Picture Perfect by Elaine Marie Alphin, Carolrhoda Books, 2003
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Ian Slater is a normal kid who has friends, hangs out, and attends school. Ian has a best friend named Teddy who is in minor words, like a brother to him. Ian and Teddy were supposed to take pictures of Redwood trees as they would on a typical day, but Teddy doesn't show. Has he gone in search of the father he's never met, or has something terrible happened to him? Taking place in the small town of Sawville, Ian has to put clues together and use his common knowledge to find Teddy before it's too late.
"Alphin deftly intensifies both the internal and external pressures on Ian," says Kirkus. "Ranging through time, the novel, told in first person by an increasingly distraught protagonist, zips along. Disturbing, engrossing, and thought-provoking."
I admired Alphin's work, and plan on reading other pieces by her. She showed me the struggles that I may await through my teenage life and although it frightens me a bit, I am ready to face what's coming my way. I greatly enjoyed the whole plot and the steps Ian took to find Teddy. Each clue let you think he'd find Teddy, but it would make me mad because I would always want to know when he'd find Teddy. The book left me suspicious very frequently through this. Alphin's writing gives me strength and preparation and I can't almost taste what her next book will be like.
In the story, Elaine Marie Alphin lets the reader access Ian's mind. She exhibits Ian's irritation in Luke talking to Ian and she shows how wondrous Ian gets when he has dreams about his pal, Teddy. By using this method, Alphin makes a crystal-clear distinction in Ian's personality.
Paul Langan, writer of Bluford Series novel Search For Safety, accomplishes a similar thing. He lets the reader enter the mind of Ben McKee, a student at Bluford High School of Detroit. He displays a negative thought, for Ben wants his mother's abusive lover, Larry. out of the house.
"I wait, half afraid he'll refuse to leave, but I hear only silence. That's all I should be hearing, right? Only crazy people hear voices." This shows that Ian is irritated and is confounded by the fact that he hears strange voices throughout his head. This can be found on page 61 of the chapter searching.
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this book seems to be like a great book to read. it seems like not a everyday novel i would go and pick up of the shelf and auto maticall start reading but it dose seem to have a great plot that will be able to keep the rader tuned in...maybe i will give the book a try.
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