The Watcher - Hardcover

Howe, James; Imershien, Betsy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689801866 ISBN 13: 9780689801860

Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 1997

Synopsis

A mysterious girl, dubbed The Watcher, spins tales of rescue from her lonely perch above the beach. She closely observes the actions of two people she has never met: a fourteen-year-old boy whose family seems perfect and a handsome eighteen-year-old lifeguard. Their lives become intertwined -- and their troubling truths are revealed.

About this title

About the Author

James Howe is the author of more than ninety books for young readers. Bunnicula, coauthored by his late wife Deborah and published in 1979, is considered a modern classic of children’s literature. The author has written six highly popular sequels, along with the spinoff series Tales from the House of Bunnicula and Bunnicula and Friends. Among his other books are picture books such as Horace and Morris but Mostly Dolores and beginning reader series that include the Pinky and Rex and Houndsley and Catina books. He has also written for older readers. The Misfits, published in 2001, inspired the nationwide antibullying initiative No Name-Calling Week, as well as three sequels, Totally Joe, Addie on the Inside, and Also Known as Elvis. A common theme in James Howe’s books from preschool through teens is the acceptance of difference and being true to oneself. Visit him online at JamesHowe.com.

Reviews

Grade 7-9. Not knowing her name, the other people on the beach call her the Watcher. She brings her notebook to the same spot each day, and she writes and she watches. She watches Chris, the lifeguard. She watches Evan, his sister Callie, and their parents. And she writes. Margaret weaves herself, and those she watches, into a fantasy in which an angel rescues a lonely girl from the clutches of a beast, and then returns the girl to her long-lost royal family. But Margaret's fairy tale is in reality a silent prayer for rescue from her real-life beast, a father who abuses her when she's "been bad." Her fairy-tale rescue becomes reality as Chris and Evan unwittingly witness the abuse and hear her painful, reluctant admission, "My father hurts me." Howe deftly alternates the story Margaret writes with chapters about Chris and Evan and his family in the same way that fantasy and reality intermingle in Margaret's life. As readers come to the frightening realization of what the fairy tale means, they are hurtled toward a gripping scene in which Margaret's father repeatedly holds her head under water. The Watcher is a novel so powerful that even after the last page is read, and Margaret is mercifully saved, her story may be reflected upon again and again.?Leigh Ann Jones, Carroll Middle School, Southlake, TX
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A sensitively written novel about families, abuse, and the power of words from Howe (Pinky and Rex and the Bully, 1996, etc.). Chris is a golden young man: lifeguard at a beach on Long Island, just out of high school, and trying to determine what he should do next. Evan is a younger teen, caring for his little sister, Callie, and admiring Chris. Both boys notice that watching them is a silent girl, who sits on the steps looking out at the beach each day, and writing in her notebook. Her name is Margaret, and she is composing a fairy tale about her life, with Chris as her angel and Evan as her adoring brother, rescuing her from the Beast--her abusive father. Unfolding delicately, this summer-long dance also reveals the loss in Chris's family and the struggle of Evan's parents to stay together. Howe's portrayal gains strength through the goodness of the characters and the honesty of the details of their lives. Evan is deeply devoted to his little sister and his parents, even as he is tempted by a gang of ``Gap-ad Huckleberry Finns''; Chris knows that to find himself, he needs to solve the riddle of his family's loss; and Margaret, who has survived through myth and isolation, rescues herself by finding the words to say what her father does to her. Emotionally compelling to a heart-stopping conclusion. (Fiction. 12+) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Gr. 8-12. Although Howe has certainly dealt with dark subject matter before--alcoholism, for example--he's much better known for his light, clever middle-grade fiction and picture books. Consequently, this somber, ambitious novel (about child abuse) for teens is likely to be a bit of a surprise. Howe's fictional framework is also unusual. It's a murky, convoluted narrative comprising the viewpoints of three characters: Evan, whose summer at the beach is shadowed by fears of his parents' divorcing; lifeguard Chris, struggling to find his place in a family haunted by death and guilt; and a solitary teenage girl who watches and spins a fantasy around herself and the two young men. The structure is awkward at times, and the fantasy heavy-handed. Still, the atmospherics and the melodramatics are seductive enough to keep reader curiosity high until the horrific climax, when the lives of the three troubled teens come together at last. Not a first purchase, but there's still a readership out there. Stephanie Zvirin

Edition details

• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0689801866
• ISBN 13: 9780689801860
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 184