Torn

Gr 9 Up—Nineteen and fresh out of training, British medic Ellie Neilson is thrown right into the fray on her first day in Afghanistan. While under fire and trying to diffuse a dangerous situation, Ellie sees an Afghan girl wander into—and then mysteriously out of—the melee. This young girl wearing a blue dress embroidered with flowers will become the centerpiece of her deployment. Who is she? What does she represent? Is she a lost child or an otherworldly harbinger of tragedy? Ellie is assigned to a team, including Navy SEALs, charged with locating a cache of weapons—and to surreptitiously find this girl. Amid the horrors of war, Ellie and Ben, the leader of the SEALs, have a powerful romantic attraction. At times, it seems neither will survive to acknowledge the allure. Narrator Saskia Maarleveld's bumpy delivery is distracting. Her voice changes for the male characters, but the result seems forced and overly dramatic. It is doubtful that Torn is a realistic look into the way Navy SEALs or operations in Afghanistan work, but the first-person observations of a female soldier in harm's way will attract young listeners.—Jane Newschwander, Fluvanna County Public Schools, VA