Gr 8-Up Zen and Xander have always been opposites; flashy Xander is brilliant in school, while Zen is more laid back and focused on studying martial arts. When their mother dies, they grieve in different ways. Their father disappears into his misery, Xander gets involved with a crowd that deals in drugs and alcohol, and Zen finds herself resorting to violence as the first solution to dangerous situations. When she gets injured and can no longer teach karate until she has healed in both body and spirit, she struggles with her feelings of helplessness and her inability to get through her sister's ever more hazardous attitude. It only makes things worse when the girls uncover a secret about their mother that has them wondering if they ever really knew her. Zen's narration gives both her actions and her emotions a feeling of immediacy and closeness. Though the ending leaves some questions about Zen's future unanswered, both Xander and the girls' father go through dramatic changes, which Zen chronicles with keen insight. The themes of the negative influences of drugs and alcohol never overpower the story; instead, the focus remains tightly on two young women at a sensitive time in their lives."Alana Joli Abbott, James Blackstone Memorial Library, Branford, CT" Copyright 2010 Media Source Inc.
After losing their mom to cancer, sisters Zen and Xander struggle to overcome their grief. Sixteen-year-old karate instructor Zen acts out violently, and eighteen-year-old science genius Xander parties hard. When a secret from their mother's past surfaces, the sisters come together to go after the truth. Emotional scenes and insightful narration illustrate the sisters' difficult journey to understanding.
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