The Silent Swan

Lex
Keating
Genre: 
Young Adult

Gabe is a high school senior who has it all; he’s captain of the varsity baseball team, vice-president of the student council and has a great home and family.  Tam is the orphan daughter of a star baseball player in the foster care system.  Separated from her many brothers, she is trying to keep them all safe from the pitfalls of living in the system. When parental schedules change in Gabe’s house, he and his brothers must all pitch in and make dinner one night a week. Gabe enlists the help of Home Economics wiz, Tam, to help him get dinner on the table without killing anyone. 

Ms. Keating writes a fantastic coming of age story of the relationship between a boy who has everything and a girl who’s lost it all.  The story superbly depicts the life of a typical teenage boy, telling the story from Gabe’s point of view. Sports, trying to get the girl, making good grades, and having fun on spring break are all he has to worry about until he starts noticing all the lengths Tam has to go to when trying to care for her brothers and the unfairness of the system working against her.  Readers won’t be able to put this book down!  Ms. Keating writes with just a hint of mystery that keeps one hooked, wanting to know what happens next and cheering for Tam as she struggles to  get out from under such an unfair system and live the life she deserves.

Molly Daniels