Wild Roses

Gr 7 Up—Cassie, 17, lives with her musician mother and her stepfather, Dino Cavali, a violinist who is considered to be a musical genius in Deb Caletti's novel (Simon & Schuster, 2005). But Dino is mentally ill and relies on his medication. Cassie tries very hard not to get involved in Dino's work, until he starts to tutor Ian, a talented violinist to whom Cassie is intensely drawn. As Dino prepares for his concert and Ian's scholarship audition, he stops taking his meds and become increasingly paranoid. Angela Dawe's narration is spot-on, and she fully voices all the characters. The story is told in the first-person through flashbacks, and Dawe becomes Cassie. The intensity with which the tension mounts is so real that listeners will feel as if they are living the story right alongside Cassie and her long-in-denial mother as her life comes crashing down around both of them. This stellar production will please Caletti's fans.—Stephanie A. Squicciarini, Fairport Public Library, NY