cover image Shooting Stars Everywhere

Shooting Stars Everywhere

Martina Wildner. Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers, $15.95 (179pp) ISBN 978-0-385-73250-5

This quietly intriguing novel-part mystery, part coming-of-age tale-opens as Victor Forlands discovers a letter in his mailbox on his 13th birthday, with no name and no address. Inside, he finds a brief, cryptic message beginning, ""the red animal is dead,"" signed "")x(."" "" Definitely not a letter from Mom,"" thinks narrator Victor, whose parents recently split up. His friends are away, and Victor is in for six weeks of summer vacation, cooped up in his Berlin apartment. There seems to be nothing to do but write in the journal his father gave him and try to muster the courage to jump off of the 7.5-meter platform at the community pool. But when his next-door neighbor's dog dies, Victor realizes that it could well be ""the red animal"" in that creepy letter. He makes a new (female) friend at the pool, and sets out to discover the identity of the anonymous letter-writer, who continues to leave mysterious missives for Victor and his neighbors. As Victor plays detective, he also matures, coming to grips with his parents' situation and learning how to be independent. Quirky details realistically portray the eccentricities of city folks living in close proximity. This novel offers American kids a glimpse into another culture and the things that are universal or unique, between the U.S. and Europe. Ages 12-up.