Saturday, February 14, 2009

"Lana has always believed in things. Fortune cookies. Horoscopes."

The title of this post is a quote that comes really early (pg. 2!) in the book, The Decoding of Lana Morris by Laura and Tom McNeal , but it simply sets the stage for the underlying premise of this story. Lana Morris is in foster care, in what comes to be known as Snick House (snick for SNK, Special Needs Kids). As we all might imagine, foster homes are not always good and Lana's situation is less than desirable.
Through the book, she comes to believe that she has uncovered a way to grant wishes, in a manner of speaking. Without beating you over the head with it, the story is all about wishes and making pure wishes and what that means not only to you but also to the others in your life. Lana learns that wishes, like actions, have consequences that are not easily controlled or predicted.
Lana is going through a lot, perhaps much more than is believable. Bad situations are piled up. But the writing is good and Lana and Chet, the nice podcasting neighbor boy, seem much wiser than their 16 years. With just a touch of magical realism, we are all reminded to be careful what we wish for, because we just might get it.

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