Monday, May 26, 2008

Kaline Klattermaster's Treehouse by Haven Kimmel

Um...reading this was like spending a significant amount of time in the brain of a seriously disturbed child. Possibly that was the intent.

Kaline (is that really a name? a boy's name?) doesn't know where his dad has gone or why. He's scared of the next door neighbor, his mom is acting even stranger than usual, and bullies are making his life miserable at school. Fortunately, he has his imaginary tree house and friends to comfort him.

Kaline's weird speech patterns kept throwing me out of the story, since I couldn't decide if they were typos or just the way he talked. I agree with him that his mom is nuts and wonder how on earth she manages to hold down a job as a paralegal when she is so completely scatty. And why is Kaline not in some kind of therapy? He obviously has major issues and needs help. The main part I did not buy was his dad. Here's a guy who is clearly as crazy as the rest of the Klattermaster family - timing your child's bedtime rituals is a sign of a serious problem, not to mention exacerbating his son's mental and social issues (at least according to Kaline's mom) - who leaves his son without a note or goodbye, and suddenly he reappears, says Kaline can be as messy and unorganized as he wants, and is all over him.

Call CPS somebody and hand Kaline over to the next door neighbor. Who hopefully can get his name changed.

Verdict: Awful characters and extremely weird. Not recommended

ISBN: 978-0689874024; Published February 2008 by Atheneum (out of print); Borrowed from the library

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