Category: Challenges (past)

PUB DATE: December 2005

This is Lori’s third book. Another one that takes place in Montreal. With mention of Verdun and Lachine. Areas that I am familiar with. Verdun is where we have our monthly meet ups at.

Jackie is only two days into her summer vacation when her father comes into her bedroom telling her he is leaving and that he can’t do it anymore. Jackie has seen the clues that things weren’t right with her parents for the past year. There was no conversation between them, her father was doing his own laundry and he was even sleeping on the couch. Jackie asks her mother what happened and all she said is that they grew apart. They have no reason to suspect another woman is involved.

After her father leaves Jackie talks to her best friend, Katie what she thinks but Katie is so wrapped up in packing because she is going to her aunts in Nova Scotia for the summer and tells Jackie that she needs to lighten up and get use to the changes happening. Even her boyfriend tells Jackie the same thing.

Once Jackie’s father is completely moved out of the house her mother has put up ads around the neighborhood offering her services of housekeeping so that they can get some money. I think her mother thinks that her husband won’t give her anything. When her mother is asked to clean a neighbor across the street her mother is excited. The neighbor has a sick daughter, Theresa. Jackie always looks away when she sees Theresa. Its because Jackie doesn’t like being around sick people.

Her mother is happy and tells Jackie she should visit Theresa. Jackie is reluctant at first but then agrees to go over the once to make her mother happy. She begins to realize that Theresa isn’t that bad and apart from being sick she is like every other girl out there.

Jackie sees her dad on Sundays. On the first Sunday she is with him, he introduces her to Nicole. Nicole is much younger then her father and she is tall, thin and pretty compared to her mother. Nicole is a tattoo artist. Every time he drops Jackie back at home he gives her money to give her mother. Jackie is a little upset at first when she realizes how long her father and Nicole have been going out.

When Jackie’s mother tells Jackie that Theresa needs a bone marrow she tells Jackie she is going to get tested this annoys Jackie and the following Sunday she rebels and tells Nicole she wants that tattoo now. If her mother knew about it she would be furious.

Once the tattoo is done she shows Theresa and she loves it. Seeing that Theresa loves the tattoo she asks Nicole about temporary ones and tells Jackie to take what ever she wants and she does. The next day she goes over to see Theresa and tells her to pick out one she wants and that she will put it on. With a tattoo on Theresa’s arm her mother is furious when she walks in and sees it. She is furious because she had no control on the situation. She is always over protecting Theresa. Knowing she did something her mother didn’t approve of Theresa is happy and she seems to be getting better.

Jackie realizes how much of a friend Theresa really is compared to that of Alex and Katie. She is even happy when her mother announces she wants to go back to school to take some nursing courses.

I enjoyed the book and was hoping that Jackie would over come her feelings about being around sick people. For some reason I knew that Jackie and Theresa would end up friends and that Katie would end up on the side.

PUB DATE: July 2005

This is Lori’s second book. It was another book that I enjoyed reading. Through out the book I kept wondering where in Montreal that it could be taking place. Seeing familiar streets and locations is always nice. Its always nice to see tourist spots that you know about in books. I love Mont Royal and being able to over look the city at night time. If you ever come to Montreal you have to do that. Its amazing.

Sandra is seventeen years old and just six months before her mother walked out on Sandra and her father. We don’t find out why she left until the end of the book. Sandra is left to finish school and graduate without anyone there to see it. She doesn’t go to her prom or her graduation ceremony because she knows that her parents won’t be there.

Her father is an alcoholic and unemployed and since his wife left he has been filling his time with drinking. This is all taking a toll on Sandra because not only is he drinking but he never acknowledges her as his daughter. Sandra thinks that her father cold are less that his wife/her mother is gone. She later finds out that he did care so much that he put ads in the local paper looking for her.

Sandra tries to get on with her life and move on without her mother being there. Its once Sandra sleeps with Danny, the next door neighbor that Sandra begins to realize that she misses her mother and wants to find her if she can.

Yurek, her fathers Polish friend, keeps drilling into Sandra that she needs to be more sympathetic towards her father and that he has had a hard life. Her father immigrated to Canada during the war and that he has seen more then he should have seen in his life. Yurek offers Sandra a map marked with spots that her mother could be.

Sandra decides to use the map to find her mother. One of the spots marked on the map is a neighbor across the street from Sandra. Margie knows more then what she lets on to Sandra about. Margie gets Sandra a job at the hotel she works at. While she is there she uncovers things and wonders what they mean such as room 701 and a restaurant in the hotel that staff aren’t allowed into?

Sandra is called into see the boss and is told she is being fired. Sandra doesn’t really care and sets off to make it hard for them to find her uniform. Throwing it in a bin Sandra realizes she isn’t the only one to have done the same thing. She finds a picture, one that she recognizes and realizes that her mother had worked in that same hotel.

Will Sandra be able to find her mother? Is her mother closer then Sandra thinks? How much does Margie know and will she tell Sandra?

If you are interested in the book you can buy it here:
Amazon Canada

PUB DATE: May 2004

This is Lori’s first young adult novel and her very first book published.

THE COVER:

Lori mentioned on her website (http://www.lori-weber.com/) that the cover of this book was revised three times to get it just right. The first one was a cd cover, inside a pair of fingers with a picture of a girl on it. The second one was a girl holding out her hand getting ready to snatch something and finally the third one and the one you see here is the one they chose.

MY REVIEW
This was a quick and fast read. I enjoyed reading it. I have to say that I love reading books that happen within your areaor a area you know about. Although Lori never really says where its happening but you can almost imagine from the description (Tim Horton’s) and by street names (Boulevard St Jean) that is happening right in the area. Is it?

The main character is Kat. She is your typical teen-ager. The only thing different is that she is a shoplifter (not all typical teens are that) and she has it mastered down on how not to get caught. She knows how to act and where to go so that no one suspects what she is doing.

Kat’s parents are clueless to what their daughter is up too. They are so wrapped up in getting the house redone and ready for Kat’s sisters Hannah’s return home to even notice Kat and what she is doing and not doing. Hannah is older then Kat and is currently living in a home for troubled teens. Hannah was sent there after getting caught delivering drugs.

As the parent’s get ready for Hannah’s return Kat isn’t so excited about the return because she thinks that Hannah will be the same as she was when she left. We discover that once that sisters had the ideal sister relationship but then it turned into an abusive one. Kat had the bruises and the ripped clothing to prove it. As the reader we never witnessed the abuse but only heard about it when Kat spoke of it.

Kat only began shoplifting when Hannah was removed from the house. It was only small things that Kat would take. Its only when Kat hears that Hannah will be able to return home that she panics and begins to steal bigger things like a sweater or a music book.

One day at school Jess comments on Kat’s sweater and Kat tells her she stole it. Jess convinces Kat to steal one for her and she does promising that Jess can’t tell anyone but she does and before she knows it Kat is being asked out by a cute guy named John. He wants her to steal some cds. With John waiting at the bus stop for her she begins to take the cds but realizes she has been spotted she panics and drops the cds and runs for the bus. John isn’t happy when she tells him she didn’t get them. He tells her she is useless. When word gets out that the date was a failure John makes up lies telling everyone he had to stop her from stealing.

No longer feeling in control Kat goes to the mall with her friend Anita. While in the store Kat begins to steal anything and everything. Then Anita and her have an argument and Kat looses it. Just as she is about to step outside the store she grabbed by the store security. This is Kat’s worst nightmare. What will her parents do?

Thankfully Hannah is home when the store calls the house and she comes to rescue Kat. Kat has no idea that Hannah is there to pick her up. Hannah talks to Kat on the way home about what it was like for her being a the home with the other kids and the kids who were there. Hannah realized that she was spoiled. She wanted to change and was sorry for what she did to Kat. Kat begins to see her in a new light.

Will she be able to forgive Hannah? What will her parents say when they find out about Kat’s shoplifting?

If you are interested and want to buy the book you can go here: http://www.amazon.com/Klepto-Sidestreets-Lori-Weber/dp/1550288369/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243275704&sr=1-2