Eleven by Patricia Reilly Giff

Patricia Reilly Giff is a “giffted” writer, but there are eleven reasons this is not one of my favorite Giff titles.

1.  This narrative does not have Giff’s usual pace and flow.  The characters are well developed but the plot takes too long to spin out.  

2. Sam’s discovery of a newspaper clipping in the attic listing him as a missing child seems overly familiar. 

3. Cooney did the missing kid thing better in “Face on the Milk Carton”. 

4. Giff seemed to allow too many elements of the narrative as part of the mystery.   So many details are revealed slowly that there is not enough base to launch a solid story.    

5. The wonderful side characters, Onji and Anima, remain unexplained too long.  

6. The title conflict, Sam’s mysterious aversion to the number 11, is never believable and somewhat contrived.

7. Sam’s angst over his “missing” status is also not completely believable. 

I did, however, like Sam’s issues with reading disability and his friendship with a new student, Caroline. 

A nice novel in terms of length (165 p) for fourth and fifth graders, but I fear it will not keep their interest.

And – like the novel – my list falls short.  I did not quite make it with “Eleven” and neither did Giff.