Taking the Ferry Home - Softcover

Pam Conrad

4.07

28 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140348239 ISBN 13: 9780140348231

Publisher: Penguin Books, 1992

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A growing realization of the differences in family life and social standing punctuates the sometimes rocky friendship shared over one summer by Ali and Simone

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From School Library Journal:

Grade 7-12 In alternating chapters, down-to-earth Ali and cool, distant Simone observe themselves and their precarious friendship during one summer when Ali's family rents a cottage behind Simone's family's mansion on Dune Island. Conrad presents each girl's thoughts about herself and her relationships through monologues which reveal the parallels in the two girls' lives. Simone has never come to terms with the tragic death of her beloved nanny, a death she fears that she caused. Her absent father and self-destructive alcoholic mother seem incabable of helping her. She does not care to reach out to Ali, of whom she is mildly contemptuous, seeing her as ordinary and shallow. Ali, much loved by her parents, cannot understand Simone's need to abuse their precarious relationship. During a party, Simone steals off for a sexual interlude with the young man in whom Ali is interested. Events come to a tragic climax when a fire badly burns Simone's mother. One of the consequences of this event is that Simone is finally given the help that she has so desperately needed, and Ali is at last able to recognize that she herself is the wealthy one. Images of home, of promises, of loyalty, and the use of gold and silver imagery to capture Simone's life echo through both girls' accounts of that summer. Conrad's strength here as in Holding Me Here (1986) , Prairie Songs (1987) , and What I Did for Roman (1987, all Harper) is her fine ear for dialogue and her ability to get into the thoughts and feelings of young adults. This book might be used along with Zindel's Pigman (Harper, 1968) and Childress' Rainbow Jordan (Coward, 1981) to help readers to see distinctly different points of view and how they can mesh to create a story. Barbara Chatton, College of Education, University of Wyoming, Laramie
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

About this tale of friendship between two teenage girls of different social backgrounds, PW stated that "Conrad's story resonates with truth and caring." Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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