The Amethyst Child

Author: Sarah Singleton

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Publication Year: 2008

Most of the readers will be: Late middle school and early high school girls.

Reader's Advisory: In Leaving Fishers by Margaret Peterson Haddix a young woman seeks to belong by joining a cult.

Summary:
Amber is a loner until she meets Dowdie. Dowdie as an energetic member of the Community who has a very different view of the world. Amber thinks the Community is a beautiful and simple place and she begins to spend more and more time there.
Not long after meeting Dowdie, Amber makes another new friend, Johnny. Johnny is much more skeptical of some of the Community's beliefs and of their leader, James, than Amber is. Always eager to please, Amber wonders what she should believe. Are she, Dowdie, and Johnny Amethyst children; the ones who will guide the world through uncertain times? Or is James a very talented con artist?

My favorite passage:

'Have you heard of Amethyst children?'
'No.'
'James - James Renault - he's the elder at the Community.'
'The leader? He's in charge?'
'Not leader exactly - but kind of. Years ago, a spirit spoke through him and predicted that all over the world special children would be born - children with gifts and abilities not seen before, who would lead humankind into the future. They would be the next evolutionary step.' Her freckled face was perfectly serious, her voice grave.
'These are the Amethyst children?' I said.
Dowdie nodded.
'They have certain features in common. They find it hard to fit in. They can't conform and struggle in ordinary schools, often because they are very intelligent and the lessons are too - obvious. So they get into trouble. They have an unusual perspective on things - take a contrary view. Some are healers, other are seers.'
'And you think you are one of them?' I tried to keep my voice level, wanting to express neither scepticism nor credulity.
'I don't think I am - I know so,' she said, staring at me, daring me to contradict or laugh. I did neither.
'How do you know?'
She laughed then - at stupid Amber. 'How do I know? How do we know anything? I know it because it's the truth.'
'So what does it mean? What are your special gifts?'
She put down the CD and stared at her hands. 'It's not something I can explain, just like that,' she said.
For a moment, I couldn't make out who she was - what she was doing. She was two things at once - older than her age, an adult in disguise. Or else a kid playing pretend, trying to lure me into her imaginary game. The two images diverged and drew together again.
She took another quick breath, as though she had made a decision.
'I think you're an Amethyst child too,' she said. (pg 10-12)

What I really think:
Sigh.

The story itself is interesting. It's like something ripped from the headlines. A cult leader with (spoiler) a secret stash of guns. And the interspersed chapters of Amber's conversations with the police keep the tension level up. You know something bad is going to happen. But what? And when? And how?

The problem is that I don't like Amber very much. I hardly even feel like I know her. The big things in the book that happen, mostly happen to her. Friends come and find her. They suggest things to do. Amber tells the reader that she likes to say what people want to hear. She sure does. She doesn't seem to have oppinions or motivations of her own. Maybe this is the point, but if it is I don't care. I still wish there were a little more to Amber.

The other thing I don't like about this book is the decoration around the page numbers. The number is centered at the bottom of each page. There is one circular doo-bob to the left of the number and two circular doo-bobs to the right of the number. The lack of symmetry bothers me.