A Tantelizing Trinity

A Tantelizing Trinity

juvenile fiction
As much as I enjoy reading information and insight packed books
on important issues, my brain seems incapable of handling nothing
but. It goes into a state of rebellion. Enough of the main course.
A little dessert please. After reading and reviewing Reign of Error I
found myself plucking 12 Finally By Wendy Mass off the library shelf.
The candy decorated cake on the cover practically promised sweets. I
became so caught up in it I also borrowed the sequel (13 Gifts) and
prequel (11 birthdays).
You see most series center on the same set of characters,
whether Nancy Drew and her chums whom I adored as a child or the
Babysitters Club kids who had me almost tearing my hair out as a read
alouding mom. Each of these three books, however, has a different
central character. What ties them together is a supposedly sleepy
little town called Willow Falls, a town of mystery and legend. Even
the most basic scientific laws can be suspended. Always in the
background is a very powerful and wise elderly woman named Angelina.
*Amanda, protagonist of 11 birthdays, and her ex best friend, Leo,
born on the same day, have a unique problem. Each day after their
eleventh birthday is a rerun of it. No one else seems to be aware of
this glitch. It seems they must find a way to get time back in
track. But how?
*Rory, heroine of 12 Finally, has a gigantic list of things she will
finally be allowed to do when she hits her twelth birthday.
Unexpected complications arise with each rite of passage.
Hypoallergenic earrings make her lobes swollen and pus filled. Her
pet rabbit behaves like something out of a Stephen King novel. What
in the world is going on?
*Tara, star of 13 Gifts, has been sent to Willow Falls as a
punishment. Maybe she shouldn't have stolen a goat and pepper sprayed
her principal. When she tries to steal and sell a valuable comic book
belonging to her uncle a strange old woman warns her she's in danger
of getting in big trouble not only of the mundane earthly variety, but
involving soul endangerment. She has to acquire thirteen strange and
unique items for this woman to avert disaster. But is there enough
time?
Oh, yeah, there's one more commonality. Each girl cannot
achieve her goal unless she learns a spiritual lesson. This creates
in each book a delightful paradox. Each world and its inhabitants are
at the same time intriguingly far away and ever so close.
I certainly hope that Wendy Mass is going to give us another visit to
Willow Falls in the near future.
On a personal note, sometimes I feel like I have my own Angelina in
the person of Betsy. Let's hope that I'm learning what I need to be.
A great big shout out goes out to writers who can create believable
alternate worlds or at least towns and inspired and inspiring mentors.
Julia Emily Hathaway



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