Kate. Valerie Sherrard. Toronto, ON: Dundurn Press, 2003. 232 pp., pbk., $12.99. ISBN 1-55002-476-0. Subject Headings: Teenagers and death-Juvenile fiction. Brain-Tumors-Juvenile fiction. First loves-Juvenile fiction. Grades 6-10 / Ages 11-15. Review by Mary Thomas. ** /4

excerpt:

I figured I'd have made five or six trips to the jail before Daddy discovered I was going, but that night at the supper table I found out, and not for the first time either, that it's pretty near impossible to keep anything secret in a small town.

He was reaching for the biscuits, just as casual as you please, when he said to Momma, "Lillian, what's this I hear about Kate delivering the meals to those hoodlums?"

When I thought about it later I realized Momma had been expecting this and had prepared for it. She looked up with the most innocent face in the world and said, "Yes, dear, she is. It saves me going at a time when I'm busy making dinner for my own family. She's been a real help."

Kate is not quite your normal small-town 14-year-old in that, in addition to suffering from the usual bouts of growing-up angst, she is dying of a malignant brain tumor. This does not stop her falling in love with Randy, a young man who has been arrested, along with his partner-in-crime, for robbing a gas station. The idyllic town (the robbery was the first misdemeanor in living memory) is not set up for housing criminals, although it does have a jail, and so the local ladies volunteer to do the catering and Kate to do the delivering of her mother's cooking. Love, reciprocated, occurs pretty much at first sight. The rest of the book deals with Kate's coming to terms with her impending death, and Randy's having to do so too, as well as a few of the more normal tiffs and misunderstandings that go with any relationship. There is no miracle cure.

     If I were to be caught in such an unfortunate situation as Kate's, may the good Lord grant me her other circumstances as well. Her mother is a strong character who deals sensibly rather than emotionally with Kate's illness, all the while being a loving tower of strength. Her father occasionally lapses but attempts to emulate his wife. Her young brother is cute, loving, and the two of them enjoy each other's company. Friends and neighbours treat her normally, and Randy doesn't abandon her when he learns, fairly early in their acquaintance, that she, and it, are both doomed. He remains true to his initial love throughout. In other words, it is all a bit too good to be true and invites descriptions in cliches.

     The book does have a strong redeeming feature, however, in the voice of Kate who is telling her story. Her wry humour and genuine appreciation of others, along with her sharp observations of the foibles of her neighbours, come through strongly. She saves the book from soppy sentimentality but does not raise it far enough above the level of Lurlene McDaniel to be worth much time.

Recommended with reservations.

Mary Thomas works in two elementary school libraries in Winnipeg, MB.

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Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

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