Shadow Boy - Hardcover

Grade 6 Up-- Following a skateboarding accident, Artie Stephens suffers a serious head injury. He regains consciousness with impaired abilities and must adjust to a reality that is a shadow of his former life. Artie tells the story from his own fragmented perspective. He is released from the hospital to begin a slow, tortured recovery at home. Life in the Stephens's apartment is described in frank and often clinical terms. Artie's inappropriate social and sexual responses and his lapses in toilet habits are a trial to those who love him as well as to himself. As he comes to understand the extent of his disabilities, Artie is consumed by frustration and rage. His parents' relationship is affected; his older sister despairs at not having a life of her own and reaches the breaking point. Artie's peers and neighbors politely keep their distance, increasing the family's isolation. Unlike Brancato's Winning (Bantam, 1978) and Kingman's Head Over Wheels (Dell, 1981), both about teens with handicaps, this is not an inspirational title. There is small promise of a full recovery or a happy ending. It is informative, but character development is not its strength. --Libby K. White, Schenectady County Public Library, NY
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.