Signs & Wonders

by Pat Lowery Collins

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 . . .... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0395971195
• ISBN13: 9780395971192
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.8" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 10 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 5 to 7

Customer Reviews

Disattached, Disturbed, and Incredible

I have no idea how to rate this book. One the one hand, the writing is excellent, the entire story of a virgin birth presented in the form of letters sent to and from a 14 year old self-made outcast named Taswell (it's a family name). The moment I started reading it, I couldn't stop until I'd reached the end. The writing is _that_ good.The character of Taswell is amazing. Obviously lonely and anti-social, she exhibits a vast amount of faith, intelligence, and a strange sort of maturity. Many of the things she wrote in the book made me pause, breaking out the story, because they were just so deliciously _demented_. As a character study alone, she's an amazing person to examine, because Taswell is both original and believable, which seems to be a very hard combination of characteritics for many other authors to properly achieve. However, on the other hand, as I made my way through the book, I grew more and more depressed. Perhaps it's just me and my crappy social skills when I was growing up, but I found myself wishing I could reach into the world of the book and slap her out of it, tell her the things I've learned over the years about making friends and the importance of other people. Another thing that bothered me was the ending, because I _expected_ it to end that way, and I hate it when my expectations are met in books. I'd much rather be surprised, or wowed. This is a hard review to write, because even though I'll probably never read the book again, "Signs and Wonders" is definitely something that's worth reading. It affected me in a way that many books never have, with its wonderful writing, storyline, and main character. I was thoroughly depressed by the end of the book, but dang it, it was WORTH it. So, thus, I humbly suggest that everyone out there, young or old, READ this book. You may be like me and never want to read it again, but it's still an excellent read and a strangely affecting story. "Signs and Wonders" is powerful, and something so moving deserves to be read.

OUTSTANDING

This book is truly original and hard to put down, yet also a book that one doesn't want to finish! Told through letters, the author brings us into the thoughts and heart of an adolescent girl who is suffering from a lack of attention from parents, a grandmother, and others in her life. How Taswell deals with her pain is both surprising and touching. And the person who comes into her life as a positive influence is equally unexpected. The characters are complex and well developed, and along the way Collins enriches the story with exceptional humor and wit.This is a wonderful book!

Bravo!

Once in a while a book comes along that you can't put down and you'll never forget. Signs and Wonders is just such a book. It's brilliant. Told entirely in letters that bring the characters to life and keeps the pages turning quickly, almost too quickly for I hated to reach the end. Taswell, the main character, takes us on a fantastical emotional journey, which ends quite beautifully back in reality. Her wild imagination driven by the need for something as simple and as complicated as love. A must read and like Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman, destined to become a classic.

Wow!

This was a really great book. The story was told entirely in the letter correspondence of Taswell and her grandmother, father, and guardian spirit, Pim. The storyline was very gripping and different, as Taswell finds out that she has been chosen for a miracle: she is pregnant; a virgin birth. All of the characters are well developed, from Taswell's chattering classmate Madeline to her father's new girlfriend to the interrogating school counselor. This book is a must for anybody.