Your Eyes in Stars » (Reprint)

M. E. Kerr is a winner of the American Library Association's Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement and the ALAN award from the National Council of Teachers of English. Ms. Kerr lives in East Hampton on New York's Long Island.

Two unlikely friends—a German outsider and the daughter of the local prison warden—discover each other at the same time they discover Slater Carr, the boy who was a lifer at Cayuta Prison. His nightly bugle renditions of Taps hold their small town in thrall until his actions, one Halloween night, change everything. . . .

Jennifer Hubert - VOYA

Kerr's latest novel about the tribulations of a teenage girl whose father is a prison warden in upstate New York during the 1930s offers several intriguing story lines, but it ultimately fails to tie these disparate threads together. Jessie makes up stories about the inmates who live in her father's prison, especially attractive murderer Slater Carr, who plays in the prison band. She and her friend Elisa, a sophisticated German girl who lives across the street, share romanticized daydreams about Carr and famous gangsters like bank robber John Dillinger. But when Carr slips away during a band performance in town, his real-life escape sets in motion a chain of events that results in murder and the end of Jessie's innocence concerning celebrity criminals. Meanwhile Elisa and her family return to Germany as Hitler comes to power, and Jessie loses contact with her. Years later, Jessie discovers that her friend died in the war helping escaped Jews while posing as a dedicated member of the Hitler Youth. This sketchy historical fiction feels rushed and incomplete. The spare period details do not broaden the reader's understanding of the era, and in some cases, cause unnecessary confusion, as when acne is referred to as "hickeys." Secondary characters are not well fleshed out, and Kerr unveils several contrived revelations in the last few pages, which only tenuously connect the incongruent preceding plot lines. It is not the best example of this esteemed author's work. VOYA CODES: 2Q 2P M J (Better editing or work by the author might have warranted a 3Q; For the YA with a special interest in the subject; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2006,HarperCollins, 240p., and PLB Ages 11 to 15.