Gr 5-8 It's almost summer and 11-year-old Annie Morgan has a small list of things she hopes to accomplish during her vacation: grow tall, have an adventure, and meet her father. Sadly, the last wish is impossible given her father's death in a brutal fight many years before. Annie and her younger brother, Rew, live with their caring, but mentally unstable, grandmother in the backwoods of Sunshine. The siblings pass the time in the "Zebra Forest" of birches and oaks behind their house, weaving elaborate fantasies of their dad as a pirate or secret agent. When a prison escapee barges into their house and holds them hostage, the siblings are shocked to discover that the interloper is their presumed-dead father, Andrew Snow. Gran's fragile state renders her incapable of helping the children process this revelation. Rew lashes out against his captor, refusing to believe that this man is his dad. Annie is torn between siding with her brother and her desire to know their father. Gewirtz veers away from melodrama, deftly capturing nuances of family dynamics in spare prose. Another notable element is the thematic parallel with Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island , which the children read throughout the story. Despite Zebra Forest' s slow start, audiences will appreciate this novel's multilayered characters and touching message of hope and forgiveness.— Lalitha Nataraj, Escondido Public Library, CA

Annie B. and Rew live with their grandma in a cluttered house that backs up on a forest of silent paper-bark trees. Gran has good days and bad days, and Annie and Rew know how to manage her and keep social services at bay. One stormy night, an escaped convict shows up, breaks in, and throws their lives into a tailspin. The convict, Andrew Snow, is their father though Gran always said he had been killed d he moves in, holding his own family hostage. Each handles the situation in his or her own way. Gran retreats, Rew refuses to deal, and Annie walks a tightrope of reconciliation. Gewirtz channels Annie's perspective with precision, and Annie's matter-of-fact take on her grandmother's hoarding and her father's occupation feels honest and true. The tight narrative den with symbolism, such as a copy of Treasure Island missing half of its pages, a backdrop of the Iran hostage crisis, and the forest itself held together with the strength of the characters. This slim, tense debut novel will interest children looking for suspense or family drama.

Gewirtz's emotionally intense debut novel about the complications of families offers a perceptive heroine and poetic, impressive prose. In the summer of 1980, 11-year-old Annie and her 9-year-old brother Rew live with their grandmother at the edge of the birch and oak forest they've nicknamed "the Zebra," for its dark and light stripes. Annie shops and pays bills as Gran deteriorates bit by bit, retreating into depression and silence. When the father Annie and Rew believe dead shows up at the door, on the run after a breakout at the nearby state prison, anger, fear and longing envelop the small family. The graceful narrative is articulate and poignant, exploring through Annie's eyes the complex grief of her family's story--the mother who abandoned them, the grandfather who died of a broken heart when his son went to prison, the grandmother who takes the children into her own kind of anonymous witness protection program. A few unlikely elements--the nearly complete isolation of the household for weeks, the awkward expository dialogue between a store clerk and a town resident, Annie's visits to the prison on her own--fade before the strength of the characters and the heartfelt punch of the story. Odd, imperfect and impressive nevertheless, this will appeal to readers who, like Annie and Rew, are a bit beyond their years. (Historical fiction. 10-13)

As summer vacation starts, 11-year-old Annie has the same three wishes as always: to get taller, to have an adventure, and to meet her father. She-s not holding her breath-nothing ever happens in her tiny town, and although Annie and her younger brother, Rew, spend hours spinning stories about their father, they know he-s dead. They live with their grandmother near a jail, and when an escaped prisoner holds them hostage in their house, two of Annie-s wishes come true in ways she never imagined. Debut author Gewirtz successfully conveys the terror and tedium of being trapped, as well as Annie and Rew-s pain and emotional turmoil over learning their father isn-t who they believed. While the situation may frighten some readers, the matter-of-fact way Annie and Rew make the best of difficult circumstances (beyond being held hostage, their mother is out of the picture, and their grandmother is in and out of touch with reality may be comforting to those whose families don-t match the ideal. An emotionally honest family story with an ending that-s hopeful without being implausibly upbeat. Ages 9-12. (Apr.)