Green Willow,Used

From School Library JournalGrade 57This book keeps biting off story bits and forgetting to chew. Kit, an adopted child, struggles with the guilt she feels after the death of her sister, their parents' birth child, whom she greatly resented. Her father has since abandoned the family, and Kit is virtually on her own as her mother fails to deal with anything. Stirred through this layer is a mystery that hinges on the past of their landlady, elderly Miss Sorley; her adopted parents; and the ghost of a Japanese gardener. Readers should wonder why Kit's mother invites a teenage boy who appears at their door one rainy night to be a houseguest for an unlimited period, with unlimited privileges. His personal problems form yet another subplot. Every possible loose end is tied up before the last page with a neatness that will strain the most gullible reader's patience. It's possible that fans of Scottish novels will enjoy this one, but the book doesn't develop all that it sets up and the mod Brit slang could be hard to take.Sally Margolis, Deerfield Public Library, ILCopyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.Product DescriptionRetreating into an abandoned Japanese garden to forget about her sister's recent death and her father's absence, Kit, along with her friend Daniel, begins to wonder who the young Japanese man is who repeatedly appears there.From BooklistGr. 68. Elevenyearold Kit Crawford's life is coming apart at the seams. Since her sister Juliet's death more than a year before, Kit has experienced nightmares; her adoptive parents' relationship has become strained; and she and her mother, Laura, who has become remote and depressed, are living in a rented flat. Kit is drawn to an old Japanese garden on the property, and her curiosity increases when she first senses, then sees Kojima, the garden's benevolent ghost. Together with 16yearold Daniel, who is trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his life, Kit begins to restore the garden and unravel a mystery that includes Kojima's relationship to Miss Sorley, their landlady; strange Japanese inscriptions; and even Daniel himself. Dunlop's story is a real pageturner with ghostly appearances, good clues, enough action to suit even reluctant readers, welldeveloped characters whom readers will care about, and a satisfying ending that not only resolves the mystery, but also provides the promise of a better future for Kit, Laura, and Daniel. Chris ShermanFrom Kirkus ReviewsFrom the author of The House on the Hill (1987, ALA Notable), a wellcrafted ghost story. When they move into Maddimoss, an uncomfortable old house full of Japanese artifacts in rural Scotland, Kit and her adoptive mother are still deeply depressed by the aftershocks of Kit's sister Juliet's accidental death a year ago. Her father, who favored his real'' sickly older daughter, is in Australia, apparently for good; Kit, who concealed her jealousy of Juliet, feels unloved and estranged from both parents, and guilty because her distress is misread as grief. When she discovers a Japanese garden on the propertyand sees the evanescent image of its gardener in an old photoher interest is awakened. Kojima's'' story, it is gradually revealed, was intertwined with that of old Miss Sorley, their upstairs landlady, and that of Daniel, a 16yearold rebel staying with them while he sorts out his need to be an artist and his father's conflicting demands. There's a great deal going on hereprejudice between servant and master, the compelling role of art in an artist's life, issues of adoption and belonging, etc.but Dunlop knits it all cleverly together with nary a loose end, reuniting families, making peace, getting careers on track, settling the ghost. Too neat, perhaps, but it makes an entertaining yarn, with convincing characters and plenty of mystery and suspenseful incidents along the way. (Fiction. 1014) Copyright 1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.