Things that Shimmer by Deborah Lakritz; Minneapolis: Kar-Ben Publishing © 2024; ISBN 9781728-476261; 259 pages plus author’s note; $19.99.
SAN DIEGO – This novel for late elementary and junior high school students adds some special things to what otherwise might have been a familiar plot of a girl wanting too much to be part of her school’s in-crowd.
The main character, Melanie Adler, is embarrassed by the overprotectiveness of her mother, who suffers from a form of PTSD brought about by a disfiguring traffic accident. While hoping that she won’t become the object of ridicule because of her mother’s suffocating concern for her safety, Melanie also feels guilty about her own seeming lack of compassion.
The year is 1973 and in Dorit, a new student from Israel, Melanie at last finds a friend who understands. Dorit faces a similar situation with her father, a quiet, nerve-wracked professor who hasn’t been the same since the Six-Day War of 1967. Both Dorit’s father and Melanie’s mother have suffered traumas that they can’t seem to get past.
Despite the fact that she and Dorit have bonded, Melanie is attracted like a moth to a flame to the Shimmers, a group of well-dressed, pampered, rich girls who seem to have it all – the latest in fashion, good looks, plenty of spending money. It’s a group that Melanie has wanted to be part of since elementary school.
The trouble is, the in-group has no attraction for Dorit or vice versa, and Melanie finds herself forced to choose between them.
In addition to the psychological element of PTSD, this novel also is imbued with slices of history that might otherwise be unfamiliar to today’s elementary and junior high school students. In 1973 the Yom Kippur War between Israel and its Arab neighbors began, and in the same year U.S. President Richard M. Nixon’s presidency began to unravel with the Watergate scandal. Both historic events are discussed in some detail during the course of the novel.
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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com