ending that feels hopeful yet too expected and tidy, Donnie finds some actual friends and resolves to leave his family -s problems behind as he pursues his own life. The insight into the protagonist as the -invisible - one in a highly dysfunctional family makes "Skin" worth considering for large collections." -Joyce Adams Burner, Hillcrest Library, Prairie Village, KS"

Copyright 2006 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2006
Gr. 8-11. Like Sonya Sones' " Stop Pretending "(1999), this devastating novel plumbs the anguish of a teen facing a sibling's illness. First-time novelist Vrettos' gloves-off approach is apparent from the opening page, in which 14-year-old Donnie fruitlessly gives CPR to his elder sister, who has starved herself to death. The first-person narrative then recounts the year leading to the tragedy, hinting at how parental strife may have triggered or magnified Karen's anorexia and dissecting how Donnie's emotional withdrawal parallels his sister's wasting. Memorable language ("My sister looks like she could fold inside a paper cup") sharply etches the particulars of Donnie's experience, though at times Vrettos' allusive writing style clouds the significance of certain plot elements, such as Donnie's chronic ear infections and his bond with a rebellious cousin. But the overwhelming alienation Donnie endures will speak to many teens, while his honest perspective will be welcomed by boys--so often the terrified bystanders in anorexia battles--as an alternative to the girl-focused, patient-centered titles typical of fiction about eating disorders.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)