La Nina del Canal

YA-For 11-year-old Sara, the protagonist of this short novel for young adults, and her teacher, whose diary entries contribute to the text, the canal of the title is both actual and metaphoric. Told mostly in present tense, and in a deliberately flat manner, the narrative seesaws between Sara and her teacher. The girl goes about her daily activities with no expression of interest, except in a doll that she loves and wounds. The teacher, worried by Sara's behavior and appearance, recalls her own experience of abuse in the past. However, her efforts to relay her concerns to the girl's mother, only result in angry dismissals. Everything changes when Sara visits her and inadvertently leaves her wounded doll behind; the toy reminds the teacher of the wounded teddy bear she kept as a child. Knowing of Sara's after-school appointments with a painter and art instructor, the teacher jumps to the obvious, and correct, conclusion that the painter is abusing Sara. Lenain's journalistic writing style desensationalizes the subject matter and echoes the deliberate attempts of Sara and her teacher to stifle their emotional reactions to the abuse they have suffered. Victoire's illustrations often provide an interesting counterpoint; her busy, but carefully outlined cross-hatchings suggest control that barely holds. Two illustrations, in which Sara poses nude for the painter, may raise some eyebrows, but the drawings are modest enough as to be virtually chaste, again avoiding, like the text, the sensational. The original French novel was awarded the Juvenile Novel Prize from the French Ministry of Youth and Sport and given a ""special mention"" by the adult jury as well. Coop Renner, Paul C. Moreno Elementary, El Paso, TX