Katherine Holubitsky

1999’s CLA Young Adult Canadian Book Award winner Alone at Ninety Foot, is a bitter-sweet story of 14-year-old Pamela who struggles to make sense of her mother’s suicide, her father’s loneliness, and her own adolescent emotional confusion amidst the backdrop of Ninety Foot, the gorge at Lynn Canyon Creek Park. Author Holubitsky gives Pamela an authentic introspective voice, filled with the insecurity, longing, and selfishness that plagues young people from puberty and into the adult show more life. The gorge is a powerful literal and metaphorical stand-in in for the immensity of life that threatens to knock us over at a young age and Holubitsky’s writing conveys this well. Alone at Ninety Foot is real without being overdramatic. Friends, loss, first love, disappointment, grief, and suicide flow out of this excellent novel for young teens. Other notable awards: IODE Violet Downey Book Award Winner; Best Book for Young Adults-American Library Association; New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age; Best Books for Young Adults-teacher Librarian Magazine. Also recommend B. Brenna’s Wild Orchid (2006). show less

Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com

TWEAKED is a powerful book about addiction, its wide-ranging effects, and the toll it takes on all those it touches.

Gordie's older brother is addicted to crystal meth. He has watched his brother go from a normal teen to a strung-out junkie. At first, Gordie was the only one in the family to recognize the symptoms, but soon everyone had fallen victim to Chase's habit.

Gordie watched as Chase skipped class to get high. Then his show more grades tanked and he dropped out. He sold or pawned everything he had, and then he started stealing from their parents and "borrowing" from Gordie. When crimes outside the family ended in Chase's arrest, things began to sink in for their parents.

Now the unthinkable has happened. Chase brutally attacks a meter reader - a young man with a wife and child. The man is in intensive care hooked up to machines. If he dies, Chase will be charged with murder. All Gordie can hope is that this will turn things around for Chase. Court-ordered detox should help him clean up his act so he can return to school and some sort of normal life.

But that's not the story with crystal meth. Addiction is often too powerful to beat.

TWEAKED is a hard-hitting story of the power of a very popular drug. Katherine Holubitsky tells a truthful and emotional story. Readers will sympathize with Gordie and marvel that he can hold on to his own values as he watches his brother self-destruct. Although the novel is filled with harsh details, Holubitsky is able to communicate her story without using the vulgar street language of the drug scene. By doing so, younger readers, even some tweens, could read and learn from this powerful book. show less

If you have ever had to deal with a friend or family member who suffers from an addiction, this book might seem very familiar to you. The prominent theme of drug addiction and its negative (and devastating) affects on the family is felt throughout the book. Gordie has to deal with a lot as the brother of an addict - it is amazing he turns out as well as he does. This book might appeal to teen readers, those who have faced addiction, and those who are currently dealing with the aftermath of show more losing a sibling to addiction. Full of heartache, drama, suspense and despair, this book packs a lot into 179 pages. show less

The prose in this book is very good and honest without being melodramatic. I would definitely recommend it.