Touch of the Clown

Anne Hutchings, a former elementary-school teacher-librarian with the
Durham Board of Education, is an educational consultant.

An existence bleaker than Barbara’s in Touch of the Clown would be
difficult to imagine. Her mother is dead, and the rest of her
dysfunctional family—an obese alcoholic father on the verge of a
nervous breakdown, a senile grandmother (also alcoholic), and a (perhaps
understandably) not very likeable younger sister, Livvy, who,
incidentally, suffers from a kidney and bladder problem—are all
Barbara’s responsibility. Fortunately for Barbara, escape is possible
through the world of books and through her friendship with Cosmo, the
clown. Though terminally ill himself, his support and encouragement give
Barbara the strength to remove herself and Livvy from the neglect and
eventual physical abuse. “You’re the only one who can make your life
good,” Cosmo tells Barbara. “We need to fight sometimes when the
people around us are harming us.”

An uplifting story this definitely is not. Yet because of Barbara’s
strength of character, determination, and obvious intelligence, we are
left with the conviction that she will survive. Recommended for late
junior- and intermediate-grade levels.