Reviewer: Amy Lignor
Title: On the Loose - 2nd Katie Parker Production
Author: Jenny B. Jones
Publisher: THINK, an imprint of NavPress
ISBN: 978-1-60006-115-8
Release Date: September 2007
Genre/Sub-genre: Young Adult Fiction
Year/Setting: Present Day/In Between, USA
Overall Rating: 3.5 (for adults); 4.5 (for Teens)
Sexual Content Rating: None
Language (Profanity/Slang) Content Rating: None/Mild
Violent Content Rating: None/Negligible
Jenny's Website:
www.jennybjones.com/index.html
This book gives new meaning to the words, when it rains, it pours. Katie Parker comes from a home where mom was dealing drugs. She is finally getting used to a new foster family, adjusting to the fact that there are new rules that she has to abide by in order to adjust to the "family" lifestyle. Her foster father is James Scott – a wonderful character. He is a reverend who is obsessed by entertainment television, especially American Idol. Like most of us, he screams at the TV to let them know that his dog is a better singer than the contestants. Her foster mother is Millie Scott. She is a perfectionist who does everything within her power to make sure that the family unit remains happy, healthy and, most importantly, together. They are a wonderful, loving couple, who accept and nurture Katie as she injects her own brand of humor into the household.
When a tornado rips through the town, (which is a scene so creatively written that you will actually look out your window and make sure a twister is not coming at you while you’re reading), the family begins its real ‘test’ together. The trip to the hospital for foster mother, Millie, after the horrible storm, unfortunately reveals another problem. A lump is found and she is diagnosed with cancer. Add to this tragedy the fact that Katie is accused of stealing in school AND loses the chance to be Cinderella in the school play – and you have a very dramatic storyline. Now, here is where the author could have gone south. But, thankfully, she didn’t. This is not a hard-core drama that will leave your heart breaking and begging to curl up in a chair with a box of Oreos to cry your eyes out. No…this story is warm, loving, poignant – in a nutshell, fantastic for teenagers.
My favorite character is the foster grandmother, Maxine. This is the grandmother that everyone secretly wants. She has a boyfriend named Sam that she’s ‘keeping on the sly’; she snores like a drunken sailor on shore leave; she mixes prune juice and egg whites together for breakfast; doesn’t make her bed; and plays her music louder than the teenagers do. She, in a word, is hip, and she literally steals the chapters that she’s in right out from under any of the other characters.
Let your teenage daughter read this. And, to the author, all I can say is…Well Done!
Amy
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