Changing Jareth

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

Newcomer Wennick offers adolescents a longer and grittier than normal
Canadian young-adult novel. Divided into two parts, “Corruption” and
“Redemption,” Changing Jareth begins as Jareth Gardner, 17, has just
exited from robbing a house. During the robbery, the home owner
experienced a fatal heart attack, and Jareth and Matthew Harper,
co-robber and friend since childhood, fear that, if caught, they may be
charged with causing the man’s death. Jareth’s problems extend to
both school (his pulling a knife on a fellow student has led to his
having to meet regularly with a psychiatrist) and home, where he lives
with his alcoholic mother and sickly half-brother, Brad. Life bottoms
out for Jareth when he discovers his brother fatally injured and
realizes that his mother is his brother’s killer. A botched suicide
attempt places Jareth in a hospital’s psychiatric ward.

The “Redemption” section opens with Matthew’s stepfather, Victor
Fleming, finding Jareth a place to live in the Toronto home of artist
Stewart Morgan. In this setting, Jareth rediscovers his own interest in
art, “the closest thing I had to a talent.” He also befriends Pete,
Martin, and pregnant Zoe, a trio of adolescents living on the streets.
While Jareth had stolen drug money belonging to a neighbor, 13-year-old
Richard Peterson, shortly after arriving at the Morgan home, a reformed
Jareth rescues Richard from his supplier. The story concludes with
Jareth’s mother pleading guilty in Brad’s death. A brief epilogue
titled “Hope” updates readers about Jareth’s life five years
later.

Wennick’s writing combines the toughness of Robert Cormier with the
optimistic idealism of S.E. Hinton. An excellent first novel, Changing
Jareth is not without its faults. For example, the reasons for Victor
Fleming’s and Stewart Morgan’s altruism remain vague, and some plot
episodes lead nowhere. While an opening scene involving Jareth and a
chance encounter with the wife/unknowing widow of his deceased robbery
victim is exciting, it is a dead-end event. However, since the story
centres on the changes in Jareth, most teen readers will overlook such
defects as they enjoy the book’s main character. Recommended.