Waiting for Christopher

By Louise Hawes

Book Overview

New York Public Library Best Book for the Teen Age Girls' Life Magazine, Ten Best Summer Reads Featured in Teen Discussion Groups @ the Library

".flowing prose and vivid characterization.Hawes deliverers a rewarding read."
-Publishers Weekly

".behind the kidnapping drama, Hawes' eloquent words reveal complex truths of family love and sorrow."
-Booklist

"Hawes is excellent on the day-to-day difficulties of caring for a toddler, especially in secret."
-Washington Post

"Hawes deals poignantly with loss and longing in a novel that is full of disappointment and heartbreak but that in the end offers hope."
-The Horn Book

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 059539082X
• ISBN13: 9780595390823
• Release Date: May 2006
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Length: 244 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 12 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 12

Customer Reviews

A HOPE FOR MY LITTLE BROTHER

Being the third child of my eight sibling family, I found this story to be a very inspirational one to me. Waiting for Christopher is a story of how a young girl by the name of Feena Harvey had a very close relationship with her baby brother Christopher whom many call Christy. Like all the big brothers and big sisters in the world, we feel honored to have a younger sibling look up to us, listen, and follow us. Feena was like that, but even a better big young sister. She was four years old and at first she couldn't understand why her brother always had shirts that would say "U.S. Breathing Team". Yet, Feena's joy of enjoying her little brother soon vanished for her little brother dies and she never understood why. Little Christopher died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) which at time was incurable and unstoppable. For everyone it's painful to loose a love relative but for a 4 year old it was confusing, for she had no idea how to take him out of the underground and play with him. Feena's family moves to Florida from her hometown Connecticut where all her memories of Christopher stayed behind. Yet, at her new home every one hopes to start a new and fresh. As a 14 year old in Connecticut she feels lonely and lost. Soon she witnesses and discovers that a toddler is being abuse from he's mother at an amusement park. To Feena's surprise he's name is Christopher. Having lost her little brother, she feels as if this is a time to save this young baby from dying. In a way Feena feels she will bring back Christy. One day when the toddler's mother abandons him at the amusement park Feena takes him and cares for him very secretly without telling anyone including her parent's. Yet, she doesn't act alone she has a friend named, Raylene who is with her throughout the journey. Her feelings towards this act of kindness begin to trouble the 14 year old. She no longer knows what right from wrong. Soon she realizes that her actions could be called two things: a hero or a kidnaper. This is a very inspirational story of a 14 year old, which has guilt for the lost of her little brother. Yet, feels she can take that guilt away by saving another little baby's life since she couldn't save her own little brothers. My feelings are strongly of this book and I highly recommend this book to all the Big brothers and sisters out there. Most of all one must read this book to understand the point of view of this young girl who seems to be caught up in confusion.

Acting on Impulse

It is quite common for children to see things in black and white terms and not worry about the details caught up in the shades of gray. In the book, Waiting for Christopher, the main character, Feena Harvey, a high school student who doesn't quite fit in, decides to act. She sees a young boy named Christopher being physically and emotionally abused by his mother. When Christopher's mother seemingly abandons the young toddler in the parking lot of a small amusement park, Feena doesn't consider the shades of gray or what can happen to her, she acts. Feena "kidnaps" Christopher and begins to secretly take care of him. Feena immediately recognizes that this young boy shares the name of her deceased brother, whom, she has never been able to grieve for. Feena has never had many friends, and books are her constant companion, but after a mishap involving a young, popular, African American student in her school, Raylene, she thinks she may have met someone that shares her love for reading. After finding Raylene's copy of a book by Zora Neale Hurston, Feena decides keeping the book and reading it will be much less embarrassing than trying to return it. After kidnapping Christopher, Raylene and Feena form an unlikely bond of friendship and the two young teens try to care for the boy as best they can and protect him from his mother.This is an emotional book that really sheds light on some of the complexities of child abuse and neglect. It was about two brave girls who made countless sacrifices to protect a child that they felt adults would not. It is also a story about friendship, as the two get to know each other they learn that in spite of their cultural differences they share a lot in common. This is a touching story that reminds us that sometimes we have to deal with what is in front of us and not worry about the shades of gray.Reviewed by Stacey Seay ofThe RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

A story of courage

Teenage Feena sees a small child being abused by his mother. With no thought for the consequences to herself, she rescues him. But oops -- in the eyes of the world, this is called kidnapping. Now what? Louise Hawes tells us what, in a story that is subtle, nuanced and achingly plausible. Before it is over, Feena confronts: 1) the day-to-day worries every mom knows, 2) some frightening insights about herself, 3) an adult world with a skewed idea of right and wrong, and 4) her own powerlessness in the big, bad world. The story ends ambiguously, but as it must. This will give teen readers plenty of material for probing thought and discussion.

Challenging and Joyful

Hawes achieves the perfect balance in her writing, while throwing the reader off theirs. Waiting for Christopher is moving but not overly sentimental. Heartrending but joyful. Promising but realistic.This is a novel about child abuse in all its complexities. Feena, an intelligent 14 year-old, struggles with her invisibility at home and in school. This condition forces her to make a decision on her own when observing a woman hitting her two year-old son. However, Feena?s invisibility also empowers her to take the situation into her own hands. She takes Christopher into hiding but soon finds she needs help. An unlikely ally appears in the form of the most popular girl at school. Together they need to decide how to take care of Christy in the short run and what to do with the child and each other in the long run.This is a hardhitting novel that deals with the fuzzy lines of abuse and neglect, race, and family. Waiting for Christopher forces us to question how we make judgments about intervention, each other, and forgiveness.

With love for Christopher

From the very beginning of this book you'll want to hug Christopher. Somewhere around the middle you'll want to hug Feena and Raylene, too. Feena is so brave, and Raylene is so cool. And their hearts are enormous enough to hold Christopher