When the Phone Rang - Softcover

Mazer, Harry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0590425285 ISBN 13: 9780590425285

Publisher: Scholastic, 1986

Synopsis

When their parents are killed in an airplane crash, three siblings try to keep the family together in the face of overwhelming personal and financial problems.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

This is a solid novel by an author whose works are almost invariably critical and popular successes. It's also, however, very sad, perhaps too disheartening for wide appeal. Mazer strikes a realistic note at the outset, when Billy Keller tells his sister Lori that the phone call to their Manhattan apartment was a mistake. He throws himself into cleaning up the rooms, denying the report of his parents' death in a plane crash. Later, Billy persuades older brother Kevin to take time off from college and remain with him and Lori, making a family, instead of letting relatives separate them. In time, the situation is beset by troubles, financial and otherwise. Lori hangs out with a tough girl and begins shoplifting. Kevin misses his studies and his girl; quarrels erupt among the three. But they gradually find solutions and Billy pins his hopes on the shared discovery that a family is a state of the heart. He even feels "normal" for a moment, although he doubts he will ever be able to trust feelings of security again. It's hard to view the book objectively, to believe that the Kellers accomplish the many, intricate feats that Mazer describes. One would also question that an airline official would telephone news of the parents' fate to a young boy.
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 7-10 After a detached voice on the phone announces the death of their parents in an airplane explosion, the lives of the three Keller children (Lori, 12; Billy, 16; and Kevin, 21) quickly deteriorate into chaos. Well-meaning relatives attempt to split them up, but at Billy's insistence Kevin moves back home so that the three survivors can remain a family unit. Kevin resents moving away from his girlfriend and relinquishing his independence, Lori feels neglected and left out and Billy feels guilty about insisting that the three stay together. Minor issues rapidly escalate into major crises, but the siblings realize just in time how much they mean to each other and how important it is to stay together. Through dialogue and the thoughts and actions of Billy, the narrator, Mazer skillfully conveys the five stages of grieving. He creates credible characters, balances a meaningful theme with a rapidly evolving plot and incorporates splashes of humor while maintaining the established mood and tone. The author's sensitive penetration into adolescent emotions in stressful circumstances makes this a novel with many enduring qualities. Cynthia K. Leibold, Anderson High School, Cincinnati
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Scholastic
• Publication date: 1986
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0590425285
• ISBN 13: 9780590425285
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 181