Signs and Wonders [Hardcover]

Picture book author Collins's first novel takes a startlingly provocative premise and clothes it in the familiar tropes of the YA novel. On the eve of the new millennium, 14-year-old Taswell believes that God has chosen her to give birth to a prophet. As the novel opens, Taswell is writing letters from a convent school where she's been sent because her guardian grandmother, Mavis, is busy traveling. Taswell's mother disappeared soon after her birth and her recently remarried father is a loving but distant presence. In her loneliness, Taswell turns to Pim, a guardian angel with a "misty green suit" and "glassy skin" whom she remembers from her early childhood. Taswell writes him letters that reveal both her alienation and her miraculous transformation (invoking other pivotal events that have happened to young people: "Think of Joan of Arc. Think of the Virgin Mary"). The resolution of this original plot is both surprising (neither consensual nor abusive sex is the cause of Taswell's condition) and at the same time disappointingly predictable (Taswell begins to heal only when an adult shows that she truly understands and cares). The epistolary form allows easy access to the protagonist's thoughts but not necessarily an easy identification with her. Taswell's sense of greatness (due to her special role), which separates her from her peers, may be off-putting to readers as well; yet they'll likely keep turning the pages to learn the outcome of the protagonist's unusual predicament. Ages 10-14. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Grade 7-9-Taswell, 14, has been sent to a remote, mountaintop Catholic girls' school by her grandmother. Her story is plausibly told through letters to and from her family, and to Pim, whom the teen believes is a cherubim who will intercede on her behalf only if she is worthy. She also believes that, like the Virgin Mary, she has been chosen to bear a prophet for the new millennium. Gaining weight and guarding her secret for months, Taswell gradually detaches from everyone, enthralled by ritual and religious fervor. Only Grace, a novitiate, and Madeline, a fellow student whom Taswell is convinced has been called to assist her, make any contact. Interventions by the school staff, including a therapist, are ineffective. When a doctor's examination finally determines that Taswell is not pregnant, but delusional, her family is summoned to deal with her. Ah, the family: her high-powered New York editor/grandmother who raised Taswell but has invested neither time nor emotion in the process; her wealthy but distant father, who, motivated by his new wife, seeks to establish closer contact; and her pregnant, kind and understanding stepmother, the only character who offers the young woman the unconditional love she craves. Serious and disturbing, Taswell's narrative is initially attention grabbing, but drags during the second trimester as the plot labors to conform to the nine-month school year/pregnancy time frame. Taswell and her dysfunctional family are convincingly frustrating and psychologically rich characters. Together with the plot, this limits the readership to serious, capable readers.
Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Jr. High School, Iowa City, IA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Taswell has been singled out for a miracle. She is pregnant--a virgin birth--with the prophet for a new millennium. Living in a convent-run school allows her seclusion and enables her to focus her mind on both her secret and things holy. The book's format is a series of letters between Taswell and those who will help or hinder her mission: the grandmother who raised her after Taswell was abandoned by her mother; her distant father and his pregnant young wife; a classmate who comes to believe in Taswell's calling; and Taswell's angel, from whom she seeks signs and wonders. Collins effectively allows readers a glimpse into Taswell's mind as the girl physically and emotionally exhibits signs of pregnancy. Taswell's correspondents are equally well defined, though her grandmother is a career woman stereotypical to the point of incredulity. The eventual disclosure of Taswell's secret, and the inevitable discovery that hers is a hysterical pregnancy, is well played. Less effective is the aftermath, in which Taswell and her new stepmother bond, and for all intents and purposes erase the last nine months. Still, strong voices and an intriguing premise allow readers to contemplate both the mundane and the miraculous. Ilene Cooper

As 14-year-old Taswell, a virgin, relates in this epistolary novel the progress of her pregnancy, she draws readers into her supreme self-confidence, toward her unshakable conviction that she is about to bring forth a prophet. From the small convent school where she has been sent because her grandmother Mavis doesn't quite know what to do with her, Taswell writes letters. At first her case appears to be one of ordinary self-absorption, common among teenagers, but soon it becomes clear that Taswell's belief that the world revolves around her has reached monumental proportions. She writes to the beautiful and self-possessed Mavis, to accuse her of being more concerned with her own life and career than with Taswell herself; she writes to her father, Charles, who after several marriages seems to have found a woman he really loves; and she writes to a kind of guardian spirit named Pim. Taswell holds her secret close, and readers watch with a kind of dread and fascination as it unfolds. She enlists a schoolmate to be her midwife, and as news of her pregnancy spreads, Taswell faces the school authorities and her relatives with equal ferocity. While the denouement is a bit too easy, readers will be tied into the claustrophobic interior of Taswell's heart for the duration. With great clarity and precision, Collins shows how all the strength and good wishes of the nuns who teach Taswell, and the shortcomings of the relatives who love her, are not enough; this heroine will face her guardian angel, or angels, and see her own way clear. Riveting. (Fiction. 12-14) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

"Taswell has been singled out for a miracle. She is pregnant--a virgin birth--with the prophet for a new millennium. Living in a convent-run school allows her seclusion and enables her to focus her mind on both her secret and things holy. The book's format is a series of letters between Taswell and those who will help or hinder her mission: the grandmother who raised her after Taswell was abandoned by her mother; her distant father and his pregnant young wife; a classmate who comes to believe in Taswell's calling; and Taswell's angel, from whom she seeks signs and wonders. Collins effectively allows readers a glimpse into Taswell's mind as the girl physically and emotionally exhibits signs of pregnancy. Taswell's correspondents are equally well defined, though her grandmother is a career woman stereotypical to the point of incredulity. The eventual disclosure of Taswell's secret, and the inevitable discovery that hers is a hysterical pregnancy, is well played. Less effective is the aftermath, in which Taswell and her new stepmother bond, and for all intents and purposes erase the last nine months. Still, strong voices and an intriguing premise allow readers to contemplate both the mundane and the miraculous." (Booklist, ALA )

"Her parents having run off (in two different directions), Taswell, raised by her grandmother Mavis, has now been packed off to a convent: "Mavis has sent me here because she's afraid." Perhaps Mavis should have saved her fears, for now Taswell is convinced she is pregnant, and not by ordinary means, nor with ordinary prospects. As she eventually confides to her guardian angel, Pim, Taswell believes herself to be carrying-virginally-the "prophet for the New Millennium." The novel is told in epistolary form, with Taswell's letters to Pim comprising the truth (as she sees it), while her letters to and from her grandmother and father and soon-to-be stepmother slowly reveal the sad reality of Taswell's lonely life. The psychology of the book is rather too simple and too overtly bared in the concluding pages, but Taswell's caustic voice is so convincing and the convent school so sparely but atmospherically conveyed that she really has us going there for a while-signs, prophets, and all. In her first novel, Pat Lowery Collins employs smart restraint with a theme that could have been melodramatic but is instead tenderly and respectfully evoked; like Taswell, she makes us want to believe." (Horn Book )

As 14-year-old Taswell, a virgin, relates in this epistolary novel the progress of her pregnancy, she draws readers into her supreme self-confidence, toward her unshakable conviction that she is about to bring forth a prophet. From the small convent school where she has been sent because her grandmother Mavis doesn't quite know what to do with her, Taswell writes letters. At first her case appears to be one of ordinary self-absorption, common among teenagers, but soon it becomes clear that Taswell's belief that the world revolves around her has reached monumental proportions. She writes to the beautiful and self-possessed Mavis, to accuse her of being more concerned with her own life and career than with Taswell herself; she writes to her father, Charles, who after several marriages seems to have found a woman he really loves; and she writes to a kind of guardian spirit named Pim. Taswell holds her secret close, and readers watch with a kind of dread and fascination as it unfolds. She enlists a schoolmate to be her midwife, and as news of her pregnancy spreads, Taswell faces the school authorities and her relatives with equal ferocity. While the denouement is a bit too easy, readers will be tied into the claustrophobic interior of Taswell's heart for the duration. With great clarity and precision, Collins shows how all the strength and good wishes of the nuns who teach Taswell, and the shortcomings of the relatives who love her, are not enough; this heroine will face her guardian angel, or angels, and see her own way clear. Riveting. (Kirkus Reviews )

Tucked away at boarding school, fourteen-year-old Taswell is undergoing an extraordinary transformation. She knows it's important, but she's not sure how to deal with it and who she should tell . . . certainly not her distant grandmother, who's busy with work, or her father, who has a new and pregnant wife. Isolated from friends and family, she looks for help and advice in surprising places. As Taswell discovers more about herself and the people around her, she ultimately finds salvation where she least expects it. Told entirely in letters, this startlingly original novel about a search for love and family is both heartbreaking and hilarious.

Pat Lowery Collins lives in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where she writes, paints and illustrates full-time. She was born and raised in Hollywood and received her B.A. in English from the University of Southern California. She is an award winning poet and author, having written a number of young adult novels including The Fattening Hut (Houghton, 2003), Just Imagine (Houghton, 2001), and Signs and Wonders (Houghton, 1999), as well as the picture book Tomorrow, Up and Away (Houghton, 1990). To learn more about Pat Lowery Collins, visit her website at www.patlowerycollins.com.