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Sample Critics Reviews:

Fallen Angels

School Library Journal Review: Gr 10 Up A riveting account of the Vietnam War from the perspective of a young black soldier. Richie Perry, a 17 year old from Harlem, arrives in Vietnam in 1967. His first-person narrative provides immediacy to the events and characters revealed. His experiences become readers' experiences, as do his fears and his insight about this war, any war. "We spent another day lying around. It seemed to be what the war was about. Hours of boredom, seconds of terror"(pg x). During one of those terrifying times, a large number of American soldiers are killed. Because they cannot be carried back, the decision is made to burn the bodies. "I was afraid of the dead guys. I saw them, arms limp, faces sometimes twisted in anguish, mostly calm, and I was afraid of them. They were me. We wore the same uniform, were the same height, had the same face. They were me, and they were dead" (pg x). In the end, when Richie is wounded, he returns home. This is a compelling, graphic, necessarily gruesome, and wholly plausible novel. It neither condemns nor glorifies the war but certainly causes readers to think about the events. Other difficult issues, such as race and the condition of the Vietnamese people, are sensitively and realistically incorporated into the novel. The soldiers' language is raw, but appropriate to the characters. This is a book which should be read by both young adults and adults. Maria B. Salvadore, District of Columbia Public Library

Turn of the Screw

James' tale of a governess isolated with two orphan children is both haunting and frightening. There are surprising intimations of physical or sexual abuse, and its ambiguity may leave the reader wondering about the very sanity of the narrator. The children, Flora and Miles, enchant the governess, but spooky apparitions about the estate where they are sequestered convince her that supernatural forces are bent on the children's destruction. Her narration, though, waxes and wanes from convincing to paranoid, leaving much room for horrific interpretation. This intricate invention is a fascinating appeal to the reader's imagination.

The story starts conventionally enough with friends sharing ghost stories 'round the fire on Christmas Eve. One of the guests tells about a governess at a country house plagued by supernatural visitors. But in the hands of Henry James, the master of nuance, this little tale of terror is an exquisite gem of sexual and psychological ambiguity. Only the young governess can see the ghosts; only she suspects that the previous governess and her lover are controlling the two orphaned children (a girl and a boy) for some evil purpose. The household staff don't know what she's talking about, the children are evasive when questioned, and the master of the house (the children's uncle) is absent. Why does the young girl claim not to see a perfectly visible woman standing on the far side of the lake? Are the children being deceptive, or is the governess being paranoid? By leaving the questions unanswered, The Turn of Screw generates spine-tingling anxiety in its mesmerized readers.

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