Alone at Ninety Foot

by Katherine Holubitsky

Overview

Fourteen-year-old Pamela Collins is struggling to come to terms with her mother's death.

Somewhat shy, Pamela is thoughtful, full of passion, often funny, and sometimes tearful as she learns to cope with the emotional overload the tragedy has brought to her life. Her favourite things include walking alone in Lynn Canyon Park, the art of Emily Carr, and a certain boy with a "wicked grin." At the moment she dislikes her English teacher, shopping, and being singled out for special treatment because of her motherís death. Pamela is tall and slim and mostly uncomfortable with her rapidly changing body. She is unsure of herself and unsure of the loyalty of her friends.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781554695706
Publisher:	Orca Book Publishers
Publication date:	01/01/2001
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
Lexile:	600L (what's this?)
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Katherine Holubitsky's first novel, Alone at Ninety Foot, (Orca Book Publishers), won the CLA Book of the Year for Young Adults and the IODE Violet Downey Book Award. She has also written Last Summer in Agatha, The Hippie House and The Mountain that Walked, all published by Orca. Katherine lives in Edmonton, Alberta.

Read an Excerpt

Yes, that is the problem. That's the only problem. I want my mom back. I want her to knock at my bedroom door and come walking in. I want her to tell me to get my homework done. I want to go with her for a walk in the canyon, up the old logging trails where every step on the thick forest floor is a new adventure. Sometimes I get so, so mad at her for doing this to me.

Editorial Reviews

Holubitsky's debut novel draws an impressively lifelike portrait of a 14-year-old Canadian girl whose mother has committed suicide several years earlier. The title refers to the canyon where Pamela, the narrator, and her mother took frequent walks--and where her mother took her own life; there Pamela struggles with complicated emotions. As Pamela copes with adolescence (her reactions to the changes in her body, her friendships, her rapport with boys are particularly well observed), she feels especially alone. Yet despite her heroine's anguish, Holubitsky adds dollops of realistic comic relief, notably in Pamela's interactions with her father's bumbling but big-hearted girlfriend. The author ends her poignant story on a hopeful note, as Pamela begins to "find things," like her father's "thunderous, side-splitting" laughter, that she had forgotten about ("All of these things I've been finding disappeared with Mom"). Some bits are pat (e.g., a redemptive romance with an exceptionally mature, exceptionally good-looking guy), but most of this novel feels authentic and insightful. Ages 12-16. (Sept.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 7-9-Pamela Collins, 14, lives with her father and she spends a lot of time alone at Lynn Canyon Park. Little by little, readers learn why. Last year, following the death of her baby sister, her mother jumped from a bridge in the canyon. Pamela's father deals with his wife's death by avoiding the subject and "getting on" with his life. Pamela, on the other hand, haunts the park, broods over her mother's suicide, and tries to ignore the insensitivity of some of her classmates and the overprotectiveness of others. Holubitsky portrays both reactions effectively and convincingly, along with the sometimes clumsy attempts of friends and relatives to comfort the bereaved. Although the plot is somewhat formulaic-there is the requisite confrontation with the obnoxious classmate, the sharing of tears and grief with her previously uncommunicative father, and the tidy resolution at the end of the book-it might be bibliotherapeutic for readers attempting to deal with the death of a parent. It is also interesting and short enough to recommend to reluctant readers.-Marlyn K. Roberts, Codman Square Library, Dorchester, MA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

"This is a YA novel to watch come awards time."

"The subject is dark, of course, but Holubitsky writes Pam's diary entries with a rollicking lightness 12- to 16-year-olds will relish."

The Georgia Staight

"Holubitsky deftly captures the clumsy sulkiness that hides adolescent heartbreak."

"This is a story that manages to avoid traps of obvious confessionality while still compellingly revealing the pain and labor of adjustment to loss."

Center for Children's Books

"Sometimes funny, sometimes tragic and always powerful."

Resource Links

"A novel whose strength comes from the way in which it leads us to recognize the contemporary world of the teen herd while it applauds those who are determinedly their own people."

Edmonton Journal

"Deals with complex issues with great honesty; it ends with resolutions that answer our questions while leaving the door open for more possibilities. All in all, a wonderful book."

The Observer