Thin Ice: Coming of Age in Canada
YA.  Humorist McCall (The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, etc.) spent his adolescence during the 1950s in a household that was cold, both physically and emotionally. Looking back from his current vantage point of success in both career and psychological health, he vividly recalls his experiences with a tyrannical father; an alcoholic mother; and four brothers who, like him, substituted writing and drawing for their missing parental relationships. The hurts suffered are evoked in detail?by an author who, from the outset, appears to readers as a survivor. For that reason this memoir should find a teenage audience, especially among those who have turned to books to escape similar family circumstances. While the facts of McCall's youth?and his family in general?are indeed grim, his humor shines through in many passages, making this laugh-out-loud material. Thin Ice would make a good candidate for reading aloud to students whose own reading skills are not equal to their interests and needs. Although the setting is definitely of another time, the pitfalls of ill-fitting sports equipment, overcrowded living quarters, unresponsive school administration, and unreliable parents are recognizable, empathy-inducing situations for contemporary youth at similar risk.?Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CACopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.