Available:*
Library | Material Type | Item Barcode | Shelf Number | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Avon-Washington Township Public Library | Teen Fiction Book Hardback | 120791000390774 | ROSIE 1998 T COO | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Avon-Washington Township Public Library | Teen Fiction Book Paperback | 120791003095081 | ROSIE 1998 T COO | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Three teenagers' lives are changed forever when they thoughtlessly steal a stop sign from a dangerous intersection and a young mother is killed in an automobile accident there.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 7 Up-Disinterested driver's ed teacher Mr. Fielding views his class as indistinguishable brainless clones. In order to keep them straight, he distributes name tags, and then calls out three lucky participants each day to go out on the road. Of course, the students are way ahead of him, and just exchange name tags whenever anyone wants a chance behind the wheel. Remy loves to drive, and she constantly trades tags with other girls. One night, she and a perspective love interest, Morgan, accept a class challenge to collect road signs, recruiting an older boy to drive. The expedition goes without a hitch- until they learn that a young mother has been killed at the intersection from which they have stolen a stop sign. The whole community is up in arms, and the grieving widower appears on TV with his son, offering a reward for information leading to the arrest of the vandals. Remy and Morgan are filled with remorse and guilt as their lives are turned upside down. Mr. Fielding, in a rare act of awareness, nearly accuses a different student of the crime because of the switched name tags. Both young people realize that they have to take responsibility for their actions and confess. Cooney uses her familiar fast-paced, conversational style throughout the novel. As the action intensifies, the sentences get shorter and more pointed. This stylistic device intensifies the drama and underlines the horror of the situation. Great literature this is not. However, the simple plot, told from Remy and Morgan's alternating viewpoints, is in no way simplistic, as it takes on sensitive issues and deals with them in a compelling manner. The overriding tension and the theme of an innocent prank backfiring into tragedy will attract teens and heighten the book's appeal.-Susan R. Farber, Chappaqua Library, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
A wrenching, breathlessly paced plot and an adrenaline-charged romance make Cooney's ( The Face on the Milk Carton ) latest novel nearly impossible to put down. To high school junior Remy, a late-night sign-stealing expedition seems like an especially thrilling (and only vaguely illegal) way to pursue the boy she has a crush on, good-looking Morgan Campbell. Intoxicated by their feelings for each other, neither Remy nor Morgan pays much attention when thuggish Nickie decides to take a stop sign from a poorly lit intersection. Later that night, a young mother is killed when she is hit by a truck at the very same intersection--a direct consequence of the teens' prank. Remy, Morgan and Nickie have left no evidence to implicate themselves; while Nickie is glad to evade responsibility, Remy and Morgan must somehow come to terms with the tragedy they have caused. Set against a richly imagined background of relentlessly ordinary events--Thanksgiving festivities, Christmas shopping at the mall--Remy and Morgan's tortured inner searchings are all the more harrowing. Given Cooney's vigorous, evocative prose and her carefully individuated characters, this modern-day morality tale is as convincing as it is irresistible. Ages 12-up. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Remy and Morgan, students in a high-school driver's education class, lightheartedly remove a street stop sign -- and inadvertently cause a young mother's death. The teenagers cope realistically with guilt and anxiety while at the same time, their romance unfolds. The uneven pace of the novel, furthered by a stereotypical cast of adults, undermines the story. From HORN BOOK 1994, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
``If the parents only knew'' is the theme of this story of teenagers caught in the tragic results of a thoughtless prank. Remy Marland and Morgan Campbell are attracted to each other in Mr. Fielding's driver's-ed class, where the teacher is so oblivious and disinterested that the students can swap identities to satisfy their needs to be more or less frequently behind the wheel. Remy and Morgan then remove a stop sign, which results in a fatal accident that kills a young mother. Guilt-ridden and afraid of the consequences to themselves and their families, they finally reveal their secret and must face the victim's husband and child. Cooney relies on psychological tension rather than on plot to capture her readers and is less successful here than in the more gripping The Face on the Milk Carton (1990). The story is told alternately from Remy's and Morgan's points of view in prose that is often too stylized; but the anguish of the characters, both teens and adults, is compelling. Remy's troublesome brother, Mac, is the hero here as he articulates the need for parents to love their children unconditionally. Some unresolved issues yield an unsettling ending, but teens will identify with the ``it could happen to me'' aspect of the story. (Fiction. 12+)
Booklist Review
Gr. 7-12. Here's a novel that really sneaks up on you. The dust jacket calls to mind paperback horror fiction, but the teenagers in this provocative investigation of moral responsibility don't turn into vampires or go berserk and attack their classmates. They do, however, cause a horrible death. Driver's ed class is pretty much of a joke. Mr. Fielding zones out when he's in the school car, and he's never sure who's behind the wheel. Even so, Remy Marland thinks driver's ed is great. It gives her a chance to hone her driving skills (by taking other people's turns) and to moon over Morgan Campbell. Morgan also likes driver's ed. For him, it's the perfect place to read car magazines, look at girls, and moon back. When the two agree to a nighttime escapade to rip off some street signs, their hormones and the thrill of the risk get in the way of their judgment. The subsequent death of a young woman, killed at an intersection from which they stole a stop sign, profoundly tests their feelings for one another and their ties with their families. The substance of the novel develops rather slowly. It's prefaced by some wry, irresistible scenes that replicate the exquisite tortures of high-school crushes while setting the stage for the tragedy. Then, with graceful ease, Cooney slips back and forth from Remy to Morgan, to give readers a glimpse of the different ways the teenagers handle their nightmarish burden and their families'--especially their mothers'--reactions. A poignant, realistic novel, with nicely drawn characters and a vintage metaphor that's actually refreshing: a driver's license (not first sex) is the "ticket out of childhood." ~--Stephanie Zvirin