Rosie and Skate
Did you ever wonder what happens to all the people who live in a touristy beach town after the summer season is long over? It turns out they have lives, just like the rest of us. Rosie and Skate, a couple of teen-aged sisters living near the boardwalk on the Jersey shore, happen to have things a little more complicated than most. Throughout Beth Ann Bauman’s first YA novel, Rosie and Skate take turns narrating with distinctly different voices what each of their lives is like during the fall and winter of their father’s imprisonment for his actions while on an alcoholic binge.
High school was a pretty long time ago for me, but I think I can remember it being difficult enough without having to attend weekly Alateen meetings, visit my dad in jail, wonder what my mother was like before she died, deal with a distant cousin as my guardian in a dilapidated Victorian house, and re-earn the big cash my dad stole from my sock drawer in order to replenish his whiskey stash. Throw that in with the typical high school shenanigans like first kisses, minimum wage earning jobs, college boyfriends, parties, beer, and a little homework, and the reader wonders how Rosie and Skate manage to survive their high school years with the humor, intelligence, and eventual confidence and independence that you’d hope your daughters would have if you ever ran amuck as a parent.
I would say this is a great book for young teenagers to check out if it weren’t for the sex and drinking (I have a daughter and I’m a HUGE prude in that regard). It’s probably a better book for moms to read; maybe we’ll feel a bit better about things if we believe after years of brainwashing and strong foundation- building that our children will be ok and “figure things out”, despite the sex and drinking. I enjoyed reading Rosie and Skate, I genuinely liked the characters, and I empathized and cheered for them as I watched them deal with some atypical teenage issues and still grow into pretty likable individuals. If you have a teen that picks up this book, please send a comment. I am, as always, curious to know what those crazy kids out there think about books like this.
September 10, 2009 9:16 am 1 Comment
Other Links to this Post
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Subscribe
By Pat Grant, September 18, 2009 @ 7:27 am
My friend’s daughter loved it.