Trading Riley

Deborah Dowson is a Canadian children’s librarian living in Powell,
Ohio.

Every summer Riley’s dad takes him on a camping trip while they drive
to his mom’s place in Vancouver for his summer vacation. This year Dad
has to go away for a funeral and Riley has to take the trip with his
dad’s fiancée. Riley is disappointed and reluctant to go with Debbie,
but he has no other way to get to see his mom. Debbie tries very hard to
make the trip interesting and fun for Riley, but she doesn’t
understand him, or his pet lizards at all, and everyone becomes upset
and angry that things are not working out. When Debbie is involved in a
minor car accident and the man in the other car becomes aggressive and
threatening, Riley alerts a bystander to help. This frightening
experience causes Riley to see Debbie as a real person, and Debbie
starts to relax and communicate with Riley. The two begin to get to know
and appreciate each other.

The author does an excellent job of presenting the child’s
perspective on the difficult situations that can arise for the child of
divorced parents. Debbie’s character is drawn completely from
Riley’s impression of her and the reader discovers with Riley that
Debbie is not as bad as she first seemed, and that she is trying hard to
make things work. The changing feelings and perceptions that occurs is
very true to life and the plot and text are carefully employed to create
a very satisfying story. Recommended.