Sand. Luanne Armstrong. Vancouver, BC: Ronsdale Press, 2016. 208 pp., trade pbk., ebook & pdf, $11.95 (pbk.). ISBN 078-1-55380-473-4 (pbk.), ISBN 078-1-55380-474-1 (ebook), ISBN 078-1-55380-475-8 (pdf). Grades 6-8 / Ages 11-13. Review by Bev Brenna. *1/2 /4

excerpt:

She woke in the dark. She tried to move but something was holding her arms and legs. She tried to call out but something was blocking her throat. She couldn�t see. She shook her head from side to side. Fear shot through her body.

The beginning of Sand, an intermediate-age novel by Luanne Armstrong, is compelling, with the kind of immediacy that deeply engages readers. A young girl in the aftermath of a car accident is on a breathing tube and experiencing paralysis.

      Over the next few chapters, however, the story�s action is too often encumbered by narration; weeks go by in sweeping generalizations as 15-year-old Willy Cameron mires in self-pity. Awkward timing recurs throughout the novel, detracting from the book�s merits in subject matter and plot. In addition to timing issues, grammatical finesse is lost as the author tries to keep up with past and present business. In a scene towards the end of the book, Willy is speaking with her parents about the importance of her work with the troubled horse, Sand, and is triumphant that Sand �was really almost hers.� The narration tells rather than shows that Willy must make even more promises, in the future, �including finally to go to counselling� and then how �she also needed to see Ben. She had phoned his father the next day��

      Uneven writing also appears in relation to point of view. While we generally see the story from Willy�s perspective, the narration occasionally shifts into the perspectives of other characters, for example the therapist who �tried to look sympathetically into Willy�s eyes...�

      The time period illuminated by the story is perhaps its most noteworthy difficulty. Willy often seems to be a modern teenager, communicating with friends through email, and, at other times, she seems a much younger girl, or an adolescent of previous decades, promising her father that �I�ll be the bestest goodest kid ever.� In addition, aspects of particular scenes contrast with current practices around professional confidentiality: a receptionist who divulges to Willy the diagnosis of another patient, and a librarian who responds openly to Ben�s query about Willy�s name. While many elements, such as the therapeutic riding stable, itself, seem astutely present-day, often the story�s language�including repeated references to �cripple� and �being crippled,� as well as �the handicapped program,� harkens to stereotypical vocabulary of the past. Without successful attempts to problematize this vocabulary, the book serves to reinforce stereotypical thinking while relying on a trope seen in bygone titles where characters overcome insurmountable odds to transform initially permanent physical diagnoses. In this case, through strenuous riding activity, Willy manages to walk again. �I�m not staying a crippled rider,� she exclaims. The story thus misses an opportunity to engage in a more complex look at possibilities related to life with physical differences.

      Unfortunately, other more positive aspects of the book�such as its clear plot line and authentic equestrian details�cannot elevate it to the level of other meritorious titles by this prolific author.

Not Recommended.

Bev Brenna, a literacy professor at the University of Saskatchewan, has 10 published books for young people.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

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Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

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