If the Witness Lied by Caroline B. Cooney

If the Witness Lied
Caroline B. Cooney
ISBN 978-0-385-73448-6
213 pages
Delacorte Press, 2009

Genre: Mystery

Reader's Annotation:
Three estranged and orphaned siblings band together to stop their aunt from capitalizing on their family tragedy and turning their lives into a reality TV show.

Plot Summary:
The tragic deaths of Laura and Reed Fountain, two years apart, each captivated the attention of the national media and have left their teenage children, Madison, Jack, and Smith, reeling and alienated from each other. Madison and Smith both tried to escape their grief by assuming new lives; Madison has moved into her godparents' house and Smith enrolled herself in boarding school. Fifteen-year-old Jack is left behind to take care of their two-year-old brother Tris, with little help from their guardian Aunt Cheryl, who seems more interested in remodeling their parents' old house than in the emotional well-being of any of the children.

When Cheryl invites a camera crew into the home to turn their lives into one of the reality shows she loves, the siblings band together to stop her from exploiting Tris. In the process, they discover some unsettling information and, for the first time, start to question the circumstances surrounding their father's death.

Critical Evaluation:
The events of this book take place over the course of a single day, which stretches the reader's belief. Could the teenagers both mend a year's worth of resentment and fully investigate their father's death over the course of an afternoon?  The story's third-person point of view alternates mostly between the three eldest Fountain children, but also through a teenage neighbor and people at Smith's boarding school.  Cooney doesn't explain right away how Reed and Laura Fountain died; rather, from these variety of perspectives, as well as through flashbacks where the siblings remember their parents, the reader pieces together what happened. It's an effective technique that, along with the non-stop pace with its constant new developments, keeps the reader hooked.

Cooney's exploration of the way that the media exploits tragedy is intriguing and timely, though one wishes she had delved a little deeper into this aspect of the story. The television producer and Aunt Cheryl are both stereotypical, stock villains; delving into their motivations and fleshing them out would have given the story more emotional impact.

Still, it's a very readable thriller, and the circumstances surrounding Laura Fountain's death, which incites controversy and protest from the public at large, might provoke teenage readers to weigh in with their opinions.

About the author:
Caroline B. Cooney is the author of many books for children and young adults, several of which have been honored as ALA-YALSA Best Book for Young Adults.  Though she's written a few titles in the romance and contemporary life genre, she's best known for her mysteries. Her publisher characterizes her as "a master of mixing spellbinding suspense with thought-provoking insight into teenagers’ lives." Many readers will be familiar with her as the author of the popular Janie Johnson series, which starts with The Face on the Milk Carton.

Curriculum Ties:
It's possible that this book could be used as a jumping off point for an exploration of the current media culture, but it's better suited as a light pleasure read.

Booktalking Ideas:
1. Focus on the role of the media and its effect on the family
2. Talk about Smith and Madison's feelings that they have fundamentally failed as good family members by abandoning their brothers.
3. Talk about Jack's decision to shoulder the burden of raising his younger brother at the expense of his own teenage experience, and his feelings that there are no adults in his life that he can turn to for help or advice.

Reading/Interest Level: 
Booklist suggests it for grades 7-10, which I agree with.  Teens on the younger end of this course's 15-18 focus may relate to these characters and their high school environment, but more sophisticated readers at the upper end of the range may find some of its conclusions a little too pat.

Challenge Issues: None

Selection Criteria: 
This book caught my eye in a display of new young adult books at my local public library. I remembered reading and enjoying some of Cooney's book when I was a young adult, and I was intrigued by the media issues mentioned on the book jacket. Since Cooney has been writing young adult books for three decades, and since her work is both popular and award-winning, it seems prudent to be familiar with her.