Zebra Forest

Starred review from February 25, 2013
As summer vacation starts, 11-year-old Annie has the same three wishes as always: to get taller, to have an adventure, and to meet her father. She’s not holding her breath—nothing ever happens in her tiny town, and although Annie and her younger brother, Rew, spend hours spinning stories about their father, they know he’s dead. They live with their grandmother near a jail, and when an escaped prisoner holds them hostage in their house, two of Annie’s wishes come true in ways she never imagined. Debut author Gewirtz successfully conveys the terror and tedium of being trapped, as well as Annie and Rew’s pain and emotional turmoil over learning their father isn’t who they believed. While the situation may frighten some readers, the matter-of-fact way Annie and Rew make the best of difficult circumstances

March 1, 2013
Gewirtz's emotionally intense debut novel about the complications of families offers a perceptive heroine and poetic, impressive prose. In the summer of 1980, 11-year-old Annie and her 9-year-old brother Rew live with their grandmother at the edge of the birch and oak forest they've nicknamed "the Zebra," for its dark and light stripes. Annie shops and pays bills as Gran deteriorates bit by bit, retreating into depression and silence. When the father Annie and Rew believe dead shows up at the door, on the run after a breakout at the nearby state prison, anger, fear and longing envelop the small family. The graceful narrative is articulate and poignant, exploring through Annie's eyes the complex grief of her family's story--the mother who abandoned them, the grandfather who died of a broken heart when his son went to prison, the grandmother who takes the children into her own kind of anonymous witness protection program. A few unlikely elements--the nearly complete isolation of the household for weeks, the awkward expository dialogue between a store clerk and a town resident, Annie's visits to the prison on her own--fade before the strength of the characters and the heartfelt punch of the story. Odd, imperfect and impressive nevertheless, this will appeal to readers who, like Annie and Rew, are a bit beyond their years. (Historical fiction. 10-13)

COPYRIGHT(2013) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 1, 2013
Grades 5-8 Annie B. and Rew live with their grandma in a cluttered house that backs up on a forest of silent paper-bark trees. Gran has good days and bad days, and Annie and Rew know how to manage her and keep social services at bay. One stormy night, an escaped convict shows up, breaks in, and throws their lives into a tailspin. The convict, Andrew Snow, is their fatheralthough Gran always said he had been killedand he moves in, holding his own family hostage. Each handles the situation in his or her own way. Gran retreats, Rew refuses to deal, and Annie walks a tightrope of reconciliation. Gewirtz channels Annie's perspective with precision, and Annie's matter-of-fact take on her grandmother's hoarding and her father's occupation feels honest and true. The tight narrativeladen with symbolism, such as a copy of Treasure Island missing half of its pages, a backdrop of the Iran hostage crisis, and the forest itselfis held together with the strength of the characters. This slim, tense debut novel will interest children looking for suspense or family drama.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

March 1, 2013
In this novel set during the Iran hostage crisis, eleven-year-old Annie and her brother Rew live with their grandmother near a state prison. Gran doesn't leave home much, sending Annie on errands and having her deal with the "truant lady" who checks up on the kids. One night there is a prison break, and a desperate-seeming man forces his way into the house. The kids are terrified, but Gran is unmoved: the man is her son, Andrew Snow, the children's father, whom they thought to be long dead. The fugitive bars the doors, rips out the phone, and threatens harm to anyone attempting escape. Rew, more furious than scared, hatches a plan to alert the authorities, but Annie hesitates: she has been following the hostage crisis in the news, and tells herself she's being cautious on her brother and grandmother's behalf. Also, despite herself, she's intrigued by her father, and this ambivalence is what makes Gewirtz's story so compelling. Snow is not a nice guy: his prison conviction was for manslaughter, and he's straightforward about having committed the crime. In addition, Annie and Rew's mom abandoned the family years before; Rew has a wicked temper; and Gran's care-taking leaves much to be desired. They all have redeeming qualities, though, and their commonalities -- such as their love of Treasure Island and the woods behind their house -- bring Annie, Rew, Gran, and Andrew together as they navigate an ever-shifting notion of family. elissa gershowitz

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2013
When a desperate-seeming man forces his way into their house Annie and her brother Rew are terrified, but Gran is unmoved: the man is her son, and the children's father, whom they thought to be long dead. Despite herself, Annie is intrigued by her father, and this ambivalence is what makes Gewirtz's story so compelling as the characters navigate an ever-shifting notion of family.

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from May 1, 2013

Gr 5-8-It's almost summer and 11-year-old Annie Morgan has a small list of things she hopes to accomplish during her vacation: grow tall, have an adventure, and meet her father. Sadly, the last wish is impossible given her father's death in a brutal fight many years before. Annie and her younger brother, Rew, live with their caring, but mentally unstable, grandmother in the backwoods of Sunshine. The siblings pass the time in the "Zebra Forest" of birches and oaks behind their house, weaving elaborate fantasies of their dad as a pirate or secret agent. When a prison escapee barges into their house and holds them hostage, the siblings are shocked to discover that the interloper is their presumed-dead father, Andrew Snow. Gran's fragile state renders her incapable of helping the children process this revelation. Rew lashes out against his captor, refusing to believe that this man is his dad. Annie is torn between siding with her brother and her desire to know their father. Gewirtz veers away from melodrama, deftly capturing nuances of family dynamics in spare prose. Another notable element is the thematic parallel with Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, which the children read throughout the story. Despite Zebra Forest's slow start, audiences will appreciate this novel's multilayered characters and touching message of hope and forgiveness.-Lalitha Nataraj, Escondido Public Library, CA

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.