City Pictures

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.

In Matheson’s third juvenile novel, a sequel to Prairie Pictures, the
episodic action, which occurs over the summer holidays, finds Sherri
Farquhar, who has just turned 13, relocated with her parents and
6-year-old sister Bonnie in their rented home in Calgary. Sherri is
quite apprehensive about starting Grade 7 in a new school in September,
and her fears are aggravated by this school’s being her sixth in seven
years, a situation caused by her father’s transient employment.
Sherri’s additional concern over having to acquire new pals initially
seems resolved when her next-door neighbor, the beautiful, blonde
Samantha “Sam” Locke, befriends her. Eighth-grader Sam, however,
quickly establishes that the younger Sherri is only a summer replacement
for her temporarily absent friends. Having accepted her impermanent
status, a vulnerable Sherri quickly falls under the spell of the
sophisticated Sam, who not only “makes over” Sherri’s country-hick
appearance but also revamps her values by introducing her to
shoplifting. Though initially appalled, Sherri reluctantly accepts
stolen items from Sam and then gradually begins stealing things herself.
The teen pair’s misdeeds are ultimately discovered, and the book’s
closing chapters realistically, but not didactically, reveal the legal
consequences of such crimes for juveniles. Matheson’s use of a subplot
to demonstrate that Sherri’s parents’ values are also being altered
by their move to the city makes Sherri’s character change more
believable. While City Pictures can stand alone, sufficient references
are made to happenings in Prairie Pictures that readers in Grades 4 to 7
who are unfamiliar with the latter’s contents may be enticed to read
it as well. Recommended.