Hold Me Tight - Hardcover

Grover, Lorie Ann

3.98

158 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689852487 ISBN 13: 9780689852480

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2005

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In Miami, Florida, ten-year-old Essie Sherman has trouble finding the strength and courage to overcome her feelings of fear, guilt, and shame when her father abandons the family, a classmate is kidnapped, and then a family friend molests her.

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About the Author:

Lorie Ann Grover attended the University of Miami. After school she lived with her husband, David, in South Korea, where she spent most of her time painting and writing poetry. The Grovers have two daughters, Emily and Ellen, and live in Sumner, Washington.

The author of Loose Threads, Lorie Ann was inspired to write On Pointe by her own experiences as a teenage member of the Miami Ballet Company.

Review:

An unrelenting string of bad experiences related in brief poems, this is another issue-oriented story by Grover. Essie's father leaves the family abruptly and unexpectedly. Her mother is pregnant and unable to work, so money troubles loom, along with the shock and hurt that Essie, her mother, and her younger brother feel. Then Essie's classmate Chris disappears, kidnapped by a stranger in a pick-up truck. Finally, to add to Essie's misery, fear and self-doubt, an old family friend assaults her. Essie's first-person, present-tense narration offers readers an intimate, if narrow, view of events. Unfortunately, the narrative isn't always convincing-would a contemporary child, for example, truly not be aware of French kissing, at least as a concept? In addition, there are problems with the flow of the text; line breaks often seem arbitrary, rather than emphasizing or enhancing meaning. Essie and her family do find ways to connect with friends, new and old, who help them to cope. Whether readers will hang on long enough to appreciate the positive ending is an open question. (Fiction. 9-12) (Kirkus Reviews)

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