Walde, Christine. The candy darlings.

WALDE, Christine. The candy darlings. Houghton Mifflin, Graphia. 310p. c2006. 0-618-58969-4. $8.99. SA

In this coming-of-age story, two young girls meet in a new school. One's mother has just died and her father has moved to a new town to try to start life over. The other lives with her mother and her mother's cousin Rose, although these characters are seldom if ever seen. Neither tells the truth about her own life to her new friend or even to herself. The narrator is afraid to eat candy, having watched what she was told was sugar water dripping into her dying mother's arm, while the other only eats candy. Soon candy and the stories they tell each other become the bond that protects them from the tribulations of dealing with the clique of three popular girls who pick on them, the conflicting feelings they have for each other, other classmates. As the author says of Megan, "She turned the world into one of stories." The narrator needs these stories to help her through her difficult adjustments to a new school, a developing body, and a life without her mother. The language in the stories varies from magical and imaginative to graphic, and reflects the angst of these two young outcasts who find something in each other that both need. Filled with interesting characters, both young and old. Nola Theiss, Sanibel, FL

S--Recommended for senior high school students.

A--Recommended for advanced students and adults. This code will help librarians and teachers working in high schools were there are honors and advanced placement students. This also will help extend KLIATT'S usefulness in public libraries.