Rimwalkers Essay, Research Paper

October 15, 1993

Gr. 6-10. Fourteen-year-old Victoria Moore has always seen herself as living in the shadow of her popular younger sister, Sara. Then the girls spend the summer at their grandparents’ midwestern farm with their cousins, quiet, dependable Elijah and renegade, dare-devil Rennie. The boys and Tory (as Rennie calls her) form a bond that revolves around the team spirit required to do the farm chores, the treacherous rim-walking that Rennie is so good at, and a mysterious ghost child. For the first time, it’s Victoria who belongs and Sara who’s left isolated and vulnerable to the pull of the lonely child spirit. When tragedy strikes and Sara almost dies, Tory fears that her rejection of Sara may have led to the accident. The setting is richly drawn, making the farm and its magic real to even the most urban reader. The characters, while a tad too wise for their ages, are well-developed and realistically motivated and will certainly appeal to kids, who will identify with the outsider/insider theme. The paranormal element weaves through the plot, adding depth and complications that make the book a page-turner, and the message, though heavy-handed in spots, is an important one. Jeanne Triner

Copyright? 1993, American Library Association. All rights reserved

From Kirkus Reviews , October 1, 1993

A beautifully written story of a “growing-up” summer on an Illinois farm, recollected 20 years later by Victoria, who was then a shy, self-effacing girl of 14, overshadowed by her ebullient younger sister Sara. Victoria and her two male cousins, all outsiders in different ways, become a tightly bonded trio that gradually shuts Sara out, leading to near-tragedy when Sara attempts to emulate their “rimwalking”–walking a thin ledge above danger (e.g., on the roofbeams of a crumbling old house,… read more

From Horn Book

Three cousins — Victoria, Elijah, and Rennie — come of age as they spend a summer on their grandparents’ Midwestern farm. Victoria’s first-person narrative tells of her struggles with her younger sister Sam, Elijah’s cautious, loner instincts, and Rennie’s daredevil, destructive behavior. A compelling plot with vivid details about farm life, credible characters, and an intriguing element of the supernatural offers readers an impassioned story about growing up. — Copyright ? 1994 The Horn… read more

Synopsis

During a visit to their grandparents’ home, Tory and her younger sister, Sara, become closer to their cousins, Elijah and Rennie; encounter a mysterious, ghostly figure of a little boy; and cope with a tragedy that affects all their lives.

i think this book relates to everyone who doesn’t fit in. And it can help those who do to see the other side of things. I recommend this book to everyone. –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

This story is one of the most powerful ones I have ever read. Tory brings her summer on the farm to life with her descriptions of her cousins and their respective problems. Tory, Rennie, and Elijah are normal teenagers and I believe anyone who reads this book will identify with at least one of the characters. This is a must read for anyone who has ever felt left out, or put down by more popular people.

This book is about a group of friends who spend the summer together and learn more about themselves from eachother that they ever knew. This book is suspenful and very sweet and very detailed. I loved this book!

I have read this book four times and have never tired of its suspenseful magnetism. This ghost story has you clinging to the book, unable to put it down. It is a search for four people’s true identity in the summer of a lifetime. This book was very good and I highly recommend it to anyone who is in search for a good ghost story, and a few good laughs

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