Deborah Davis (3) (1957–)

Reviewed by Carrie Spellman for TeensReadToo.com

Fifteen-year-old Kayla Hanes is tired of moving on a moments notice to God knows where. She's tired of having a pretend dog as her only friend. She's tired of watching her mom drink herself into a stupor. She's tired of working to pay their bills. She's tired of hoping that maybe this time her mom will be able to quit drinking for good. Essentially, Kayla is the adult in the relationship, and it's beginning to take its toll. As bad as it gets though, it's still better than having to go back into foster care.

Marilyn, Kayla's mom, swears that this time it will be different, she's turning over a new leaf - but that's what she always says. Why should this time be any different? When they get to their new home in a small town in New Mexico, Kayla's small inkling of hope disappears. Their house is a trailer, on a dirty lot, with a creepy landlord.

Kayla starts up a dog walking/training business, meets a boy (who's much too old), and even makes a few friends. Maybe this time will be different. But when Marilyn starts to drink again, and uses Kayla's hard-earned money, and everything starts to fall apart once again, this time it just might be too much.

This is a great story about how much any one person can take, and the different lengths to which they can go to escape. How much is too much? How far is too far to push someone? Where is the line between tough love and abandonment? You want Kayla to get out. You want her to punish her mom. But you end up hurting for Marilyn as much as you do for Kayla.

Maybe, the harder you try to get away from something, the closer you actually come to it. Heart wrenching and hopeful, that's what this book is, and that's what life is.… (mer)

Lacy's brother, Jack, comes home in the latter stages of AIDS. Lacy's life is subsequently turned upside down. Her parents do not want her to tell others about Jack's illness as her father has had difficulty accepting Jack's homosexuality. Jack's grief over the loss of his partner is realistically portrayed. Lacy presents a class health report on AIDS, with the support of her swim coach, who has also had a brother die of AIDS. Most of Lacy's friends rally around her and support her. Lacy fights to be part of Jack's last days as that's all she'll have of him.… (mer)

Frances Bradburn (Booklist, November 15, 1994 (Vol. 91, No. 6))
Thirteen-year-old Lacy, her life full of friends, middle school, and swimming, is unprepared for her mother's announcement that Lacy's beloved older brother, Jack, has AIDS. Too ill to live alone, he has asked his family if he may return home. Gripping as well as poignant, this book is a tribute to all families who nurse a loved one through the final months of a fatal illness, especially one as devastating as AIDS. Davis does not sugarcoat the illness and its effects upon other family members. She allows Lacy to recall her father's fury at Jack's disclosure of his homosexuality, her parents' insistence on the secrecy of his illness, and the adults' ambivalence about his return home. Once he is home, the gradual deterioration, the wasting away of his body and mind, are constant reminders that death is imminent. Likewise, they are constant reminders of the physical and mental toll such an illness takes on the family--the vomit and the sweats, the sleepless nights, the jealousy of usurped time. A realistic, accurate portrait of the caretaking families that love people with AIDS. Category: Older Readers. 1994, Atheneum, $14.95. Gr. 6-9. (CLCD) Awards-Notable Children's Trade Books in the Fields of Social Studies 1994… (mer)