McNicoll, Sylvia 1954-

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Sylvia McNicoll
1954-

INTRODUCTION
PRINCIPAL WORKS
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
GENERAL COMMENTARY
TITLE COMMENTARY
FURTHER READING

(Full name Sylvia Marilyn McNicoll; has also written under the pseudonym Geena Dare) Canadian author of young adult novels.

The following entry presents an overview of McNicoll's career through 2003.

INTRODUCTION

McNicoll is known for her sensitive and compassionate treatments of difficult issues affecting contemporary teenagers, such as dyslexia, cancer, and anorexia. Her young adult and pre-teen novels have been praised for their strong, realistic characters who face authentic challenges at home and in school. McNicoll often mellows the harshness of these situations with touches of humor that never diminish the seriousness of the main subject, a quality critics find especially appealing in the books she writes specifically for a male audience.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Born in Ajax, Ontario, McNicoll moved several times during her childhood, finally settling in Montreal, Quebec. Because her parents had immigrated from Germany, English was McNicoll's second language. She wrote her first composition at the age of four, but as a teenager, McNicoll lost interest in school, finding herself more interested by sports and the social scene. After graduation, McNicoll worked in an office while attending Concordia University in Montreal at night. Her employer, the Canadian International Paper Company, was so impressed by her office skills that she was assigned the job of managing corporate funds and provided with all of her school expenses. At the age of twenty-two, she graduated from college with a B.A. in English. When her first child was born in 1979, McNicoll left her job to become a full-time mother, but it was not until the birth of her third child that she began to write. McNicoll set a goal for herself to become a paid writer by the time her youngest child was in school; otherwise she would give up the idea. She pursued her goal by

publishing articles in magazines and freelancing with a local paper for two years. McNicoll began attending writing courses and entering contests. A friend urged her to take a writing workshop given by Paul Kropp at Sheridan College, and because McNicoll could not afford the entry fee, she arranged for a local newspaper to pay her expenses in exchange for McNicoll writing a story on the event. Her course project, which became her first book, was Blueberries and Whipped Cream (1988), a story about a fifteen-year-old girl whose mother is dying of cancer. Kropp told McNicoll that the book had made him cry and urged her to submit it for publication. After several rewrites, assisted by Kropp, McNicoll submitted the manuscript to publishers. While waiting for a response, McNicoll decided she wanted to have something else to submit when Blueberries was rejected and began writing her second book Jump Start (1989). After Jump Start had been submitted, she wrote The Tiger Catcher's Kid (1989) for the same reason. Ironically, all three books were accepted for publication in the same week. Since 1989, McNicoll has continued to publish works for young adults and tours schools and libraries to read, discuss, and give writing tips to children. She also teaches creative writing at Sheridan College and now manages the writing workshop she originally took with Kropp.

MAJOR WORKS

Based on the experiences of McNicoll's youngest child, Project Disaster (1990) recounts the problems Neil Boisvert has trying to put together a science project for school. First the goldfish he has been training dies when Neil's younger sister overfeeds him; then his teacher squashes the spider that was Neil's replacement project. Neil expresses his frustration by "borrowing" his grandfather's beloved classic car and damaging it, getting himself into trouble. He is fortunate in having the love and support of his family to bring balance back into his life. Bringing up Beauty (1994) is about twelve-year-old Elizabeth and the relationship that develops between her and the Labrador puppy, Beauty, whom her family is training as a seeing-eye dog. Knowing that she will have to give Beauty up after a year, Elizabeth tries to stay detached, but the year is a difficult one for Elizabeth as she faces the numerous pressures of adolescence, and Beauty becomes her closest friend. McNicoll published a sequel to Bringing up Beauty—A Different Kind of Beauty—in 2004. In Walking a Thin Line (1997), McNicoll tackles the consuming issue of teenage body image. Lauren has convinced herself that she needs to lose weight, but she sets unrealistic goals for herself. Although Lauren never resorts to anorexia or bulimia, these issues are discussed, as are diet fads and gimmicks, weight loss programs, and the influence of advertising on body image. Fortunately, Lauren comes to understand the truth with the help of her family and her doctor. Utilizing the same characters that appeared in Walking a Thin Line, Caught in a Lie (2000) addresses not only body image, but how lying can create difficult situations for adolescents. Kim wants to be a model and, after her parents object to her plans, she begins lying, forging permission letters, and borrowing money from her college fund. Tired of waiting in line to pay for the false nails she thinks she needs for a critical modeling audition, Kim shoplifts them and is caught. Written under the pseudonym Geena Dare in collaboration with Linda Hendry and Sharon Siamon, the "Stage School" series has proved to be popular with young readers. The five major characters, three girls and two boys, are students at the William S. Holly High School of the Performing Arts, and each has a different performance talent. McNicoll primarily writes the books that focus on the series' male characters, Dan and Matt. Dan is a comedian who is always falling into irreverent situations, but he has serious difficulties with a negligent father who is unable to provide his son with food or shelter in Dan: Clowning Around (1998). In Matt: Heartbreak Hero (1998) Matt, a dancer, deals with the effects of contracting mononucleosis.

CRITICAL RECEPTION

McNicoll has been praised by critics for constructing fast-paced, humorous, and interesting novels that are also relevant to young readers. Reviewers have also noted McNicoll's ability to write effectively for both genders, giving her works a more universal appeal. Critical response to McNicoll's Project Disaster has been largely positive. Mary-Anne Stouck has observed that, "[McNicoll] achieves a nice balance between having Neil recognize and take responsibility for his own shortcomings [in Project Disaster] and at the same time giving him strong reassurance that he is loved and valued by his family." Bringing up Beauty has been McNicoll's most critically acclaimed work to date, with reviewers lauding the work's emotional core." Terri Spanjer has called Bringing up Beauty "well-paced, vivid, and exuberant," while Anne Hutching appreciated that "all the issues are dealt with honestly, realistically, sensitively, and, in some instances, humourously."

AWARDS

Bringing up Beauty won the Manitoba Young Readers Choice Award from the Manitoba School Library Association in 1997 and Ontario's Silver Birch Award in 1996. The Canadian Children's Book Center Our Choice selections have included Jump Start for 1989-1990, Project Disaster for 1990-1991, Bringing up Beauty for 1995-1996, and The Big Race! (1996) for 1996-1997. Caught in a Lie was awarded the Explora-Toy Award for Best Children's Novel in 2001.

PRINCIPAL WORKS

Blueberries and Whipped Cream (young adult novel) 1988

Jump Start (young adult novel) 1989

The Tiger Catcher's Kid (young adult novel) 1989

More than Money (young adult novel) 1990

Project Disaster (young adult novel) 1990

Facing the Enemy (young adult novel) 1992

Bringing up Beauty (young adult novel) 1994

The Big Race! (young adult novel) 1996

Walking a Thin Line (young adult novel) 1997

Double Dribble (young adult novel) 1999

Grave Secrets (young adult novel) 1999

Smoky and the Gorilla (young adult novel) 1999

Caught in a Lie (young adult novel) 2000

A Different Kind of Beauty (young adult novel) 2004

The "Stage School" Series

Dan: Clowning Around [as Geena Dare] (young adult novel) 1998

Matt: Heartbreak Hero [as Geena Dare] (young adult novel) 1998

Abbi: Secret Stranger [as Geena Dare] (young adult novel) 1999

Dan: Double Drama [as Geena Dare] (young adult novel) 1999

Jenna: Standing Tall [as Geena Dare] (young adult novel) 1999

Lauren: Dream Dating [as Geena Dare] (young adult novel) 1999

AUTHOR COMMENTARY

Sylvia McNicoll and Dave Jenkinson (interview date 3 March 2000)

SOURCE: McNicoll, Sylvia, and Dave Jenkinson. "Sylvia McNicoll." CM: Canadian Review of Materials 6, no. 13 (online edition), http://www.umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/profiles/mcnicoll.html (3 March 2000).

[In the following interview, McNicoll discusses her career, writing under the pseudonym "Geena Dare," the major themes in her works, and her personal background.]

Question: When is Sylvia McNicoll not Sylvia McNicoll?

Answer: When she's Geena Dare, author of books in Orchard's "Stage School" series for early adolescent girls.

The impetus for Sylvia's name change was a phone call from author and editor Sharon Siamon, someone Sylvia first encountered while sending out the manuscript of her first book, Blueberries and Whipped Cream. "Nelson was the fourth publisher, and they couldn't take it, but Sharon, who was then editing there, sent it to her husband, Geoff, who published it as a JeanPac. Sharon and I became friends, and later I worked with her on The Tiger Catcher's Kid, More than Money, and Facing the Enemy. In this business, you keep writing for your friends. You don't write where it's profitable. Every once in a while, when Sharon wants something, she'll give me a call. She never asks outright either, but will just sort of say, 'Do you know anyone who has …?'"

"Sharon told me about the 'Sleepover' and 'Stage School' series she was writing, the former for Hodder, the latter for Orchard, both British publishers. She said she needed a writer to work for fifty percent under her name. I replied, 'I don't know anybody who would do that, except a beginner,' and added that I'd think of some beginners for her.' Later, Sharon called back with a counter offer: 'We'll go under this new name, Geena Dare, and each of us will earn whatever the book will earn.'" Sylvia accepted and joined Sharon and Linda Hendry in becoming Geena Dare.

While the series are published in England, their action occurs in Canada. "We're going to North Americanize the Brits because the setting's vaguely Toronto." While liking the "foreign" locale, the editors occasionally want a British touch, especially when it comes to characters' names. "The Brits will come back and say things like, 'Vivy doesn't work for us, I'm afraid.' So Vivy became Abby, and Lauren used to be Claire, but that changed after I'd written the manuscript for the first "Stage School" book, Dan: Clowning Around. Fortunately I was working in WordPerfect, and it was just a case of hitting 'Shift F2.'"

"There are five major characters in the 'Stage School' series, three girls and two boys, each with a different expertise. I'm in charge of boys, and Orchard quite likes them because they notice the shift in tone. Sharon is quite an adventure writer and has a different style which lends itself to the 'Sleepovers' whereas I do the humour. In Dan: Clowning Around, Dan's the comedian who originally wanted to be a serious actor, but he constantly falls into silly things such as a dancing pimple commercial. Dan's father is a writer who does character writing by living the parts. Consequently, the lunches Dan brings to school reflect what his father is writing. For example, Dan has tofu sandwiches because his father's writing about a pacifist."

The second "Stage School" title is Matt: Heartbreak Hero. "Matt's a dancer who's just got mononucleosis. Mono's a great disease because you can do anything with it that you want. I've known so many teenagers that have had it in all its various forms. It can look like something worse, like leukemia, and so I drag it out a long time in the story. Matt's dad didn't really want him to dance anyway, and, at one point, makes the comment that he didn't want Matt to grow up as a 'cake boy.' That's as close as I get to a touchy subject."

For Sylvia, the good news is that she's involved in writing a series, something that's most difficult to do in Canada. "Here, you can do a book one year and another the next year, but kids grow up too quick, and so it never ends up being a series unless the publisher keeps your old books in print and then, after the third year, packages them saying, 'Here's a series of three books.'" But Sylvia's good news is also her bad news as her six book contract calls for "a 100 page book every two months. Originally, they wanted them 25-30,000 words long, but Sharon ended up writing 20,000 word books."

"Research is very hard to do for the series books. I've never danced. Well, actually I did dance—very badly in college, modern dance. The teacher kept throwing me in the back. As research, I'm going to school productions. There's a performing arts school in Etobicoke, and I'm constantly there. They're fabulous productions. I'm seeing so much more live theatre, something I've gotten away from since college. Acting and writing are very close, hand in hand, I think."

Born in Ajax, Ontario, on September 30, 1954, Sylvia also lived briefly in Prescott and Cornwall before moving to Montreal when she was in grade three. "When I was a kid, I was almost programmed to be a teacher or a stewardess. To this day, my mother, who likes to fly, is disappointed I'm not a flight attendant because all her friends have kids who work for some airline, and, unlike them, she can't get a discount. In high school, I lost any initiative to do well in school. I was your standard 'boy-chaser' who liked sports and socializing, but my marks dropped. I could have probably gotten a scholarship if I'd just performed to my potential. In those days, there was a baby boom and CEGEP was new and it was free. Because there were so many people entering, I only got accepted at night, and so I applied to Loyola and paid to get in the day time. My dad said that I had to go into commerce because that's where the jobs were, and so I played along with him and, after two years, went to work. When I went into university, I took my courses at night, and I just took what I wanted. Those were the good old days, and the company I worked for paid a hundred percent of my fees. Oddly, they didn't care what I took either. After I finished my B.A., they gave me a 20% increase and started interviewing me for management positions, but then I stayed home to have kids."

"That was a good change because that's when I finally realized, 'It's time to think about what do you really want to do?' I started going to writing workshops, and the first course I took was Jamie Brown's at Concordia. In those days, I wasn't serious enough. At the time, I had one child, and I'd write a short story and think, "This is it," and submit it to Chatelaine. It took having the kids for me to find the children's niche because initially my writing was all adult. With three kids and one income, it was touch and go financially. I used to lie awake at night thinking, 'When can I go back to work because then we can pay all this off?' Then I thought, 'I have this period until the kids are all in school to establish myself as a writer. If I haven't earned any money from writing by then, I will give it up for ever because you cannot go to work, come home and not spend any time with your kids.' I started writing household tips for Family Circle or whatever, and, by the time we moved to Burlington, Ontario, cheques were being forwarded on so I had made a breakthrough as it were."

"Through a workshop, I'd met Gisela Sherman, and, because I was then writing an 'adult' novel, Gisela had to drag me kicking and screaming to Paul Kropp's children's writing course. The very first night, Paul used an overhead of an ear, and I recall thinking, 'I'm here looking at an overhead of an ear!' Paul said, 'What does everyone want to do as a project?' And I said, 'I'm working on an adult novel.' 'Fine,' he replied. 'Give me an outline by next week.' I switched over to a kid's novel, gave him an outline, and we read every week. But I found everybody read something totally humorous, and I remember adolescence as being such an intense time. I wrote Blueberries and Whipped Cream about someone whose mom had died of cancer.' I was the one making Paul cry, and so he thought it should be published. At the end of the course, he suggested four publishers, and I rewrote it for him a couple of times and off it went."

"My goal was really not publication, but a 'Type B' rejection, a rejection that didn't say, 'Sorry, this doesn't meet our requirements.' Happily, every rejection came back as a 'B'. Getting lots of type B rejections caused me to raise the bar. That was no longer good enough. I'm so close I want it published, but I knew I couldn't take rejection, and so I told myself, 'In three months, they're going to reject me. You've got to expect that so you need to have another book out.' I decided to write Jump Start, for my mentor, Paul Kropp. After I wrote that one, Sharon Siamon called asking, 'Would you have anything funny for grade six?' I thought, 'OK, before Jump Start gets rejected, I'll have another one,Tiger Catcher's Kid, out. I remember the glorious first week of January in 1988 when everyone called back and accepted all three novels. That year I made $800 for three books! Now I make more than that on Public Lending Rights."

"While the three books were exciting, I realized, 'I really can't live on this.' I couldn't believe that you could write three books and make such little money. Also what surprised and disappointed me was that the books come out and the world doesn't stop. People don't bow down at your feet. That was a big disappointment because, if someone had told me that they'd written a book, I would have been on the floor kissing their toes, and nobody was doing this when my books came out."

As noted,Tiger Catcher's Kid was also the result of a call from Sharon. "At that point, I was freelancing for The Burlington Post and had this car that was always breaking down. The garage that I went to was right next door to an animal shelter, and I thought I'd go and see if I could find any stories to sell to the newspaper. I learned about cougars escaping in the Burlington Mall. The book's based on a true story except I changed the animals to tigers and fabricated a little bit to pump up the volume on the climax. The man actually did choke a tiger to death, and they were sued. When Sharon asked me, I said, "Sure." When somebody asks you, you're all flattered because all this time you're submitting and being rejected, and so you say 'Yes' whether you can or not. Then you hope and pray that you can."

"Blueberries, Jump Start and Tiger Catcher's Kid were all out simultaneously when I wrote Project Disaster. I really liked the "Blue Kite" series that Lorimer had, and so I submitted the manuscript to them but got no reply. One day, at a CANSCAIP meeting, all these young women from Scholastic came in, and I met Dianne Kerner and said, 'I have a manuscript,' and she sort of cringed. It was a cardinal sin, but I turned it in to her the next month. I had thought the book was a little short but was prepared to make it longer if Scholastic liked it. When Dianne called, she said, 'Are you familiar with our 'Shooting Star' series? How would you feel about making the book shorter.'"

"When I wanted to write the sequel to Project Disaster, Scholastic said, 'What works best for us is having the characters in grade 3. Let's write it backwards, a prequel that puts Neil in grade 3.' Dianne also added, 'We don't have any sports books in 'Shooting Star'. What about soccer?' to which I replied, 'Too much running.' Dianne said, "I forgot. You have to join every sport you write about." As my family was playing baseball in the park a lot, I suggested baseball, and she agreed. By the time I'd finished writing The Big Race!, Scholastic had decided that sports books weren't doing well in their book club, and they didn't want a sports focus. Because I'd been working with a group of grade two kids and Robin, my daughter, had a snail project that I really thought was neat, I put these snails into the book. Whatever happened to my daughter's snails at school happened to the book's Robin. The real Robin's snail got a cracked shell and went to the top and hid for days. My Robin never broke her nose playing baseball, but somebody else I knew did. And just for fun, Paul became Mr. Kropp the janitor."

Facing the Enemy is another book that can be traced to a call from Sharon. "You can't imagine what an incentive to write someone's call is. I was going to write a Ninja book, and, as part of my research, I was going to learn the Ninja's secret fighting art. Because nobody was teaching it, I took judo because I got a discount at Sheridan College. The editors said, 'Why don't you write something silly' and so I started writing Revenge of the Nerdettes, which became my hobby book for years. I kept rewriting it and rewriting it, and nobody ended up taking it. While I was writing it, Sharon asked, 'Would you like to write something for us?' I'd written More than Money, and she said, 'But not a More than Money. We want a Blueberries and Whipped Cream for boys. And I said, 'Oh, how do I kill dad?' The Gulf War had started, and I really got caught up in it. I wrote Facing as the war was going on, and we didn't know how it was going to end. I went to Canadian military bases to do the research. One day when I was on a base, there was a little piece in the newspaper saying there had been a hit on Canada Dry One. I asked the officers there for details, but nobody knew about it. That gave me an idea, 'What if something similar happened to Cliff and nobody knew about who got hurt. What if Cliff's father was supposed to call and didn't? What would Cliff think and why would he think so as he played back the letter that sort of sounds like Dad feels he's going to die?'"

"Although I took a chapter from Revenge of the Nerdettes and created a short story out of it, that's still the book that never made it. The two main characters are Claudette the Nerdette, who's sort of clumsy, and Marge the Barge, who's fat and acknowledged it. Everyone who read the manuscript always said, 'We love Marge.' When Scholastic were seriously going to 'maybe' publish it, I quickly hit them with a proposal for a sequel—Marge dieting. Then they came back with the bad news, 'We're not taking Revenge, and we're not taking Marge dieting, but we'd like a dieting book.' They sent me Dorothy Joan Harris' Even If Kills Me, which I'd already read, but I read it again. Then I started doing research and worked with Dr. Miriam Kaufman. What I found was that an anorexic is hostile, a liar, and, basically, according to the doctor, unpleasant. I thought, 'Well, why would I write about that.' Even though the opening of Harris's book says nobody's to blame, the whole book blamed the parents. And I thought,'Kids should take responsibility. So many of us go through bad situations and come out ahead. Let's not give them an excuse. If you have an eating disorder, take responsibility for it.' I think I wrote Walking a Thin Line from a very adult perspective, and, when I completed it, I was nervous that it was too 40-year-oldish. However, I was working with some kids in an Ontario Arts Council project, and I gave the manuscript to six girls and they just loved it. I was so pleased."

"At a low point in my career, when an agent had returned all my books saying, 'Sorry, kids' writers don't make enough money for me to represent them,' and two books had been rejected, I called Sharon Siamon just to yammer. She asked me to write a funny environmental story for Owl Magazine where she was a contributing editor at the time. 'Oh sure, environmentalists with a sense of humour,' I said and then went completely off on another tangent."

"A friend of mine told me about fostering guide dogs for Canine Vision Canada, and, coincidentally, my husband, Bob, commuted and worked with a man whose family had raised three. I listened with awe to the amazing story of emotional upheaval that families go through falling in love with puppies and giving them up after a year. I just had to write about it. To make it environmental and to give the idea of time passing, I included a compost heap at the beginning and end, first as garbage and then as soil. 'Another Family Project' ended up too long for Owl so I had to cut and cut. When they bought it, I felt I had to write the whole story. Bringing up Beauty was born. I received a grant from the Ontario Arts Council for the first 60 pages, 'based on superior literary merit.' I think I'll have that carved on my tombstone."

"I worried at the time that, if serious adult literary types liked it, kids might hate it. How rewarding it was to win Ontario's Silver Birch Award and the Manitoba Young Reader's Choice Award—both children's choice awards—to prove myself wrong."

"I've also written two books for a Scholastic reading series proposed by Paul Kropp. His idea was to write a 10,000 word book using high interest-lo vocab, but then to also write a 1,000 word short story to go with it. Scholastic would compile an anthology for those kids who have difficulty reading or just don't like reading. They'd read the short stories, and, if they liked a story, then they could go on to the book. I think this is an excellent idea, but how many writers who write novels like writing short stories? Because Paul was writing one, I challenged him, 'Have you written your short story yet?' And he said, 'Wow, a 1,000 word's really tough.' And his ended up being 1,700 words."

"When I thought about my short story, what attracted me most was my original Owl story, 'Another Family Project.' I told Paul, 'If you like this short story, take it, and I'll write a shorter version of Bringing up Beauty. Lots of kids had written me, wanting me to change Beauty 's ending so that Elizabeth gets to keep the dog. Well, I'm finished with the character of Elizabeth, but I created a new character, Eric, who wants to save for a Camcorder, and so he dresses as a gorilla, sells roses and gets a dollar for each bouquet. Meanwhile he's doing a video of his dog that he's returning to Canine Vision. Eric thinks he doesn't really like the dog, but something amazing happens. When the dog goes back to Canine Vision, they decide it's depressed because it's a one family dog, and so Eric gets his dog back. The book's called Smoky and the Gorilla. "

"The other book I did for the Scholastic reading series is Double Dribble. It's about a subject I wanted to explore. My daughter was heavy into basketball and something called 'rep' basketball, a kind of all-star team. I recall going to some fundraising function and being blown away by hearing another mother seriously say, 'Rep basketball is not about fun. It's about competition and getting scholarships for basketball.' My daughter actually quit rep basketball because she said, 'Practices aren't fun.' When I was a kid, I was on a championship basketball team. We weren't nearly one-tenth as good as my daughter's team, but, by gosh, we had fun in practices and games. At recess, we even went to the gym and had shooting practice. And so I wrote Double Dribble in which two best friends get bumped up to the triple A team for three weeks. Because only one of them will get a spot, their friendship starts to fall apart, Of course, in the end, they quit triple A and go back to double A."

"I have a sequel to Walking a Thin Line in mind. Everyone calls Walking an 'anorexia' book, but it's not. I'm scared of that word, and so I say it's a 'body image' book because, truly, the main character is not anorexic. I wanted to do another book about 'lookism,' and I took Kim, who wants to be a super-model, from Walking. She and Jay get caught up in shoplifting. Kim's written in to one of these model searches. A nail-biter, Kim, on the day of her interview, has bitten her nails and goes to buy false ones. According to a piece I heard on radio, apparently false nails are one of the most shoplifted items. Kim's in line to pay for her nails, but, because it's Senior Citizen day, the line's going too slowly. Fearing she's going to miss her appointment, Kim just shoplifts them, and 'boom,' isn't she caught? I was in the middle of this book when I was asked to do the 'Stage School' series. When you submit an outline and three chapters, you have to be really clear, and my outline isn't yet."

When it comes to her approach to writing, Sylvia says, "I don't have a set time to write. It would be better if I did. I'm too hyperactive to be one of those people who gets up in the morning and writes. Inevitably, it ends up that I spend the morning running around doing things like calling teachers and schools. So I end up writing in the afternoon, at night, on airplanes, I write everywhere and whenever I get a chance. I like to write in the car when somebody else is driving. On the QEW, it's no problem to write while you're driving. And I like to write around water, pools or lakes."

"I don't have a plot mapped up in my head, but I like to have a beginning, a climax and an end in mind. Probably why I'm having trouble with the sequel to Walking a Thin Line is because I'm not getting a clear cut ending. I usually have to have those three points before I can actually start writing. I think characters, at least the main character, are fairly immediate too. Usually the three points of the plot and the characters are what start the book off, and a phone call from an editor. There's a market drive. And courses keep you on track. I have a workshop that meets every two weeks. In between, I have a workshop with a friend, and there's a push to have at least a chapter done so you have something to read. You're always driven forward, but I know a lot of writers, they write a book, send it out, and they can't help it, they put themselves on pause mode waiting to hear. For me, that's absolutely no good."

GENERAL COMMENTARY

Darleen Golke (essay date 23 June 2000)

SOURCE: Golke, Darleen. "Stage School Series." CM: Canadian Review of Materials 6, no. 21 (online edition), http://www.umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol6/no21/stageschool.html (23 June 2000).

[In the following essay, Golke provides a critical overview of the "Stage School" series of young adult novels that McNicoll co-authored with Linda Hendry and Sharon Siamon under the shared pseudonym "Geena Dare."]

The first 12 volumes of the "Stage School Series" are credited to Geena Dare, the nom de plume of Linda Hendry (one title), Sylvia McNicoll (six titles), and Sharon Siamon (five titles). Set somewhere in Canada, probably Toronto, two hours by plane from New York City, the series focuses on five performing arts students—Abbi Reilly, Jenna James, Matt Caruso, Lauren Graham, and Dan Reeve—all attending William S. Holly Performing Arts School. A visual art student, Nikki Kovalski, is introduced in the eighth volume of the collection. The series opens two weeks before school in September for the auditioning process to select the 40 freshman students and continues through spring break in March. Four of the novels focus on Abbi—Make or Break, Blind Ambition, Secret Stranger, On Location; two each on Dan, Jenna, and Lauren—Dan: Clowning Around, Dan: Double Drama ; Jenna: Dancing Dreams, Jenna: Standing Tall ; Lauren: Drastic Decisions, Lauren: Dating Dreams ; one each on Matt and Nikki—Matt: Heartbreak Hero ; Nikki: Stolen Dreams. Each of the novels develops both the title individual and the members of the group, advancing the plot and expanding the characters.

Representing the acting segment of the freshman class are Abbi, with gold blond curls and high energy, and Dan, the class clown who aspires to be a serious actor. Both are talented, serious, dedicated to performing, and most alive when on stage. Tall, handsome Matt and elegant, disciplined Jenna are the dancers. Jenna feels Matt lacks commitment to serious dance, and Matt, although he adores Jenna, tries to re-educate her to have fun dancing. Jenna idolizes the successful black ballerina, Celine Laporte, and is determined to succeed as a ballerina in spite of her height and size. Shy, petite Lauren is a brilliant vocalist whose parents aspire to an operatic career for her; however, Lauren falls in love with musical theatre and folk music. Eccentric, "pixie-pretty" Nikki, forced to attend Holly because of a fire that destroyed her art school, Central Tech, reluctantly accepts the friendship of the group. A clever visual artist, she designs the award-winning sets for the freshman production, Dracula—a showcase for their talent. The series includes romantic elements. Dan falls for Abbi, as does Lauren for Matt; however, neither finds developing a relationship simple. Abbi considers Dan her buddy and only sees him as an acting companion. Matt admires Lauren's exquisite voice but cares deeply for Jenna who ignores anything personal, focusing only on their dance relationship. Although Lauren believes, for a short time, that Matt regards her as more than just a voice, she is ultimately disappointed. Dan engages Nikki in a brief relationship but maintains his passion for Abbi. Both Abbi and Jenna reevaluate their views of Dan and Matt during the spring break trip to New York with which the present volumes in the series conclude.

The young people certainly seem to have more than their fair share of dysfunctional families. Matt, Lauren, and Nikki enjoy homes with the traditional mother-father format. However, even Matt, whose family seems quite caring and normal, endures his father's "real men don't dance" attitude. Lauren's musically talented parents react with outrage at her abandonment of classical music. Her father remains grimly disapproving; her mother lapses into suicidal depression. Nikki, who appears later in the series, belongs to a family with an unemployed elderly dad whom Lauren and Abbi mistake for her grandfather. Adjusting to the financial constraints caused by her father's loss of income complicates Nikki's life.

Jenna, Abbi, and Dan represent the single-parent family category. Jenna's father has died, and, although her mother and sister support her ambitions in dance, they try to encourage her to lighten up and consider alternatives to ballet. Even her visiting Caribbean grandmother, Nana, who initially introduced Jenna to ballet, encourages her to try other possibilities. Abbi's undependable father has lived in Australia since she was ten; her mother works long hours as a real estate agent to support them, leaving Abbi to baby-sit her little brother, Joe. Dan lives with his father, an eccentric writer who believes in "getting in character" for his fictional themes and who subjects Dan to the food and culture of each subject he explores. "Dan's entire life was ruled by the nationality of the characters in his father's stories." Their fortunes ebb and flow according to Dad's productivity and Mom's maintenance cheques.

Many of the standard "problems" faced by adolescents challenge these young people—family relationships; friends and society; racial, ethnic, and class relationships; romantic/sexual relationships; conflict with parents, siblings, peers, teachers, and other adults; self-doubt and lack of confidence; academics. Medical issues, like depression, drug overdoses, epilepsy, mononucleosis, anorexia nervosa/bulimia, and death receive attention. Among the social issues are homelessness, manipulative peers and adults, unscrupulous landlords/ladies, sleazy promoters, illegal refugees and those who prey upon their fears, unemployment, economics, firebugs, initiation rites, thievery, and sexuality.

For example, Abbi becomes the unwitting tool of her idol, television star Blair Michaels, in Blind Ambition and deals with her again as a possible arsonist in Secret Stranger. Jenna's disciplined passion for dancing (Dancing Dreams) propels her into a dangerous anorexia/bulimia condition in Standing Tall. Matt succumbs to mononucleosis in Heartbreak Hero which only increases the pressure from his father to "be a man" and quit dancing. Lauren rebels against her father's demands to continue with "serious" classical music by skipping school and spending time with street people in Drastic Decisions. Dan suffers when his dad neglects simple details like rent and food in Clowning Around but tenaciously pursues his dream of being accepted as a serious actor (Double Drama ). Facing reduced finances, Nikki impulsively steals film for a class project and then finds herself accused of a major camera theft until she clears her name in Stolen Dreams.

Published in Great Britain by Orchard but written by Canadians, the series occasionally incorporates purely British expressions, changes probably made by editors. For example, Matt's illness is referred to as glandular fever rather than mononucleosis. Similarly, Abbi's mother is an estate agent rather than a real estate agent, refuse goes into a waste bin—you get the picture. However, the activities and struggles of young people entering adolescence transcend borders. Although the tone differs among the authors, the series remains fairly even. Each volume is approximately 100-120 pages in length and includes a preview of the first chapter of the next book. Plenty of dialogue and action advance the plot; the main characters are "nice" people, or at least show the potential of being nice if conflicts can be resolved and obstacles overcome. Many of the secondary characters are types rather than developed personalities. The "Stage School series" should entertain young readers with an interest in the performing arts who also enjoy getting to know a set of characters well through several books and adventures rather than having to wait for yearly updates.

Resource Links (review date October 2000)

SOURCE: "Stage School Series." Resource Links 6, no. 1 (October 2000): 7.

[In the following review, the critic briefly examines the twelve young adult "Stage School" novels, noting that some readers may dislike the repetition and "generic placelessness" of the series.]

The Stage School Series details the lives of six performing arts students at the prestigious William S. Holly School. Each book focuses primarily on one character, with the others as supporting cast. Sylvia McNicoll, Sharon Siamon and Linda Hendry, using Geena Dare as a pen name, spin 12 thin books out of the groups' first year at "Hollywood High," so we may expect more to come. The teens land parts galore, starring in commercials and school productions, singing solos in movies, dancing in New York, and designing innovative sets.

Stage School appeals to common fantasies of stardom, and its bouncy exuberance may touch young readers. The series is at its best in a subplot involving dancer Jenna's anorexia. It also works well in the nuances of teen relationships: Lauren loves Matt who is dedicated to his dance partner Jenna, and such. The line between friendship and love is nicely complicated by dedication to one's art. Parents, not surprisingly, are well-meaning but ineffectual: absent, eccentric, or unemployed dads; overstressed, overcautious, or depressed moms. The series is on considerably shaky ground when it attempts serious social issues outside the family, such as the homeless Bosnian refugee who conveniently gets cast in a commercial.

Two aspects of the series may irritate readers. Plot, character, and thematic threads continue through the books, but each novel ploddingly recaps the significant events of preceding novels; hence, book 12 sometimes reads like a game of telephone. The generic placelessness of Stage School may also annoy; the series seems so determined to be "anyplace" that the only distinctive vocabulary is "canteen" instead of "cafeteria." In book 12, we finally get an inkling of place when the teens take a 2-hour flight to New York City, and some landmarks are noted. These objections may be niggling, but they keep the stories from soaring as they otherwise might.

TITLE COMMENTARY

JUMP START (1989)

Dana Eastman (review date 1990)

SOURCE: Eastman, Dana. Review of Jump Start, by Sylvia McNicoll. In Canadian Book Review Annual 1990, 16th Edition, edited by Joyce M. Wilson, p. 322. Toronto: Simon and Pierre, 1990.

In a sensitive and tender way, McNicoll deals with the problem of dyslexia in a 15-year-old. [Jump Start ] is a very good read for young people, as it touches on the emotional turbulence of the teen years and explores how sometimes misunderstandings can raise havoc.

Shari, the main character, is called a "Fixit Lady" because of her love for auto mechanics. Her father is not pleased and constantly nags her about her low grades. Little does he know—and Shari is too proud to tell him—that she can't read. She tries to study but the words just won't come out right. Only her ten-year-old sister is aware of Shari's problem, and she reads to her. Shari's father will allow her to take an auto course only if she gets a 70 in English. This leads to Shari cheating. Her secret is finally discovered and she gets the help she needs.

The poignant theme, the self-awareness faced by a teen, and the dramatic moments make this a rich read. The bold print and the very realistic pictures give the book added appeal. One can sit down and read this book quickly, and really come away feeling enriched.

THE TIGER CATCHER'S KID (1989)

Geraldine Ryan-Lush (review date 1991)

SOURCE: Ryan-Lush, Geraldine. "Tween-Age Treats." Canadian Children's Literature, no. 61 (1991): 92.

The Tiger Catcher's Kid can catch you by surprise. Apparently a typical contemporary story about a typical contemporary kid whose major problem seems to be keeping a grip on her slippery pet hamster, this run-of-the mill cutesy story develops elements of offbeat humour and pathos and a strange authenticity.

Erin, an only child with a harried, busy Mom and a Dad whose job she's at variance with (he's an Animal Control Officer), buys her pet hamster vitamins, feeds him and cleans his cage excessively, and is so scared of his getting a cold she air-controls his quarters with her vaporizer. Though obviously written at the high-interest, low-reading level, the book is surprisingly insightful. Erin's problems with peer pressure, her ambivalence towards her parents, and her handling of her pet, all offer revealing glimpses of a shrewd, resourceful and very caring personality.

The short sentences, fast-paced action and frenetic dialogue, complete with lack of descriptions (the illustrations provide the "scenery"), can be a little dizzying to the reader desiring more depth, substance or, at the very least, breathing space. But The Tiger Catcher's Kid … deals with human conflict and behaviour. And her mother, busy as she is, becomes more aware of Erin's emotional needs.

For the general 'tween-age audience, this story is engaging. Every kid wants a sibling. Every kid wants a pet. And every kid has something about his/her parents he/she doesn't like. More specifically, for the child with a possible reading difficulty (and there are, sadly, a lot of them for whom to read a complete novel can be a prideful accomplishment), this well-crafted, well-plotted little book makes an excellent choice.

MORE THAN MONEY (1990)

Joan Weir (review date 1994)

SOURCE: Weir, Joan. "Sometimes It's the Difference That Counts." Canadian Children's Literature, no. 75 (1994): 80-1.

Sylvia McNicoll's More than Money, … is missing that element of difference. It is set in the familiar world of baby-sitting and despite a momentary increase in interest when Natalie gets lost in the park, it presents nothing about baby-sitting that differs in any way from what every teenage baby-sitter experiences regularly. Moreover, the protagonist's major personal problem (having to wear braces) seems hardly of sufficient importance to base a book on. At least not today. Perhaps when McNicoll was a girl and had to wear braces it was an horrendous experience, but for modern young people corrective dentistry has become so common that Melissa's emotional over-reaction seems unrealistic. The novel has some glib, fast-paced dialogue, but the story is plot-driven rather than character-driven. Also, it presents nothing original or provocative, and, as a result, will probably be forgotten by most readers even before the last page is finished.

PROJECT DISASTER (1990)

Jean Free (review date 1990)

SOURCE: Free, Jean. Review of Project Disaster, by Sylvia McNicoll. In Canadian Book Review Annual 1990, 16th Edition, edited by Joyce M. Wilson, p. 322. Toronto: Simon and Pierre, 1990.

Neil Boisvert has been training his pet goldfish, Fido, to respond to different colors for his pet project at school. When his fish dies because his four-year-old sister, Tara, overfeeds it, he must think of a new project. After his grandfather buys him a copy of Charlotte's Web, he decides on a spider. Complications arise when Neil's teacher is frightened of the spider and steps on it. Neil, in his frustration, drives his grandfather's Firebird out the driveway and damages the fender.

Project Disaster has an interesting multicultural story line with Neil's French father, Jean-Pierre, and his German grandparents, Opa and Omi. It has 14 chapters, is well illustrated by Brian Boyd, and would be an excellent novel for a Grade 3 class to complement a pet unit. It is fast-paced, interesting, and relevant to its intended readers.

Barbara Powell (review date 1992)

SOURCE: Powell, Barbara. "For 'Newly Independent Readers.'" Canadian Children's Literature, no. 66 (1992): 78-9.

The appeal to boys is made directly in Project Disaster by Sylvia McNicoll. This book is a fast-paced first-person narrative about an almost unbelievable set of disasters in eight-year-old Neil's life. His mother is in the hospital having a baby, his little sister is a crying brat, his goldfish Fido dies, his teacher squishes his pet spider, and he drives and crashes his grandfather's beloved new Firebird. The last of these events is what gives this plot its edge: this boy gets into real trouble. His policeman father, after the crash, even handcuffs Neil and puts him into his patrol car after telling him he has the right to remain silent.

The scene, echoing that of a cop show on television is one of many topical references that give the book its contemporary flavour. Neil, like other boys in the here and now, watches Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, collects hockey cards, plays Pizza Party and idolizes Wayne Gretzky. Unfortunately, these references will soon be dated as other fads supercede the Turtles craze, and the book will become just as ephemeral, with few enduring literary qualities beyond immediate entertainment.

The author tries to lift the intellectual tone of the book beyond the world of the shopping mall and the television set. Neil's forgiving grandfather, acting for other hopeful parents and teachers, gives Neil a copy of Charlotte's Web, weaning Neil from the choose-your-own-adventure stories he had favored. This hint of didacticism is continued in occasional glosses and pronunciation guides for German words and phrases, given in an unlikely fashion in the young narrator's voice.

The illustrations lack the exacting realism of Carol Wakefield's drawings in Princesses; at times they are inaccurate, as when the text describes a baby sleeper and the picture shows a baby sweater. The perspective of the drawings is often that of an adult, looking down onto the children's activities, thus complementing the slightly inauthentic tone of the book as a whole. Young readers, however, will nevertheless be drawn in by the exciting plot, thrilled to read of Neil's growing list of real-life disasters.

Mary-Ann Stouck (review date spring 1999)

SOURCE: Stouck, Mary-Ann. "Bread and Butter and Chocolate." Canadian Children's Literature 25, no. 93 (spring 1999): 85-6.

Sibling jealousy, school projects, relations with parents and grandparents, day-to-day ups and downs, and the need to be "special"—these are the bread-and-butter topics of children's leisure reading, if the proliferation of inexpensive paperback series that feature child heroes in contemporary domestic settings is anything to go by. Typically, the story begins with the child's difficulties in school or at home, continues with a description of a number of minor, often comic disasters, and concludes with the newlyenlightened child achieving success and enhanced self-esteem. Sylvia McNicoll's Project Disaster follows this pattern of events in the life of Neil Boisvert whose mother (in hospital for most of the book's duration) has just presented the family with a new baby. During her absence, Neil has to contend with his own less-than-stellar performance at school, the intrusions of his pesky little sister, Tara (suffering from her own insecurities and competing with Neil for the attention of a much-loved grandfather), and his longing for a pet dog which, his father insists, will only become reality if his school marks improve. When his school project on pets turns into a disaster, Neil seeks consolation behind the wheel of his grandfather's treasured red Firebird, with results that narrowly avert tragedy. McNicoll has written a number of children's books, including The Big Race!, a sequel to Project Disaster. In the latter, she achieves a nice balance between having Neil recognize and take responsibility for his own shortcomings and at the same time giving him strong reassurance that he is loved and valued by his family.

BRINGING UP BEAUTY (1994)

Terri Spanjer (review date 1994)

SOURCE: Spanjer, Terri. Review of Bringing up Beauty, by Sylvia McNicoll. In Canadian Book Review Annual 1994, edited by Joyce M. Wilson, p. 492. Toronto: Canadian Book Review Annual, 1994.

The other members of 12-year-old Elizabeth's family are intensely involved in their own interests [in Bringing up Beauty ]: Mom teaches English and is a passionate environmentalist; Dad is wrapped up in his job and computers; sister Debra is pursuing an art career and her boyfriend, Rolph. So when Beauty, a Lab pup, is given to the family by Canine Vision Canada, to be trained for one year in the basics of Seeing-Eye-dog behavior, the task falls to Elizabeth. Out of self-preservation she tries not to love Beauty, but her investment of time and responsibility creates a loving bond that results in the only friendship Elizabeth can count on throughout this turbulent year. Elizabeth experiences heartbreaking first love as the object of her affection, longtime pal Scott, falls for her best friend, Alicia. Jealousy and confusion tarnish her relationship with her sister because Debra's life seems to revolve around Rolph. On top of that, her father loses his job. Throughout all this Elizabeth steadfastly trains Beauty, and her dedication to and patience with the dog spill over into her relationships with the humans in her life.

Elizabeth's first-person account of her adventures and misadventures with Beauty, her emotional ties to Scott and Alicia, and her changing perception of family members is well paced, vivid, and exuberant. Events are brilliantly interrelated and convincingly resolved. Highly recommended.

Sheri Henderson (review date fall 1995)

SOURCE: Henderson, Sheri. Review of Bringing up Beauty, by Sylvia McNicoll. Canadian Children's Literature 21, no. 79 (fall 1995): 86-7.

What appears at the outset to be a comic novel involving a twelve-year-old girl raising a black lab puppy for Canine Vision Canada quickly evolves into an account of the pressures adolescents encounter growing up today. In Bringing up Beauty, Sylvia McNicoll quickly abandons the promise of a canine/adolescent adventure in favour of illustrating the abundant troubles of the nineties pre-teen.

Initially, characterization in Bringing up Beauty is vivid and the comic potential of McNicoll's figures is great. Elizabeth humorously narrates her experiences raising Beauty. A computer-geek father, an older sister who dresses only in black and an environmentally-obsessed mother have initial appeal, but quickly disintegrate into flat stereotypical figures. Elizabeth's mother becomes particularly problematic: the "super-mom of the nineties" stereotype, she can work in and outside the home, hold the family together throughout adversity, volunteer to foster a puppy and clean up the environment single-handedly. But she is a martyr, one who "snaps and snarls" and cannot find time to add Elizabeth to her list of "things to do." Beauty, the black lab puppy, is adorable and McNicoll could have developed her character further—which would have been in keeping with the title. Secondary figures are flat and description of a "catty" clique of girls makes me despair that adolescent behaviours will never change.

McNicoll's tale wanders from the child-raising-dog story to that of the complicated life of a pre-teen. Themes abound: parent-sibling tension; sibling rivalry; parental expectations; illegal substances; parental unemployment; resulting parental apathy (re: self and child); adolescent peer pressure; and boy-girl relationships, just to name a few. The number of problems Elizabeth encounters overwhelms the reader.

To her credit, McNicoll strives to make her novel current by including such trends as rollerblading and virtual reality video games. However, her heroine's favourite outfit—black leather pants, a purple silk shirt and suede boots—dates her character, as does Elizabeth's humming of the song "I'm too sexy for my shirt …" This heroine stems from 1990! Always fashion-conscious, some teens might consider Elizabeth out-of-date. McNicoll's reference to nineties issues like environmentalism and video game violence is pedantic in tone. Children already hear the "recycle that!" message at school and video violence is being stressed continually.

Bringing up Beauty attempts to address the many issues associated with growing up. Readers who expect an entertaining tale involving a child and dog can steady themselves for the burdens of pre-teen life.

Gail Hamilton (review date 3 March 2000)

SOURCE: Hamilton, Gail. Review of Bringing up Beauty, by Sylvia McNicoll. CM: Canadian Review of Materials 6, no. 13 (online edition), http://www.umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol6/no13/beauty.html (3 March 2000).

Twelve-year-old Elizabeth feels an instant kinship with the ugly-looking black Lab puppy that her family has volunteered to raise for Canine Vision Canada [in Bringing up Beauty ]. Over the course of the year in which she has the responsibility of training the dog, ironically named Beauty, Elizabeth has to come to terms with a number of significant changes in her life. Her father loses his job and becomes a stay-at-home dad while her mom accepts a teaching job in order to pay the bills. Elizabeth's older sister, Debra, leaves home after a heated argument with her parents and moves in with her boyfriend, Rolf. But the most difficult of changes for Elizabeth is accepting the fact that her lifelong friend, Scott, with whom she has shared a brother-sister type of relationship, suddenly has eyes for her best girlfriend, Alicia. When Scott and Alicia start dating, Elizabeth feels terribly betrayed and hurt, her relationship with each of them damaged. Eventually, Scott leaves Alicia for Elizabeth, and, for awhile, all is right in Elizabeth's world. The situation on the homefront improves as well—her dad finds a job, Debra reaches an understanding with her parents, and Elizabeth stops seeing Rolf as the "enemy" who stole her sister. The common thread running through the novel is Elizabeth's relationship with Beauty. Though she vowed that she would never love her, Elizabeth grows fonder of Beauty with each passing day, and it is with great reluctance that she returns the dog to the vision center when the year is up.

Young adolescent girls will readily identify with Elizabeth who is caught in that awkward age between being young enough to go trick-or-treating on Hallowe'en and old enough to have a boyfriend. McNicoll writes with honesty, warmth and humour, using teens' language. Told in the first person, from Elizabeth's perspective, the story deals with the usual problems of growing up and accepting change and loss as necessary parts of life. Readers will empathize with the main character during her year-long commitment to bringing up Beauty. The trials and tribulations of babysitting, getting along with parents and the heady feeling of first love are all skillfully interwoven topics with which young teens can identify. Readers will find themselves, at times, nodding in agreement, laughing out loud, or even getting a little misty-eyed as McNicoll so realistically describes her characters and their emotions. Growing up is not always easy, but McNicoll's fun, yet moving, novel makes it a little easier.

A thoroughly enjoyable read

Randi Hacker (review date August 2000)

SOURCE: Hacker, Randi. Review of Bringing up Beauty, by Sylvia McNicoll. School Library Journal 46, no. 8 (August 2000): 186.

A story of love, responsibility, growing up, and letting go. Elizabeth and her family have signed up as puppy trainers for Canine Vision Canada [in Bringing up Beauty ]. It is their duty to teach an ungainly black Lab some of the elementary commands and behaviors she will need in order to become a guide dog, and most of the responsibility has fallen on Elizabeth. While she trains Beauty, the dog teaches her some useful lessons that help her deal with turning 13, finding and going beyond her first crush, and coping with loss. Elizabeth's voice is often too mature for a 12-year-old, and the story is sometimes overwritten. The real strength here is the bond that McNicoll develops between Beauty and Elizabeth. It is strong and heartwarming, resulting in an emotionally satisfying read.

THE BIG RACE! (1996)

A. Edwardsson (review date 3 May 1996)

SOURCE: Edwardsson, A. Review of The Big Race!, by Sylvia McNicoll. CM: Canadian Review of Materials 2, no. 29 (online edition), http://www.umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol2/no29/bigrace.html (3 May 1996).

Poor Neil. Robin Apple is his grade-three rival [in The Big Race! ], and she always seems to come out on top. He can't wait for baseball to start in gym class, since that's his specialty. When Robin's up at bat, Neil instructs his team to move in since "girls can't hit that far." Unfortunately for him, Rotten Apple (as he nicknames her) is also great out on the field. The ball sails over his head and Robin makes a home run. She also catches Neil's high fly hit later in the same game.

The teacher groups Neil and his friend Marc with Robin for a science project. They're each given a snail which they house together in an altered pop bottle. The three decide to race their new pets on a desk, and again Robin wins.

The next time the class plays ball, Neil breaks Robin's nose with his line drive. The teacher instructs the students to go back to the room and work on their snail project while she takes Robin off the field to call the girl's mother. Marc convinces Neil to race the three snails again, but Robin's pet falls off the desk when the boys are momentarily distracted: "In a panic, I made a quick grab for him. It was a quick HARD grab. I felt Curly's shell crack between my fingers." Marc convinces Neil to just put the snail back in the bottle, where it remains motionless.

Neil is racked with guilt, and on his mom's suggestion goes to Robin's house to visit her and take her some batting tokens. However, at the batting cages with Neil, and on the field with the class, Robin has become too afraid of the ball to play well.

Author Sylvia McNicoll (Bringing up Beauty ) has created believable characters and an engaging story. Neil is no saint, but we watch him grow. He uses his allowance to buy five tokens, but plans to give only three to Robin. After he sees how terrible she looks and how unhappy she is, "I fingered the three tokens in my hand as I stretched out my arm to give them to her. They didn't seem enough." He digs out the other two.

The book sensitively addresses stereotyping and the issue of competitiveness. The subtle humour and school setting should appeal to young readers of either gender. The print is clear and easy to read, and the realistic pencil illustrations by Susan Gardos greatly enhance the story. The colour cover artwork is particularly catchy.

In the end, Curly the snail survives, and (after the two practice together), Neil is as elated as Robin is when she overcomes her fear

Margaret Bunel Edwards (review date 1996)

SOURCE: Edwards, Margaret Bunel. Review of The Big Race!, by Sylvia McNicoll. In Canadian Book Review Annual 1996, edited by Joyce M. Wilson, p. 484. Toronto: Canadian Book Review Annual, 1996.

[In The Big Race!, ] Neil is angry at Robin Apple, who is in his Grade 3 class. Robin picks the best bookmark. Her snail, Curly, wins the snail race. And Robin catches Neil's best baseball hit and puts him out. At the next game, Neil swings his bat and hits the ball toward Robin, just to show her. The ball strikes her face, breaking her nose. Feeling guilty, Neil later visits Robin and persuades her to play a game of scrub with him when she's better. Thanks to Neil's persistence, Robin gradually regains the confidence to play baseball again. She and Neil are finally friends.

Children will relate to the theme of rivalry and to Sylvia McNicoll's characters, who change and develop as her fast-paced and exciting story builds to a satisfying conclusion. Recommended.

Lian Goodall (review date spring 1998)

SOURCE: Goodall, Lian. Review of The Big Race!, by Sylvia McNicoll. Canadian Children's Literature 24, no. 89 (spring 1998): 55.

The title seems to be the biggest handicap in Sylvia McNicoll's The Big Race! There is no big race. True, the students in Mrs. Leduc's class occasionally race the snails they raise as part of a science project, but titling the book The Big Race! misleadingly places too much importance to this part of the plot. Rather, the story narrows in on the competition between Neil and Robin, especially as it pertains to baseball. Neil can't stand having the girl he nicknames "Rotten Apple" best him in baseball or anything else. The serviceable plot and characters work together to make The Big Race! a smooth and pleasant read for developing, independent readers.

WALKING A THIN LINE (1997)

Anne Hutchings (review date 1997)

SOURCE: Hutchings, Anne. Review of Walking a Thin Line, by Sylvia McNicoll. In Canadian Book Review Annual 1997, edited by Joyce M. Wilson, pp. 520-21. Toronto: Canadian Book Review Annual, 1997.

Lauren is convinced that she needs to lose weight [in Walking a Thin Line ]. After all, the only person in her class who is fatter than her is Andrea, who has always been the heavyweight champion. And surely Jay, the class "hunk," would transfer his affections from Kim to Lauren if only she were 20 pounds lighter!

This novel is sure to appeal to today's teens, especially girls. The author explores the many aspects of dieting and weight loss, including the gimmicks, the fad diets, the pros and cons of various weight-loss programs, the exercise and fitness clubs, and the role that advertising plays today in setting up unrealistic goals. She pulls no punches when describing what can ultimately happen when the quest for the "perfect" body becomes an obsession resulting in anorexia or bulimia. All of the issues are dealt with honestly, realistically, sensitively, and, in some instances, humorously.

Fortunately, Lauren's mother, grandmother, and family doctor steer her in the right direction and no harm comes to her. Andrea is not so lucky; though the story ends optimistically in regard to her future, we know with certainty that when dealing with eating disorders there are no guarantees. Highly recommended.

GRAVE SECRETS (1999)

Resource Links (review date October 1999)

SOURCE: Review of Grave Secrets, by Sylvia McNicoll. Resource Links 5, no. 1 (October 1999): 29.

"Like broken fingers reaching through the earth, the tombstones begged for something"

So begins Sylvia McNicoll's [Grave Secrets ].

This novel would greatly appeal to good readers in the junior and intermediate levels. There are no illustrations, but the plot is interesting, fast-paced and vivid, guaranteeing to keep readers enthused. The dialogue is realistic and helps readers form a good sense of the various characters. The setting is clearly described and could be any city, with its local swimming pool and mall.

Sylvia McNicoll is Canadian, the author of several books for young people, including Bringing up Beauty, winner of the Silver Birch Award for fiction. Ms. McNicoll has done it again with this scary thriller which will keep kids turning pages right to the exciting and very satisfying climax of the story!

Excellent, enduring, everyone should see it!

Betsy Fraser (review date 29 October 1999)

SOURCE: Fraser, Betsy. Review of Grave Secrets, by Sylvia McNicoll. CM: Canadian Review of Materials 6, no. 5 (online edition), http://www.umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol6/no5/gravesecrets.html (29 October 1999).

Nicholas Dilon and his family have just moved into a new house [in Grave Secrets ], a house, he finds out, that not only backed on to a cemetery but was both a home for troubled boys and a murder site. The entire neighborhood seems spooky to Nicholas. Things only get worse when Nicholas starts having strange dreams and meets Mrs. Dobroski, who keeps calling him Sasha. As Nicholas discovers more about the murders, he feels that he is being haunted and that he must do some investigating to keep the past, with its horrible events, from repeating itself. The main character is 14, although he comes off as quite a bit older, especially with a subplot where he spends time trying to impress and date a female lifeguard. The haunting in the story starts off slowly. Only as Nicholas discovers more of the secrets surrounding the past and his house is he able to start putting together what happened with the earlier deaths. Nicholas uncovers the past only when he finds out what is going on around him, including meeting Mrs. Dobroski, who had been a friend of the murdered boy, and some local boys who are planning to rob a house.

This book starts off fairly slowly, but builds to an acceptable climax. There are many superfluous details, and, in trying to present rounded secondary characters, McNicoll occasionally slows down the narrative. This book would be enticing to children who like ghost stories, mysteries, or stories about kids caught in a situation they do not seem capable of handling by themselves.

Sylvia Pantaleo (review date 1999)

SOURCE: Pantaleo, Sylvia. Review of Grave Secrets, by Sylvia McNicoll. In Canadian Book Review Annual 1999, edited by Joyce M. Wilson, pp. 507-08. Toronto: Canadian Book Review Annual, 1999.

Nicholas discovers that his new house is a former residence for delinquent boys [in Grave Secrets ]. At one time, there was a pool in the backyard in which a young boy drowned; however, people are reluctant to answer Nicholas's questions about the tragedy. The mystery is further exacerbated when Nicholas meets a ghost in the backyard instructing him to "Stop him," but Nicholas is unsure of whom he is to stop. In addition to enduring stomach pains as well as an overpowering acrid smell of chlorine whenever he meets the ghost, Nicholas experiences disturbing dreams related to the drowning and to the mysterious death of a juvenile who was a former resident of the home. An eccentric elderly neighbor, a developmentally delayed friend, three bullies, and a grave digger engaging in illegal activities are all involved in the unfolding mystery.

The novel is plot driven, and there is little development of the somewhat stereotypical secondary characters. The author includes an appropriate mix of mystery and suspense, gradually revealing the connections of the characters and events. Overall, readers will be engaged by the "grave secrets" of the novel. Recommended.

CAUGHT IN A LIE (2000)

Susannah D. Ketchum (review date 2000)

SOURCE: Ketchum, Susannah D. Review of Caught in a Lie, by Sylvia McNicoll. In Canadian Book Review Annual 2000, edited by Joyce M. Wilson, pp. 495-96. Toronto: Canadian Book Review Annual, 2000.

Kim dreams of being a model and escaping from boring old school. Her parents being totally opposed to the idea, Kim resorts to lying, forging letters of permission, and "borrowing" money from her university account. Eventually, desperate to disguise her badly chewed nails and late for an "audition" with Ms. Mode magazine, Kim finds herself shoplifting. In the furor that ensues Kim learns some hard lessons about the world of modeling, about her boyfriend, and about herself.

Caught in a Lie is a companion to Walking a Thin Line, a popular novel about eating disorders. Readers who enjoyed the latter will probably be eager to revisit its characters and to see a number of its events recounted from a different perspective. Unfortunately, Caught in a Lie is a much less satisfying novel. Kim, the narrator, is so shallow and self-absorbed that the story is pulled off-balance. Teen magazines comprise the bulk of Kim's favorite reading. She is constantly trying their quizzes. "I like … feeling smarter than…. [everyone]. Nerds like Andrea handle school well, but I'm good at real life." Faced with an unavoidable math quiz, Kim gets some last-minute help from Stephanie. "Lauren and the other loner, Andrea, are sitting with her, but I pay no attention to them." When Jay, Kim's boyfriend, smiles at Lauren, Kim wonders, "Why does he bother with her? I want to scream at him; I'm the pretty one." Indeed, Kim is so unpleasant and immature that her complete metamorphosis in the final 15 pages of the book is difficult to credit.

On the other hand, Sylvia McNicoll writes competently, and young girls will probably enjoy the magazine excerpts and beauty tips that Kim is forever quoting. As well, since quite a few teens dream of modeling, undergoing vicariously some of Kim's unpleasant experiences in the modeling world may be salutary. Recommended with reservations.

Christina Pike (review date 30 March 2001)

SOURCE: Pike, Christina. Review of Caught in a Lie, by Sylvia McNicoll. CM: Canadian Review of Materials 7, no. 15 (online edition), http://www.umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol7/no15/caught.html (30 March 2001).

Told from Kimberly Rainer's viewpoint, [Caught in a Lie ] is a story of a 14-year-old girl who wants to turn herself into a real life "Barbie." From the opening dream sequence, however, the readers are made aware that there is much more to this tale than simple the making of a model.

Caught up in the world of fashion and make-up, Kim is obsessed with her image. Every decision she makes centres around her appearance. Kim is the focus of her world, and she sees and treats her "friends" as a means to help her reach her goal of becoming "Barbie." Her boyfriend, Jay, is good to have around because he compliments her good looks, and her friend Julie can take pictures. Typical of many this age, Kim feels that no one understands her, including her parents and, with the exception of her family studies teacher, Ms. Ferris, neither do any of her teachers. In her quest for that perfect modelling job, Kim sacrifices everything else: she cuts school, lies to her parents, and steals money from her college account. It is only when she is "caught in a lie" that she finally begins to realize what is truly important and really to see the people in her life for who they truly are.

I would recommend this book as a good read for any young girl. Speaking through Kimberly Rainer, Sylvia McNicoll captures the spirit of a 14-year-old and clearly develops the main character and her journey to finding herself. The conflicts that Kim faces are believable and are reflective not only of today's misplaced emphasis on the physical but also of situations common today. Kim's experience with the Chevron Agency and Elaine Chev are echoes of similar scams that seem all too frequently reported on the evening news. However, McNicoll, although realistic, chooses not to dwell on the negative. The lessons that Kim learns are gentle reminders to all of us: things are not always what they appear, and physical beauty is only skin deep.

Resource Links (review date April 2001)

SOURCE: Review of Caught in a Lie, by Sylvia McNicoll. Resource Links 6, no. 4 (April 2001): 25.

Kim, the protagonist of the novel,Caught in a Lie, finds school boring and is tired of the quarrels at home. She fantasizes that being a model will transform her life and so she constantly reads fashion magazines and measures her life by her scores from their quizzes. In time she does make contact with some modelling agencies and confronts a reality of uncomfortable posses, dishonest agents and deceiving her parents to obtain required funds. Through her trials, she comes to know Jay, as an avoider of reality, and the companionship of some girl friends. At the end of the book, she asks herself 'Am I doing the right thing?'—(by not running away with Jay). She concludes "It's not like this is a choice in a magazine quiz, where you know by the wording which is the right answer. And even if you choose wrong, you just end up in some strange category. Does anyone really fall into a perfect category any way? Maybe Lauren's right. Magazines are full of perfect lies."

This novel aims to appeal to young teenage females who are likely reluctant readers but may be attracted by the modelling and fashion themes. The language is simple and this is an easy read. Kim is portrayed as totally preoccupied with her appearance and unable to reach out to others. However, she does learn from her experiences and at least asks some questions about her life.

This book may be a solution for limited readers required to read a novel of their choice and would be an acceptable library purchase.