Missing Pieces

by Sandy Asher

Heather's sophomore year brings many changes, but it is the tragic death of her father that enables her to change her relationship with her mother. Heather has to deal with her father's death, her mother's grief, and her relationship with a boy named Nicky.

116 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Sandy Asher, a playwright and children's author, is probably best known for her young-adult novels and other prose works for young readers. Drawing many of the ideas and characters for her writings from her childhood memories, Asher has earned critical praise and numerous awards for novels such as Just like Jenny, Things Are Seldom What They Seem, and Everything Is Not Enough. In addition to fiction, Asher has also edited the story collections On Her Way: Stories and Poems about Growing up Girl and the award-winning With All My Heart, with All My Mind: Thirteen Stories about Growing up Jewish, which collect works that address many of the same adolescent concerns Asher confronts in her fiction.

Reviews

[Nora · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really good novel from the golden age of YA. It covers a lot of classic “problem novel” themes like death of a parent and runaway teen, but in a low-key, sensitive way instead of being sensationalistic. There’s a cute dog, a kindly principal, and a job search where the best friends are told the store won’t hire females. This book holds up really well except for one chapter where the best friend is being quiet and “weird” and then reveals that she was nearly date raped the night before, and then her mother and the main character both laugh at her and the mom feels sorry for the boy. So that’s 1984 for ya.

Apparently Sandy Asher is alive and well and still keeping up her writing career, but now writes for younger kids.