Why does the teaser on the back of this book give away key plot developments? Because this YA thriller is suspenseful and fun to read. It doesn’t need a quoted passage from the next-to-the-last chapter printed on the back cover and spoiling the surprises. Bad move on the part of whoever designed the cover.

So don’t read the back cover, but do read the book. Caroline Cooney specializes in Young Adult mystery/thrillers. Her books contain low to nonexistent blood, sex, and gore, lots of tension and excitement, intriguing family dynamics, and good, believable characters. If the Witness Lied has all of the above, and in addition there are some thought-provoking discussions of religion, God, and ethics that I thought were well integrated into the story and not didactic at all.

First lines: “The good thing about Friday is—it’s not Thursday. Jack Fountain lived through Thursday, and nothing bad happened: no cameras, no microphones.”

As the story unfolds we learn that Jack has good reason to fear microphones and cameras and the particular Thursday in question, the anniversary of his dad’s birthday. Jack has two sisters, and they, too, are media-shy and not sure what to do about their dad’s birthday. The remainder of If the Witness Lied tells why.

Blog reviews:
Sarah at The Reading Zone: “If the Witness Lied is a thriller through and through! I started the book on Friday afternoon and didn’t put it down until I finished it on Friday night. What a thrilling read! At times, I felt like I was reading a newspaper article because it felt so realistic. Certain touches, like the introduction of a sleazy reality show producer, make this book stand out.”

Reading Junky’s Reading Roost: “Could it be that the one witness of the horrible event may have lied? Could that witness actually be a murderer, and how can three teens and one toddler prove it?”

Liz at A Chair, a Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy: “While on the surface an attack on reality TV and those who see themselves as only existing via television, this is actually a heartbreaking look at grief and the destruction of a family.”

For me, the last panel discussion of the day on Saturday at the Texas Book Festival was a discussion with four children’s/YA authors about writing series fiction. The title was something like “How To Write Characters That Go the Distance: Writing Books in a Series.” The authors were Derrick Barnes (Ruby and the Booker Boys), Ally Carter ( The Gallagher Girls, beginning with the book that gives its title to this post), Pseudonymous Bosch (The Name of This Book Is Secret and sequels), and James A. Owen (Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica). The only one of the four whose books I had read was Mr. Owen, but I thought all four authors were interesting and some insightful things to say. Mr. Bosch was a bit, well, secretive. He wore sunglasses and looked like a sort of leftover hippie type with wild hair. I’ll let you know what I think about his Top Secret Book as soon as I get it from the library.

James Owen started out as an artist and comic book writer, and he illustrates the books in his seriesas well as doing the writing. I have enjoyed the first three books in the Imaginarium Geographica series (Semicolon review here), and I’m looking forward to reading the fourth book, just out, called The Shadow Dragons. Mr. Owen says there are seven books planned for the series, and he already has all seven (loosely?) plotted out and planned. He seemed to be a mild-mannered, stereotypical author type, very sweet, and and a bit bemused at finding himself at a book festival in Texas of all places. I was fascinated by his answer to an off-beat question posed by one of the children in the crowd: where did you go to college? He said that he took college classes while he was still in high school, but that when he was fifteen (or maybe fourteen?) he started his own art/design studio and as it was thriving when he graduated high school, he simply continued doing what he loved to do and never went to college. It sounded like a homeschool story, but as far as I know he wasn’t homeschooled.

Mr. Barnes said he learned a lot of his craft while working as a copywriter for Hallmark cards. He got a book deal, started writing the Ruby books, even though he has three sons and no daughters, and as of now he already has ten (or more?) of the series books written and waiting to be published. The fourth book in the series was published in March, 2009 and is one of the nominees for the Cybils Middle Grade Fiction category. I checked out the first book in the series a couple of days ago, and I’ll again let you know what I think.

And last but not least, I was so impressed with Ms. Carter and her coterie of fans who were there to cheer her on that I found the first book in her Gallagher Girls series at the library and read it today. I wish the second and third books had been on the shelf, too, because now I’m dying (get it, dying) to read them. Ms. Carter told the story of her agent calling her to say that YA chicklit was selling well these days and could she come up with any ideas in that genre? Ms. Carter, starving artist that she was, immediately made a list, but her agent said her ideas weren’t good enough. So the author proceeded to watch Alias. Something on the TV show gave her the idea for a spy school for girls, and the Gallagher Girls were born. I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have To Kill You is pure fun. Lots of high-tech spy stuff, a girls’ boarding school, secrets galore, espionage at its finest. And it has no sex and no bad language that I noticed. There is a little kissing and a lot of boy craziness, but again it’s all in fun. The other two books in the series are Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy and Don’t Judge a Girl By Her Cover. The latter (book three in the series) is nominated for the YA Fiction category in the Cybils. Ally Carter said, by the way, that she writes for “immature teens” but I’m thinking that most teen girls would enjoy these as just low effort entertainment. Three cheers for fun!

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I’ve always been interested in aberrant minds, people who think differently from the rest of us, and in aberrant religious groups, group that detour from orthodox Christianity into a spiritual path that obviously has its roots in Christianity, but doesn’t adhere to Biblical teaching. The Shakers of nineteenth century America were such a group.

Anna’s World is a Shaker world. When Anna is first left at the Shaker colony of Goshen by her bereaved and destitute father, she doesn’t understand how anyone can live according to Shaker rules and regulations. The Shakers were a “plain people” believing in plain dress and in simplicity in lifestyle. They also believed that the sin that condemned Adam and Eve was the sin of having sexual relations. (The Shakers and Phillip Pullman— what a combination!) So all Shakers were required to live celibate lives. They also held all possessions in common and owned no personal property. Anna is only fourteen when the story begins and not too concerned about relationships with boys, but she does find it difficult to follow all the rules that the Shakers have to regulate daily life. She longs for the day when her father will return to take her to Boston to live with him again.

In the meantime Anna makes friends at Goshen and becomes accustomed to Shaker life. When her father does return after she has experienced a long year of Shaker living, she realizes that her life will never be the same as it was before the flood and disease that destroyed their old life. Anna’s World is a coming of age story with a twist: Anna decides to enter a religious life and a world that her father will never understand or approve.

Although this book presents a seemingly accurate picture of Shaker life and of a young girl who is welcomed into a cultic group that has both a good side and some more questionable practices, I would not recommend it for children. It would require more discernment than an eight year old would typically have, even though the blurb on the back of the book says “for ages 8 and up.” The subject matter is much more appropriate for high school students, and even some adults, maybe those who are interested in the whole “Amish fiction” craze, would enjoy this story. Anna’s World was nominated for Cybils Middle Grade Fiction, but I would recommend it as young adult fiction. I just don’t think the 8-13 year old crowd would be very interested.

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This book is also nominated for a Cybil Award, but the views expressed here are strictly my own.