From: Kathleen Horning <horning>
Date: Tue, 08 Aug 1995 18:47:00 -600

Thanks, Robin, for your provocative question about the roles of parents in "Haunting" and "Changeover."

I think she presents the parents in both of these books as complex people. Kate in "Changeover" is especially well-drawn, in part, I think, because Laura is just reaching the age where she's beginning to be able to see her mother as a human being. While the verbal give-and-take between Kate and Laura provides a lot of the book's humor, it also masks an underlying (and psychologically realistic) tension between the two of them as they both struggle to establish separate identities and get on with the business of living.

Now that I think about it, it seems that much of "Changeover" deals with the complexities of unconditional love and family relationships. What do you make of the other parents in the book: that is, Winter and Miryam? They offer an interesting contrast to Laura's relationship with Kate!

                 --KT Horning, CCBC
                   UW-Madison
Received on Tue 08 Aug 1995 07:47:00 PM CDT