On the Head of a Pin - Hardcover

Miller, Mary Beth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0525477365 ISBN 13: 9780525477365

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile, 2006

Synopsis

When Andy shoots a classmate at a party and refuses to contact the police, Josh is forced to become an accessory to the crime after Andy threatens him and the life of his sister, but after heeding Andy's warning and hiding the body, Josh becomes overridden with guilt--leading him to deal with a difficult decision that will greatly affect all their lives.

About this title

About the Author:

Mary Beth Miller is the author of Aimee, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. She lives in Coudersport,Pennsylvania.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 9 Up-Seventeen-year-old Andy accidentally kills Helen while taunting Josh and Victor with a hunting rifle at a late-night party. Devout Josh is desperate to call 911 but Andy and Victor threaten to kill him and his family if he tells. The three boys bury Helen's body in the woods. Josh is devoured by guilt, fear, and shame; can't eat or sleep; and begins to hear voices. The chapters alternate between Helen's boyfriend, Michael, who had passed out and missed the shooting, and Josh, as Michael struggles with stupefying grief and Josh tries to stay alive and sane. Miller portrays both young men with empathy and love, and their deeply honest voices maintain the narrative. The first and last chapters are Helen's, and her voice, and Michael's memories of her, are equally natural and sympathetic. Taoist proverbs start Michael's chapters and lines of a psalm start Josh's to set the mood, but are confusing and precious as they seem barely connected to characters and events. The novel's numerous side plots and characters-Josh may have caused his sister's crippling accident, Michael must save his younger brother from their father, an old hippie is the only worthy adult in town-are distractions from an otherwise gripping and suspenseful story. Faith, guilt, depression, child abuse, gun control, and life after death are just too many themes for one novel, and the result is sometimes muddled and discomfiting. Though Miller tries to do too much, her beautifully rendered narrators manage to compel readers on to the last page.-Johanna Lewis, New York Public Library
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About this edition

• Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0525477365
• ISBN 13: 9780525477365
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256