The Storm's Crossing: Maggie's Triumph Over a Terrible Secret

Maggie has endured her father's secret nightly visits to her bedside for almost three years, ever since Maggie's mother was recuperating from surgery. Then a sixth-grade assembly, in which a guest speaker announces that ``your body belongs to you, it doesn't belong to anyone else,'' helps Maggie to realize that she has the right to forbid her father's touches. Her timid protestations to her overbearing parent go unheeded, however, as does her plea to move in with her grandparents, and it's not until she fears for her younger sister that Maggie confides in a teacher. Singer, a psychologist and first-time YA author, brings her clinical experience with child abuse cases to the delicately handled but severely protracted story. The dialogue needs polishing (``I've been trying to fall asleep. I'll be asleep soon''), and Maggie's exasperating good-girl conditioning, while it may be typical of incest victims, can be chafing. Her defiance builds slowly, and it is to be hoped that this book will enable readers to resolve similar problems more expediently. Ages 10-16. (July)