Froese, Deborah. Out of the fire.Orca, Sumach Press. 282p. c2001. 1-894549-09-0. $7.95. S It's near the end of Dayle's third year in high school and her life seems to be turning around. She is dating Keith, one of most popular boys in school. She has just been accepted into a drama workshop for the summer and is looking forward to working on her acting. But some things are troubling her: the recent death of her grandmother, the growing distance she feels from her best friend Amy, and the unwanted attentions from nice but geeky Stu. It's the Saturday of a long weekend at the end of May. It's also Dayle's 17th birthday and her four-month anniversary with Keith. But instead of an evening together, Keith invites her to a bonfire party with his friends. The rain of the previous days makes it difficult at first to light the bonfire, so someone uses gasoline gasoline or petrol, light, volatile mixture of hydrocarbons for use in the internal-combustion engine and as an organic solvent, obtained primarily by fractional distillation and "cracking" of petroleum, but also obtained from natural gas, by to help it along. An explosion follows and Dayle suffers thermal burns over 45% of her body. From here, from what she labels as day zero, her story begins. What could easily be a cliche--misbehaving teen is punished by being burnt--is saved by Froese's knowledgeable treatment of Dayle's recovery. In a foreword fore·word n. A preface or an introductory note, as for a book, especially by a person other than the author. foreword Noun an introductory statement to a book Noun 1. to the book, Froese says that she spoke to nurses and patients in burn wards in order to better understand burn injuries, treatment and recovery. As a consequence, Dayle's responses to being hospitalized, her descriptions of pain from the burns and even more pain from the treatments that are supposed to help her, all ring true. For example, she says "Drugs only blurred blur v. blurred, blur·ring, blurs v.tr. 1. To make indistinct and hazy in outline or appearance; obscure. 2. To smear or stain; smudge. 3. the pain a little, shifting it from a direct assault into a slightly more skewed skewed curve of a usually unimodal distribution with one tail drawn out more than the other and the median will lie above or below the mean. skewed Epidemiology adjective Referring to an asymmetrical distribution of a population or of data echo that made me feel as though my body and brain had drifted apart." But Dayle's concerns are not only physical. She is anxious about her future-the scarring scar 1 n. 1. A mark left on the skin after a surface injury or wound has healed. 2. A lingering sign of damage or injury, either mental or physical: and Keith's reaction to it haunt haunt v. haunt·ed, haunt·ing, haunts v.tr. 1. To inhabit, visit, or appear to in the form of a ghost or other supernatural being. 2. her. She is also angry at Pete, the boy who lit the fire and caused the explosion. On top of it all she feels like she is being punished for her behavior, for not protecting Amy and Stu from the nasty comments of her new friends, and for taking her mother's van without permission. Froese captures this mixture of emotional and physical turmoil with an honest realism that makes this book mesmerizing mes·mer·ize tr.v. mes·mer·ized, mes·mer·iz·ing, mes·mer·iz·es 1. To spellbind; enthrall: "He could mesmerize an audience by the sheer force of his presence" yet at times difficult to read. This novel will appeal to older teens and to anyone who has ever been hospitalized. It is a sympathetic yet realistic portrayal of injury and recovery. Debra Mitts Smith, Woodstock, IL |
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