Undercurrents - Softcover

Willo Davis Roberts wrote many books for adults and children during

her long and illustrious career. Three of her children's books won Edgar

Awards, while others received great reviews and other accolades. The

One Left Behind would have been her hundredth book for children.

Grades 5-8--Only eight months after 14-year-old Nikki Simons's mother dies, her father marries Crystal, a young artist at the publishing company where he is an editor. Shortly thereafter, Crystal inherits a house on the California coast and Nikki's dad insists they go there for a vacation despite his new wife's obvious resistance. Nikki, her 10-year-old brother, and his friend Jeremy head out with the new couple to California. After Nikki's father is conveniently called away on business, the teen is left to cope with her stepmother's nightmares, unexplained terror, and refusal to be seen by any of the locals. Finally, Crystal reveals the reason for her traumatized state: she had witnessed the murder of her parents by a relative in a nearby house when she was a child. A fog at a pivotal point provides excitement, as does the moment that Nikki realizes that the murderer has been watching her. Crystal is described over and over again as pale and timid, and is so withdrawn that it's impossible to know what Mr. Simons could have seen in her. As in Roberts's To Grandmother's House We Go (Aladdin, 1994), the hasty conclusion hinges on a fire and a mentally unstable relative, but this book leaves readers hanging as to what happens to him. Eloise McGraw's Tangled Webb (McElderry, 1993) is a more engaging mystery about an instant stepmother. For Roberts at her best, suggest Megan's Island (Atheneum, 1988) or The Absolutely True Story-How I Visited Yellowstone Park with the Terrible Rupes (Macmillan, 1994).

Tina Zubak, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, PA

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