cover image The Secret Life of Hilary Thorne

The Secret Life of Hilary Thorne

Marcia Wood. Atheneum Books, $0 (124pp) ISBN 978-0-689-31405-6

With her father's new, high-pressured job on Madison Avenue and his resulting personality change, Hilary finds an increasing need to escape into a fantasy world peopled with characters from the books she has read. When her troubles at home and school mount, the fantasy world becomes so comfortable that Hilary almost decides to reside there permanently. To begin with, the premise relies on readers having at least an elementary knowledge of specific books. Then, the fantasy scenes are not successfully imagined and familiar characters do not follow the inner logic of the stories from which they've emerged, and therefore become less than the fully realized beings they were. Finally, some readers may cry foul when Hilary says to her mother, who has just turned down a chance to re-illustrate The Wind in the Willows , ``Your drawings were so much better than Rackham's!'' An unsatisfying effort. Ages 10-14. (September)