Let It Go

Virginia Gillham is Associate Librarian in the Public Service Library at
the University of Guelph.

This action-packed preteen/young adult novel deals with all of the subjects parents would want dealt with, in an atmosphere far more credible to the intended audience than could be created by most parents or teachers.

Two 15-year-old boys from a small town in Alberta lead lives that are unfortunately only too normal for teenagers of the ‘80s. They are called upon to make decisions about drugs and peers who use and sell them; to adjust to life with less-than-perfect teachers, parents, and family situations; and to cope with divorce, absentee parents, and custody disputes. All of this heavy reality is woven into an interesting, exciting, often humourous story, so skilfully that one preteen reader, questioned intensively, clearly was unaware that any moralizing had been done.

Set against the background of life on an Alberta ranch, horses, and overnight campouts without parents, the story even includes a hair-raising emergency dash to Calgary in a flashy Corvette driven by a boy who has never driven before.

None of the problems addressed by this book is unfamiliar even to children in early elementary school, and in fact the book was read easily and eagerly by grade four students. Including, as it does, all of the elements of a “good read” for its intended audience, and so many of the topics high on the priority list of their parents. Let It Go is an absolute must for Young Adult collections.