Two new books for children ages 9 to 12 have similar protagonists - an isolated girl who solves a personal dilemma as part of growing up in a predictable work. In both cases her best and only friend is a boy in her class.
But here the similarity ends. One novel has unique elements that work to make a rich plot while the other is flat and lacks a sparkling story quality. While young readers may enjoy both, only one will leave a memorable impression.THE OUTSIDE CHILD. Nina Bawden. Lothrop, Lee and Shepard, 1989. 232 pages. $12.95
At 13, Jane discovers that her family has kept a secret from her. The pictures on her father's desk are not of her, but of another family. She wonders where she fits in. "It set me wondering how many other things they had kept from me . . . I had thought that my grandmother lived in America. Or was dead. But she was alive and in England, just a train ride away . . . "
Jane also found out about two other children, "Annabel and George didn't know about me, and unless my father - our father, that is! - was careless again, they might never know . . . "
"The Outside Child" is a slow and sensitive story of self-discovery, finding out who her mother was, why her father keeps his present life a secret and of the fairly eccentric aunts who help keep the family mystery.
There are too many "too-familiar" subplots in this story to make it an exciting read. Jane's best friend, Plato, and the odd-ball maidenly aunts come directly from a turn-of-the-century novel. While Plato and Jane share an intriguing coded language and the aunts have unusual avocations, such as playing drums, it is still not enough to make the story work.
The "dashing" father, who lacks the fortitude to make a real family, seems weak and ineffective. His young wife appears uneven in her disposition, temperamental and unpredictable. These are hardly characters that would motivate a young girl (much less a young reader) to want to join a family group, reconstituted or not.
Bawden has written widely for young readers, but "The Outside Child" lacks the verve, convincing plot and energy to be one of her best.
CRICKET AND THE CRACKERBOX KID. Alane Ferguson. Bradbury Press, 1990. 179 pages. $13.95
Cricket (Kristin Winslow) is a Pepperwood child. Even the sound of it and its implications sets her apart from the Crackerbox children, those who live in tacky houses. "To be cool, you have to look cool. Never act scared. Stay away from the Crackerbox kids . . . "
Though she could find friends among the other Pepperwood children, Cricket becomes attached to Dominic, a new student and a typical Crackerbox kid.
But their friendship is strained to the breaking point when Dominic recognizes Treasure, the mutt dog that Cricket has found in the woods, as his own runaway dog, Coty.
Cricket's attorney mother gives advice and the threat of Dominic's law-enforcement father becomes apparent.
The argument over ownership is the pivotal point of the story when the teacher, Mr. Hadshaw, takes the matter into his own hands. "We live in a democracy. We are governed by laws. I think it's important to both understand our laws . . . and obey them. Therefore, I will have your teacher pick 12 students from the other fifth-grade classes to be jurors. Dominic, Cricket, I want you to represent yourselves. You will each explain to the jury why you feel you should be the one to keep the dog . . . Your parents have agreed . . . ."
Cricket and Dominic do defend themselves, and the decision, although a bit predictable, ends in a resolution that should be satisfying to 9- 13-year-olds.
Utah writer Alane Ferguson has spoofed the social classes through her use of the Pepperwoods against the Crackerbox communities, complete with designer jeans, uppity manners and "white-collar" and "blue-collar" jobs. Cricket and Dominic cross over those boundaries and make us all proud to know them as friends.