A FRIEND AT MIDNIGHT by Caroline B. Cooney
    Category:  Contemporary
    Age Recommendation:  Grades 6+
    Release Date:  10/10/06
    Publisher:  Delacorte
    Reviewed by:  Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"
    Rating:  5 Stars


    Blended families, a deadbeat dad, religion, sibling rivalry, abandonment.  These are all issues that Caroline B. Cooney
    tackles, quite deftly, in A FRIEND AT MIDNIGHT.

    When eight-year-old Michael decides to go live with his father, it's a strain on the entire family.  His mother pretends
    as if it's not happening.  His stepfather, Kells, attempts to placate his wife.  His oldest sister, Reb, doesn't have a lot of
    time to deal with it, as she's preparing to leave for college.  His baby half-brother, Nathaniel, doesn't understand what
    it means until after the fact.  And his fifteen-year-old sister, Lily, knows that it's destined to end badly.

    And badly it does end, when dear old dad drops Michael off, alone, without any money, luggage, or a plane ticket, at
    the airport to go back to his mother.  In his father's words:  "You're not the son I had in mind."  What happens next
    involves a fraudulently-obtained credit card, a teenager and a toddler on an airplane, a brush with airport security, and
    a quick trip back home -- all before Mom and Kells arrive back home after dropping Reb off at college.

    The next year is filled with changes, for everyone, but especially for Michael and Lily.  Younger brother has promised
    older sister to absolute secrecy, and Lily's finding it harder and harder to keep the matter quiet.  No one else knows
    how horrible their father is; no one knows the terrible thing he did to his youngest child.  But Michael refuses to tell the
    truth; in fact, Michael refuses to hold a grudge against the fathers he loves so much, even though everyone sees that
    Michael is not the same since he's returned home.

    When things come to a boiling point, it will be up to Michael to let the truth be known.  It will also be up to the entire
    family to deal with the resulting fall-out, and with learning what it means to forgive -- and, even more, what it means to
    really be "a friend at midnight."

    Ms. Cooney has written another emotional winner that will have you glued to the pages until the end.  This is a sad,
    heartbreaking tale that still manages to be uplifting, and everyone will find something in it that they can relate to.
A Friend at Midnight
by Caroline B. Cooney