The title of Whittenberg’s (Sweet Thang
) penetrating novel notwithstanding, life is not fine for 15-year-old Samara, who sees her future as an endless parade of days to be endured. Samara’s complaints about her mother’s loser boyfriends go ignored (“You don’t like him? Go live somewhere else,” her mother responds). “I hated my life in this cluttered, hollow house,” Samara declares early on. “I should have had my own life, but I didn’t. All I had was Dru [an orangutan she likes to visit at the zoo].” Then a substitute teacher, Jerome Halbrook, shows up in her English class and changes everything, simply by caring about what he’s teaching—poetry—and about what his students are saying. Samara develops a crush on him, never mind that he’s five times her age, and while “Mr. Brook” discourages her romantic interest, he uses it to pry open her troubles. Mr. Brook has his own demons, however, and when he falls ill, Samara, armed with newfound confidence, draws on the optimism he has taught her. Samara’s voice is sharp and convincing, and disguises any whiff of the Dead Poets Society/Mr. Chips sorts of familiarity about the plot. Ages 12-up. (Mar.)
