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Killing Miss Kitty and Other Sins
Killing Miss Kitty and Other Sins
Author: Marion Dane Bauer
The time is 1950. The place is a small town in the Midwest. The girl is Claire, and she has a new black friend. But in an all-white town, how open can the girls be about their friendship? — Now Claire faces being the "new girl" in school. A year later, she is confronting betrayal . . . and sin. Finally, she is fifteen and in love. But it is not a...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780547076140
ISBN-10: 0547076142
Publication Date: 11/10/2008
Pages: 176
Edition: 1
Reading Level: Young Adult
Rating:
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 1

4 stars, based on 1 rating
Publisher: Graphia
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review
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GeniusJen avatar reviewed Killing Miss Kitty and Other Sins on + 5322 more book reviews
Reviewed by Natalie Tsang for TeensReadToo.com

You would think that reading about other people's sins wouldn't be much fun, but Marion Dane Bauer's KILLING MISS KITTY AND OTHER SINS is a surprisingly pleasant and quick read. Set in the 1950s, we follow Claire, a young girl growing up in a small town in Illinois, through five stories spread out over about five years.

One of my few complaints is that at only 167 pages, including the foreword and afterword, the book is much too short. The five stories offer just a glimpse of Claire, a thoughtful but woefully awkward girl. I think that the author is great at illustrating Claire's charmingly adolescent need to define who she is yet her inability and lack of desire to understand anyone else. Only belatedly and temporarily does Claire see beyond her own little world. It's refreshing that Marion Dane Bauer's characters consistently put self-preservation before doing the right thing but have enough of a conscience to feel guilty, at least briefly, each time.

My favorite story is KILLING MISS KITTY. It will be hard for me to tell what's so great about this story without giving away the plot. This is the only story that is centered around family. This is also one of Claire's most imagined stories because she isn't actually a witness to a lot of the events that she recounts. It's ironic that the story in which her mother and her brother become most life-like is also the least "true." Because Claire is not there, it gives her enough objectivity to see her mother and brother as people instead of obstacles and the occasional aid.

KILLING MISS KITTY AND OTHER SINS is definitely not a novel, but the five stories are so interrelated that calling it an anthology or a short story collection would be a betrayal of its cohesive nature. Sometimes it seems as if the contents are lifted from the pages of Claire's journal. A journal that is both extremely private yet also begging to be read and understood.

Overall, Bauer paints a convincing portrait of adolescence that doesn't illuminate but points out and occasionally pokes fun at the trials and tribulations in the inevitable stumble towards growing up.


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