Ketchup Clouds
*Starred Review* Pitcher, author of the well-received My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece (2012), delivers a novel that is by turns heartbreaking and hilarious. Here, 15-year-old Zoe writes to a Death Row inmate in Texas. She empathizes with him and wants to share her story—after all, she killed someone, too. From the garden shed of her home in England, Zoe (not her real name) pens lengthy letters to Stuart Harris offering snapshots from the previous year: how she met a boy with beautiful brown eyes named Aaron; how, before their feelings for each other were verbalized, she kissed, and then dated, his brother, Max; how Aaron and Zoe kept up the facade of Max and Zoe to protect Max. But one of the brothers ends up dead—this much we know—but we don’t know which one, or how Zoe was involved, until the very end. The suspense is palpable, and Zoe’s voice is witty and introspective as she explores issues relating to family, grief, and love. With each new letter, Zoe writes more familiarly, addressing “Mr. Harris” as “My dearest Stu” and signing with “Love,” as the clock counts down to the inmate’s execution day. While there are a couple of missteps at the very end—including an anticlimactic family revelation—there’s no denying the emotional resonance of this bittersweet novel. Grades 7-12. --Ann Kelley