Spoiled Rotten

Emily Walters Gregor is a graduate student in 20th-century American
literature and an ESL writing tutor at the University of Minnesota.

The Orca Currents series is a collection of short novels for reluctant
readers. The novels feature appealing characters, relatively simple
language and narrative structure, and lots of action.

Spoiled Rotten does an admirable job of filling these criteria.
Fourteen-year-old Jessica, still recovering from the death of her mother
two years earlier, is having difficulty adjusting to her new stepmother
and -sister. The situation worsens when the family takes a trip up the
Pacific Coast by motorboat. Jessica cannot stand being trapped in a
small boat with her stepsister, Amy, who is everything Jessica is
not—good at school, neat, and of course, spoiled rotten.

After anchoring off the B.C. coast, Jessica is anxious to get to land
to explore the wilderness as her nature-loving mother would have done.
Amy, however, wants to tag along. Alone together in the woods,
traversing treacherous ground and avoiding bears, Jessica learns that
Amy is not as perfect or as spoiled as she initially seemed.

Gaetz’s young protagonist, who clearly prefers the challenges of the
outdoors to those of schoolwork, will undoubtedly draw a sympathetic
audience. Though the plot is at times predictable and some characters
and relationships remain underdeveloped, the storyline is fast-paced and
engaging. Recommended.