My Time as Caz Hazard (Orca Soundings)
Grade 8 Up–Punching out her so-called boyfriend for sleeping with another girl seemed like a good idea at the time, but Caz Hallard finds herself in a special-education class in a new school after being suspended from her old one. Tests indicate that she is dyslexic, which her super-perfect mother refuses to accept. Caz's disgrace exacerbates her parents' already rocky relationship, and she finds herself seesawing between them and frustrated by both. As her parents' marriage falls apart, Caz is drawn more and more to Amanda, a world-weary rebel. Trying to find a balance in a world gone awry, she tries to protect her brilliant younger brother from becoming their parents' pawn. She loses touch with Mel, a stabilizing influence in her chaotic life. Caz knows she cannot bring herself to tell her old friend of her new exploits with Amanda: shoplifting and teasing Dodie Dunstan, a particularly vulnerable classmate. After Dodie commits suicide, Caz finds herself shocked to her senses, but it isn't easy to face up to the wrongs she's committed. Kyi paints a situation common to our culture: adolescents struggling to find their identity with imperfect adult examples. Readers will easily identify with the opposing forces Caz faces as she tries to make sense of her life. A compelling contemporary story for low-skill/reluctant readers.–Roxanne Myers Spencer, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green