Book Review: The Keening by A. LaFaye

The Keening
by A. LaFaye
Non-series

Milkweed
ISBN-10: 1-571-31694-9
ISBN-13: 978-1-571-31694-3
Publication Date: April, 2010
List Price: $8.00

Review: The Keening, written by A. LaFaye, is a truly outstanding book with all of the details and scenes weaved through the pages. When thirteen year old Lyza loses her Mater (mother) who falls ill to a fever and dies in her sleep, it is up to Lyza to take care of her Pater (father) who carves the dead into wood and stone.

Lyza has lived with her Mater and Pater for as long as she can remember. Her Pater has carved people into stone and wood for his entire life. She has always helped her Mater with cooking and cleaning, but when her Mater suddenly falls ill and dies from the disease, Lyza knows that she has to do her best to defend her Pater from angry relatives and townspeople. As she scampers all over the town to find Mr. Penwarren, she bumps into a few obstacles and also finds out the she can see and speak to those who are dead. Join Lyza on her stimulating journey to help her Pater keep safe from those who want to kill him.

I think that The Keening was a great book, but isn’t appropriate for all aged readers. There are some parts in the book that are pretty scary, even to me! One scene is when Pater is telling Lyza about when her Uncle Marl hat cut Mater across the forehead with a knife because of Pater. He thought that Pater was a fool and he didn’t need to be married to Lyza’s Mater. I would say if I had to set an age limit that you would need to be in fifth grade, at least, to read this book. The Keening is also a good book because of all of the details it has swimming around on the pages. For example when it describes Portland, it described the people there, what they look like, some of the stands and trolley cars and the scenery. Finally, The Keening is a good book because it is a type of story that you don’t get to hear every day. It is not like the Harry Potter series, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief series or Warriors series. It is just its own unique story that is stands in a class of its own, and that quality makes me fall in love with this book every time I read it. The Keening deserves a ten out of ten rating for its details, unique style and the scary parts that kept me reading on the edge of my chair until I fell off from fear. This book has definitely earned a place in my top fifteen books of the year.

Review written by Sheila (6th grade student).

We would like to thank Milkweed for providing a copy of The Keening for this review.

Have you read The Keening? How would you rate it?