Feathered

by Laura Kasischke

Overview

Afterward, Terri will tell everyone that, from the beginning, she knew something terrible was going to happen on spring break.

Something bad was going to happen.

She knew.

It was supposed to be the perfect vacation: hot guys, impeccable tans, and no parents. But for two high school seniors, an innocent car ride will drive them into the heart of their worst nightmare.

Feathered is a provocative and eerie tale that flies readers from safe, predictable suburbia to the sun-kissed beaches of Cancún, Mexico, and into mysterious Mayan ruins, where ancient myths flirt dangerously with present realities.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061909504
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/05/2009
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
Lexile:	930L (what's this?)
File size:	554 KB
Age Range:	14 Years

About the Author

Laura Kasischke teaches in the MFA program at the University of Michigan. A winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for poetry, she has published eight collections of poetry and ten novels, three of which have been made into films, including The Life Before Her Eyes.

Read an Excerpt

Feathered

Chapter One

Michelle

Oh, he is not a human. He is a god. His feathers rustle around her as he takes her by the shoulders—but his skin is also the skin of a snake. Cool, daggered, iridescent. When the knife is raised, she isn't afraid. She does not close her eyes. After the first plunge into her chest, she feels nothing more. Not fear. Not sadness. After the next, he reaches in, and what he pulls out is the most luminous blue-green bird she has ever seen. It is newborn, but it has always been alive, and he lets it fly from his hand into the sky. She watches it crashing into the blue, singing beautiful notes, a few of its green feathers falling from its wings, settling quietly around her.

Feathered. Copyright © by Laura Kasischke. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 9 Up- Three friends take a trip to Cancun for spring break in this novel about the dangers of trusting strangers. Told in the alternating voices of Michelle, the victim of assault and abduction, and her friend Anne, the story reads with the poetic lyricism of Francesca Lia Block and the thrills of teen-scream novels such as Lois Duncan's I Know What You Did Last Summer (S & S, 1998). When Michelle, Anne, and Terri land at the Hotel del Sol, they have different ideas of what they want from their vacation. Terri, a gorgeous blonde, disappears early in the novel to enjoy the benefits of the sun, sand, and drinking. Meanwhile, Michelle longs to take in Mexico's ancient temples and cultural history. Anne decides to follow her to the Mayan ruins. While there, the girls break one of the major rules their parents warned them about: don't take rides from strangers. The boys seemed like normal, American Midwestern teenagers but, when they drug Michelle's water, Anne quickly realizes that they are in a life-threatening situation. The story builds slowly, but readers who continue through to the end will find that the pace increases. An excellent choice for fans of the author's Boy Heaven (HarperCollins, 2006) and other teen thrillers.-Marie C. Hansen, New York Public Library

School Library Journal

A spring break in Cancun goes horribly wrong. Anne and Michelle flee the teen binge scene and head into the jungle to explore Mayan ruins with a male stranger as their guide. Michelle's worries evaporate as she walks the ancient, sacrificial grounds, entranced by images of the god Quetzalcoatl (the Plumed Serpent), eviscerated hearts and dying virgins. The following morning, Michelle is missing and Anne stumbles out of the jungle, bloody and alone. Kasischke spreads her poetic wings, using lyrical language and lucid imagery to create a transcendent novel. Readers will be enchanted by remarkable poetic conceits and narrative devices. Feathers, scales, blues and greens appear as talismans, signaling readers to look for meaning in the novel's periphery. Bright flashes of horror, exaltation and folklore draw teens into the thick Mexican jungle, and into Anne and Michelle's story. (Fiction. YA)

Kirkus Reviews