Embedded Files
A List of Cages by Robin Roe
When Adam Blake lands the best elective ever in his senior year, serving as an aide to the school psychologist, he thinks he's got it made. Sure, it means a lot of sitting around, which isn't easy for a guy with ADHD, but he can't complain, since he gets to spend the period texting all his friends. Then the doctor asks him to track down the troubled freshman who keeps dodging her, and Adam discovers that the boy is Julian -- the foster brother he hasn't seen in five years. Adam is ecstatic to be reunited. At first, Julian seems like the boy he once knew. He's still kind hearted. He still writes stories and loves picture books meant for little kids. But as they spend more time together, Adam realizes that Julian is keeping secrets, like where he hides during the middle of the day, and what's really going on inside his house. Adam is determined to help him, but his involvement could cost both boys their lives. First-time novelist Robin Roe relied on life experience when writing this exquisite, gripping story featuring two lionhearted characters.
Review from Booklist Starred Reviews:
Fourteen-year-old Julian is a damaged boy, taciturn and withdrawn, painfully shy and still bereft from the death of his parents when he was a child. A poor student with illegible handwriting, he is often the subject of teachers’ scorn and classmates’ teasing. As a result, he regularly skips classes to hide in a secret room he has found. His home life is even worse: he is the ward of his uncle by marriage, a cold, distant, dangerous man who often punishes Julian cruelly, whipping him with a switch and lacerating the skin on his torso. Things begin to gradually change when he encounters Adam, a teenager who had once been Julian’s foster brother before the uncle took custody. Adam, who had ADHD as a child, is still a restless but exuberant, happy presence, beloved by fellow students and teachers alike. When he unofficially adopts Julian, he brings light into the boy’s hitherto dark existence, though danger still lurks. The two boys tell their respective, affecting stories in first-person voices that perfectly reflect their characters and rive the story’s compelling action. Roe’s debut may lack subtlety, but it makes up for it with memorable characters and high drama. A page-turner with a lot of compassion.
Page updated
Report abuse