Keeper of the Night

by Kimberly Willis Holt

Overview

A powerful new novel from the award-winning author of When Zachary Beaver Came to Town.

Isabel's mother died peacefully. At least that's what Isabel likes to think since no one will talk about the truth. But the truth has a way of revealing itself at night. Ta'Ta sleeps curled up on the floor right where Mama's body was found. Olivia wets her bed and wakes repeatedly from nightmares, and Frank starts carving his anger into his bedroom wall. It's up to Isabel to help her family get beyond the pain and loss—to be the keeper of the night. But who will be there for Isabel and help her through to the other side?

Set on the lush island of Guam, Kimberly Willis Holt has written a painfully beautiful story about a young woman's struggle to protect her family after suicide hits home.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781429935890
Publisher:	Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Publication date:	09/27/2011
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	462 KB
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Kimberly Willis Holt is the author of the many award-winning novels for young adults and children, including The Water Seeker, My Louisiana Sky, and When Zachary Beaver Came to Town, winner of a National Book Award for Young People's Literature. She is also the author of the bestselling Piper Reed series of chapter books, and picture books including Waiting for Gregory and Skinny Brown Dog. Holt was born in Pensacola, Florida, and lived all over the U.S. and the world—from Paris to Norfolk to Guam to New Orleans. She long dreamed of being a writer, but first worked as a radio news director, marketed a water park, and was an interior decorator, among other jobs. She lives in West Texas with her family.

Twenty three years ago Kimberly Willis Holt stopped talking about wanting to be a writer and started to pursue her dream. Because of her family's Louisiana roots she considers herself a southerner, but her father's military career took her to places beyond the South, including Paris and Guam.

She's the author of more than fifteen books for a wide range of ages, many of which have won awards and honors. Her third novel, When Zachary Beaver Came to Town won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. She writes and gardens in Texas.

Read an Excerpt

Keeper of the Night
A Dutiful DaughterMy mother died praying on her knees. Her rosary beads were still in her hands when we found her. She left no note, said no good-byes, gave no last hugs or kisses. Only the empty bottle of sleeping pills that had rolled under her bed proved that she'd meant to leave.I found her first. But I didn't know she was dead. I thought she was praying.That morning, I eased her door shut, tied on her apron, and made breakfast for my little brother and sister. I felt proud to scramble their eggs and butter their toast.Later I tied blue ribbons in Olivia's hair and dipped the comb into a glass of water before parting Frank's. I had no idea it was the first of many mornings I'd be doing that.KEEPER OF THE NIGHT. Copyright © 2003 by Kimberly Willis Holt.

Reading Group Guide

“In a series of exquisitely presented snapshots, a young teen struggles to cope with the aftermath of her mother’s suicide. . . . Stunningly beautiful.”—Kirkus Reviews, Starred

“Readers are drawn into Isabel’s world and her determination to keep on going in the face of her overwhelming loss and responsibilities.”—School Library Journal, Starred

An ALA Best Book for Young Adults

A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year

A Kirkus Reviews Editor’s Choice

A Parents’ Choice Gold Award|

1. Why did the author title the book Keeper of the Night? What happens at night, and what does it reveal about each character that is concealed during the day?

2. Did you like the format of the book, which consists of short passages? How was reading it different from reading a book written in longer chapters? What characteristics of this particular story lent themselves to this format?

3. What are Isabel’s most significant traits? How might another type of character react to the events in the book? What are some of the forms grief takes for the members of Isabel’s family?

4. “Whenever I think of my mother, something fills up inside me, like water filling a bucket. It fills me up so much, I’m afraid my feelings will spill over for everyone to see” (p. 9).

Why do you think Isabel fears that her feelings will come to the surface and be seen by others? What does she suppose will happen? Have you ever been afraid to let your feelings surface? Did they eventually emerge?

5. Look at the lists Isabel makes over the course of the story. Aside from the obvious function that some of them have as to-do lists, why do you think she makes them? Do you do anything similar when your life confuses or overwhelms you?

6. Pick one of your favorite “chapters” in the book. How does it add a piece to the puzzle of the story? How does the author convey a lot of meaning in a few words? Think about how you might tell the story of your own life. What part of your story might you paint a portrait of in this style? Try to write it down.

7. What realization comes to Isabel toward the end of the book? What does Dr. Gurrero (Ed) help her to see? What does she learn from the love story of Auntie Bernadette and Uncle Fernando (pp. 287 to 289)?

8. How does Mrs. Cruz’s painting of Isabel’s mother help Isabel remember her mother, when photographs do not (pp. 276 to 278)? Has a photograph or another image shaped the way you remember something or someone? Can photographs lie?

9. “Roman stops by the cabana. ‘How’s Frank?’
And just that one question is like the last drop in a full bathtub that makes the water run over the rim” (p. 250).

When Isabel’s emotions finally do come to the surface, what thoughts, accusations, and questions come out of her? Think about what she says to Roman, Ed, and her father.

Editorial Reviews

The Barnes & Noble Review
Kimberly Willis Holt, author of the National Book Award–winning When Zachary Beaver Came to Town, crafts a moving story of one girl's struggle to cope with her mother's suicide.

Told in short chapters through the narrator's words, Holt's tale takes us to modern-day Guam, where we see how Isabela and her family try to get on with their normal lives despite the tension that surrounds them. At first, Isabela is the "dutiful daughter," tending to her anguished family, but she slowly begins acting out herself, particularly when Mary Kelly -- a non-native from a wealthier family -- moves to the area and a potential romantic interest of Isabela's gravitates toward Mary instead. But when things slowly come to a head and Isabela's brother, Frank, winds up in the hospital after cutting himself, the family begins healing communication.

Holt weaves together a beautiful, sophisticated story that won't disappoint her loyal fans. As usual, the author is keenly attuned to people and their relationships, always remembering to keep young Isabela feeling the pain of difficult family situations but distant enough to focus on her own friendships and problems. Different from Holt's previous work -- especially with the atypical setting of Guam -- this tour de force is a novel not to miss. Shana Taylor

bn.com

In a series of exquisitely presented snapshots, a young teen struggles to cope with the aftermath of her mother’s suicide. Her grief-stricken father having effectively abdicated his responsibility, Isabel must mind the family store, from which she watches both helplessly and resentfully her brother Frank’s descent into his own brand of madness. Holt makes the most of her Guam setting, subtly and inexorably involving readers in a way of life utterly foreign to most of them and getting it so thoroughly under their skin that taking in the story is like dreaming of the tropics. Isabel narrates the story in tiny present-tense vignettes, the longest of which approaches three pages. This narrative technique takes readers in and out of memory, showing how Isabel’s mother’s depression had repercussions that began in the past and echo loudly into the present. It also enables the development of several subplots that parallel the primary narrative, introducing a colorful and unforgettable array of secondary characters, whose lives touch, support, and mirror Isabel’s. Stunningly beautiful. (Fiction. 10+)

Kirkus Reviews

Evocative . . . haunting . . . magic.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“Beautifully written.” —School Library Journal, Starred Review

“Exquisitely presented . . . stunningly beautiful.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

“Heart-rending. . . . [Holt] has created an endearing, complicated narrator in Isabel; she manages to sound both lyrical and like the eighth grader she is.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Holt's plain, direct prose belies the deep pain the narrator feels as she tries to understand her mother's life and death.” —Bookpage

“Beautifully written, this tale reaches into the heart of Guam and touches gold.” —Seattle Times

“[E]xtended families, unhurried lives, the wisdom of elders, the individual quirks and eccentricities and the deep love holding up the surface of everyday life will all be familiar to readers of Holt's previous work.” —Times Picayune

From the Publisher