Keeper of the Night

by Kimberly Willis Holt

Isabel's mother died peacefully. At least that's what Isabel likes to think since no one in her family will talk about the truth. But in spite of their avoidance, in spite of their brave faces, the truth has a way of revealing itself at night, in her family's behavior. Her father sleeps curled up on the floor right where Mama's body was found. Olivia wets her bed and wakes repeatedly from nightmares, and Frank has started carving his anger into his bedroom wall. It's up to Isabel to help her family get beyond the pain and loss--to be the keeper of the night. But who will help Isabel?

Genres: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Fiction, Teen, Middle Grade, Poetry, Death

336 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 8, 2003

About the author

Kimberly Willis Holt is the author of the Piper Reed series, including Piper Reed, Navy Brat, Piper Reed, Clubhouse Queen, and Piper Reed, Rodeo Star. She has written many award-winning novels, including The Water Seeker and My Louisiana Sky, as well as the picture books Waiting for Gregory and Skinny Brown Dog. A former Navy brat herself, Holt was born in Pensacola, Florida, and lived all over the U.S. and the world—from Paris to Norfolk to Guam to New Orleans. Holt long dreamed of being a writer, but first worked as a radio news director, marketed a water park, and was an interior decorator, among other jobs. A few years after she started writing, her third book, When Zachary Beaver Came to Town, won a National Book Award for Young People's Literature. She resides in West Texas with her family.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/kimber...

Reviews

[Debrarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A poem of a book told in small, gem-like chapters with revealing titles, in the voice of Isabel, whose mother recently killed herself. Set on Guam, it’s the story of a family stunned with grief (& guilt & anger) trying to put itself back together somehow. Father “Tata” vanishes into grief and fishing; brother Frank cuts the walls and himself; little sister Olivia wets the bed but dances in the daytime; Aunt Bernadette is wise and steady; responsible Isabel tries to be the glue to keep everyone together. Lovely, clean lines, against the lush backdrop of Guam. Sad but full of the messy strength of family and life too.

[Heidi Burkhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though I really like Holt's writing the cover of this book put me off reading it for years. I finally decided to give it a try and was happy that I did. Shown here is a newer cover for the book - a far better choice.

This book fascinated me because it was set in Guam. I lived on Saipan, close by, for two years and it was a pleasure to read the references to Chamorro culture. Though the story was sad, I recommend it highly. It describes a little known culture, and family crisis though wonderful characters in a unique setting.

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know why my mother left us, why she stopped playing silly songs on the ukelele, laughing at Frank's stupid knock-knock jokes, why she stopped dancing with my father. But now finding all this things in the drawer of treasures, I do know that no matter how much sorrow filled my mother, she loved me. This I know for sure.

[g · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was my favorite book in the 4th grade. i got it from the elementary school library 5 times that year. the next year i left for the middle school and forgot this book ever existed. i've spent the last 19 years trying to remember the name of this book, trying to find it. it came in the mail, first edition hardback, 2 days ago. tonight i'm sobbing over the pages, trying to keep it dry. this book has meant everything to me for so long that i can hardly fathom i ever forgot its name. i forgot it the way isabel forgot her mom. i remembered the best parts first, the things that made me happy. for 19 years i could tell you all about where it took place, the cover art, about a girl mourning her mom and childhood, her depressed brother, the prose of it all. and now like isabel going through her mother's belongings, each page reminds me how much it hurts. how sad and painful the whole book has always been; and every page is worth remembering anyways. i can't express how much it means to have this book in my hands again.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wouldn't normally have picked this book up, but I'm in a book club where we had to read a book set where we were born and I was born on the island of Guam. I'm so glad I read this book! It taught me a lot about Guam, and was beautifully written. The plot is heavy. The story starts with the mother's suicide and is mostly about the unhealthy ways that the family tries to cope, but it's very hopeful at the same time.

[Sophia Buhrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal Response: It was nice to read about a different culture. The people of Guam have their own language, but mostly speak English, and was hard to pronounce these few words and figure out what they mean. Either way it was a wonderful story.

Plot: What happens before the story really starts is that Isabel's mother killed herself, and left the rest of her family grieving. Isabel and her family went to live with one of their aunts for a while and stayed for about 6 months. When they finally come back bad things start to happen at night. Tata, Isabel's dad, has begun sleeping on the floor where his wife's body was found. Olivia wets the bed and has nightmares, and Frank carves the words ¨I hate you¨ into his bedroom wall over and over again. As things start to get better Frank is found in his room with blood everywhere. He had begun to cut ¨I hate¨ into his arm but only got to ¨I hat...¨. Luckily he was taken to the hospital and survived. After that Frank seemed to be back to his normal self. And La De Da cliche happy ending.

Characterization: Isabel is a Chamorro girl from Guam. She used to be a happy girl with few problems, but after her mother died she was left with the task of taking care of the entire family. She becomes irritable and easily aggravated. But as the story goes on and she finds something for herself, she returns to the girl she once was and remembers how to smile.

Recommendation: I recommend this book to girls of all ages, and to people who might have also lost someone. Maybe they can learn to accept their loss and make the most of it, too.

[Christie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a heartbreaking story of 13-year-old Isabel trying to hold her family together in the wake of her mother's suicide. It is also a story about coming of age and knowing what you can and can't control. I appreciated the unique setting of Guam (I haven't read anything set on Guam before) and learned a lot about the culture through reading the book. It is a great book for young teens.

[Kirby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doggone Kimberly Willis Holt! She's as bad as Barbara O'Connor in delivering good story, book after book. I'm especially admiring the spare text and how she selects just the right details to include. Amazing.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Isabel, a thirteen-year-old girl living on the island of Guam, and her family try to cope with the death of Isabel's mother who committed suicide.

[Aliannav · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book I am reading is called Keeper of the Night.The Author of the book is Kimberly wills holt. In the book Isabel’s mother dies peacefully. AT least isabel thinks that since she thinks that know one is telling her the truth. Tata keeps sleeping on the floor were mamas body was found. (Tata and olivia and isabel are siblings). Olivia wets her bed and wakes repeatedly from nightmares,and frank starts carving his anger into his bedroom wall.It sup to Isabel to help her family get beyond the pain and loose to be the keeper of the night. Isabel wonders who will be their for her and help her through the other side.
What Kimberly Wills Holt does in the book that probably affect readers is that she puts a lot of detail and effort into this book. that the readers can make a lot of connections with their life. Kimberly Wills holt puts a lot of hard working into this book. Kimberly Will Holt is a good book writer but their is some things she can fix. Their is specific parts in the book were this girl in the book talks about like basically her whole life. If i had to talk about my life in a book i would not be so brave to,because a lot of people are reading the book.
I dislike the book,because the author puts chapter and chapters back to back. She talks about a subject and then talks about another subject.maybe the next book she writes she can write it like a regular book and talk about one subject and then when your done with that subject you can talk about another thing. My favorite part of the book is were the girl tells her story basically in the whole book,because some people would be to shy or scared to tell their whole life story in a book that everyone is reading.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Isabel's mother dies from suicide, her life is (understandably) turned upside down. Her father retreats into himself, leaving Isabel to care for her two younger siblings: Frank, who has stopped playing with his friends and has started exhibited some worrying behavior, and Olivia, who has started wetting the bed and having nightmares. Isabel has to deal with all this while navigating her own grief, her sudden inability to remember much about her mother, and a ever mounting amount of pressure from her relatives: enter the fiesta pageant, learn to make the golai hagun sune, become a suruhana (traditional healer). It is only when a second tragedy strikes, her brother being taken to a psychiatric facility after his cutting results in him almost bleeding out that the family realizes how fractured they have become and starts to heal.

Kimberly Willis Holt tells Isabel's story in an interesting way. The chapters are incredibly short and some of them aren't even regular chapters--some of them are lists Isabel makes and some are poems she writes. I enjoyed learning a little about the Chamorro people, the indigenous people of the Mariana Islands, including Guam, which is where this novel is set--and where the author spent some time as a child.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

In all honesty, the book wasn’t the worst at all. But clearly not the best in my option. It’s eye catching but simple. The way the author had shown a dark and sensitive matter, into short and simple chapters is what impressed me the most. The chapters were quite short and to the point. It’s clear and the way each chapter is formatted is,like I said before short and incomplex in total. The story was based in Guam,and it did show you through a different path of a new culture and place. As the characters, they were all different in their own way. The story is probably to have where you feel sympathetic for the characters or in this case just Isabel. The reason why I personally would give it three stars would be the plot and characters. The ending wasn’t what I thought it would be, but it was good enough for my liking as the book in all wasn’t that bad. The characters in all honesty did bother me a little, but I did like how the author had shown the after effects of the mother’s death. But what we did get to know about the characters before, were only shown through Isabel’s memory. In all its a good book, it’s fiction and has given a new experience to a different culture.

[Sophie dirringer · Rating 4 out of 5]

In beau livre sur in deuil impossible... comment vivre apres in suicide. C'est la maman dans ce cas qui est partie laissant ses 3 enfants et sa famille dans la douleur, l'incomprehesion et la colere.
Ce court livre est vraiment bien ecrit et on y retrouve des reactions assez authentiques chez les differents personnages.
Heureusement il termine sur une note positive.

[Teri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Keeper of the Night captures the flavor of Guam and the culture of its native people, the Chamorro. Reading, I was transported to the island. The book opens with 13 year old Isabel telling the readers that her mother died, praying on her knees, near an empty bottle of sleeping pills. Isabel then takes the readers on a poetic journey of grief and healing.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Raw look at the aftermath on a family after a mother commits suicide and the family will not talk about the depression that led to it and was untreated. The story provides snippets of the family trying to keep going along in life despite the lose and emptiness in the house.
The story also gives a glimpse into the culture of Guam.

[Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slow at some parts but over all it was interesting. Has a journal like style with short chapters at time only a page long. Might appeal to readers who like novels in verse. Deals with deep and complex issues including suicide, coping, family. Audience is Middle grade and older.

[Rural · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short chapters are poetic and connective. At times it feels written for the tween girl and at times it triggered loss within my adult self. I listened to this as an audio book and the voice used was the only complaint I had..

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Half Guamanian here, who doesn't know enough about my dad or his 20 brothers and sisters and family. Decided to pick this one up for AAPI month and I loved it. The story touched me in a way that I felt it was easy to identify with the family closeness that I've missed out on all these years.

[Siejohn Ouattara · Rating 5 out of 5]

i like it because it has a scary touch.
what is scary is that her mom was preying.
but im not going to spoil things go read the book to find out.

[Amanda Kramers · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story that this book held was really good. I enjoyed it but the ending wasn't what I thought it was going to be.

[Mary E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful; realistic; tender;

[Cyndi Berve]

Set in Guam, a nice reminder of that lifestyle from my childhood.

[Cheryl Woolsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

It would absolutely be rated higher if it wasn't for the single page chapters. It drove me BATTY. It was a good story with different ways the family dealt with grief.

[Darlene Ledford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book.

[Khloe Lotero · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was very good because i did not get bored over it because every new chapter there was always a new story about the girl and her Mom and people asking her about her Mom and like how she died.

[CC · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wasn't the best.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy read. I needed a book set overseas. This was a heartbreaking book about a child’s venture through heartbreak and forgiveness and moving on.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute book written in an interesting style - very quick read

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

A touching story about a young girl in Guam and how her family dealt with their mom's suicide.

[Alexis. 🍂☕️🤎 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars