By Colorado Kids Advisory Board member Cory Weinstein

Title: Splintering
Author: Eireann Corrigan
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Number of Pages: 184

Splintering is one of the most moving books I have ever read. It is the powerful story of a family ‘splintering’ apart because of an attack on their lives. It is told through the eyes of Jeremy, a high school senior with a lot on his mind. He worries about his younger sister Paulie who is turning into a distressed teen and drug addict. While worrying about Paulie he wants to please his father by getting into a good college.

Paulie is strong-minded, fights with her mother all the time, and also tells the story along with Jeremy. Mimi, their older sister deals with breaking up with her husband Michael, and the rest of the family doesn’t know how to deal with the aftermath of the incident. Cleverly, the author Eireann Corrigan wrote this influential story in the style of poetry. Splintering is about the issues that the family has before and after the attack. I found myself tangled up in the story and couldn’t get out! The only thing I found imperfect about this story is the ending. I’d have to say it left me hanging and I wanted the book to be longer! This book is very heart rendering and I would recommend it to everyone I see, though, it has some ‘inappropriate’ topics in it. So, I would say this book is for middle and high schoolers. Also, another book like this I would recommend is A Door Near Here, which is by Heather Quarles. (March, 2005)